3.5 stars, could have been better, honestly. Was cute at the start but ended up going in circles for most of the book—left more to be desired. I liked the overarching story, but the characters themselves didn’t click as well with me as I would have liked them to, and although their motivations and desires were clear it all just felt very flat somehow. Not an awful read but not the best one ever, either. Genuinely wanted to like it, so a little bit disappointed. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc!

I’ve followed Andie Burke now for a while on Instagram (except when she posts her snake stories, I’m just not equipped to handle those) and I was so excited when I heard her book was getting published. I tend to stay far, far away from reading anything from anyone I even barely interact with because I have a lot of opinions and sometimes people don’t want to hear them. So I did not immediately grab an early review copy at the first opportunity but by the third, I took it as a sign from the universe it was letting me know that I needed this book. Then the first really meaningful scenes between airline pilot Stella Soriano and Olive take place at Disney World and I knew I’d found my bookish match.

Stella and Olive, a nurse, meet after a chance encounter on an airplane has Olive saving a life. Stella, being a kind person, offers to chauffeur tired, exhausted Olive to her next destination and the two strike up a friendship that eventually leads to a mutually beneficial fake dating romance. They both have a certain loveable underdog status to them despite having polar opposite personalities.

Their romance was set amongst a lot of drama happening in both of their lives and I’m ashamed to say I was actually more interested in the drama in Olive’s life. Her brother has been on life support and Olive has a power of attorney. She wants to honour her brother’s wishes and “pull the plug” but her religious family are pulling out all the stops and have all but pushed her out of the family. The level of trauma for an otherwise heartwarming romance was unusual and I would have expected a traditional happily-ever-after where everything works out = but that wasn’t *quite* the case which kept this from being five stars for me. I felt like I didn't get all the closure I needed. Sequel perhaps?

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing an early review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

"Fly With Me" by Andie Burke takes readers on a delightful journey with Olive and Stella, two strong sapphic women who feel underappreciated in their professions. The story's chemistry between the characters is undeniable, and you can't help but root for them. While the beginning may be a tad cheesy and the nemesis character a bit over-the-top, the heartfelt moments and the growth of their relationship make it a worthwhile read. Overall, it's a charming (and spicy!) tale of fake dating turning into something real, with turbulence and all.

It is refreshing how real the characters in this book are. They both have relatable issues they are struggling with. Olive has family issues and struggles with panic attacks. Stella is focused on her job and trying to get ahead while working for a company that clearly favors men over women. Past relationships have left them each thinking they are unworthy of love. Yet, they are perfect for each other, and their relationship with each other is so sweet. The journey they go on to discover that they are each capable and worthy of loving and being loved is really touching.

ER nurse Olive has decided to face her fear of flying for the first time to travel to a marathon in honor of her brother. But when a medical emergency happens mid-flight, she puts her nerves aside to save a life. Impressed, copilot Stella offers Olive a ride to her destination, which spins into a viral news story and a fake dating agreement, creating a runway for real love to take flight.

What delightful and layered story! Andie Burke doesn't shy away from pain and difficult topics in this romance — which makes sense when you think about the fact that she wrote it while working as a nurse during the pandemic. I know some folks don't like traumatic plots in their romance, but for me, it makes the happy ending that much more powerful. Olive and Stella are a great pair, and they both feel wonderfully real. Can't wait to see what Burke writes next!

Love a fake dating scenario especially when it's paired with a meet cute.
Stella needed a date to an event and Olive was drawn to her kindness and personality.
From the beginning authors note she wrote this and said she drew from her experience as a nurse in the ER during COVID and..
"One character faces end-of-life decisions for a loved one and another is helping a parent manage a progressive neurological disease. There are also descriptions of panic attacks and an acute depressive episode."
These large life events resonated with me. Their connection and "dates" that became dates happened while they were going through those difficult times. While Olive's parents were pushing her away because she was giving her healthcare advice as a nurse and they didn't like it. Think of losing a child and disowning another cause they are trying to honor their wishes.
And Stella is watching her father live with Parkinsons. Also both of them have had bad relationships or felt like they were the selfish one so they didn't think it would work. Don't get me started on Lindsay - really needed to issue a restraining order against that gaslighting awfulness.
Wish it wrapped up better with Olive's family but life isn't always wrapped in a bow. At least they got to start their hea.

Read if you like:
✈️Fake dating
💺Meet cute
🏞️Grief
🍰Sapphic

Thank you stmartinspress for the eArc for the honest and voluntary review.

