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Ellen Butler lives in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, and is new to novel writing. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Policy, and her history includes a long list of writing and editing for dry but illuminating professional newsletters, and windy papers on public policy. The leap to novel writing was simply a creative outlet for Ellen’s over active and romantic imagination to run wild.
Professionally, she belongs to the Virginia Writer’s Club, and the Northern Virginia Writer’s Club. Ellen is an admitted chocoholic and confesses to a penchant for shoe shopping. Book club questions for Ellen’s novels can be found on her website.
Reviewed by Natasha Jackson for Readers' Favorite
What do you get when you cross a sexy Irish actor and a beautiful but doesn’t know it interior designer? A great romance by Ellen Butler, that’s what! In Heart of Design, Sophie has been divorced from her cheating ex for five years and she has sworn off men until her interior design business is booming. But while helping out her best friend Poppy at a party, she meets the gorgeous actor Ian O'Connor, who has a new home in need of a “lady’s touch.” The problem is Sophie doesn’t date clients and she has no desire to be just another notch on a Hollywood playboy’s bed post. Luckily for Ian, he is not easily dissuaded because Sophie is so different from the fake wannabes like Tanqueray that want him for his fame and fortune. The push and pull of their relationship from the very beginning made this story entertaining and endearing.
I loved that Sophie was so unwittingly blunt about not watching Ian’s show because you knew from that moment on that she wasn’t like the women he was used to dating. Heart of Design was about Sophie and Ian, but the other characters were just as memorable and helped me learn more about Sophie and Ian. Watching Sophie hide, or attempt to hide, her attraction to Ian was pure amusement as was watching him get over her skittishness. Ellen Butler has written a witty, fast-paced romance that was just a pure pleasure to read. I could easily hear Ian's deep Irish brogue as his flirting made Sophie blush all over. It’s the mark of a great writer and I look forward to reading more stories like this one.
