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📝 Writing Butterfly Games #2 in Sweden — August 2025

Posted on August 3, 2025 in Monthly Blog

Greetings from Sweden, friends! 🇸🇪 I’m lucky to be spending the month writing the second book in the Butterfly Games historical fiction series in a grand circa-1901 apartment in the Haga neighborhood of Karlstad. Yes, Karlstad—not Stockholm, not Goth…

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For fans of Philippa Gregory, Allison Pataki, Bridgerton, and The Crown, Butterfly Games is Kelly Scarborough’s debut biographical historical fiction novel about a young Swedish countess whose youthful love affair with the heir to her country’s throne has profound personal and political repercussions.

Historical Fiction Book Covers: Butterfly Games: Behind the Scenes

Posted on July 11, 2025 in Behind the Scenes, Butterfly Games

Discover the story behind the book cover of royal historical fiction novel Butterfly Games by Kelly Scarborough. Meet the artists who designed the fern embroidery and cipher pin worn by ladies in waiting at the Swedish royal court. Preorder Butterfly…

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Cover of historical novel Napoleon's Mirage by Michelle Cameron

Q&A with Michelle Cameron: On Napoleon’s Mirage and the Illusions We Hold

Posted on July 11, 2025 in Favorite Authors

I love Napoleonic tales, especially those with far-flung settings distant from Bonaparte’s seat of power in Paris. Having already read and loved Michelle Cameron’s Beyond the Ghetto Gates, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Napoleon’s Mirag…

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Q&A with Jude Berman: On The Vow, Angelica Kauffman, and Reimagining a Forgotten Icon

Posted on May 8, 2025 in Favorite Authors

This month, I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Jude Berman—historian, novelist, and all-around master of time travel (of the literary kind, that is). Her novel The Vow reimagines the life of 18th-century artist Angelica Kauffman, a name that…

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I’m so grateful to @authormarthajean for her thoughtful, generous words about Butterfly Games.

As a fellow historical fiction author, Martha`s reflections on power, choices, and the quiet force of women in history felt especially meaningful to me.

Martha’s own historical novel, The Queen’s Musician, is one I absolutely adore, and her Substack is a wonderful place to read about history, craft, and creativity.

Link in first comment to read her piece.

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I’m so grateful to @authormarthajean for her thoughtful, generous words about Butterfly Games.

As a fellow historical fiction author, Martha's reflections on power, choices, and the quiet force of women in history felt especially meaningful to me.

Martha’s own historical novel, The Queen’s Musician, is one I absolutely adore, and her Substack is a wonderful place to read about history, craft, and creativity.

Link in first comment to read her piece.

"Twelve years. Enough said."

I opened up about the long journey to publish Butterfly Games with @TableReadMagazineUK — from reading the historical novel Désirée at age 14 to digging through centuries-old archives.

Read more about the inspirations and challenges behind the novel.
👉 https://f.mtr.cool/umfpiepxfb–-Kelly-Scarborough-–-Butterfly-Games-_-The-Table-Read-Magazine.pdf

#ButterflyGames
#HistoricalFiction
#AuthorInterview
#TableReadMagazine

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"Twelve years. Enough said."

I opened up about the long journey to publish Butterfly Games with @TableReadMagazineUK — from reading the historical novel Désirée at age 14 to digging through centuries-old archives.

Read more about the inspirations and challenges behind the novel.
👉 https://f.mtr.cool/umfpiepxfb–-Kelly-Scarborough-–-Butterfly-Games-_-The-Table-Read-Magazine.pdf

#ButterflyGames
#HistoricalFiction
#AuthorInterview
#TableReadMagazine

Huge thanks to everyone who braved the cold in lovely Concord, NH for the launch of my historical novel, Butterfly Games. I can’t say enough about Concord’s @gibsonsbookstorenh and its super events manager, @ryinwonderland. It was such a pleasure to be in conversation with @lauraknoyauthor and to learn more about her latest release, The Shopkeeper of Alsace. Special thanks to @allegraboverman for lending her expert photography skills, and to @lucysconfections for the tasty book cookies! Two of my favorite authors, @authorjaneward and @nancy.bernhard.author were there to support me, and I’m so grateful for their friendship and for all my sisters @shewritespress . Onward, 🦋 Butterfly Games!

