Category: Butterfly Games

Featured graphic explaining the origin of the Butterfly Games title, with the Swedish term “Fjärilsleken,” meaning “The Butterfly Game,” and a teaser definition about fleeting affairs.

More Than a Stereotype: Finding the Real Jacquette Gyldenstolpe

Posted on August 20, 2026 in Butterfly Games, Interviews, Jacquette

There is a problem one faces when writing about a woman who had an affair with a prince. Two hundred years later, it is very easy for the affair to become the whole story. That was certainly true of Jacquette Gyldenstolpe. When I first came across he…

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Finspång Castle, childhood home of Jacquette Gyldenstolpe, heroine of the historical novel Butterfly Games by Kelly Scarborough

Finspång Castle: Inside Jacquette Gyldenstolpe’s Childhood Home

Posted on August 5, 2026 in Butterfly Games, Characters, Jacquette, Newsletter, Travel

Finspång Castle was more than Jacquette Gyldenstolpe’s childhood home. It was a noble estate, an industrial center, and a place that shaped the heroine of Butterfly Games.

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Red candy heart lying on a rustic wood plank

Literary Love Triangles: Team Oscar, Team Carl—or Team Jacquette?

Posted on August 5, 2026 in Butterfly Games, Favorite Authors, Movies, TV, Books, Newsletter

Book Two in the Butterfly Games series turns up the heat on Jacquette, Oscar, and Carl. Here are the literary love triangles inspiring the story.

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UK Book Cover of Butterfly Games by Kelly Scarborough with UK flag superimposed

Friday Celebration: Butterfly Games Is on Multiple Amazon UK Best Seller Lists

Posted on July 10, 2026 in Behind the Scenes, Book News, Butterfly Games

I just got some wonderful book news from the UK. Today, Butterfly Games appeared on multiple Amazon UK Best Seller lists, with both the Kindle edition and paperback reaching readers in categories close to my heart: 19th Century Historical Fiction and…

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Image of a small engraved box with a miniature of exiled Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden

The Fact and Fiction Behind Jacquette and Oscar’s First Meeting at Drottningholm

Posted on July 4, 2026 in Butterfly Games, Jacquette

On July 4, as America celebrates its 250th birthday, I’m thinking about another pair of birthdays—two young people born on the same day, two years apart, whose lives would become entangled in one of those relationships that history remembers. Jacquet…

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Women, Law, and Lawlessness in 19th-Century New York

Posted on June 28, 2026 in Butterfly Games, Events

New York City-area friends: please join me on Tuesday, June 30, at 6:30pm at Jefferson Market Library for a Historical Novel Society–New York Chapter panel, “Women, Law, and Lawlessness in 19th-Century New York.” I’ll be moderating a conversation wit…

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Larry and I are out to see #goldentempo run at Saratoga. I looked at a horse named Oscar, but kind of like in my historical novel, Oscar didn’t exactly cover himself in glory. #traversstakes

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 18107375471175700

Larry and I are out to see #goldentempo run at Saratoga. I looked at a horse named Oscar, but kind of like in my historical novel, Oscar didn’t exactly cover himself in glory. #traversstakes

She goes to the ball, and her worst suspicions are confirmed. Read Butterfly Games. It`s Jacquette`s story, based on a real countess who lived in early 1800s Sweden.

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 17993686373826525

She goes to the ball, and her worst suspicions are confirmed. Read Butterfly Games. It's Jacquette's story, based on a real countess who lived in early 1800s Sweden.

Did you know that Butterfly Games is out in audiobook? And it`s for sale right now on Audible. Get it now and enjoy hearing Jacquette and Oscar`s story narrated by audiobook queen @estherwane. Esther has performed many great historicals, both fiction and nonfiction, including by two of my favorite authors, @TracyBorman and @AlisonWeirBooks. Check it out here. Only $6.10 today if you buy from the Audible phone app.
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0GHSM4QBV?source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=pdp

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 18205222600367989

Did you know that Butterfly Games is out in audiobook? And it's for sale right now on Audible. Get it now and enjoy hearing Jacquette and Oscar's story narrated by audiobook queen @estherwane. Esther has performed many great historicals, both fiction and nonfiction, including by two of my favorite authors, @TracyBorman and @AlisonWeirBooks. Check it out here. Only $6.10 today if you buy from the Audible phone app.
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0GHSM4QBV?source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=pdp

Was the Butterfly Game real?

Yes—and no. 🦋

While researching the Swedish royal court for Butterfly Games, I came across the word fjärilsleken—literally, “the butterfly game.”

It was used in connection with fleeting affairs and lovers who moved frivolously from one object of affection to another.

I knew almost immediately that I had my title.

But the Butterfly Game in the novel became something larger: a game of love, marriage, gossip, information, family connections, ambition, and power.

And Jacquette discovers that useful information can be turned against anyone.

Even her.

I tell the story behind the title in my new Literary Titan interview.

🦋 Read the full Q&A at the link in my bio.

#ButterflyGames #HistoricalFiction #JacquetteGyldenstolpe #SwedishHistory #HistoricalFictionBooks #Bookstagram #RoyalHistory

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 17960129799197881

Was the Butterfly Game real?

Yes—and no. 🦋

While researching the Swedish royal court for Butterfly Games, I came across the word fjärilsleken—literally, “the butterfly game.”

It was used in connection with fleeting affairs and lovers who moved frivolously from one object of affection to another.

I knew almost immediately that I had my title.

But the Butterfly Game in the novel became something larger: a game of love, marriage, gossip, information, family connections, ambition, and power.

