The Butterfly's Sting

by Abbie Harlow

Overview

For Bo and her siblings, the underground fight club may finally provide escape from life with an abusive uncle ― but only if she can win.

Never again. That’s what seventeen-year-old Bo Clark has promised her two younger siblings ever since they were put in separate foster homes―a situation that nearly turned deadly for her little brother, and that they have vowed never to repeat. Bo will do anything to keep that promise. Even if it means enduring the abuse of Uncle Jack, their new guardian. When Jack discovers that Bo has a talent for boxing, he signs her up for an underground fight club tournament, which could bring in enough money for her to move out with her siblings as soon as she turns eighteen.

But the ring is a brutal place, and when Bo’s cutman is arrested, Jack is forced to bring a new one onto the team. Liam turns out to be a schoolmate of Bo’s, and even as the two of them grow closer, she worries that he will go to the authorities if he ever finds out Jack is hurting her.

As Bo makes her way closer to the big prize, Jack starts to set his sights beyond the tournament, and in an explosive finale, the violence moves outside the ring, putting everything Bo loves at risk.

Key Text Features

Biographical information

chapters

dialogue

epigraph

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781779460028
Publisher:	Groundwood Books Ltd
Publication date:	10/07/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

ABBIE HARLOW has a BA from Brigham Young University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, where The Butterfly’s Sting was her thesis project. Now when she’s not writing, she works in the main office of a high school, where she observes the triumphs and trials of students every day. Abbie lives in Alameda, California, inspiration for the setting of this story, and where her family has lived for five generations. The Butterfly’s Sting is her first novel.

Read an Excerpt

The air around me feels thick, charged, heavy, like the sky before a storm breaks. As always, when I walk up, a few people snicker. But tonight, far louder are the chants booming all around me: “Butterfly! Butterfly! Butterfly!”… 

Jack pulls me aside. He puts both hands on my shoulders, bending low to meet my gaze. Tonight, his eyes are the color of the morning fog, pale and soft. Almost soothing.

“Listen.” His voice is quiet. “When you get out there, I want you to forget about all of this.” He waves an arm around the room. “The only thing that matters is the guy across from you. Got it?”

I nod, and he adds, “You’ve trained for this.”

“I know.”

“You’re ready.”

“Am I?”

It comes out like a confession. I brace for Jack to snap at me — what kind of talk is that? — but he only squeezes my shoulders. For once, it doesn’t hurt.

“You are.” Jack leans in, almost like he’s going to hug me. But at the last moment, he nudges me toward the ring instead. “Go be great.”