Review and Giveaway: Imago by N.R. Walker

Title: Imago

Author: N.R. Walker

Publisher: Self-Published

Length: 158 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: The bottom line is, I want you guys to read this one. Pick it up. Stare at the cover. Dreamy sigh your way through the story. And, then lemme know who you love more, Jack or Lawson, because I just can’t decide.

Reviewed By: Jules

Blurb: Nerdy, introverted genius lepidopterist, Lawson Gale, is an expert on butterflies. He finds himself in a small town in Tasmania on a quest from an old professor to find an elusive species that may or may not even exist.

Local Parks and Wildlife officer, Jack Brighton, is an ordinary guy who loves his life in the sleepy town of Scottsdale. Along with his Border collie dog, Rosemary, his job, and good friends, he has enough to keep from being lonely.

But then he meets Lawson, and he knows he’s met someone special. There’s more to catching butterflies, Jack realises. Sometimes the most elusive creatures wear bow ties, and sometimes they can’t be caught at all.

Lawson soon learns there are butterflies he can’t learn about it in books. They exist only in a touch, in a kiss, in a smile. He just has to let go first, so these butterflies can fly.

Imago is the story of finding love, bow ties, and butterflies.

Review: This review is going to be tough to write without it sounding like I’m just full on gushing about this book. But, that’s ok; I want to gush a little bit because I honest-to-goodness loved everything about it. From the stunning cover, to the gorgeous final pages, and everything in between, Imago made me swoon so hard and smile more times than I can count. It was the stuff perfect weekend reads are made of: amazing, unforgettable characters; lovely prose; beautifully described settings; and an imaginative premise.

Speaking of the premise… I want to quickly touch on something that caused a bit of a stir prior to Imago’s release—something that both N.R. Walker and Julie Bozza have eloquently commented about—which was the comparison of Walker’s Imago to Bozza’s Butterfly Hunter. The only reason I am commenting on it here in my review is that I also read and adored Butterfly Hunter. And while there are some obvious base similarities—even I will admit that when I initially read the blurb for Imago, my very first thought was, ‘Ummmm….’—the books are vastly different. There really is no call for controversy. If you loved Butterfly Hunter, you will most likely also love Imago, and vice versa. Other than both stories being beautifully written, your reading experience will be completely different with each book.

Ok, Now on to the myriad of things I loved about Imago…

First, I completely adored the characters. Lawson is the sexiest nerdy lepidopterist ever. I loved how matter-of-fact he was about how smart he is, and how totally unaware he is about his sex appeal.

‘He was like no man I’d ever met. Crazy smart—genius, apparently—and absolutely clueless about how gorgeous he was. He dressed like it was the 1920s and he spoke the Queen’s English like he’d just swallowed the Oxford Dictionary.
 
Jesus. He made my chest feel too small for my heart.’

And, then there is Jack, who is appealing on every single level imaginable. Seriously. I don’t think he could have been any more perfect. What was so great about him, too, was that his perfection was in no way over-the-top or cheesy. He was genuinely smart, caring, funny, and sexy, and a master at orchestrating the perfect date. Of which he and Lawson had many. Their dates were so swoony, and their chemistry was fantastic. I also really loved their mutual respect for each other’s work. They just so clearly thought the world of each other.

The settings and scenery throughout the book, as well as the ongoing search for the butterflies, were mesmerizing. I truly found the research Walker clearly put in fascinating. One might not think that the triangular dependency between a butterfly, a bush, and an ant colony would be fascinating…but, I assure you, it was. I also loved that Jack was able to piggyback his own field work in the national parks with Lawson’s field study, allowing for trips out together. I think they did almost as much work as they did making out. :-D

Finally, I loved, loved reading this book because of how it made me feel. As I said in the beginning of the review, it made me smile. It gave me that silly, swoony feeling you get when you read a really great romance. It also got my adrenaline going toward the end. You’ll have to read it to see what happens, but let me just say that the final twenty-five percent was very exciting.

The bottom line is, I want you guys to read this one. Pick it up. Stare at the cover. Dreamy sigh your way through the story. And, then lemme know who you love more, Jack or Lawson, because I just can’t decide. One thing I know for sure, though, is that this will, without question, be one of my go-to comfort reads.

You can buy Imago here:
[zilla_button url=”http://amzn.to/2kDzb8d” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon US [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://amzn.to/2kDszq9″ style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon UK [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06VXS641F” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon AU [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”https://www.amazon.de/dp/B06VXS641F” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon DE [/zilla_button]

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