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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Unexpectedly brilliant! What a unique romcom, with such a refreshing ending!!! Highly highly HIGHLY recommend for anyone who is single, or has never had a relationship, or is questioning being in one. It was so validating of being outside the “norm” of boyfriend/marriage/babies, and it made me feel so good about myself and my potential future!
The only tiny qualm I had was with the duck- I kept expecting Matt to pop up and steal it and I was actually very nervous this was going to happen up until the last second.
The only tiny qualm I had was with the duck- I kept expecting Matt to pop up and steal it and I was actually very nervous this was going to happen up until the last second.
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's the summer of seeing myself in protagonists, I guess.
This book was a bit of a let down after the last book I read. I just wasn’t in love with the book. It could’ve been the stage of life I am in or that I couldn’t relate to the characters in the book much. It was well written, just not a story that sucked me in.
This was a fine way to spend a few hours, but I didn't love it. I started it by listening to the audio book and I hate to say that the narrator ruined the character of Nick for me - she reads his dialogue in a slightly cynical, exasperated tone and I don't think that's who Nick is supposed to be. But I shifted to the physical book to finish and I still didn't love the novel overall.
The whole plot with the duck decoy is a whole lot of nothing, ultimately.
And I'm not sure I understand why Linda Holmes spends quite as much time as she does describing Laurie's family when other than her littlest brother, they don't have much to do with the story after the chapter they're all introduced.
Linda Holmes can write character, but I don't adore her plotting. And as a bookseller, I'm ALWAYS going to question when a book is a hardcover when it would sell better as paperback original. I feel like the moment on this book is going to pass because I'm going to have a hard time justifying someone spend $28 on it.
The whole plot with the duck decoy is a whole lot of nothing, ultimately.
And I'm not sure I understand why Linda Holmes spends quite as much time as she does describing Laurie's family when other than her littlest brother, they don't have much to do with the story after the chapter they're all introduced.
Linda Holmes can write character, but I don't adore her plotting. And as a bookseller, I'm ALWAYS going to question when a book is a hardcover when it would sell better as paperback original. I feel like the moment on this book is going to pass because I'm going to have a hard time justifying someone spend $28 on it.
Linda Holmes hits another one out of the park with her sophomore novel! I absolutely loved her debut, Evvie Drake Starts Over, and I also loved this one. These are not rom-coms. There is romance, but the issues are much more serious, without romance tropes.
In Flying Solo, Laurie Sassalyn is 39 and single. She broke off her wedding about a year earlier, three weeks before the day. She doesn't want to get married, live with anyone, have kids. She's fiercely independent, much like her beloved great-aunt Dot. Dot recently died and Laurie flies from her home in Seattle to her small hometown in Maine to clean out Dot's filled-to-the-brim house. We meet Laurie's best friend, June, married with kids and still living in their hometown, and Laurie's longtime high school and college boyfriend, Nick Cooper.
Among Dot's things, Laurie finds a wood duck and she can't figure out why it was stored hidden away and not put out with the thousands of other pieces Dot displayed. The duck sends Laurie on a mysterious path to uncover the duck's importance, while learning more about her great-aunt's life and what Laurie herself might want out of life.
The banter in this book is fantasticly hilarious. I chuckled several times, fell in love with Laurie and her friends and family, and related to so much of their conversations, even as a married 49-year-old—who also considers herself fiercely independent. (Also, there's a small Easter egg to Evvie Drake Starts Over toward the beginning of the book that I metaphorically hugged to my heart.) The ending seems to meander a bit, and the resolution feels a little forced, but I'll take it because the majority of this book was a delight.
In Flying Solo, Laurie Sassalyn is 39 and single. She broke off her wedding about a year earlier, three weeks before the day. She doesn't want to get married, live with anyone, have kids. She's fiercely independent, much like her beloved great-aunt Dot. Dot recently died and Laurie flies from her home in Seattle to her small hometown in Maine to clean out Dot's filled-to-the-brim house. We meet Laurie's best friend, June, married with kids and still living in their hometown, and Laurie's longtime high school and college boyfriend, Nick Cooper.
Among Dot's things, Laurie finds a wood duck and she can't figure out why it was stored hidden away and not put out with the thousands of other pieces Dot displayed. The duck sends Laurie on a mysterious path to uncover the duck's importance, while learning more about her great-aunt's life and what Laurie herself might want out of life.
