What a surprisingly deep, sweet romance. And again, a fake dating story I really enjoyed; am I a fake dating fan??
First and foremost, this story covers some heavy topics including anxiety, panic attacks, end of life care of loved ones, death, sexism in the workplace, and more, but there was a great balance of lighthearted and even laugh out loud moments for me.
Nurse Olive Murphy is endearing, sweet, and a Brandi Carlisle lover, it was easy for me to love her.
Pilot Stella Soriano was interesting, sexy, and refreshingly vulnerable. Her gentleness with Olive when she needed it most was heartwarming. There’s a scene where she takes care of Olive when she’s sick and it’s so dang sweet y’all.
I really enjoyed this one!

Fly with Me, first off, has a great cover and a fun premise. I really like the dynamic between Stella and Olive, with things being kind of quirky and awkward, but still comfortable. Unfortunately, just about everything else added so much stress to these vibes that it kind of made it not a great read. I LOVED the themes of family here with Stella and her dad, and Olive with her brother. The rest of Olive's family was tough to deal with, and it was SUPPOSED to be tough so Andie did a great job there. It's just that it seemed a bit too much when on top of the rest of her family, we also have to deal with Olive's ex, Lindsay, who was, to put it very lightly, bat shit crazy. 😂 Then we also have Stella's misogynistic/sexist work to deal with too. Obviously I don't need things to only stay light and fluffy, and these are realistic issues that people deal with in life, but it was still just a LOT.

Stella was my favorite thing about this book, and I did love seeing her through Olive's POV. I felt truly Stella's frustrations with her work life, and was cheering for her to fight for her promotion and recognition. The fake dating did work for me, but again, while I could have enjoyed the kind of easy interactions Olive and Stella had together, those scenes were wrapped around REALLY dramatic external factors. I also wanted more actual flying or airport scenes -- even though I know that's not really the point of the story.

Overall, the negatives outweigh the positive for me here and that's why it's a 2-2.5 star read for me. It felt MUCH longer than the 380~ish pages. I liked Olive's friends, I liked the dynamic between Olive and Stella, but I think the pacing definitely didn't work for me, unfortunately, and it stayed on the same beat a bit too long for the first half instead of having a more natural growth as the book went on. The spice was fun though, and I'm glad they did have great communication over time. I just wish things were a little tightened up and also had less external drama surrounding them. I'd definitely try out another book from Andie too!

I loved this book. Both MC had some personal issues that made them second guess everything so it took a long time to figure out how to move forward. Both MC had some big life/family problems that had them stuck. I loved that Stella offered to drive Olive to her race after she could not get another in time. I am not sure i would have accepted. I don't want to give away too much of the plot but i thought the pacing was good. Olive was funny and was always talking to herself. I am glad they both figured out what was important and what they really wanted in life. Please buy this book. It will surprise you in a really good way. I will be looking for more books by this author.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Griffin, and author Andie Burke for this advance review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I thoroughly enjoyed Andie Burke’s debut romance. I typically steer clear of the fake- dating trope. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the chemistry between Olive, an ER nurse and Stella, an airline pilot who are complete opposites.

We meet Olive on a flight which Stella is co-piloting. During the flight Olive ends up helping during a medical emergency and finds herself stranded quite a distance from her destination. Stella offers to drive her overnight so she can make it to a half marathon she has promised herself to complete for her older brother. After running the race & talking to the press - they both end up being the latest feel good story of the media.

Later when each has returned home, they reconnect when Stella asks Olive to be her ‘fake’ girlfriend to help keep the good press going and propel her career to Captain. Olive agrees and while at first it’s all by the book (in this case a binder Stella puts together), their friendship grows. I loved the tension created by their different energies, family drama, and realizing there might be more to the relationship.

A lovely, sweet read!

Olive Murphy is on her first flight, ever. She has been afraid to fly all of her life and still is. Olive is flying to run in a marathon to honour her brother. While in the air, Olive uses her nursing skills to save another passenger from a sure death. She is called a hero and given praise by everyone, especially the pilot Stella Soriano.

All Stella wants is to get her Captain’s wings but promotions for women at her airline are few and far between. There is a misconception that Olive and Stella are girlfriends in the media. Stella seizes this opportunity to arrange a fake relationship with Olive to advance her career.

I enjoyed this fake relationship to lovers romance. It has a number of moving parts to it which creates a fresh look at this type of romance. Both main characters are easy to like and root for their happiness. I gladly recommend to all romance readers.

