Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a book that is all about the feelings.

Feelings of anxiety. Depression. Regular sadness. Hurt. Pain. Happiness. Hope. Joy. Love. Support. Kindness.

Olive's cup is already full. She's an ER nurse. She's dealing with A LOT. Family situation (TOXIC and sad. So very very sad). She has a stalker-ish ex-girlfriend who is... toxic. And she's on her way to run a half marathon in Disney. Only she's afraid of flying.

Within minutes of being on the flight a passenger requires medical attention. Olive comes to the rescue - and goes viral while saving his life.

What follows is a meet-cute with Stella (pilot on the flight the incident happened) - who saves the day by getting Olive to Orlando and to her half-marathon ... and they end up fake-dating.

This is a story about Olive dealing with the punches life has thrown her - while also opening herself up to love. Told solely from Olive's perspective we learn about Olive's past and her hurts; we also get to see her start to heal and accept support from Stella.

We get our HEA in the end - but it's messy and raw getting there. I cried. Big ugly tears.

I do wish this had been written with dual POVs - I think we might have gotten more out of Stella's character (and gotten to know Hector better!) - but still - it was a wonderful read. It's not light and fluffy - but our leads felt like real, fully developed characters.

Solid debut novel. Totally recommended.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.
Stop yourselves and because this was a really fantastic and sweet sapphic story. Fake dating a bit of flying phobia and some adorable scenes really sell how fantastic the romance is. Spy with me does a fantastic job of making it cute and funny but also connecting it back to real world issues and conversations that need to be had. It brings attention to dynamics of women in male dominated industries as well as the anxiety and stress of healthcare workers.

Fly With Me by Andie Burke
@andiewritesandreads
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Olive Murphy is a flying-phobic ER nurse who is trying to get through her first ever flight, and when another passenger starts having a medical emergency she quickly jumps in to help. While Olive and her new patient make it through the flight unscathed, her heroic save goes viral bringing media attention and the chance to meet the pilot Stella Soriano. There’s instant chemistry, but nothing takes off. But with the national spotlight on them, Stella asks Olive to fake date hoping to advance her career. Can Olive and Stella remember that their relationship isn’t real, or will they give in and let their feelings fly?

Why did I love this book so much?! Probably because I am/was a healthcare worker and will relate to Olive on a spiritual level💜 Besides that…both Olive and Stella were so well written. They each were struggling with different yet similar things (mental health, grief, relationships, sexuality, etc!) and that’s what bonded them and also brought them closer (most of the time lol). This story was so genuine, and tragic, but sweet and I loved it! Everyone go read now!

Read if you love:
👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻Sapphic
🏥ER nurse & 🛩️Pilot
🌈LGBTQ+ rep
🎭Fake dating
🧠Mental health rep

CW/TW:
•Grief
•Death
•Taking care of sick family member
•Anxiety/Depression

•thank you to @netgalley @smpromance @stmartinspress for my e-arc!! I had to buy my own physical book💙

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Fly With Me follows Olive and Stella as a fateful flight leads to a fake romance that might just turn out to be real.

This was a fun read! I love a good sapphic romance, and Olive and Stella were rich and interesting characters to follow. I loved how the romance felt like it got the time to breathe that it deserved, even though the higher page count felt like a bit much at first. A lot of that they went through felt realistic, and it was nice to see a romance where the things that happened to and around them felt realistic, and their reactions also felt realistic.

In all, I thought this was an excellent debut and a solid romance, and I'll definitely be looking forward to Burke's future projects.

3. 5 Stars

Thank. you to Andie Burke, St. Martin's Griffin, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

First, I love the cover so much. Second, this was a good book. I liked that it was fast-paced. Let's not forget Gus!

But there was way too much focus on the ex, and a lack of communication, which is usually a dealbreaker for me, but I hung on. There were also times were I felt like I was missing something because things were skipped over.

in this absolutely adorable romcom, it hits all the points for me. lgbtqia rep, fake dating, and immediate chemistry. andie burke absolutely knocked this book out of the park. olive and stella both have heartache and hardship that they have to overcome together, but it brings them closer together. it has everything you can hope for, fake dating, hot pilots, angst, and spice for days.

thank you to macmillian for the arc copy!

✈️✈️✈️✈️ / 5

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a sweet and heartbreaking love story—and a great debut! The main characters—Olive and Stella—were pleasantly quirky and awkward, which I always appreciate in a romance because I feel it makes the relationship more authentic and believable. I was so invested in Olive and Stella’s story that I did want more, especially when they were separated for long periods of time. For instance, when Stella has to work for a few weeks after taking care of a sick Olive, I was expecting longing from both of them during this time—or at least a flashback or two that demonstrates their thoughts and feelings during this time. I just felt that some important scenes were cut or not written. Though there’s plenty of witty banter and butterflies, there was a good balance of depth in terms of themes such as grief, loss, depression, anxiety, fear, family issues, etc. If you’re a fan of the fake dating to lovers trope, I’d highly recommend this one!

