This queer romance featuring a pilot and a TERRIFIED of flying ER Nurse is the perfect mix of hilarious, absurd, and emotional.

Olive is an ER nurse on her first ever flight, conquering her fear of flying to honor her brother. However, soon after takeoff a medical emergency happens on board and she is the most qualified and prepared to handle it, The statistics about the safety of flying running through her head to calm her did not prepare her for this.

Meanwhile Stella is the female co-pilot, smiling through the inappropriate-ness of her male cockpit partner. Looking forward to the Food and Wine Festival in Disney, Stella has as much motivation to get the Disney as Olive, despite the destination diversion.

What follows is a rom com, crazy ex, familial drama romance for the ages. I loved that author Andie Burke isn't afraid to broach the difficult, yet real experiences of caretaking for aging parents, the struggles of end of life decisions, and the survivors guilt. The characters were relatable, driven and scarred. "Fly With Me" was a fun romantic escape.

4 Stars

This book was the perfect sapphic fake dating romance! Olive is a flying-phobic ER nurse who is navigating her life via a list of goals set my her brother. She ends up saving a Mickey Mouse character actor’s life mid-flight, which thrusts her I to the (unwanted) limelight. Stella is the perfectionist pilot who was on the flight. She wants to make captain and is dealing with her own internalized struggles. They hatch up a fake dating plan that ends up being mutually beneficial and their tension is EXQUISITE. The number of times I found myself screaming JUST BANG ALREADY was a true testament to the chemistry between this couple.

I loved how Andie Burke so deftly handled anxiety and depression as well as loss and family trauma. It gave this story the depth needed to really root for both women, while not bogging down the plot. It felt so spot on, as someone who has self with a lot of similar issues, and I found myself relating to both women!

If you have the opportunity to grab the audio version, I do recommend it! The narrator does an excellent job of providing each character with their own unique voice and style.

Fly With Me is a wonderful debut and I cannot wait to read Andie’s future books!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the copy of this audiobook!

This is a book with so much heart and depth admist the romance that it's hard to put down! Andie does an incredible job writing really relatable FMCs and I thought both the friendship and romance were really well done. Fly with Me shows that life throws us all hardships and curveballs and tough relationships, but having someone to learn on to go through it all makes all the difference.

Chelsea Stephens was an absolutely fantastic narrator for this book!

I’m not a big smiler; a friend told me that I need to smile and show my teeth. Does she know how hard that is? For me??? Well, I finished this little book and guess what I saw? All my teeth!!! 😁 Whoa and behold me with a huge kool aid smile, happy and gleeful AF!!

No BS! I had been thinking of a plot that I hadn’t read yet, but would love to, and thought about writing. I wanted a FF 2nd chance romance, but as they’re falling back in love, boom, here comes a new love interest.

So I stumbled across this cutesy little treasure and oof, it gave me alllll the feels! It’s a sweet FF romance that’s both lighthearted, but has some drama and tear jerking scenes added to the mix. It wasn’t exactly what I was envisioning, but it was kinda/sorts close. And damn good, all the same.

Ok so check it out. Olive is a nurse, who is terrified of flying. On her first flight there’s a medical emergency where she has to render help. From there, the co-pilot, Stella, comes out to greet her. The whole ordeal goes viral, of course, and hoila, enter the sparks and heated tension.

Some professions I hold extremely respected are nursing, teaching and piloting! They have my utmost respect, so having 2 of these professions and their dynamics included here really caught my attention. I enjoyed both the close-knit team work in the nursing unit, and the nuances in the airline.

The romance was just how I like it… slow burn, organic and delicious! And the sex?! Whew, baby was it goodT?! Like frfr! There weren’t many steamy scenes, but the quality was Grade A!


As someone who is terrible of getting on planes, when Stella gave Olive a weed laced cookie to “help”, I had to store that away for the next flight!!

The narration was superb! I loved her pitches and tones, how she could switch up so easily and invoke every emotion perfectly. Chelsea Stephens may become my new favorite narrator!!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the free copy.
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.

