As a queer Disney adult who has run many RunDisney races this book was PERFECTION. I loved everything that took place at Disney and was very happy with how accurate it was. The spice in this book was fantastic and I loved the character development. Overall, I would recommend this book to everyone and I cant wait to purchase a physical copy to re read!

Okay so this started off a bit slow for me. I wasn’t finding the characters likeable I wasn’t really understanding what was going on in the book. It started picking up about 25% through and then I couldn’t put it down.

At first Stella seemed like a robot and really closed off I wasn’t sure how to feel about her until she started opening up and we saw her true colours.

Once they started their fake dating which clearly would turn into falling for each other- as every fake dating does. Stella becomes the cutest thing taking care of her when she’s sick and caring so much you can tell how big her heart is.

Not only was their relationship cute but also they both had their own family issues. With sicknesses that made it easier for them to relate too. They both have stressful, time consuming jobs and aren’t great at dating. But they just worked together and turned into a beautiful story.

Really really cute I’d recommend this book for sure. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this arc! Loved that it was lgbtq+ 💕

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

This is a charming, heartfelt romcom that perhaps wears its influences a little too heavily. I personally found it at its most engaging when it had confidence in its own identity, rather than cleaving so tightly to the tropes and beats of the genre.

For me this was just an ok romance. I liked it while I was reading it, but didn’t feel that the romance was the main focus of this book. Olive deals with a lot of grief and family problems, and while it’s well written and emotional it pushed her fake dating relationship with Stella to a secondary plot. Even their fake dating didn’t have me rooting for it to be real like the trope usually does, because I didn’t get any feelings or emotions from Stella towards Olive while they were fake dating. But there was chemistry before and after that point. This book had its ups and downs and even though I did like it while I was reading it I didn’t have any strong feelings toward it once I ended, making it just ok for me.

Overall, it was ok but I’d say give it a try if you’re looking for a wlw book and like the tropes.

Read if you like…
•opposites attract
•fake dating
•wlw
•complicated family relationships
•🌶️

CW: aerophobia, panic attacks, anaphylaxis, car accident (recounted), traumatic brain injury (recounted), end of life issues, Parkinson’s disease, depression, anxiety, parental abandonment, misogyny, stalking, toxic relationship

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for inviting me to review a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

After saving a man’s life on an airplane, Olive Murphy is thrusted into the spotlight once again. Meanwhile, after a connection developed between the two, pilot Stella Soriano tries to convince Olive to be her fake girlfriend in order to finally get the promotion she’s been working towards at her airline. Yet, as the two spend more time together, Olive wonders if they can make this relationship a reality.

I enjoyed reading Burke’s debut novel, Fly with Me, and it’s worth the read for readers looking for a queer fake dating rom-com. Olive and Stella were good MCs and I liked the depth that Burke brought to both of their character development. While I feel like this could have worked really well as a dual POV, I appreciate the effort Burke put into Olive’s overall growth in the book. Their romance was cute and I rooted for them to get together till the end of the book.

Burke also provides a good writing style in this debut. Burke makes it easy for the reader to get into the plot and utilizes the fake dating trope very well. As a small critique, I have mixed feelings about the epilogue. For me, I didn’t see much need for it since it doesn’t show much of a “where are they now” as well as the fact that it was very short. I think it would have worked better if the epilogue was extended a bit or not there at all.

Other than the epilogue, I thought Fly with Me is a solid debut and I look forward to reading Burke’s future works.

Pub date: 9/5/23
Genre: romance (f/f, fake dating)
Quick summary: Nurse and first-time flyer Olive becomes an insta-celebrity when she saves a life in the air. But her flight doesn't make it to her destination, so pilot Stella offers to drive her - and then proposes they fake date to help Stella get promoted.

The beginning of this book was great - I loved watching Olive spring into action during the medical emergency, and her meet-cute with Stella was adorable. Stella was so supportive from the beginning, and I could tell these two were a great match. Unfortunately, this book ended up being darker than I wanted (or needed) at the time - Olive was dealing with major grief and family guilt, while Stella was coming to terms with her father's illness and struggling with workplace discrimination. I appreciate that the author wanted to make the book realistic and not too "fluffy"; i just wasn't the right reader for it.

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for my e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Olive, an ER nurse who is scared of flying, finds herself on a plane for the first time, the last thing she expects is to go viral. But after another passenger's medical emergency, that's exactly what happens. Olive's flight gets diverted due to the emergency and she realizes that she won't make it to her destination in time to run the half-marathon in honor of her brother. Luckily, Stella, the pilot, offers to drive Olive so that she can make it. Due to the viral video, Olive feels pressure from both her hospital and the airline to keep the good press going. Stella, hoping that her airline will finally promote her, proposes to Olive that they fake date for a few months. Olive agrees but has had a crush on Stella since day 1 so has it ever really been fake for her?