It’s pub day for Fly With Me 🎉🎉 I listened to this driving down to Atlantic City for a work meeting and let me tell you, sobbing while driving down the Garden State Parkway is not ideal.

I freaking adored Olive and Stella, they had such great chemistry. Their love story was beautiful and hopeful, while dealing with some tougher topics. With themes of grief, medical trauma, phobias, anxiety, and depression, Fly With Me is such a layered story.

This book had me smirking and giggling to myself the whole way through! The way Burke writes the dialogue between the two MC’s, Olive and Stella, is perfection. The banter, the teasing, the inside jokes, it made me fall in love with reading about them falling in love.

Although this book isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, there’s family tragedy and health issues, talk of depression and anxiety disorders, sexual harassment and a seriously toxic gaslighting ex, Burke handled all these topics with thoughtfulness and care. But that ex may be one of my most disliked characters of all time, like Tamlin and Dolores Umbridge level dislike.

Also don’t let the cover fool you. This book has some open door spicy scenes! But I love the way consent was included in this book, it felt very natural and not awkward.

Read this if you like Casey McQuiston’s books, Red White and Royal Blue or One Last Stop. Also this would be a great read for any Romance fans that are also Disney fans. The couple’s “first date” is basically at Walt Disney World and all the Disney references had me extra giddy while reading.

I was extremely happy to see a nurse featured in this romance. Some of my best friends are RN’s and most people to this day still do not appreciate how much they battled for us during the pandemic. Let’s never forget. Needless to say, I loved this book.

Olive is flying to Orlando to run a race to honor her brother who has suffered a catastrophic head injury. It’s an amazing feat for her to even be on a plane since flying is one of her many phobias and she is terrified. But when a passenger has a medical emergency, Olive, an ED nurse, immediately springs into action to save his life. Of course, the phone videos go viral and Olive is thrust into the limelight along with the co-pilot, Stella, who befriends Olive afterwards.

The author thrusts us right into the action and then uses some adorable scenes between Olive and Stella to show how the two make an immediate connection. I was hooked. Fly with Me then morphs into a faux romance because Stella needs the publicity for her career and Olive agrees to the plan because she hopes being a fake couple seeds a real relationship. It’s a precarious risk, especially for tenderhearted Olive. As they spend more time together, the author builds their connection with moments of caring and affection that made me believe their relationship was growing into something genuine. Both mc’s are determined women but flawed. Neither can see their true worth regardless of their accomplishments. Family also plays a big part in their personal stories, causing both of them heartaches for differing reasons.

I thought the author packed quite a bit in Olive’s and Stella’s story. If you like faux romances, hot pilots in aviators, steamy sex scenes, and plenty of angst in your books, Fly with Me is a good one to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this eARC!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

While starting to spiral due to her fear of flying on her first ever flight, ER nurse Olive answers a call for help for a passengar having an emergency medical event. Saving his life, Olive quickly becomes a viral sensation! A perk of this was getting to meet the beautiful pilot Stella after the flight landed in a rerouted destination. Stella was so taken with Olive's heroic actions, she even spontaneously offer to drive Olive 6+ hours to Orlando so she doesnt miss her half marathon.

Along the way Olive and Stella begin to connect, and when a mutally beneficial offer to fake date is proposed, Olive continues her spontaneous streak and accepts. Fake dating while crushing on a totally attractive airline pilot in hopes to lead to real dating is totally logically right? Absolutely nothing could go wrong!

Told from Olive's POV, the friendship to romance between Olive and Stella was pretty perfect. They were there for the best and worst if times for each other and truly were able to bond over such a short time. The miscommunication and crazy ex were of course going to get in the way, but in the end i was happy they got their HEA.

This would have been a more solid 4 star read if there was just a better resolution at the end of story. We never find out what if anything works out with Olive and her family, we never find out why Olive's family thinks she is only after money, there is no resolution with the airline and the CEO's son's disgusting behavior, Stella just up and quits her job after all that fake dating for a career advancement plot, no resolution with Lindsey and the fake date reveal, and I could go on. The epilogue was also lacking details. We assume Olive and Stella are in Italy and traveling all over together because Olive has gotten over her fear of flying. Again, no update on Stella's dad or Stella's job status, etc. I would have loved more of an update of just them enjoying each other without the stress of the fake dating and all the angst.