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Huge thanks to everyone who braved the cold in lovely Concord, NH for the launch of my historical novel, Butterfly Games. I can’t say enough about Concord’s @gibsonsbookstorenh and its super events manager, @ryinwonderland. It was such a pleasure to be in conversation with @lauraknoyauthor and to learn more about her latest release, The Shopkeeper of Alsace. Special thanks to @allegraboverman for lending her expert photography skills, and to @lucysconfections for the tasty book cookies! Two of my favorite authors, @authorjaneward and @nancy.bernhard.author were there to support me, and I’m so grateful for their friendship and for all my sisters @shewritespress . Onward, 🦋 Butterfly Games!

I read the first line of Butterfly Games on First Lines with @jude.berman, — author of historical novel The Vow. We talked about how it came into being, including the chapters that didn’t survive, and what cutting them revealed about power, restraint, and story.

If you’re curious about how the book began — and how it changed — the link is in my bio.

#ButterflyGames #HistoricalFiction #FirstLines #YouTubeShorts

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 18075683342074191

I read the first line of Butterfly Games on First Lines with @jude.berman, — author of historical novel The Vow. We talked about how it came into being, including the chapters that didn’t survive, and what cutting them revealed about power, restraint, and story.

If you’re curious about how the book began — and how it changed — the link is in my bio.

#ButterflyGames #HistoricalFiction #FirstLines #YouTubeShorts

📍 Concord friends & New Hampshire readers — tonight’s the night.

Join me this evening at 6:30 PM at Gibson’s Bookstore for an in-conversation event with the wonderful Laura Knoy. We’ll be talking books, history, women’s lives, and the questions that fiction lets us ask out loud.

If you’re nearby, I’d love to see you there. ✨📚

#ConcordNH #NHBooks #AuthorEvent #HistoricalFiction #BookTalk IndieBookstore TonightInConcord

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📍 Concord friends & New Hampshire readers — tonight’s the night.

Join me this evening at 6:30 PM at Gibson’s Bookstore for an in-conversation event with the wonderful Laura Knoy. We’ll be talking books, history, women’s lives, and the questions that fiction lets us ask out loud.

If you’re nearby, I’d love to see you there. ✨📚

#ConcordNH #NHBooks #AuthorEvent #HistoricalFiction #BookTalk IndieBookstore TonightInConcord

A house built on contradiction.
A society fluent in hypocrisy.
The Double Standard Sporting House 📖#historicalfiction #bookstagram #booklaunchevent

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A house built on contradiction.
A society fluent in hypocrisy.
The Double Standard Sporting House 📖#historicalfiction #bookstagram #booklaunchevent

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Instagram post 18140396992477448

Power has its own language.

Butterfly Games is a story of proximity — to court, to influence, to danger — and the quiet costs of staying close enough to matter.

Watch the trailer.

Butterfly Games · January 20, 2026

#ButterflyGames
#HistoricalFiction
#BookTrailer
#Bookstagram

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Open post by kellyscarboroughwrites with ID 17998084292900323

Power has its own language.

Butterfly Games is a story of proximity — to court, to influence, to danger — and the quiet costs of staying close enough to matter.

Watch the trailer.

Butterfly Games · January 20, 2026

#ButterflyGames
#HistoricalFiction
#BookTrailer
#Bookstagram

Butterfly Games—“A Dance of Love and Power”—Reading the Past by Sarah Johnson.

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Butterfly Games—“A Dance of Love and Power”—Reading the Past by Sarah Johnson.

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