Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Fly With Me by Andie Burke

8 reviews

mel_j's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

Both Olive and Stella were a bit bland. A lot of telling instead of showing in this novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Lesbophobia, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, and Racism

hmatt's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There were parts of this that were very cute, and I think the characterization of the MCs were pretty well done, but I was disappointed by the flimsy fake-dating. It felt sloppily inserted into their otherwise much darker, more challenging (and WAY more interesting) lives. I also wasn't a fan of how the author repeatedly side-steps describing important events by inserting a plot twist - this is hard to describe without spoilers, but it's something that I noticed after it happened more than twice. It felt lazy, and I guess laziness is the main issue I had with the book. The gay-is-okay is a little on the nose at times, and there is a very bad trope-y stalker ex plot

that doesn't get resolved!!!

that I would describe as lazy too. It makes for a weird balance when these bits intersect with the nuanced, well-done exploration of tough topics like  mental health and terminal family illness. I felt these serious bits were well done most of the time

, but even some of these don't get resolved at the end

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Biphobia and Religious bigotry

amford's review against another edition

dark emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia, Chronic illness, Lesbophobia, Death, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Grief

Minor: Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

trussell12's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Alcohol

bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. Olive and Stella were such compelling characters. i like that the romance engaged with the other real life concerns in a way that enhanced the story. parts of the story felt i bit like checking of a list rather than being essential to the story, but the strong ending really tied everything together in a very satisfying way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Cursing, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Terminal illness

jgarrin93's review

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death, Alcohol, Homophobia, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, Biphobia, Medical content, Cursing, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Lesbophobia

booksdogsandcoffee's review

emotional medium-paced

3.0

Overall I think the premise of Fly With Me is wonderful, but the execution and the romance wasn’t there for me. 

Olive, an ER nurse who hates flying, is tasked with saving a life mid flight on her way to a Run Disney Marathon. As the plane gets re directed one of the flight attendants, Stella, offers to drive her the rest of the way to Orlando to make it to the Marathon in time. Insert and adorable date at Disney World! Once Stella’s airline gets wind of Olive’s heroics, Stella sees this as her chance to make her way up in the company. So they devise a plan to fake date and help each other out. 
 
The book does a wonderful job discussing grief and loosing a family member to both dementia and fatal accidents. As well as anxiety, and toxic family relationships. 

Where I think the book actually fell short for me was the romance. Olive and Stella, to me didn’t feel like they actually had chemistry or even a likable relationship. It seemed more like the book was trying to hit the tropes and (fake dating and miscommunication) some really good spice. Which the spice was quiet well done. 

Cw
Gaslighting 
Toxic family
Toil relationship 
Grief
Death

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia

caseythereader's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-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

3.5

Thanks to St. Martins Press for the free copy of this book.

 - FLY WITH ME has such a silly premise, and yet it's fairly serious for a romance novel. This book deals with everything from workplace sexism to end of life care for relative in a coma.
- As much as I loved the opposites-attract dynamic between Olive and Stella (and we know how much I love fake dating!), this book went around in circles, having the same conversation a few too many times for me. There was also a third act breakup a literal 20 pages from the end of the book, which felt totally unnecessary after all the previous back and forth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Terminal illness, Cursing, Death, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Dementia and Homophobia