LOVED! I was in a bit of a romance slump (sometimes they all get very same-y when you read a lot together) and while I don't think this book adds anything especially new to the genre - other than being maybe one of my favourite WLW works in a while! - it is a really refreshing read. It was super heartbreaking and super heartwarming with two protagonists that I loved and understood their motives for. I can't wait to read more from this author!

Thanks for the ARC.
I absolutely adored this romance. There's fake dating, fun banter, and some deep moments. I like how Burke chose characters with messy lives. It made this story so real and relatable. The relationship between Olive and Stella created such a good balance to the struggles these characters were going through. Olive had to deal with such a tough situation - making decisions for her brother after he experiences a TBI, while her family fights her every step. I felt so deeply for her and wanted to just hug her sometimes. Stella also had to deal with her dad's Parkinson's and desire to become a captain. I did want Lauren to get what was coming to her. I feel like after everything she did, I wanted some retribution there. But I loved how the story played out and how there was communication, some messiness, and willingness to admit faults.

Fly With Me tells the story of Olive, infamously known for her fear of airplanes, and Stella, the copilot that so happens to be on Olive’s first ever flight. The two meet and by happenstance and a little bit of reluctance, they agree to fake date to fast-track Stella’s promotion to Captain. But, with Olive catching very real feelings in a very fake relationship, it’s all bound to crash and burn - right?

With such an intriguing premise, I was super excited to get into this one. Unfortunately though, the cons outweighed the pros for me, and ultimately left me feeling a little disappointed in the whole story.

But let’s start with the good.

There are a lot of in-depth conversations about very real hard-to-navigate life problems. Stella and Olive both face their respective demons regarding depression, anxiety, panic disorders, general mental health/illness, family stressors/issues, blatant sexism, etc. And, because Stella and Olive experience somewhat-mirror problems, they’re able to lean on one another and have adult conversations about these terrifying things.

I’ll also say that the author has a knack for sprinkling small nuggets of information about each character, acting as teasers for what’s to come. These little nuggets are what kept me intrigued and kept me pushing forward.

Unfortunately though, like I said, the whole story fell short for me.

I didn’t fall head-over-heels in love with the writing style or voice of the whole book. And, personally speaking, it’s very hard for me to become attached to a book if I don’t jive with the writing. I’m also a huge character and banter type of person. Amazing banter can save any book, in my frank opinion. But, here, I didn’t love the characters’ banter with one another. At times, their dialogue felt very contrived and took me out of the story.

I’m also just generally not a fan of the miscommunication trope, and that seems to be prevalent here.

All of this to say though, I do love the premise of this love story and I do think it’ll deeply root itself in some readers’ hearts - just not mine.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Really like a 3.5! Romance is not my favorite genre and this was not my favorite romance book, but it was super cute and I enjoyed! The romance was cute and the spice was present but not too overwhelming for me. If you’re a fan of very spicy books or like spice throughout this isn’t that. The spice that is there doesn’t start until after halfway through the book and even then is still only a couple of scenes.

This book dealt with serious topics pretty well and had a MC with depression/panic attacks and another with celiac…all well done. I think this would have heavily benefitted from a dual POV. I wanted more on Stellas background, I feel like we didn’t get much of her.

A couple other things bugged me. There were too many pop culture references for me, but that’s a me specific problem. The timeline also seemed a little weird to me…the way they describe weeks towards the end there’s zero way it all happened between thanksgiving and before Christmas. The chapters were short, but the book itself was long and it felt like it dragged a bit in the middle (again, I think could have been better with a dual POV).

Overall I enjoyed. If you’re looking for a cute sapphic/bi romance book with low spice check this one out!

* Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the chemistry between Olive and Stella - it felt super realistic and I was just waiting for them to finally act on their connection lol. It did feel like there were a lot of side plots that took away from the overall story for me - there was just a lot going on. However, I did love the overall premise of the story and the side characters as well!

I am excited to read more books by Andie Burke!

I haven’t read a story like this in a bit. The cutest of meet-cutes, combined with the gooiest, sweetest little love story, but absolutely PACKED with emotion from beginning to end.

This book was just honestly perfection. Both MC’s we’re dealing with their own shit, yet made each other infinitely better, and made the hard stuff easier. So much of this story felt incredibly real, from the anxiety rep, to the family and workplace drama. I love the author’s voice, and the way she was able to make everything about the book feel both immersive and authentic.

I devoured every second of this story just wanting to know what happened next. It was impossible to put down!

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and St.Martin’s Griffin. All opinions are my own!

ER nurse Olive assists in a mid-flight medical emergency and meets ambitious copilot Stella. Stella asks Olive to be her fake girlfriend at corporate events to help her overcome the sexism that's stalled her career. As their bond deepens, their affection turns real. Will this elaborate charade end in soaring romance—or will family drama and a bitter ex lead to crashing disappointment?

