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womanwill's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
FLY WITH ME is a sweet, faking dating sapphic dream!
Olive is making the motions of life, but not truly living after a tragic accident leaves her brother in a coma. When she is thrust into the spotlight after pulling a Super Nurse and saving a man on her flight, sexy pilot Stella Soriano proposes a fake dating scheme to get her long fought for promotion to captain.
This love story is chock full of tender and silly moments, set against a backdrop of family turmoil, grief, and caregiving. Burke does a deft job of balancing the heavy and light moments and letting her characters lean on each other while they work through their own stuff.
The basics:
- fake dating
- sapphic love
- bi rep & lesbian rep
- sexy pilot x ER nurse
- GLUTEN FREE COOKING SEDUCTION
- panic disorder & depression rep
- Parkinson's & caregiving rep
- Disney
- love letter to nursing
I really enjoyed this debut romance and can't wait to see what Burke puts out next!
Olive is making the motions of life, but not truly living after a tragic accident leaves her brother in a coma. When she is thrust into the spotlight after pulling a Super Nurse and saving a man on her flight, sexy pilot Stella Soriano proposes a fake dating scheme to get her long fought for promotion to captain.
This love story is chock full of tender and silly moments, set against a backdrop of family turmoil, grief, and caregiving. Burke does a deft job of balancing the heavy and light moments and letting her characters lean on each other while they work through their own stuff.
The basics:
- fake dating
- sapphic love
- bi rep & lesbian rep
- sexy pilot x ER nurse
- GLUTEN FREE COOKING SEDUCTION
- panic disorder & depression rep
- Parkinson's & caregiving rep
- Disney
- love letter to nursing
I really enjoyed this debut romance and can't wait to see what Burke puts out next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual harassment, Death, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Homophobia
dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for inviting me to review a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
After saving a man’s life on an airplane, Olive Murphy is thrusted into the spotlight once again. Meanwhile, after a connection developed between the two, pilot Stella Soriano tries to convince Olive to be her fake girlfriend in order to finally get the promotion she’s been working towards at her airline. Yet, as the two spend more time together, Olive wonders if they can make this relationship a reality.
I enjoyed reading Burke’s debut novel, Fly with Me, and it’s worth the read for readers looking for a queer fake dating rom-com. Olive and Stella were good MCs and I liked the depth that Burke brought to both of their character development. While I feel like this could have worked really well as a dual POV, I appreciate the effort Burke put into Olive’s overall growth in the book. Their romance was cute and I rooted for them to get together till the end of the book.
Burke also provides a good writing style in this debut. Burke makes it easy for the reader to get into the plot and utilizes the fake dating trope very well. As a small critique, I have mixed feelings about the epilogue. For me, I didn’t see much need for it since it doesn’t show much of a “where are they now” as well as the fact that it was very short. I think it would have worked better if the epilogue was extended a bit or not there at all.
Other than the epilogue, I thought Fly with Me is a solid debut and I look forward to reading Burke’s future works.
After saving a man’s life on an airplane, Olive Murphy is thrusted into the spotlight once again. Meanwhile, after a connection developed between the two, pilot Stella Soriano tries to convince Olive to be her fake girlfriend in order to finally get the promotion she’s been working towards at her airline. Yet, as the two spend more time together, Olive wonders if they can make this relationship a reality.
I enjoyed reading Burke’s debut novel, Fly with Me, and it’s worth the read for readers looking for a queer fake dating rom-com. Olive and Stella were good MCs and I liked the depth that Burke brought to both of their character development. While I feel like this could have worked really well as a dual POV, I appreciate the effort Burke put into Olive’s overall growth in the book. Their romance was cute and I rooted for them to get together till the end of the book.
Burke also provides a good writing style in this debut. Burke makes it easy for the reader to get into the plot and utilizes the fake dating trope very well. As a small critique, I have mixed feelings about the epilogue. For me, I didn’t see much need for it since it doesn’t show much of a “where are they now” as well as the fact that it was very short. I think it would have worked better if the epilogue was extended a bit or not there at all.