And Jacquette discovers that useful information can be turned against anyone.

Even her.

I tell the story behind the title in my new Literary Titan interview.

🦋 Read the full Q&A at the link in my bio.

#ButterflyGames #HistoricalFiction #JacquetteGyldenstolpe #SwedishHistory #HistoricalFictionBooks #Bookstagram #RoyalHistory

I did. I wrote Butterfly Games, Book 1.

Historical fiction set in late-Napoleonic Sweden, with royal scandal, forbidden love, dangerous gossip, and real people making seriously bad decisions.

A Swedish countess. A French-born prince. A palace full of enemies.

Read Butterfly Games. Link in bio.

#ButterflyGames #KellyScarborough #historicalfiction #bookreels #booktok bookstagram royalhistoricalfiction swedishhistory historicalfictionbooks napoleonicera

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 18098599130337758

I did. I wrote Butterfly Games, Book 1.

Historical fiction set in late-Napoleonic Sweden, with royal scandal, forbidden love, dangerous gossip, and real people making seriously bad decisions.

A Swedish countess. A French-born prince. A palace full of enemies.

Read Butterfly Games. Link in bio.

#ButterflyGames #KellyScarborough #historicalfiction #bookreels #booktok bookstagram royalhistoricalfiction swedishhistory historicalfictionbooks napoleonicera

Butterfly Games, Book 1.

A Swedish countess. A French-born prince. A royal court where no one escapes without a little damage.

For readers who like their historical fiction with scandal, politics, forbidden love, and real people behaving badly in beautiful ballrooms.

Read it now. Link in bio.

#ButterflyGames #historicalfiction #bookstagram #KindleScreenshots kindlereads royalhistoricalfiction swedishhistory

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 18011209019928525

Butterfly Games, Book 1.

A Swedish countess. A French-born prince. A royal court where no one escapes without a little damage.

For readers who like their historical fiction with scandal, politics, forbidden love, and real people behaving badly in beautiful ballrooms.

Read it now. Link in bio.

#ButterflyGames #historicalfiction #bookstagram #KindleScreenshots kindlereads royalhistoricalfiction swedishhistory

I love reading novels about real women in history who did amazing things. This Wednesday, join four of my favorite authors discussing their recent works. These are all great books for your historical fiction TBR. Register and get a chance to win a book bundle with all four signed books! Scan the QR code to register for the Zoom and giveaway.

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 17911524615430888

I love reading novels about real women in history who did amazing things. This Wednesday, join four of my favorite authors discussing their recent works. These are all great books for your historical fiction TBR. Register and get a chance to win a book bundle with all four signed books! Scan the QR code to register for the Zoom and giveaway.

Happy 250th birthday, America. 🇺🇸

And in the world of Butterfly Games, July 4 belongs to Jacquette and Oscar, too. It`s their shared birthday.

They met when they were quite young, and in the summer of 1811, both stayed at Drottningholm Palace, that glittering royal world of impossible futures.

For Jacquette, one look was enough.

She never looked back.

What began as a summer encounter became the kind of love people talk about for centuries.

Read Butterfly Games and discover how Jacquette and Oscar’s story began. Link in bio.

#ButterflyGames #historicalfiction #books #bookish #royalty #DrottningholmPalace #NapoleonicEra #romantichistoricalfiction

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 18084379577440130

Happy 250th birthday, America. 🇺🇸

And in the world of Butterfly Games, July 4 belongs to Jacquette and Oscar, too. It's their shared birthday.

They met when they were quite young, and in the summer of 1811, both stayed at Drottningholm Palace, that glittering royal world of impossible futures.

For Jacquette, one look was enough.

She never looked back.

What began as a summer encounter became the kind of love people talk about for centuries.

Read Butterfly Games and discover how Jacquette and Oscar’s story began. Link in bio.

#ButterflyGames #historicalfiction #books #bookish #royalty #DrottningholmPalace #NapoleonicEra #romantichistoricalfiction

I have happy book news: Butterfly Games*has won the Bronze Medal in Historical Fiction (Romance) in the 2026 Independent Publisher Book Awards!

The IPPY Awards honor independent publishing, and I’m so happy that Jacquette’s glittering, dangerous, late-Napoleonic Swedish world has received this recognition.

Thank you to every reader, reviewer, bookseller, librarian, blogger, and historical fiction friend who has helped her story find its way. I’m so grateful to all of you.

If you’ve been waiting for a reason to step into the salons, secrets, and dangerous games of Butterfly Games…visit my website to learn more. 🦋

#ButterflyGames #KellyScarborough #IPPYAwards #IndependentPublisherBookAwards #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalRomance #AwardWinningBook #Bookstagram #BookTok #IndieAuthor #WomenWriters

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 17878968189608267

I have happy book news: Butterfly Games*has won the Bronze Medal in Historical Fiction (Romance) in the 2026 Independent Publisher Book Awards!

The IPPY Awards honor independent publishing, and I’m so happy that Jacquette’s glittering, dangerous, late-Napoleonic Swedish world has received this recognition.

Thank you to every reader, reviewer, bookseller, librarian, blogger, and historical fiction friend who has helped her story find its way. I’m so grateful to all of you.

If you’ve been waiting for a reason to step into the salons, secrets, and dangerous games of Butterfly Games…visit my website to learn more. 🦋

#ButterflyGames #KellyScarborough #IPPYAwards #IndependentPublisherBookAwards #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalRomance #AwardWinningBook #Bookstagram #BookTok #IndieAuthor #WomenWriters

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