I enjoyed the narration in this audiobook that's a deft mix of humor and heavier themes. Olive is mostly a strong, compassionate person, but she has moments of crippling doubt resulting from family trauma and a gaslighting ex. Stella can be funny and adorable, but she's often unpredictable, in part because the story is told only from Olive's PoV. There's a lot going on in this book, and sometimes I wished Olive and Stella could be more real with each other. But that was part of their journey, and it made sense in the end.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

A great debut for a promising author - while this was far more emotional than I expected, it was well balanced. I would have loved for a dual perspective here!

I was so excited to receive a digital ARC of this debut novel from Andie Burke. Transparently, I'm a cover lover and this cover grabbed me from the second I saw it. I'm happy to say that the cover is NOT the only good thing about this book. This book is filled with so much feeling.
In this novel, we meet Olive, an ER nurse on her way to Orlando to run in the Disney half marathon. Terrified of flying she's in quite a state of panic. After a crisis requiring Olive to perform life-saving measures on a fellow passenger onboard the plane, it requires diverts her flight to Atlanta. This is where she meets Stella, the copilot of the flight, thanking her for saving the passengers' life. This event turns Olive into a social media sensation in the time it takes to upload a video to the world wide web.
When Stella offers to drive Olive the rest of the way to Disney for her marathon, Olive can't pass this up. She has to get there.
Olive and Stella's connection grows over the drive and after a fulfilled day at Disney. But the next day, Stella is gone. Olive is positive she'll never see her again.... until Stella walks into her ER asking her to be her fake girlfriend. And so begins this wonderful story. I adored this story. Olive and Stella are complex characters with painful pasts and layered family dynamics. I love a good fake dating romance and Fly with Me hit differently for me. I immediately reached out to a friend, who is a medical professional (whose wife is a pilot), and sent her the link to this book. "You absolutely have to read this!" I messaged her with probably a thousand exclamation marks because I'm extra like that.
This story felt very deep and hit some very hard Truths about the human condition, the narratives that we apply to ourselves, and the expectations of other people as well as ourselves. Burke did this with gentleness and grace and really let you get to know these characters' stories. The connection and chemistry between Olive and Stella are tangible on the page. As they navigate this fake relationship with very real feelings they encounter each other's pasts and create a very real connection and support system. The relationship between Olive, who is kind of a mess, and Stella whose organization skills are unlike anything Olive has ever seen, puts this opposites attract love story as a top-notch read for me.
I won't give too much away because I walked into this book blind and it was a fantastic experience for me. I also read this on a trip to Steamy Lit Con, a diverse romance signing so I really was able to get into this story on a whole other level. I loved this book. This book is perfect for fans of Ashley Herring Blake, Alexandria Bellefleur, and Karelia Stetz-Waters.
The layering of very hard topics with sensitivity, understanding, and a focus on learning one's self is a beautiful thing to see in this novel.
Definitely one of my top reads of 2023!
Thank you to Andie Burke, St. Martins Press & Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Fly with Me release on September 5, 2023. Grab this book ASAP

So much to enjoy in this book! I enjoyed both MCs, and loved the development of relationships with side characters in addition to love interests.

I completely and totally loved this book! If I didn’t know it was her debut from following her on IG, I wouldn’t have been able to tell from the writing - it was so well done and such a special tale, a beautiful love story and I hung on every word.

It starts off with a near-death experience - not the characters but a passenger on the plane that Olive has finally convinced herself to board (to get to the Disney half Marathon to run for her brother… but that’s a whole other thing), who ate something with nuts that weren’t listed. She saves his life from an anaphylactic reaction and the airline takes advantage of the videos that go viral afterwards, because not only are they struggling (as the whole industry is), but the gentleman plays Mickey at the park! She saved the famous mouse!

Getting photos with the air crew after is just the beginning - she meets the co-pilot, female Sophie, who strikes up a nervous conversation afterwards, and offers to drive her to Orlando to make the race on time … since the plane had to divert to get the man to the closest hospital. The pair continue being tossed into media blitz opportunity situations by the airline, but their friendship grows as they realize their feelings have been growing - further than the fake dating situation that Sophie had proposed to further her pilot career with the media attention.

It is such a beautiful story and I highly recommend it!

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (St. Martin's Griffin), and this is my honest feedback.

I'm so happy to have received an arc of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, because this book was magical and I can't wait to have it on my shelf once it is released.