I absolutely ate up this audiobook. I went into this read completely blind. I solely picked up this book based on the cover alone. I was very happy to find out this book was a Sapphic romance novel about a Nurse and a female Pilot. Seeing characters in non-traditional jobs is one of my favorite things about reading romance. This book has a little fake dating in it as well which was a very fun twist after the two characters meet on the plane, and Olive saves a man's life. It’s evident from early on that they have feelings for each other more than this fake dating plan they have going on. Seeing these two fall for each other, dominate in some pretty cool career paths, and discuss some difficult topics with each other in a healthy way really made this book so meaningful. I loved every second of this book, you can see that there was so much heart that went into it. Truly amazing, I cannot wait to read more from Andie Burke! Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and MacMillan Audio for the advanced copies.

What a delightful debut! The story really hooks you from the opening pages, and only takes flight from there.

Olive Murphy’s first ever flight takes a dramatic turn when she’s called to help in an in-flight medical emergency. Olive, a nurse, stabilizes the patient and the situation, but the flight is still detoured from the Disney marathon she’s running in honor of her brother. Pilot Stella Soriano offers her a ride, and the pair ends up spending an unexpected day together at the happiest place on Earth.

When they find out the lifesaving video went viral, Stella asks Olive to pretend to be her girlfriend to help get a well-deserved but overdue promotion. Andie does an excellent job of weaving in heavier topics (end-of-life care of a loved one, misogyny in the workplace, terminal illness, etc.) without weighing down the lighter feel of the overall story. There’s plenty of laughs, steam, and just really sweet moments. I especially enjoyed:

The way Stella and Olive took care of each other. They noticed ALL the little things and aren't the little things everything?
Their inside jokes–the snake plant really had me cackling.
The way they got out of their comfort zones for each other.
Murphy’s Law content was so clever and relatable!

Overall, Fly with Me really shines! Andie is genuine and sweet and I’ve loved seeing this debut come to fruition in the book world! Looking forward to what's next for her :)

Olive is terrified of flying and is struggling through that fear on her first flight when there is a medical emergency, and as a nurse she happens to be the only medical professional on board. She ends up successfully saving a man’s life, but since the plane made an emergency landing, she is still very far away from her final destination. She is determined to make it on time to start the marathon she is running in honor of her brother, and luckily the beautiful pilot of her flight, Stella, offers Olive a ride. After a video of Olive saving a life goes viral, Stella sees an opportunity to help her career and asks Olive to be her fake girlfriend, for publicity. But as they spend more time together, the relationship feels more real.

I loved this book. There were a lot of emotional and deep issues at play that could have made this book feel heavy, but it didn’t. With everything Stella and Olive had going on in their personal lives and within their families, it was easy to root for them and want them to find their happy endings. This book is on the longer side for a romance novel, but that really allowed the characters to develop, and the readers to understand all of the things going on in their lives. I will definitely be reading more from Andie Burke in the future!

Thank you to SMP Romance and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This was an ambitious debut novel with a sizzling romance. For me, there was a little too much going on outside of the relationship, and I wanted to have more of a focus on the romantic relationship itself. I rated it 3.5 stars, but rounded up to 4 because Netgalley doesn't do half stars.

I tend to like my romances a bit lighter than this one was. It dealt with a lot (I will write in more detail about this, but there are some spoilers), and there were a lot of really toxic people surrounding the main characters. While Olive does have one really good friend, her toxic ex and strained relationship with her family were both hard to read! Because of all of these difficult relationships, Olive doesn’t really feel worthy of love, which is a common issue in romance novels that I tend to not really enjoy.

The beginning of the book was really fun, and I was definitely rooting for our lovers to get together! If you like your romances with a lot of deep emotional issues, I definitely recommend this one.

***SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT***
This is long because I wanted to use a lot of detail to illustrate my point, not long because I hated the book at all. This is a, "You were good, but I wanted you to be great., and it was so close."

