Butterflies and their symbolism in Six Months by @AuthorMSedrak #guestpost #womensfiction #romance
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  • N. N. Light
    • Mar 20, 2019
    • 5 min read

Butterflies and their symbolism in Six Months by @AuthorMSedrak #guestpost #womensfiction #romance


Six Months is a story of love, loss, forgiveness, and redemption. Mikala Jacobson had a beautiful life––great friends, a loving husband, and a sweet little girl. When Molly, Mikala’s baby girl, is tragically killed, her world shatters. But that is not the end of Mikala’s suffering. As she deals with the loss of her child, her marriage disintegrates, and her loss is compounded.

Surviving Molly’s death is not something Mikala wants to accomplish. Daily she begs God to take her to be with Molly. Most days, she can barely muster the energy to rise and breathe. But Mikala is a strong woman, and with good friends, Rena and Jake, by her side, she not only survives, she transforms, rebuilds, and redefines her world. In the end, she discovers a new love built on an old friendship.

Throughout the book Mikala refers to her daughter as “butterfly.” The butterfly is a powerful symbol signifying the resilience and strength of the human spirit. Many people experience the devastating loss of a loved one. When that loss is fresh, it is impossible to imagine a happy life, but in time, healing and happiness is possible.

The following excerpt from the final pages of Six Months demonstrates this symbolism.

“A few days ago, I opened Molly’s baby trunk to put away her baby book. I found a small book on butterflies you gave her. I flipped through it and read some people see a butterfly as a symbol of endurance, change, hope, and life. Other people see the butterfly as a symbol of transformation. Don’t you see, Jake? Something good, really good, will come from the horror we survived.”

Jake swallowed passed the lump in his throat. He nodded. Jesus, this woman brought him to his knees. She thought she’d survived because of him. But the truth was, she’d saved him, changed and transformed him.

Grabbing his hand, she squeezed it. “Think about how a butterfly develops, Jake. It starts as an egg, grows into a larva, and then a caterpillar. In a span of a month, a tiny egg becomes a glorious butterfly. The transition is massive. The butterfly looks nothing like the egg it started as. It changed, grew, and survived. Then the butterfly unfurls into something spectacular.”

Jake brought her hand to his lips. “Just like you, baby,” he said in a husky voice. “You’re spectacular. You survived, changed, and grew. You brought me along with you. You’re a monarch, my love. God, how I love you. I’m humbled by your resilience, strength, and beauty.”

Title: Six Months

Author: Mona Sedrak

Genre: Contemporary Romance/ Mainstream

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Book Blurb:

For twenty years, Mikala Jacobson had it all: loyal friends, a precious little girl, and a man who adores her. Then double tragedy strikes and her perfect world shatters. Good friends, Rena and Jake are instantly by her side, protecting her from her husband David’s sordid secret life and his final drunken confession.

With their help, Mikala finds strength to rebuild and redefine her life. As her spirit and heart heal, she not only finds closure, but the beauty of a new love built upon an old friendship.

Excerpt:

In a flash, Jake was in front of her. He flipped their positions, so his back was to the truck, and she stood in front of him. He took her arm in his hand and inspected it. “Sorry, sweetheart.” A frown replaced his smile. “I’d never hurt you. Never.”

Hearing the remorse in his voice, Mikala darted her gaze to meet his. In his expressive licorice eyes, she saw something she hadn’t seen before. She blinked, and her breath caught. Jake had never gazed at her like that before. Adoration? Hope? What were those beautiful eyes telling her? For a few minutes, she was mesmerized by the tenderness in his eyes and the soothing stroke of his thumb over her bruised elbow. Her body melted into Jake’s.

Jake’s other arm went around her waist, and he held her against his solid, warm body.

She sighed and sunk deeper into Jake’s arms, never breaking eye contact. God, being in a man’s arms once again was divine. She relished the strength, safety, and intimacy of his embrace. Two years! How had she survived two years without being held in such an intimate and tender manner? She’d forgotten the feeling of being held, comforted, and adored. How could she have forgotten this bliss?

For the briefest of moments, Mikala gave in to her needs and her fantasy of being whole once more. She closed her eyes, laid her head against Jake’s hard chest, and savored the sensation of being safe, protected, and not so alone in the world. She took a deep breath and inhaled his spicy, all-male scent. It filled her lungs, swirled in her brain, and intoxicated her. His delicious scent poked at and awakened long-hibernating emotions.

Mikala smiled, snuggling in deeper. She exhaled, and then took one more hit of his heady scent––so soothing and delicious. A shiver of awareness ran up her spine, and before she could lasso her runaway emotions and her traitorous body, her hormones took over, reminding her she was a woman. Mikala was a woman who enjoyed being in the arms of a man, and a woman who was young, healthy, and now––very aroused.

Mikala gasped, and her eyes flew open. Her heart galloped, and her breathing stuttered. A fine tremor ran through her. Oh, God, what the hell was she doing? She was in Jake’s arms! Jake’s arms! How in the world did she get there?

Her head snapped up, and she searched Jake’s gaze before she ripped herself out of his embrace and looked away. She stumbled back several steps. Heat traveled up her neck to her cheeks. Her body and her brain were aflame. She was seconds from self-combusting.

Mikala couldn’t think, and her chest constricted, making breathing impossible. She scanned the parking lot, focusing on everything but him. She turned, cursing herself for her moment of weakness, of idiocy, and total delusion. God, what had they done?

Buy Links:

The Wild Rose Press: https://goo.gl/1emrMC

Giveaway:

I’m one of the authors participating in the Pot 'O Gold Book Giveaway and you can win an e-copy of Six Months by Mona Sedrak.

Runs March 1 - 31 and is open internationally.

Winner will be drawn April 1, 2019.

Author Biography

Mona Sedrak lives a double life. By day, she is a suit-wearing, prim and proper, professor, administrator, researcher, and lecturer. By night, she is a PJ wearing dreamer and writer of books that make people sigh, smile, cry, laugh, and fall in love. She lives in Ohio with her husband of thirty-two years, a cranky, geriatric maltipoo, and an obnoxious Amazon parrot who runs the house and terrifies its inhabitants.

Mona discovered the joy and escapism that comes from reading at the age of twelve and swears books saved her life and her sanity. Through reading, she has travelled the globe and learned all kinds of equally useful and useless skills such as: crocheting, the proper way to eat a pomegranate, carve a watermelon, or bathe an elephant. These skills she has passed down to her two daughters who are incredibly supportive, but often wish she had a wider scope of hobbies.

Mona has a long publishing history in academia, but she started writing fiction recently.

Social Media Links

Twitter: @AuthorMSedrak

Instagram: authormonasedrak

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