Two worlds collide as an in flight emergency happens. Nurse and Pilot are thrown together for an roller coaster adventure. Both dealing with serious losses in their personal lives they throw caution to the wind to conquer their fears.
I listened to the very well executed audiobook version of this book.
I liked both characters but Stella was my favorite. Character development is superb in this cute story about falling in love. I highly recommend this title to everyone.

what a cute book! i really enjoyed this. both characters were so relatable and realistic, i couldn't put it down. I will read more from Andie!

Fly with me is a rom-com about one woman who is scared of flying in a plane, but has a bucket-list to complete in honour of a loved one. She meets an aspiring pilot on a flight to one of her bucket list items after she saves the life of a passenger on the plane. Unfortunately, due to this medical emergency, the flight does not get to her destination, and driving while she's this exhausted is not an option. Luckily, the beautiful woman she met on the plane offers her a ride, as she was also on her way to the same place!

What I loved about this story was the way the author snuck comedy into moments that would otherwise be more quite normal and bland. The way this story brought to life real issues women face, while also adding a comedic feeling gave this empowering story so much harder of an impact as it was more memorable!

I would have loved to have loved if this book was more of a road trip vibe, as reading the blurb had given me the idea that that was what was going to go down here. I enjoyed the amusement park moment, and it really felt like the author knew the location she was talking about which made it feel so much more illusive.

I did have some trouble connecting with the main characters at times, as it felt very push and pull in terms of the love story. It didn't feel like there was any real conflict when it came to the characters and their feelings in and of itself, and this made it a bit harder to feel that desire to see them end up together like I usually feel in a romance book with a third act breakup.

Overall, a great read and I loved the spice too!

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.

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! Especially the audio version - narrated by Chelsea Stephens (though it would be good having different narrators for the different characters). She did a great job. A new voice for me.

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

I couldn’t pass up reading a book about an ER nurse who hates flying and thinks she’ll never find love. I immediately connected with Olive’s character for those reasons.

Congrats to Andie Burke for writing such a fun, steamy debut! I loved your introduction at the beginning of the book. I’ve never felt so seen. Pizza doesn’t pay rent! If you read it and I hope you do, you’ll understand. The narration in this book is great. I thought she did a great job bringing the characters to life. I could really feel Olive’s anxiety.

When Stella gave Olive a “plane survival kit” I was sold on their relationship! I thought that was the sweetest thing! I enjoyed the romance between Olive and Stella. It felt real and the pacing was good.

I loved this audiobook. I think that the narrator did an amazing job!

'Fly with Me' swept me away with its beautiful story about two women who are a crossroads in their lives. Olive is a nurse who is embarking on her first ever flight. She is terrified of planes, but she climbs aboard to go to a run in Disney World. She is doing the run in honor of her brother, and she finds herself using her nursing skills to save a passenger on board. Olive becomes a viral sensation, and she meets the copilot, Stella. Stella is trying to become captain, and she has put in the years of work. She keeps getting skipped over for promotions because she isn't a man. Stella is also taking care of her father who has Parkinson's Disease.

When Olive meets Stella, she feels an immediate attraction, and Stella volunteers to drive Olive to Disney World. They spend an amazing day together, and Stella asks Olive to be her fake girlfriend. Fake dating will help both women because Olive is a viral sensation from her save on the flight, and Stella hopes that the publicity will help her move up in her career.

As they spend more time together, things start to feel real and lines between friendship, fake dating, and real dating start to blur. Stella and Olive keep showing up for each other, and their story is so beautiful. I loved the connection that they had, and they were steamy together too!

Both women were going through stressful and emotional times with their families, and those parts of the story made me cry. It felt very real to think about how to handle those difficult decisions and complications with family. I loved that Olive and Stella supported each other through it all. They both had things to overcome, and they were able to find their way to each other.

I loved this book, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a sapphic romance that makes you believe in the power of love, found family, and change for the better.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced copy of this amazing book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fly with Me
By: Andie Burke
Narrated by Chelsea Stephens
Publication date: September 5, 2023

“A sparkling and steamy Sapphic romance, Fly with Me by Andie Burke is filled with sharp banter and that sweet, swooping feeling of finding “the one” when and where you least expect it.”