For me, it felt like both Olive and Stella had too much hardship in their lives that took up a lot of the novel and kept them apart in a way I did not enjoy. Olive is dealing with end of life care for her brother, a feud with the rest of her family, a toxic ex girlfriend, depression, anxiety, and a phobia of flying. At the same time, Stella is dealing with her father's Parkinson's disease, being his soul caregiver, trying to become a Captain while working for an extremely sexist airline, AND believing that she is incapable of being a good girlfriend. I feel like I didn't really get to know Stella a part from these things that were happening to her, and the emotional connection between our lovers felt a little light. I really like seeing the main character get more emotional affection from their love interest, and we didn't really see that from Stella except for 2 scenes - one in the very end, and one when Olive gets pneumonia. Even with the illness scene, it was Stella physically taking care of Olive that showed how much she liked Olive - nothing she said. Again, this is a personal taste issue and not an issue with the writing, since Burke made it clear that that was part of who Stella was as a person.

The third act breakup was REALLY brutal. Stella said some awful things, and while she immediately apologized, it kind of annoyed me that Olive had to do the grand gesture and Stella never tried to reach out after being so unfair. Especially with everything that Olive was going through!

The entire book I wanted both characters to go to therapy, especially Olive, and she finally did - but we weren't really shown how it helped her to heal and overcome her issues, we were just told and shown that now she was brave enough to try flying again. I think some of those deeper unlovable wounds would have been really interesting to unpack more.

Most of all, I wanted the toxic ex, Lindsay, to get told off, especially by Olive. She was almost cartoonishly awful and I wanted to punch her in the face for the entire novel.

AFTER ALL THAT, I feel like it sounds like I hated the book which I did not!! I loved the first 25% or so, felt like the middle dragged a bit but was fairly interesting, and wanted most of an emotional connection between the lovers. If there had been some tripping in the middle, I think this would have been even more enjoyable for me. It was just so close to being something I would love that I have a lot to write about. Besides having a bit too much drawing attention away from the romance, there were a few plot points that are generally not my favorite, but in no way a critique of Burke's writing, just a matter of taste!

All of his a fear of flying so when she finally takes a flight from Colorado to Florida to run in a race her brother had one the year before his death her only hope is to make it through the flight but when they call for a doctor she silently prays they find one but when they don’t and ask for a nurse she reluctantly raises her hand. After assessing the man who passed out in his seat she saves his life and this is why her plane was diverted to Atlanta which causes all of to be totally bombed out. Due to her not being able to get off of work she flew out as soon as she could but Hass to be there by the next morning and there’s no more flights leaving Atlanta to make matters worse the flight crew wants to take pictures with her. The only upside is she got to meet one of the most beautiful women she’s ever met and she also happens to be the pilot her name is Stella and while Olive is in the airport terminal crying she hears someone ask if she is OK and seeing it is Stella Who referred to her as just a nurse she isn’t happy to see her but once Stella starts talking to her she thinks maybe she isn’t so bad and when she offers to drive her to Orlando Olive couldn’t be more thankful. She missed the race the year before because of something having to do with her ex girlfriend and since her brothers heroic death she feels guilty not to mention the rift that is going on between her and the rest of her family. The friendly drive to Orlando turned out to be much more in pilot Stella may even cure olive of her fear of flying. This is not your average romance although it is a sweet romance it is so much more that’s family drama talk of mental issues an ex and so much more this is such a great book and one I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend I absolutely loved this book! I am not a big fan of romance books but loved this one. I want to thank Saint Martin’s press press and Net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Be still my beating heart. Sapphic fake dating with two heroines who are convinced they're 'broken' and not worthy yet absolute badass characters you fall head over heels for? What more can you want!

Between a pilot struggling to make captain to a nurse who is just trying to abide by her brother's wishes while being painted as the money-hungry villain in the family- both Olive and Stella are the taking care of others before themselves kind of people and work together to help themselves grow individually. This was a rollercoaster- my heart absolutely was wrecked for the struggles Stella and Olive face as they play caregiver for loved ones. The frustration and anger I felt for Olive when faced with the awful treatment her parents and sister puts her through in the name of grief. While the relationship started out as a plan to help each other in different ways, their foundation was strong and the connection was magic. The chemistry between these two was squeal worthy and the spice was worth the wait. From our secondary cast of characters, the banter, the drama, and the happily ever after- I stayed rooting for these two.

My one and only annoyance was that brief third act split which I mean, can we even count it as that since technically it was in fact the end of their 'dating' agreement? A smidge of miscommunication/lack of communication clouds our leading ladies for a short moment but I will fully forgive Andie Burke for those moves simply because the rest of this read was so incredibly addicting.

FLY WITH ME has been on my most-anticipated list ever since I first heard about it. What's better than a romance with sapphics and smut? While this started off very good, the pacing was off and the ending felt incredibly incomplete. I found myself wondering what had happened to all the other plot lines the author had set up besides the romance.

this was full of depth and emotions. I can’t believe this is a debut, it had nuance and realized characters that kept my attention.