Olive is an ER nurse who is terrified of flying. For her first flight ever, she is going to Orlando to run in the Disney half marathon. While on this flight, a passenger has an incident and she ends up saving his life. Being the day and age of social media, she goes viral, especially since the man she saved was an important person to the Disney theme park.
The flight gets diverted due to the emergency and this is where Olive meets Stella, a polished and put together pilot, and the co-pilot of this flight. Because of the diversion, Olive would miss her race in the morning. But in swoops Stella, who decides to drive Olive through the night to Florida because she also was planning to go to Disney for her days off.

After this trip, Stella proposes a plan: for them to pretend to be dating so help out Stella's goals of becoming captain some day, and also so Olive can have a steady hand beside her for all of the press and interviews that came with saving a life.

I was thoroughly delighted by the romance in this story, it was mostly light and fluffy and I really enjoyed that they had pretty healthy communication and were really good to each other overall. I think that it was interesting how they were lying to themselves but not to each other, and most of their issues were just external. Olive dealing with her brother on life support as well as a terrible family and a nutty ex, and Stella dealing with trying to rise the ranks in a very sexist boys' club industry while caring for her father who has Parkinsons. Both of their work lives and their relationships with each other and other people felt real and I give major kudos to the author for that.

This is Andie Burke's debut novel and I will be looking out for any other books she may write in the future, I think she's definitely one to watch.

First and foremost, I absolutely adore the cover of this book. It’s giving me cute, lovey-dovey, and the potential for an ever after vibes. Just what I need right about now and I definitely was looking forward to a LGBTQUIA+ inspired love story.
This book for sure had me cracking up though-out my reading of it. The chemistry between the two fake girlfriends was front and center. I could feel myself rooting for them to become official. For sure the kind of breezy cute read to make you feel all warm on the inside. The story was pretty much what you expected, fake relationship becomes real. The underlying trauma and history peaking out every so often but for sure in a natural cute way.
This book made me feel so many range of emotions: from angry to sad to happy to giggly. For sure what I look for in a book. A good book.
A lot of the situations that Olive had to deal with were for sure are a lot of topics that are sometimes hard to read, but for sure need to be discussed. Such as: manipulative family members, anxiety attacks, depression, and gaslighting.
They are real things and can be such hard topic to convey properly and this book did it the right way.

Overall I loved this book. I loved it for its ability to make me feel. So many emotions. My heart has been put through the wringer and I am thankful. Beautiful, heart wrenching and hopeful. Highly recommend!
Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book. This review is a honest reflection of my feelings towards this book.

Four and a half high-flying stars

Olive, a seasoned ER nurse, is smart, pragmatic, and practical. Except with planes. And since the odds are always against her, her first-ever flight ends in a medical emergency, with her being the accidental viral sensation as the nurse who saved Mickey Mouse. ("But he's not actually Mickey Mouse!") Thrown into the limelight with no interest of being there, Olive is saved by the beautiful, independent, career-driven pilot, Stella. When Stella then suggests a mutually beneficial fake-dating plan aimed to support both of their jobs, how can Olive say no? It's clearly in the best interest of... their jobs. What could go wrong?

This book has all the best rom-com elements: a loveable trope, hurt and comfort, literal Disney magic, melt-in-your-mouth sweetness, and melt-your-panties spice. Adding in the realities of the life of a nurse, the importance of being true to yourself, and learning when to accept help makes this novel that much better. To say that I enjoyed it is a disservice. The author, a nurse herself, dedicates her debut novel to her fellow 'healthcare heroes' (please know that was said with the utmost sarcasm): "Fuck the pandemic and everyone who gave you a pizza party instead of a raise," she writes. (If I haven't made it evident, I, too, am a nurse). And with that same, no-bullshit love, the book continues. Burke doesn't sugar-coat the hardships faced by the characters: losing family and watching those you love fade; fighting for what you want and believe in, even when it's an uphill battle; being a grade-A people pleaser who thinks that if I can just keep everything together and inside then no one will be disappointed in me ever. Oops, did I get too personal there? Literally, before I even got to the resolution of the book, I had to message the author. I had already been sending my best friend texts about this book, saying, "Did I somehow manifest this?" Whether or not Burke has somehow tapped into my brain is still up for debate, but this book has gone beyond an enjoyable sapphic romcom. It made me feel, and it made me feel less alone. So did I finish it, with tears in my eyes, during my (later than it should have been) lunch break? Absolutely. I've cried enough at work over the years, might as well be something nice.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves love, facing fears, doing what's right when it's hard, and having each other's backs. You'll love it, even if you're not a nurse.

