BECOMING A BUTTERFLY by Mia Castile - Re-Vamped Cover Reveal + Review

Sixteen year old Lacey was never the center of attention, unless she was tripping, stammering, or being deposited into a pool by the local popular kids. All she wanted was to fit in, until one night when everything changed.

Jade and Tasha, her two best friends, helped her create an online personality that was everything she wanted to be– and it was only the beginning. In doing so, she attracted the attention of Henry, her lifelong crush and next door neighbor. Unfortunately, it was Farrah, her online personality and not herself, he was interested in.

She also attracted Chase, the brooding, quiet, anti-social new kid of Brownsburg High School, who easily figured out her secret and blackmailed her. They forged a friendship that was both unique and complicated.

Lacey must decide if revealing herself to Henry and her entire school as the cool, charming, and funny Farrah is worth possibly losing him forever. She finds herself needing to make an even harder decision than she ever thought possible. When did the lines between truth and lies get so blurred?

Becoming a Butterfly is a story about coming of age and finding yourself when you never knew you were lost.

**This is a MATURE YA FICTION SERIES.**

I was thrilled to join the blog tour for this novel because I knew it to be an "issue book" -- one that is realistic and would make you think about life. I jumped in head first, as always, not exactly knowing what I was getting into when I started reading. I found myself enthralled. 

Mia Castile has written something that most teens, more than we know, actually go through. 

Imagine high school and being the odd one out. Feeling like you would do or be anything to be noticed. Lacey is a typical teen girl with a great family, two best friends and nothing would be better if her long time crush would just notice her and have the same feelings. The thing is...he is best friends with the two that continue to bully and make fun of Lacey. As soon as Lacey and her friends concoct and act on a complete off the wall spontaneous idea to boost her popularity everything slowly starts spiraling out of control. After awhile she drifts apart from her best friends, spends less and less time at home and becomes someone she doesn't even know. She's been so blinded and consumed with this new invented world she has created she doesn't even notice the signs of a terrifying, yet all too real problem that is happening right in front of her eyes. Will Lacey snap back to reality and do what's right before it's too late?


I was very impressed to see how Mia took the story and turned into something that so many kids/teens/people can relate to. There are so many who have the same problems or issues and just don't speak up. Initially I thought this was a stand alone novel and when I finished I was surprised to find that it is actually book one in a series. I am very anxious to continue the journey with these kids and see where they take things from here. I definitely recommend Becoming A Butterfly for a realistic fiction read.

               

Find Mia and Becoming A Butterfly:

Website

Facebook

Entwined Publishing Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Amazon

 Barnes and Noble

In contrary wise, what it is it wouldn't be and what it wouldn't be it would.. you see?

I would like to share with you, the recent events that happened in my own words. Before I begin, I only ask you to read and take what I say with an open mind. I’ve been trying to write this for days and everything I put down feels wrong. A simple mistake has led to far more than I ever could have imagined.

With that being said, I ask that my words not be misconstrued or taken out of context. I do not want these words to be criticized on social networks. I am well aware of all the “talk” that has been going on concerning this. Even if my name was never mentioned, we are not dumb to the fact that I screwed up. For this, I apologize, to everyone. I hurt people’s feelings by such a petty act of ignorance.

Now, my story:

I received the most precious gift from a friend. She wanted to gift me a lovely new design for my blog. And that is exactly what I received.

One evening while I was trying to prepare a blog post I realized that I didn’t have all of the font graphics that I needed to complete the post. My designer was incredibly busy, so I decided that while I wait, I could see what was available at Google Images for me to use in the meantime.

After a very short time of searching I found the word graphics I was looking for and all in the same font. Yay! I thought. This would be perfect until the others arrived. After finding the fonts, I then searched for block-quotes. There were hundreds and hundreds of them so I chose maybe four or five and decided I would then put them into a draft and practice working with them. Once I had it looking good, I did a quick copy and paste into the post I had made.

Approximately two weeks go by and I received a very concerned email from my designer. (This was on Jan. 22nd). Apparently, someone went to her and was claiming that the images that were in my blog post belonged to someone else and they wanted them taken out. The message that was sent was brief and not very detailed, which left me confused but still I did as she asked and removed the "said stolen" images. After doing so, I assumed the craziness was over. Welp, I was so very wrong. The supposed owner of the graphics in question was now accusing me of replacing the first "stolen" image with ANOTHER stolen image.

I found it best to pull my blog until I could get it all taken care of and fixed, and approved by the other party involved. My intentions were only to make my blog post look better. My actions were done out of lack of knowledge. I sincerely apologize to the blogger that these were taken from and I did remove all images as soon as I was notified.

This has stirred up so much hate and animosity towards me. If someone would have contacted me from the very beginning and asked me to take them down, I gladly would have. I’m left extremely embarrassed and didn’t mean to hurt the owner in any way.

I go to Google Images often, just like so many others do. Until this matter arose I had no idea that using those images were not legal. I also would like to stress again that if the owner of the graphics would've just asked me to take them down in the very beginning of this mess, I certainly would have. Nonetheless, the outcome has already been decided. I am basically being judged and given a guilty verdict without my story even being heard. Also, due to the mega drama and negativity surrounding me and the situation the blog tour involved in the mentioned post has been canceled.

I'm just hoping people will understand that I'm not this crazy, malicious person. Bottom line, under rules of copyright or trademark usage, she should have given me notice to cease and desist - if she wanted to be legal about it. Instead she is making me look like an evil, vicious individual that has no respect for others.

I fixed the issue in question as soon as it was brought to my attention, yet I am still getting tons of backlash and being like I've done nothing to rectify the situation. (Yes, even if my name is not mentioned in the owners post about me). The talk isn't just about the issue at hand, but me as a person, my credibility, my intentions, and what I represent as a whole. I really don't understand why I am still being harassed when I've corrected my mistake as soon as I learned of it. There is nothing else that I could possibly do.

I have shared my story with you, from my point of view. Now, I ask that you please take everything into consideration before judging me too harshly.

My apologies,
Amy