Before the lackluster ending I thought this was a pretty decent debut for this new author. I thought the story idea was great, I loved the characters and the representation. I could relate to Olive's anxiety and Stella's type A organization (who doesnt love a color coded binder!). I thought their relationship grew organically and the spice when it hit was good. Would still recommend, but just truly wish the ending was fleshed out a bit more.

Includes:
- sapphic romance
- fake dating
- anxiety rep
- celiac disease rep
- miscommunication
- plenty of steam

Content Warnings for:
- discussions of end of life care
- homophobic and sexist remarks
- toxic parents
- mentions of death and dying
- neurological disease care
- acute depressive episodes
- panic attacks
- mental illness

This review contains spoilers.

This started out really promising but it ended up being super disappointing.

Two things I absolutely hate in books are toxic ex’s and shitty family. This book had both of those things. Olive’s family was the absolute worst.

I wish it had been dual POV because I felt the connection on Olive’s side but not so much on Stella’s and I really felt like Stella was leading Olive on.

The epilogue was so abrupt and there was no closure as to what happened with Olive’s family or the pictures of the binder that Lindsey took. I also felt like there wasn’t closure on if Lindsey Finally stopped harassing Olive or if Stella got a new job.

Overall this was super disappointing.

When I started this book, I expected it to be a light, sweet romance relying on the forced intimacy of a fake relationship. But Fly with Me gets very deep, very fast. Olivia is grieving her brother, who has been in a vegetative state for months, while at odds with her family over his care. She struggles with anxiety and depression. And she is still entangled with an ex-girlfriend who is an expert at making her feel bad about all of this. Meanwhile, her love interest Stella is managing her father's Parkinson's disease and has her own troubled romantic past.

This is a lot of heavy stuff to put in a romance, and the author deftly balanced the characters' emotional and family struggles with the progress of their relationship. Olivia was a wonderfully well-developed main character, and the secondary characters and their relationships with the two leads were interesting without being distracting.

But... this is not the "sparkling and steamy opposites-attract romance" the tagline promised. Instead, it is a serious story about illness and anxiety and obligation and care, and although it hits all the romance-novel beats its tone is more thought-provoking than swoony.

It’s seems impossible to put into words how I felt reading this recently. From reading this as a beta reader last year, to reading this recently while on a flight home, it’s been magical to see Andie’s words truly leap off the page. Olive and Stella’s story feels so swoony, their spark and connection making me giddy and immediately invested, while at the same time feeling tangible and grounded, like these were two of my real friends falling in love.

“Stella tasted like champagne and smelled like cake, and everything about her was everything Olive wanted.”

Andie does a phenomenal job of giving both Stella and Olive a really solid background and world outside of each other so you feel like each of them is a well known, trusted confidant. You get to know them both together and separately, to understand how each of them brings strength to the other. The way Andie brings Olive and Stella together only compliments each of their unique personalities, having them slot and fit together perfectly, while always making it clear that true partnership and acceptance is at the core of their relationship. While the fake dating trope is what kicks things off here, it’s clear from the beginning that these two always have each other’s back. That’s not to say that everything in Fly With Me is easy. Far from it, and that’s one of my favorite things about this story.

Andie captures so vividly, honestly, and deftly some incredibly heavy and weighty themes that are often not discussed at all, let alone within this genre. Through Olive and Stella we see the realities of being a caregiving to family members, having to make difficult health and medical decisions, and at the same time going through their own grieving process for emotional toll these roles exact and in the way these life events alter their worlds and families. There are some utterly gut wrenching scenes and family conversations that as hard as they were to read, were also so welcome for giving voice and space for these very real circumstances.

In a genre with HEAs, it can be hard to find stories with weight and grit to them, harder still to balance those things with the overall tender love story readers expect, yet Andie does so with finesse and craft. Add to that the incredible representation and stellar cast of supporting characters, and you can’t walk away from this without getting the warm fuzzies.

“I know how to sweet-talk you.”
“Label makers.”
“Rustic organizational wicker baskets. Color-coordinated binder tabs.”

From centering queer relationships throughout in both the main sapphic romance and with side characters, to featuring mental health, to actively discussing celiac disease and difficult family relationships, Andie’s debut will make you feel seen and loved and understood, will acknowledge the frankly messy and crumby world we might live in and the dark days we go through, while ALSO delivering the banter, steamy, and heart melting moments that bring us joy and hope and pull us through.