The banter in this book is fantasticly hilarious. I chuckled several times, fell in love with Laurie and her friends and family, and related to so much of their conversations, even as a married 49-year-old—who also considers herself fiercely independent. (Also, there's a small Easter egg to Evvie Drake Starts Over toward the beginning of the book that I metaphorically hugged to my heart.) The ending seems to meander a bit, and the resolution feels a little forced, but I'll take it because the majority of this book was a delight.
I really enjoyed this book. It's soft and slow, but ruminates on what it means to love, be loved, be independent and depend on others.
God, I opened this book just to try to ease into sleep with the start of a cozy read and then suddenly I looked up and I’d finished the whole thing. I did go in wary after reading an early write-up that kind of snottily declared this to be Not Like Other Romance Novels — and I’m so happy to report that this book doesn’t sport the same disdain.
I love how Holmes refuses to invalidate either the traditional HEA (marriage, kids, cohabitation) or the HEA less traveled. And she’s so good at showing how a heroine’s self-assuredness and independence are undoubtedly strengths, but flouting social conventions will also leave some scars. Holding a defensive crouch for so long can make you forget the possibility that you might not have to. And it’s lovely that she ultimately wants to tell the reader: sometimes the life you want isn’t simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s a life you can’t have.
Honestly, hats off to Holmes for writing something bold, that most definitely will not be for everyone, but will speak loudly and truthfully in a way that affirms you neither have to break up your wholeness of self to fit someone else’s concept of happiness, nor do you have to forgo companionship and love to be your own person.
Anyway. Don’t want to give too much away, because I think a large part of the joy for me was expecting a certain kind of straightforward, coming-back-to-your-hometown story and then suddenly leaning ALL the way in as it pivoted into something a little zanier and more involved. I adore the whole cast of characters, even the ones you only meet briefly. Laurie/Nick is dreamy and punctuated with just enough callbacks to their past to really sell their easy intimacy and rapport to me.
Overall, I think it struck the perfect balance of comforting/comfortable while also keeping me on my toes. Finished it and vaguely itched to start over, just to experience it all again.
I love how Holmes refuses to invalidate either the traditional HEA (marriage, kids, cohabitation) or the HEA less traveled. And she’s so good at showing how a heroine’s self-assuredness and independence are undoubtedly strengths, but flouting social conventions will also leave some scars. Holding a defensive crouch for so long can make you forget the possibility that you might not have to. And it’s lovely that she ultimately wants to tell the reader: sometimes the life you want isn’t simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s a life you can’t have.
Honestly, hats off to Holmes for writing something bold, that most definitely will not be for everyone, but will speak loudly and truthfully in a way that affirms you neither have to break up your wholeness of self to fit someone else’s concept of happiness, nor do you have to forgo companionship and love to be your own person.
Anyway. Don’t want to give too much away, because I think a large part of the joy for me was expecting a certain kind of straightforward, coming-back-to-your-hometown story and then suddenly leaning ALL the way in as it pivoted into something a little zanier and more involved. I adore the whole cast of characters, even the ones you only meet briefly. Laurie/Nick is dreamy and punctuated with just enough callbacks to their past to really sell their easy intimacy and rapport to me.
Overall, I think it struck the perfect balance of comforting/comfortable while also keeping me on my toes. Finished it and vaguely itched to start over, just to experience it all again.
This was dumb. The Maine setting seemed to be there solely to provide names of towns to visit and to be a foil to the heroine's "real" life in Seattle. There were some unique plot points and the writing was sometimes funny, but the love story was incredibly lame and while I appreciate that they tried to make a plus size heroine work, that point felt extremely shoe-horned into the story whenever it was mentioned. That said, Julia Whelan could read the phone book and I'd listen all the way through.
The genre is ‘Cozy Middle Aged Lady Book.’ I don’t know what else to call a book that is literally about a chick trying to determine the mystery behind a wooden duck her dead great-aunt left behind. You read that right. The book is good, but, like, how highly can you rate a book about a chick trying to determine the mystery behind a wooden duck her dead great-aunt left behind? Not that highly. No one was murdered or tortured.