I have received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is an absolutely stunning emotional debut from Andie Burke. It is inherently Queer, authentically angsty for all us nearing middle age Millennials - but I think best of all. It is messy. Olive is messy as heck. She is a hot mess express. She is brilliant at her job, gives everything to everyone else, and feels like she can't be enough and I don't know anyone who feels like they are. I love her awesome friends (Derek is like Alan Rickman from Love Actually but without cheating on their partner and Joni just seems cool.) her enormous dog, and the devastating reality and emotional pain a family can cause to each other when it is all from a place of grief. Also... I cried. A lot.

I do so wish this was a dual POV book so I could feel more of Stella's side of things - the way that I devoured this book... obviously it didn't hold me back so much.

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TLDR
Stars: five stars (purely on bisexual disaster vibes and the amount of tissues I needed)
Series: standalone
POV: single POV
Steam: slooooow burn but it burns - toys, showers, a little femme domme action
Tropes: fake dating, opposites attract, grumpy/ sunshine
For Fans Of: Priest by Sierra Simone or Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Theme Song: The Joke by Brandi Carlisle (IYKYK)

This story was so sweet, real, and at times raw and painful. I loved the different sides of each character we got to see, ranging from anxious and grieving to passionate and loving.

I think all of the emotions in this book were portrayed in such a true, believable way, it made the characters feel more like friends than made up characters in a book. I absolutely blew through this book and can’t wait to read more from this author.

This book was a wonderful exploration of love, loss, and the awkward queer experiences many people have. I really enjoyed the characters and thought the plot was executed fairly well. The romance felt a little awkward at times, but I was appreciative of it; not every relationship is going to be sunshines and rainbows. There were a few instances where the FMC kicks some major ass (figuratively) and it was such a delight to see, especially when gross white men are called on their B.S.

Overall, I thought this book was pretty good. The romance was good, the characters were interesting, and I honestly love a good fake dating scenario, especially when it's queer. The characters themselves felt a little one-dimensional, especially the toxic ex, but I don’t think it hindered the story’s ability to be told.

A flying-phobic ER nurse becomes famous when she saves an individual all the while fake dating her secret crush, the gorgeous copilot. Olive Murphy has a fear of flying but she needs to get to the marathon to fulfill her brother's wishes as he is in a coma. Olive is an ER nurse and when a passenger on the plan needs saving, she goes into action, what she doesn't expect is that she becomes viral for saving the passenger. Stella Soriano is the stunning copilot who has only one goal: get the promotion to become captain. Stella has the hours, the experience, and needs this promotion, she wants to show her dad that she's made it while she can because his alzheimer's is getting worse and worse. When Stella and Olive meet at the airport and Olive's flight gets cancelled after she saves the man, Stella offers to drive her to her marathon. What began as a friendly road trip soon turns into something else as Stella then asks Olive to become her fake girlfriend to help boost her PR at her company. Olive think's this is the perfect opportunity to woo Stella and to potentially make this fake relationship real. Yet Stella is clear about one thing: she doesn't do relationships because she's afraid of hurting her partners since she has a history of doing so and that this entire relationship is just for show. Yet Olive and Stella continue to cross the line between platonic and a real relationship and things are going to get messy, on top of the fact that Olive's manipulative ex wants her back now that Olive is famous. Throw in tons of family drama, confusing feelings, and job politics, and this is going to be a messy ride. This was a pretty cute sapphic rom com between an ER nurse with anxiety and a co-pilot with her own issues. Olive's family was terrible and the third act breakup felt kind of pushed too far back and the resolution to it didn't feel that well deserved. Overall it's cute but i kind of wish there was more going on. If you enjoy fake dating then definitely give this one a go!~

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Rounded up from 3.5
During a flight, ER nurse Olive has to attend a medical emergency. She saves a life, but now she has no way to get to the marathon she wants to run in honor of her brother. Lucky for her, Stella, the copilot, offers to give her a ride. But Stella has an agenda. She needs a fake girlfriend to get a well deserved promotion. Can they keep clear limits?
This is a fake relationship sapphic romance, told in a single third person POV. I would've liked to see this done in first person, or at least in dual POV. The annoyance of Olive against Stella at first is not justified, and Olive came across as very judgmental. And if I'm completely honest, I didn't like either of the FMC's. Olive gives too much self-pity and feeling sorry for herself vibes, and Stella came across as insensitive and selfish. I thought there was too much assuming from Olive's side. And I hated Lindsay (Olive's ex, but she's not meant to be likable). Also, I would've liked to see more Stella and Olive interacting in more mellow and fun settings. It seems every time they were together, something extremely dramatic was going in. I'm all for touching deeper subjects in romcoms, but I felt like this was a lot, and there was a lot of crying and falling apart. Otherwise, cute, quick, entertaining read.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

This was unfortunately a miss for me.
DNF at 37%
I just didn't connect with the characters and didn't feel they had any chemistry going into their fake dating scenario.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.