I’m so blown away by the care and love Andie poured into these pages, writing a book chock full of passion and honesty, sweetness and depth, hilarity and compassion. I can’t WAIT to see what’s next from Andie. I’ve read this in all formats and absolutely love it so much. The audiobook is simply fantastic, truly nailing Stella and Olive’s voices just as I imagined and making each of them feel so distinct and patently true to how I envisioned them.

Kindly check the TWs provided at the beginning of the book, but know that these themes are handled with the utmost sensitivity and grace.

Happy pub day! This is a fun debut f/f romance with more serious themes throughout. Our MC is a nurse and our love interest is a pilot. They meet while the nurse is on one of her flight’s and saves someone’s life. This leads to a fake dating scenario. We also have family trauma throughout.

What worked:
-The first third from the initial flight through Disney World scenes were really fun
-Both characters were career driven and had specific family issues and past relationship issues they were grappling with
-Steam was okay

What didn’t work
-The book felt disjointed at times because it was trying to balance all these other plot elements in addition to the relationship development and the fake dating scenario
-Middle dragged a ton

This book was trying to do a lot and sometimes the relationship development was sidelined for the other plot elements. It was still fun though and the nurse and pilot aspects seemed new for a contemporary romance. I think it would have been better if it was a dual POV. I will read another book by this author.

Publishes today September 5, 2023. This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book’s “tropes” advertisement immediately pulled me in for the request and had me incredibly excited to read. Unfortunately, this is one of those I felt more time was spent on pulling people to review than the overall book which is wildly disappointing.

As much as I wanted to love this book, it just was not meant for me. A few of the standout reasons are across all books, not just this one, so definitely take that into consideration. This included: the conflict and resolution taking place in the last 10% of the book, too many events but the plot remaining stagnant, and third person point of view.

One of the big things I usually enjoy in a book, but just didn’t read right here was the push and pull in Olive and Stella’s relationship. It came across and take, take, take and then I’ll give you a side of emotional whiplash. The push and pull absolutely could have worked, but Stella’s approach to most every situation, start to finish, made it feel toxic instead of genuine and natural.

Olive and Stella meet when Olive helps a fellow air plane passenger who is having a medical emergency. In this story, opposites attract as they begin a fake dating scenario. I found both of the main characters endearing. I felt like they balanced each other out so well! Not only does Andie Burke take us on a romance adventure, she also explores the ideas of standing up for what you believe in and living life to the fullest. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

Everything from the description had me hooked. Fake dating is always something I can appreciate and stand behind. And make that sapphic fake dating? I never stood a chance!

I enjoyed the teasing and banter between Olive and her friends. There were moments where it was easy while they were being supportive for Olive happiness. I do love having a giggle during a book and they provided that.

I did enjoy Olive and Stella relationship but my problems came from it not feeling like it develops naturally. The transition into the story were a little jolted and didn’t go smoothly. Within the first twenty percent so much happened but it went by so quick with a lack of details that it was hard to really see a connection between the two. I wasn’t the biggest fan Lindsey appearing at the hotel in Disney world, I felt like it added nothing substantial. One last complaint were the nurse comments Stella made. I understand she is trying to learn and nobody is perfect but it is hypocritical how she talks about how she doesn’t like to be looked down upon for being a woman in her career and people making comments about her intelligence yet makes the claim she’s surprised by how much nurses know for only having an associates. It was a really unnecessary comment and it was hard to look over that. I understand where the author was going with it but I wasn’t a big fan.

Overall, this was a fun sapphic romance. I think it’s could be a good book to travel with and enjoy on vacation. It feels like this book could pair with any season. I hope everyone can enjoy it for sapphic September.

Fly with Me is an exceptional debut! Stella and Olive have a *very* unique meet cute and their spin on fake dating is just different enough to keep things entertaining. I love how the author didn’t need to play into the lesbian/bisexual stereotypes in order to sell the relationship.

If I’m being hyper critical, I would say that for a romance, I wish there would have been more romantic pieces of the story hitting earlier in the novel to keep my heart invested. As the story continued, I struggled to wonder whether or not this truly was going to be a romance with a HEA, or if it was more contemporary fiction with the familial dynamics as the main focal point. Thankfully it leaned romance and my heart was happy.

I read this a while ago but since it’s Sapphic September, I waited to post the review.

Stella and Olive were such great characters, and the chemistry was amazing. I often finish a book and think I wish there was just a little bit more or that it ran on too long. This book hit that sweet spot of being just right.

This is a slow burn (without being slow). I spent the entire book rooting for them and loving the character development that allowed them to be really good together.

The best thing for me was that you were in their heads, especially Olive. The internal dialogues just provided so much depth to the characters and really showed who they were.