This is a debut?!? No way!!!!

This was so good. I loved these two characters, and their copious flaws, so much!!!!

The messy vs clean, fear vs fearless, all around passion was so good.

My only qualm is I wanted less of a slow burn. I wouldn't have had enough if they were intimate every page of the book!

Such a good ride! I can't wait to see where else Andie Burke takes us!

Full of flirty banter and reader-favourite romance tropes, Burke's debut follows two women who fall hard and fast, but who both default to self-sabotaging relationship patterns that force them to keep each other at arm's length, until, of course, the attraction bubbles over and the two collide. Burke complicates matters for the pair with serious workplace and family challenges: a sibling on life-support with family members dissenting about the choices to be made, a father with Parkinson's, a grossly sexist work environment, and an unhinged ex determined to make one of the leads dislike herself (and often succeeding). So this is no light rom-com, but Burke balances the trauma with lots of laughs and flirtation amid the giddiness of falling in love. We also get a fun workplace friendship, a fabulous dog, and a layered thread about tackling a fear of flying. A great fit for readers who enjoy love stories between characters living complex lives, with a blend of humour and hardship.

A sweet and tender romance with a lot of heart and emotions that truly pack a punch. Great writing and characters you really feel for.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me an eARC of Fly with Me in exchange for my honest review!

It's such a wonderful feeling to emerge from a rom-com novel and think to yourself, "Hot damn, I really did love that!" Well, that's what happened to me once I finished Fly with Me, the sapphic fake-dating romance book by debut author Andie Burke. Olive and Stella are such lovable leads who got me to fully connect with the joys and anxieties of their lives and this adorable bond they build together. But as sweet as their love story is, as much as their chemistry is full of spice, and as clever as the humor gets, this book also manages to weave in some surprisingly heavy shit revolving around grief, a broken family dynamic, an incredibly toxic ex-girlfriend, and a workplace-set blend of misogyny and homophobia. They're heartbreaking to consume, but they never overshadow the narrative to the point of making it unbearably depressing. They simply flesh out the layers for Olive and Stella's individual arcs as well as their relationship. Since my mom had once been a nurse, I also found myself being just a little more endeared to Olive and her medical profession. The cover design is excellent, too.

Overall, I'm officially rating Fly with Me 4.25 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding down to four on Goodreads. Definitely make sure you check this out ASAP. I myself will be eager to read more of Burke's work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Olive has always avoided planes. She's on her first flight ever when the flight attendants call for assistance from any medical professionals onboard, and she quickly jumps into action. Saving the passenger's life, however, was just the beginning. The beautiful pilot wants to get to know her, and before you know it... They're "fake dating."

I won't give you the details because no spoilers, but this one is emotional and sweet with a bit of spice and some heavy topics. A balanced read with an interesting plot. I really loved Olive and Stella!

CW: hospitalization, death, illness

OH, was this a good one!!!! Olive & Stella’s love story is everything - fake dating, mental health rep, self judgement, conquering your fears, a sweet pup and so much more. Love this Sapphic romance and can’t wait for everyone to read it when it’s out!!

ER nurse Olive manages to get on a plane despite her intense fear of flying and ends up becoming a hero when she saves another passenger's life. The pilot, Stella, offers Olive a ride the rest of the way to Disney, where she's set to run a marathon as part of her project to honor her brother by completing his bucket list. Following the news coverage of Olive's life-saving actions, Stella and Olive agree to fake date to help Stella achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a captain in her male-dominated airline, and in the process, they both fall for each other.

Overall, this is a really enjoyable new sapphic romance that I would recommend to all romance readers! There's a lot of depth to the story with family problems, anxiety rep, Latina rep, challenging and important professions, and much more. Some of the villains, like Olive's psychotic ex and Stella's very misogynistic colleagues, were a little overdone, in my opinion. Olive's and Stella's emotions jump off the page in this book. This a very successful debut and I would easily recommend it to other sapphic romance readers! 4 stars

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

✨RATING: 4⭐️

✨REVIEW: Join Olive as she tackles her fears, her brothers bucket list, social media and 15 minutes of fame, potentially finding love? and finding herself. ER nurse Olive has a hilarious mental monologue throughout her journey and I enjoyed getting to be part of it. By accepting to be Stella’s fake girlfriend, they both put themselves in a tricky situation. Will it end up working out for both of them? Or crashing and burning? The author does a great job at keeping you guessing but also easy to follow along. I love light and easy to read romances, and this one didn’t disappoint. This is not safe for work but easy to binge on a weekend 😝 happy reading! Thank you NetGalley for my advanced eCopy!