Other than the epilogue, I thought Fly with Me is a solid debut and I look forward to reading Burke’s future works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Dementia
Moderate: Stalking and Misogyny
Minor: Car accident
beesneysbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I was lucky to receive an e-ARC of this book, and when I say lucky, i mean LUCKY. This book had everything you need in a book: fake dating, queer characters, family drama, miscommunication that resolves itself rather quickly, found-family, a funny start-to-end joke that keeps popping up. Everything about this book was written with care, including an authors note at the beginning with triggers written in a way that makes the reader feel connected with the author. Would definitely recommend to anyone and everyone! (as always, check the triggers before you read and take care of yourself!)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Sexism, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Death, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, and Car accident
alexfromistemor's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexism, Death, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse
blovesbooks80's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, and Death
Moderate: Sexual harassment
rickireadss's review against another edition
2.5
thank you to netgalley for the earc!
i wanted to like this more than i did, and i'm sad that it just didn't live up. while there were some aspects i liked, the bad heavily outweighed the good for me.
****potential spoilers below****
what i liked:
- our mc olive -> i related to a lot of her inner monologue and overall really liked her.
- olive's brother jake -> even though he wasn't even an active character, i could feel their love for each other.
what i didn't like:
- the love interest, stella -> she seemed like SUCH a flat character, and this may be due to the single pov. i honestly could not deal with her back and forth with olive, of wanting to be just friends or wanting to blur the lines. also, the fact that it wasn't made known that she was Latina until 25% in felt like that was just added in last minute. besides her mentioning it one or twice and her dad calling her mija or mijita, the rep felt really underdeveloped.
- ALL of olive's family (besides jake obvi). -> her sister needed to grow a backbone. her parents were THE WORST. i literally could not deal with them everytime they were on page. their treatment of olive was so uncalled for and i wish she had gone no-contact with them ages ago, but like i also know why she didn't. her mother rubbed me wrong the most and quickly made my list of "characters i hate".
- the side character lindsay -> not only was she a manipulative, selfish, ableist piece of shit, but i don't feel like olive truly dealt with what she did throughout the book but especially at the end. there wasn't really OW drama, but her constant addition to the plot was uncalled for and wasn't resolved.
there is probably more i didn't like, but i am tired of thinking of this book. i loved olive, i really like this cover, but this one just didn't do it for me.
⚠️: death, grief, toxic relationship (past ex), religious bigotry, gaslighting, emotional abuse, ableism, chronic illness (celiac), panic attacks/disorders, terminal illness (Parkinson's), lesbophobia, homophobia, misogyny, transphobia, medical content, car accident
i wanted to like this more than i did, and i'm sad that it just didn't live up. while there were some aspects i liked, the bad heavily outweighed the good for me.
****potential spoilers below****
what i liked:
- our mc olive -> i related to a lot of her inner monologue and overall really liked her.
- olive's brother jake -> even though he wasn't even an active character, i could feel their love for each other.
what i didn't like:
- the love interest, stella -> she seemed like SUCH a flat character, and this may be due to the single pov. i honestly could not deal with her back and forth with olive, of wanting to be just friends or wanting to blur the lines. also, the fact that it wasn't made known that she was Latina until 25% in felt like that was just added in last minute. besides her mentioning it one or twice and her dad calling her mija or mijita, the rep felt really underdeveloped.
- ALL of olive's family (besides jake obvi). -> her sister needed to grow a backbone. her parents were THE WORST. i literally could not deal with them everytime they were on page. their treatment of olive was so uncalled for and i wish she had gone no-contact with them ages ago, but like i also know why she didn't. her mother rubbed me wrong the most and quickly made my list of "characters i hate".
- the side character lindsay -> not only was she a manipulative, selfish, ableist piece of shit, but i don't feel like olive truly dealt with what she did throughout the book but especially at the end. there wasn't really OW drama, but her constant addition to the plot was uncalled for and wasn't resolved.
there is probably more i didn't like, but i am tired of thinking of this book. i loved olive, i really like this cover, but this one just didn't do it for me.