I absolutely flew through this in one sitting (pardon the pun)! I loved how real this book is - the emotions, the interactions, just all of it! I thought both Olive and Stella were strong characters and could totally understand where each was coming from. I typically prefer dual POV for romances but I actually thought this really benefited from the single POV - we got to know so much more about Olive and her history than if this had been dual POV. I also so appreciated the authors note in the beginning that describes some of the heavy topics that this book has. Both Olive and Stella are dealing with sick family members. Olive is the medical decision maker for her brother, who has been in a coma and will not recover, but her mother is very religious and has engaged a lawyer so that Olive cannot make the decision to let her brother go, as he would have wanted. Stella's father, who she is incredibly close to, was diagnosed with Parkinson's a few years ago and Stella is having a hard time dealing with the reality of having a parent who is declining.

Read this for:
- Fake Dating
- Learning to live with fears
- Mental Health rep
- A GREAT DANE!
- Opposites attract
- Banter

I also LOVED Olive's best friend and thought he added so much to the story.

I do think some readers will be frustrated that Olive never gets closure with her family and initially I was too. But as a healthcare worker who sees similar situations, her not getting closure (or at least not getting closure in this part of the story) is incredibly realistic. Family conflict, particularly over medical decisions, is so complex and there are so many emotions and opinions. The outcome isn't often ideal so I thought this reflected that reality really well. You can tell that the author is a nurse with the care and accuracy that this all played out.

I do wish that the ex-girlfriend, Lindsey, had gotten some karma for her actions and truthfully her verbal abuse of Olive - man did I hate her with a passion. Even if Olive had just stood up to her instead of hanging up on her that last time. I would have liked to see just a little more there.

Thank you to Netgalley at St. Martin's Press for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Enjoyable story and characters. You know how sometimes a characters anxiety etc is comforting in a “I feel seen” way and sometimes it just stresses you out? Olive kinda stressed me out.

I appreciate everyone’s messiness. There was almost too much going on but it kept it together.

I would like to acknowledge how much I love that Andie Burke understands what it’s like to run a 1/2 marathon at Disney. I was ready to be an annoying know it all when details got screwed up on this niche topic but she didn’t miss a step or a beat. RunDisney must be so proud.

Not so fake fake dating
Slow burn
Good spice
Not too earnest! (I find that is a common struggle for me with the sapphic romances.)

A good debut.

Technically it’s a 3.25 but Goodreads doesn’t allow for star chunks.

Also posted on TheStoryGraph

Enjoyed this, the author’s debut novel. Kept me entertained. While romance is not a genre I really enjoy, this one, because it was two women, had me at hello. Well written and engaging way to while away a tad bit of Pride Month time! A very sweet story that shows some of what panic/depression can look like - not in a bad way and really does add to the characters in the story.

I enjoyed this debut (!) novel by Burke that explored some very real issues that people are facing every day in the context of a fake romance between 2 driven, but hurting women.

Olive is an ER nurse. She is a boss in medical situations, but plagued by anxiety and self-doubt in nearly every other part of her life. I thought Burke did a fantastic job of creating Olive - she is a complex and relatable character. She is also going through a terrible time - her ex is a gaslighting horror show and her family has fallen apart due to a difference of opinion about what her brother would have wanted in the worst case scenario, a version of which is sadly playing out for so many families right now.. When we meet her, she is taking her first flight ever, due to an extreme fear of flying, and saves a man’s life on the flight.

Stella is the co-pilot of the flight Olive was on and is relentless in her pursuit of making captain. She is a very deliberate person, with maybe a touch of OCD, and seems hard for other people to get to know, but she clearly likes Olive. As the book is told through Olive’s POV, it is harder to get to know Stella and even as the book resolved, she was still a little bit of an enigma.

I like a good fake romance and this delivered that trope well. What I liked more, though, was the depth of the characters and the realistic portrayal of what they were going through, particularly the unflinching view of the difficulty of long-term medical decisions and the impact they have on families. It was realistic in a way that most sapphic fiction isn’t, and it was done really well. The fear of flying was effectively used as a metaphor for overcoming all fears and worked well. There were a few things that felt unresolved or unlikely at the end which I am mostly choosing to ignore.

Finally, I especially appreciate that this was a debut written by a nurse who made it through the horrific shifts during peak covid. Thank you for sharing this story with us and I hope it was cathartic to write.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a good find! I am happy to have read this book and think the premise is what made it stand out for me. I do think the story got off to a slow start and was heavily focused on Olivia's character development, but that did not take away much from my enjoyment. Olivia and Stella were a great pair and while their connection developed rather quickly, it was conveyed it a way that made it understandable. Great discussions here about the RN professions and loved the discussions around mental health.

Well developed characters that grip you right away. The pacing was a little slow for me towards the middle and end though. A very cute debut queer rom com.

Omg! This book had my attention from the getgo! I couldn’t read it fast enough! I loved every last minute of this book! The banter was amazing. The slow burn has me on the edge of my seat. And the fake dating was incredibly well done! I can not recommend this book enough

Pros: Finally! A book with a sapphic love story that feels real. The way these two women meet, and the way their relationship slowly blossoms is believable. The spicy scenes are well written, I could see myself and my friends in almost all of the interactions.