✨PROS: very easy to read!
CONS: a few places between 40-45%ish had some grammatical errors that was distracting, but hopefully that’s fixed before final print!

🚨WARNING: Potential triggers include smut 😝, coma/death of loved one, family discrepancies over arrangements, fear of flying

This book was the perfect way for me to end my PRIDE month. This Pride I really tried to only read books with positive and loving LGBTQIA representation. This book delivered, the relationship all amazing. It was a beautiful charming read, filled with the romance people LIVE for! Olive's anxieties made me relate so much to her and I truly can't wait to read more by this author!

I found this book interesting enough to keep reading to find out what would happen, but it didn’t feel like anything to write home about. The story was pretty good, I liked the characters, but the pacing seemed slightly off and one “obstacle” they had to overcome was just TOO MUCH. For pacing: it did seem to move too quickly. A 34 year old woman is saying after knowing Stella ~maybe~ 24 hours she would “follow her anywhere” - just seemed a little too quick to be believable. The immediate lust that Olive has for Stella, can totally believe that, but that way of thinking, which is a direct quote from the book, took me out of it. Olive’s ex Lindsey was too much for an obstacle for the story. I think the things Olive and Stella were going through in their personal lives was more than enough. But Lindsey took the story into the slightly unbelievable territory. I really loved Olive’s bestie Derek. He was a great side character. The writing was done well, except for the fact that sometimes Olive was called Olivia? This was an ARC, so it’s possible that will be fixed come the final released version. Just thought it was weird because Derek calls her Olivia and she says to him “you know that’s not my name” and they’ve known each other since middle school! He calls her Olivia again later and it isn’t talked about, so not sure exactly what that was all about. All in all, a pretty good sapphic romance with good spice (once you get to it) - a pretty good first novel! Would recommend to those who enjoy contemporary romance.

I am still shocked that this is a debut book. The story flows and is well written. If you are a fan of fake romance troupes look no further, hand over your money and snuggle in for a fantastic read. This book had all the feels and not in a gimmicky way, they added depth and layers to our 2 main characters. It's been over 24 hours since I finished this book and I find myself still thinkin about it.
I received an ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.

#flywithme

Absolutely loved this book! Both main characters struggles with over coming fears, mental health, and family issues felt so real that you couldn’t help but feel everything they were feeling. Olive and Stella’s relationship was adorable! Between Stella’s habit of speaking in paragraphs and Olives pining - it made it hard to put the book down! Can’t wait to read more from the author!

A fear-filled nurse meets a career driven pilot, both of which believe themselves too broken to be loved. This dram-rom-com was full of sky high feelings and emotions, while highlighting the importance of communication, community, and mental healthcare. The little jokes and puns, with a splash of spice throughout made Olive and Stella’s relationship all the better!

Fly With Me is Andie Burke’s outstanding debut!! I devoured this book and immediately preordered a copy. Olive is an ER nurse with a fear of flying and she’ll only get on a plane to fulfill a promise to her brother Jake. When a medical emergency occurs on the flight, Olive must leap into action despite her fear. After saving the man’s life, Olive meets Stella. Stella is an incredible pilot who has been constantly overlooked for promotion. They end up driving together the rest of the way to their destination and a connection sparks. As they embark on a fake-dating scheme, what will Olive and Stella do when the relationship starts to feel very real?

I loved Fly With Me!! I definitely had Frank Sinatra’s voice singing the title in my head every time I thought about it. Olive and Stella have such a sweet romance! I was swooning over Olive’s descriptions of Stella. Their relationship is so beautifully written. I loved how supportive of each other they were, especially when they connected over caring for family members. Stella’s dad has Parkinson’s and Olive is responsible for her brother’s hospital care. Olive helps Stella with her professional goals and to see her value. Stella helps Olive overcome her fears and supports her through difficult family situations. The romantic tension between them is always fierce and I loved seeing their strict rules fall to pieces the more they got to know each other. Their romantic scenes together were fantastic!