I received an advance review copy from St. Martin’s Griffin press through NetGalley.  I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A short & sweet sapphic romance with a unique plot and characters! I really felt that I could relate to both love interests and their struggles & insecurities going into the relationship. I enjoyed getting to see behind the scenes of the aviation industry a bit, and this book sadly illustrates some of the obstacles that women face in this career. While I don't enjoy a third act breakup, I did find the ultimate resolution to be satisfying and will be recommending this to people who enjoy sapphic romance!

Fly With Me is a promising debut novel by Andie Burke. You can tell Burke is brimming with ideas and I appreciated her depicting a sapphic romantic relationship.

This book had potential but there were a few too many ideas that were never fully resolved. The protagonist, Olive, was better developed than Stella the love-interest, who fell a little flat and was lacking personality. The two characters had so much going on in their respective lives it felt like their fake dating was really unhealthy and it made it hard to root for them and their love.

There were a few standout scenes that left me feeling excited for whatever Burke may offer in the future, but this book needed more time and editing to review it anything higher than 2 stars.

Thank you to St Martin’s Publishing and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book.

This is a fantastic debut novel! Olive"Murphy's Law" Murphy and Stella Soriano were two distinct, likable, relatable FMCs. From the moment she had Brandi Carlile as her tune-out and relax music, I was endeared to Olive.

Olive has a best friend, and luckily also co-worker, named David Chang whom she's known since childhood. Their relationship was one of the things I really appreciated. It showed just how important chosen family is and how meaningful those connections are. Their witty banter was funny and realistic. Also, David and I are definitely movie soulmates-- I understood all his references.

Stella was the perfect example of a Type A, career-focused, ambitious woman. But that isn't all she is. She has a big heart and cares deeply for her father. She might have some neuroses and refuses to eat or drink anything in the car, but she is caring and thoughtful.

The book has a beautiful portrayal of anxiety, panic disorders, and serious issues with self-identity. Both of our leading ladies have issues with self-perception and have been deeply affected by past relationships, family, and co-workers. The anxiety and inner turmoil were handled with care.

This is a delightful, queer, FF, romcom. The one issue that I had with this book is that I really wish there had been information in the blurb, or trigger warnings attached, about Olive's family. Her mother is deeply religious and makes choices based on that entrenchment. Additionally, she is narcissistic and plays the victim a lot.

I would recommend this book to just about anyone! My only caveat would be if you have deep-seated issues with religious, hateful family members and insecurity, then maybe skip this one.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

We really enjoyed Fly With Me and felt that it’s a fantastic debut from Andie Burke! If you enjoy sapphic books, Disney world, and the faking dating trope, then we definitely recommend giving this one a read! There are several well written and super relatable characters in this one that made the reading experience so immersive and interesting for us.

To listen to our more in-depth (spoiler free) thoughts on Fly With Me, listen to our podcast episode! Our podcast name is Books With Benefits and you can find us on most major podcast platforms. Here is a link for this episode on Spotify! -> https://open.spotify.com/episode/1i5LfBzGwsGt7VJMioMk1F?si=jXz244TbSC-Z0QgEnZWOeQ

This is a fantastic debut novel from Andie Burke. Our main characters are well-developed, and their quirks make them even more loveable. There is depth and heart in this book, and even as a notorious hater of feeling feelings (I'm working on it in therapy, okay!) I still absolutely loved the journey this book took me on! I appreciate the discussions of anxiety in the book and how each character deals with it differently but is open and understanding of struggles. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love, and I can't wait to see what else Andie Burke writes in the future!

This story truly pulled at your heart strings and made us feel like we really knew the character and their journey. The banter was great and the sweet moments felt truly special.

First of all, congratulations to Andie Burke on her debut book. Fly With Me is so many things. It's funny, thought-provoking, sad, cute, adventurous, and dramatic. Throughout the book, those are all good feeling to have. The story of two broken women, making their way through this thing called life, who have a chance encounter and make the best of it. Sometimes that's all we need...that chance encounter, that twist of fate, that lucky moment to change our lives forever. Read the book. It's on the longer side, but worth it.

Okay so I am not big on most of the overused troupes in romance - enemies to lovers and childhood best friends to lovers are pretty much my least favorite things to read about. But for some reason I am a complete sucker for the fake dating troupe.

This story was more than just a cute romance, Olive is a really strong character, with flaws and trauma. The story with Olive and her brother was heartbreaking, and her trying to live up to his expectations and dealing with the distance with her family, her own guilt, and learning to just live. Stella too had her own baggage (does that count as a pun?), between her father being ill and her trying to make captain while dealing with the sexiest men in the industry, she's got a lot going on. I loved both girls and I loved how well fleshed out they were, each with their own personalities, desires, and ambitions.