⚠️: death, grief, toxic relationship (past ex), religious bigotry, gaslighting, emotional abuse, ableism, chronic illness (celiac), panic attacks/disorders, terminal illness (Parkinson's), lesbophobia, homophobia, misogyny, transphobia, medical content, car accident
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Ableism, Death, Gaslighting, and Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, and Misogyny
Minor: Car accident and Transphobia
dconlon's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Overall this book had a cute story, and I appreciated how it talked about discrimination, mental health, and self confidence throughout. I liked how both main characters learned more about themselves and became more confident throughout the story. However, this story felt slow-paced and drawn out, and I thought it could have been shortened in some places. Also a lot of the situations felt over the top and required a suspension of disbelief in a way that felt more extreme than other books in the romance genre. Thank you to netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Car accident, Sexism, Racism, and Sexual harassment
spaghettireads's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I was really intrigued by the premise of this book! Queer romance! A pilot as the love interest! I enjoyed both of the characters but I didn't find the writing to be convincing about their relationship. My brain cared about their relationship but my emotions did not. I think that the book was trying to do too much, Both characters had multiple non-romance storylines that didn't get a chance to be developed enough, or resolved enough by the end.
I am interested in what the author writes next because I think that this had some great parts, and a lot of potential but it didn't all come together for me in this one.
Thanks St. Martin's Press & Netgalley for ARC
I am interested in what the author writes next because I think that this had some great parts, and a lot of potential but it didn't all come together for me in this one.
Thanks St. Martin's Press & Netgalley for ARC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
coligmueller's review against another edition
5.0
What an amazing debut! Very rarely have I read a book and been so impressed by how well written and fleshed out!
Additionally, though Fly With Me has been on my TBR for a while, I was slighlty hesitant because I’m not the biggest fan of fake dating, but the trope worked so well in this book! I loved that the majority of the relationship development happened outside of the fake dating, and that both characters had fully developed lives apart from each other.
Typically when so much happens in a book this length, there are parts that feel rushed, or moments that feel unnecessary, but every scene seemed to build so well onto the story!
*Possible Spoiler
Typically by the end of a book, especially one which deals with loss and grief, I want the end to have complete closure. However, I so appreciated that Olive did not rush to make peace with the members of her family who hurt her . Often there are moments towards the end of a book like this one, which focus entirely on, what seems to me to be, very forced and often manipulated forgiveness. It was so refreshing to see a character not cave to the pressure to forgive for the sake of not being difficult!
Additionally, though Fly With Me has been on my TBR for a while, I was slighlty hesitant because I’m not the biggest fan of fake dating, but the trope worked so well in this book! I loved that the majority of the relationship development happened outside of the fake dating, and that both characters had fully developed lives apart from each other.
Typically when so much happens in a book this length, there are parts that feel rushed, or moments that feel unnecessary, but every scene seemed to build so well onto the story!
*Possible Spoiler
Typically by the end of a book, especially one which deals with loss and grief, I want the end to have complete closure. However, I so appreciated that Olive did not rush to make peace with the members of her family who hurt her . Often there are moments towards the end of a book like this one, which focus entirely on, what seems to me to be, very forced and often manipulated forgiveness. It was so refreshing to see a character not cave to the pressure to forgive for the sake of not being difficult!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Religious bigotry, Death, and Grief
kayladaila's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is a very sweet sapphic romance! Olive is on her way to run a Disney marathon when, on her very first flight, she has to save someone’s life. Through that experience, she meets Stella, one of the pilots. Stella thinks that if her and Olive fake a relationship, it will help her get a promotion. Drama obviously ensues. I loved this book because the characters and experiences felt so realistic. There were moments where I was laughing and other moments where I was having a panic attack right next to Olive. The side characters and personal growth stories for both characters were also very meaningful. I highly recommend this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Sexual content, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Biphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Chronic illness, and Stalking
Minor: Lesbophobia and Death of parent