Cons: There seem to be some missing words here and there as if the author planned to go back and add something but did not. It makes for easy fumbles but does not take away from the experience.

Overall: I look forward to more from this author!! I must say I selected this book based on the cover but when I read the dedication and the authors note I thought I would not enjoy the book. I assumed it would be about the pandemic. Also, the trigger warning made it seem as though the book would be heavy in certain subjects but it was not. I am very happy I kept reading as the book had nothing to do with covid. The opening scene really pulled me in and I love how we were given little crumbs to keep us wanting more.

✈️Fly With Me Review✈️

When I saw the delightful @andiewritesandreads wrote a book, I was so excited to get my hands on it! She has excellent taste in books so, it only makes sense she’d write an excellent one too! And spoiler alert, she did! Olive, an ER nurse, is afraid of flying. When she finally summons the courage to take flight, a medical emergency is announced on the plane. Olive immediately takes action and saves the man's life which leaves her flight diverted, hours away from her final destination - a marathon she is running in honour of her brother. Luckily, Stella, the stunning copilot of the flight, offers her a ride. After having a fantastic day together, Stella surprises Olive by asking her to be her fake girlfriend. With the video of Olive saving the man’s life going viral which is generating a lot of sales for the airline, Stella sees it as the perfect opportunity for a long overdue promotion. It’s the attention that unfortunately needs to get ahead in the male dominated airline.

First off, I absolutely adored the characters. Olive and Stella were both so likable and real. They each had their own very real struggles and had me rooting for them. The story was light and fun but also had a lot of depth. The depth of the story had really invested me and made me unable to put it down. I also really enjoyed how the relationship between Olive and Stella was reasonably paced which allowed it to develop naturally.

There are some heavy topics including mental illness, making end of life decisions for a loved one and managing a parent with a progressive neurological disease. Andie notes this at the start of the book which was really helpful. Her experience as a ER nurse really shined through this aspect of the story.

Overall, I loved Fly with Me, I basically devoured it and I want more Olive & Stella in my life!

Thank you @netgalley & @stmartinspress for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! Fly with Me is out on September 5th!

⭐4.5/5 stars⭐

Such a fabulous debut and celebration of queer joy!

ER nurse Olive Murphy is flying-phobic, but prepared to white-knuckle her way to an important event when an onboard medical emergency compels her into action. When the flight lands hours from her intended destination, the stunning type-A copilot from her flight offers to drive her the rest of the way. After a video of her heroic efforts has gone viral and bolstered the airline’s sales, Stella Soriano sees a romantic relationship as a fantastic way to push past the boys’ club and snag her a well-deserved promotion. Stella suggests leaning into what the public has already assumed and fake dating, but she and Olive care for each other in ways that are so much more real.

Olive and Stella were both fantastic characters and I particularly enjoyed Olive’s humor. This story had so many emotional layers I hadn’t seen coming, and I loved the way the author handled them and watching Olive and Stella ease the burden for each other. I love their chemistry so much and the easy way they are able to be together.

You’ll find —
Opposites Attract
Fake Dating
Mental Health Rep
Fantastic Banter and Steam 🔥

Thank you to NetGalley, St.Martin’s Press, the author, and Goodreads for the gifted copies and opportunity to read and review!

⚠️: end of life care decisions

This novel was a wonderful adventure into queer literature. A great story that incorporates love, mental health struggles, and how what someone is going through in life impacts how they interpret the world around them. Spice level was good and incorporated in a way that was relatable and engaging.

Olive is terrified of flying but has to get on a plane to get to Disney to run a marathon for her brother. Naturally on her first flight ever, another passenger has a medical emergency. Being an ER nurse, Olive jumps into action and saves the stranger's life. After the plane is diverted, the (hot) pilot Stella offers to drive Olive to Disney as a thank you so she can make it to the marathon. The two spend an incredible day together at Disney which leads Stella to ask Olive an important question... will Olive be her fake girlfriend?

Fly with Me surprised me in its depth. Both Olive and Stella are dealing with sick family members, and the care and compassion that Burke's writes with was really great to read. I love a good fake-dating trope, and this novel is no exception. While the pacing felt slow at times, I really enjoyed reading this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Fly With Me is a delightfully steamy fake dating sapphic romance. Pushed together by chance, Stella and Olive take the opportunity to use Olive’s me found fame to finally get Stella her dream captain position. If there is anything I love it is a fake dating scenario, and Burke does it so well. I loved the characters, and everyone felt like they had their own story. I would highly recommend this book.

This was really sweet!! I thought that both Olive and Stella were great characters, very dynamic and well rounded. I LOVED how the book started - I was drawn in immediately. It was a little too much of a slow burn for me, the 3rd quarter dragged just a little bit, and I wish there was some resolution with Olive’s family. But those are minor gripes, overall this was engaging and kept me wanting to read!