Burke did an excellent job of portraying the many emotions that occur when someone is chronically ill or not going to recover. Olive is so caring; I loved that Stella was able to look after her and help when Olive’s family was being awful to her. Stella needs Olive just as much though and seeing their connection deepen was lovely. Burke creates nuanced family dynamics portraying grief, trauma, and healing. The relationship between Stella and her dad was very moving. I was impressed with how the dialogue and writing was always funny and very witty, even when dealing with serious topics.

I would highly recommend Fly With Me to readers who enjoy queer love stories, fake-dating, and excellent writing. Readers who enjoy Alison Cochrun (Kiss Her Once For Me), Ashley Herring Blake (Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail) and Alexandria Bellefleur (The Fiancée Farce) would love this book. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Andie Burke writes next!

Thank you so much to Andie Burke, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

This book surprised me, I figured it would be decent but wow it was so very good! I don’t know what to say really other than I think you should read this book. It was so thoughtful in every way. It has romance, comedy, drama ( I actually got teared up… that doesn’t happen to me ) and so much more. Go into reading this with an open mind and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Many thanks to the publisher for giving me an advance copy of this book, I am so very thankful to have read this.

First and foremost - this book is FABULOUS! I couldn’t put it down and found myself desperate for more.

The characters were so diverse and believable, I feel like everyone could relate to someone in this book. The voices were perfectly written and only added to the sexual and romantic tension throughout the book. This is exactly the representation that we need in the LGBT+ community!

The plot was amazing - the author did the proper amount of building tension but also not making us wait an annoying amount of time for something good! The slow roll out of the back stories kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting more. I found both main characters’ back stories to be plausible and believable, which can be tough to write!

The spicy bits of this book were SO GOOD! The author really took her time building up the tension and created the perfect slow releases. I very thoroughly enjoyed reading about Stella and Olive’s romantic moments and I rooted for them the whole time!

Overall, a truly good romance book that hit all the right spots!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Andi Burke for this Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for a prompt and honest review.

[REVIEW: Fly With Me by Andie Burke]

Thank you to @NetGalley and the publisher for my e-ARC. Opinions are my own.

In order for me to appreciate a rom com I need it to have some emotional depth, to have some heart and this truly fit the bill!

The author covers plenty of (heavier) real life battles in a very authentic way, specifically surrounding traumatic accident/coma, depression and panic attack disorders, ailing family members, and Parkinson’s disease.

All of this is balanced by two fiery FMCs who were absolutely easy to love. Olive and Stella were so easy to root for, despite the fake dating trope (which is not one of my favs). I rated this one 4, not 5 stars because the pacing of their relationship felt a little off. I wanted more pages dedicated to the building of their sweet and spicy romance. I can’t wait to see what Andie writes next and will enthusiastically recommend this one to those looking for queer joy stories. ✈️🩷

Note: I received a free ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback.

When Olive Murphy saves a man having a heart attack during a flight, commercial pilot Stella Soriano is determined to help her get to the Disney World half marathon. However, Stella needs something in return — the perfect girlfriend to help her finally promote to captain. Olive and Stella’s fake relationship quickly heats up as they navigate family tensions, crazy exes, and being a queer woman in a male-dominated field.

Honestly, I started this book with a really bad attitude — the pacing felt “off,” the romance began too quickly (they already kissed in the first 1/5 of the book!), and it felt like too many romance tropes rolled into one story. However, in the last third of the book, I secured that this was pretty impressive for a debut novel. There was such a sweetness to their relationship, and showed a healthy balance of support, openness, and a healthy physical relationship. It was also nice that the book didn’t completely focus on the queerness of their relationship; they just got to exist as two people in love. Overall, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, and would recommend!

I really enjoyed this book! It was fun and I liked the characters and the representation. My biggest (and only) complaint was the reasoning behind the fake dating felt a little contrived. It’s hard for me to explain without spoiling anything, but I had a hard time believing fake dating would solve anything in this situation. Otherwise, it was a good book and a solid romance.

3.75/5⭐️

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this one! I’m a big fan when romances have plot lines that deal with serious topics. For this novel, I really appreciate the topic of dealing with sick family members and how that affects people so differently. Ignoring the few weird comments that Stella had about nurses, I thought the characters had good chemistry! I’ve read many fake-dating romances and think this was a solid read. My main complaint is that I wish there were more side characters. I loved Derek and wished that there were more friends or family members that made it easier to connect to the main characters.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!