This was so cute and sweet, I really enjoyed it. The pacing, tension, and romance was all nicely done. The anxiety rep was really good, soooo relatable. I loved that it wasn’t one sided either, that we saw two perspectives and different ways of it manifesting from the two MCs. Overall a great debut and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more books from Andie!

I am VERY emotional right now.

I've been a follower of Andie on Bookstagram for a while and I was so ecstatic for her and her debut novel.

* sapphic romance
* fake dating
* great LGBTQ+ representation

This story centers around Olive, an ER Nurse who is severely afraid of flying, and Stella, a major type A pilot, who meet on one of Stella's flights (after Olive saves a passenger's life). I really enjoyed watching their fake relationship grow into something real - there was a lot of about both of these characters that I found to be very relatable! The storyline had so much emotional depth too - you will be in your feelings for a lot of this book (you have been warned). Overall, I liked this debut by Andie and can't wait to read her next book!

Rating: 3.5 stars

TW: loss of a loved one, depression/anxiety, chronic illness.

Olive is a nurse on her first plane ride ever, battling her anxiety when there's a medical emergency on the flight. She steps in and saves the guy's life, inadvertently blowing up her own in the process. Luckily, Stella, the pilot, is there to help her through it.

I thought this book was excellent. This was a debut novel, but really authentic anxiety rep and a sweet Sapphic romance. I was able to relate to both Olive & Stella, and I love that you can feel the character growth throughout.

4/5 🌟 out everywhere now!
Perfect for fans of Alexandria Bellefleur, Meryl Wilsner, and Timothy Janovsky

Olive never expected to save a life on a flight she was afraid to take. Nor did she expect to fall for the co-pilot. After two perfect days together in Disney, new “friends” Olive and Stella throw themselves into a fake romance to help Stella advance her career. Is it a romance in the making or heartbreak in the end? Fly With Me is the perfect sweet and Sapphic fake dating rom-com debut by Annie Burke.

There is so much to love about this book. I totally fell for Olive and Stella and their relationship/dynamic together. Despite being already well written characters, you truly get to watch these characters grow as the novel progresses. You can feel Olive’s grief and Stella’s determination. Part of me wishes we had a dual monologue to see Stella’s perspective. But the book works without it and it’s almost refreshing to see Stella through Olive’s eyes.

The book has these overlapping storylines of family and grief and loss and trauma, as well as these positive perspectives of determination and love. They meld so well together through the course of the novel to create this depth of emotions for the reader. It felt a little too trope-y at some points, but not enough to take away from the story. And it had the perfect amount of steam.

I never would have guessed this books is a debut with how developed and well rounded it was. This is a really great read that I cannot recommend enough.

A charming rom-com about how lives can change if we just take chances. The two main characters are bada$$ women in their careers, but have both suffered in their personal life. When they come together in a ruse, there’s no telling what feelings will develop. Will social media take over? Will everyone find out the truth? Or will they figure out there’s no one better to struggle with in their personal lives? I truly enjoyed getting to know each character - even the friends. This story reminded me take work/life balance seriously and don’t forget to live your true self.

Thank you NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and author Andie Burke for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. “Fly With Me” was published September 5, 2023!

Well this was delightful queer romance! I had so much fun reading this book. I absolutely adored their “meet-cute”, it was so entertaining! Stella being a pilot while Olive having a fear of planes and flying in general was such a great contrast between them. Stella and Olive have great chemistry and there’s just the right amount of teasing to make how quickly they fall into a sweet routine believable, even if they won’t admit they’re doing more than fake dating. They also helped each other grow as individuals as well as together. I do wish that we had Stella’s POV for parts of the story. I love alternating POV in a romance novel as it allows the reader to gain insight on both characters, which allows for better chemistry as it makes it more obvious as to why the two characters’ care for one another. It would have been great to get Stella’s thoughts and feelings for parts of the book. I think having her internal dialogue would have been amazing. There were a few storylines I wanted more from, but the ending is sweet. I couldn’t put it down, and only wish it were longer. If you are looking for a fun, cute and fast-paced sapphic adult romance recommend you read this book when it comes out! This was a great debut by Andie and I can’t wait to read her next book! Thanks to Andie Burke, Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an e-arc in exchange for my thoughts.