The one issue I had with this book was it felt like I was reading two separate books. The first half was a meet-cute, fake dating romance novel. It was sweet and I loved watching both girls grow and sort out their lives and feelings.

AND THEN WE HAVE THE SECOND HALF.

Without giving too much away (although this is a romance so obviously we have a HEF) the second half of this story shifts from cutesy awkward love to SEXY TIME MARATHONS. Seriously though, the second half was 1000x steamier than the first and I was extremely thrown off at first. I mean, I still enjoyed every second of reading it, but its quite a jump going from a "I'm too scared to ask this girl if I can kiss her" mentality to a "let me describe her going down on me for the third time today and now I'm gonna go make her scream my name in the shower" type. Like I said, still enjoyed it, and I am always down for all the romance and sexy time, and the sex scenes were written very very well, but still a jarring contrast.

With the added early sexy time though came its own series of complications, and I really liked the fact that this story didn't become a Happily Ever After halfway through the story. There was still a lot of misunderstandings, arguments, partings, and work to be done, because in the end this wasn't just a story about falling in love, but a story about learning to love yourself.

I flew through this quickly (for me) in three days. I will be looking out for more of Andie Burke’s work in the future. This was a really solid debut. I love the fake dating trope. This was a slow burn romance that I think would’ve be benefited from the reader being able to understand the thoughts and feelings of both MCs rather than just Olive. Stella was a great a great character and I’d love to hear more from her side. That aside, Burke did a great job of creating characters with depth and did not bog the story down with too much side story. The mental health representation was also well done.

I was so excited to read this one, especially because of the LGBTQ+ rep for pride month and how much I love traveling! But I am DNFing this one at 10%. The beginning internal dialogue about the plane crashing was a bit too much for me, but I wanted to keep reading past that. I did appreciate the MC saving someone's life, but by the time the pilots came out and the male pilot was super sexist and misogynistic, I couldn't take it anymore. I have too many books on my TBR to spend my time on this one that I wasn't enjoying, but thanks anyway for the advanced copy. I hope others love it!

Thank you to St Martin’s Publishing for a free ARC of this book.

Burke did a good job with her debut novel. I appreciated the accuracy of the nursing aspects of the book as well as the mental health issues depicted. Both characters were easy to root for and love. I’m excited for more books from this author!

I really enjoyed this debut novel! Olive and Stella both had so much depth as people that they felt super relatable. Olive has had a crap hand dealt to her- her brother's accident, her toxic ex, her strained relationship with her family, and her mental health struggles (anxiety, panic attacks, and depression). Stella has her own stuff too- her dad has Parkinson's disease, she's a queer female in a male dominant field, and she's a little bit of a control freak. While on the surface, Olive and Stella couldn't be more different as people, they just work as a couple and compliment each other perfectly. As far as fake dating goes, it was great! Stella had Olive attend work functions with her in the hopes of finally getting the promotion to Captain that she has deserved for years. I'm really pleased that at the end of the story, Stella was able to stand up for herself and Olive. They both learned to lean on one another through some truly intense situations. Definitely a story I'd recommend!

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book! Queer romance! A pilot as the love interest! I enjoyed both of the characters but I didn't find the writing to be convincing about their relationship. My brain cared about their relationship but my emotions did not. I think that the book was trying to do too much, Both characters had multiple non-romance storylines that didn't get a chance to be developed enough, or resolved enough by the end.
I am interested in what the author writes next because I think that this had some great parts, and a lot of potential but it didn't all come together for me in this one.

I really enjoyed getting a chance to read Fly With Me, it was an excellent debut novel by Andie Burke. Definitely a book I could not put down once I started reading it. I read it all in one sitting!
It was an easy and enjoyable read! Overall, this book told a cute romance story featuring one of my favorite tropes, fake dating. Looking forward to what Andie Burke writes next!

First, thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eArc in exchange for a fair and honest review!

This book was a delicious snack of a book! Well, for the most part. There were things that I found too much for me (particularly regarding the treatment of Olive's brother's wishes and Olive) that never got any kind of worthy resolution beyond a few sentences. That's fine in general--but I wished for more there.

Overall, though, it was a romp of a book; it was angsty, spicy, sweet, and I'm so glad the book ended how it did! I think Burke does a great job of building the main relationships in this book; I'll be reading more from Burke for sure, and I'll be recommending this one to my sapphic romance loving friends!

4.5/5 rounded up to 5.