Fly with Me is a Sapphic, fake dating, spicy romcom. When ER nurse Olive gets on a plane for the first time there is a medical emergency and she is asked to help out. Good thing the super cute copilot Stella is there to congratulate her after it happens. After spending 2 amazing days together Stella asks Olive to be her fake girlfriend.

Let me start off with what I liked about this book:
- [ ] Both of the characters are amazing
- [ ] The narrator was amazing
- [ ] The tension between these two was great!
- [ ] I was kicking me feet when they finally got together
-[] great representation of mental health issues

What wasn’t my favorite:
- [ ] The third act breakup


Overall I would recommend this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me this ACR in exchange for my honest review.

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.

The narration was incredibly well done and made the already believable characters absolutely come to life.

Cutesy cartoon books with super, steamy scenes and dark topics always throw me off. At first I thought: a queer romance kicking off in Walt Disney World with an aviation twist- was this book written for me?, but then I found out about the genuinely horrible family drama Olive is dealing with and my heart just kept sinking.
This was an emotional rollercoaster and the depths felt too down for me... which feels like a silly &/or shallow reason to remove a star, but I had a hard time continuing when I was feeling totally sad.
There's a terrible ex-girlfriend, a vicious, grieving mother, an emotionally-unavailable fake girlfriend, a boys club of airline men, panic attacks, crippling medical issues, dark humor about air disasters... but ALSO a sweet, endearing love story that I was totally rooting for.
It's a hard read, but it's beautiful and really well-written and the audio narration was really great. I definitely recommend, just be warned that it might make you super duper sad at times.

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. The narration in the audiobook was great.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

I received a copy of the audio book from Macmillan Audio after I had read the book. It has been a couple of weeks so I listened to the book and enjoyed Olive and Stella’s romance again. I enjoyed the narration by Chelsea Stephens and my original review is below.

Olive Murphy is a skilled ER nurse and has a lifelong fear of flying. Nevertheless she is flying to Florida for a half marathon to be run in honor of her brother. While in flight there is a medical emergency and she is saves a fellow passenger. Of course others capture it on video. The pilot, Stella Soriano and crew take photos with her too after the flight calling her a hero. The flight had to be diverted to Atlanta and Stella in a gesture of good will offers to rent a car and drive Olive the Orlando so she can make the race. In the mean time the in-flight save has gone viral and the airline and Olive’s hospital are thrilled with the good social media public relations.

The media loves and promotes the story of Stella and Olive finding romance from the heroic beginning. Stella proposes a fake dating relationship. Her dream is to be a captain. She has the years and experience but it’s an olds boys club and there are few women that get the top spots. The good PR she is bringing in will surely get the attention of the owner and board members. Olive’s motive is slightly different. Her hospital loves the PR but more importantly she is clearly smitten with Stella and wants nothing more than to spend time with her.

There are some harder side stories and family situations but I wont spoil those with my review. I think there could have been some editing to shorten the story. It is long and feels longer. For me there are few too many times Olive is lusting her feelings to her best friend Derek. Also I wish there could have been some reconciliation for Olive with her family, maybe not her mother but at least her father or sister. And I was disappointed not to know, even with the epilogue, if Stella gets her career dream. Overall I enjoyed the romance of Olive and Stella and cheered for their HEA. And I’m happy to see more sapphic romances from main stream publishers.

This was an emotional rollercoaster and I was on edge of my seat the whole time! I laughed, my eyes got misty, I wanted to give some characters a piece of my mind and I swooned at the beautiful love story. Full of found family, loss, grief, fake dating, opposites attract vibes, amazing friendships and love - this was a fantastic debut!

Side note - Is this Rizzoli & Isles coded? Because I’m totally picking up the Jane & Maura vibes here!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy.

Love a good sapphic romance with a fake dating trope!

Thank you to St Martins Press and Andie Burke for this ARC!

4.25/5. Releases 9/5/2023 (audiobook).

Vibes: hot lesbian pilot/anxiety-ridden bi nurse, mental health dealt with wonderfully, fake dating, trauma bonding in a good way, and very solid vibrator usage.

While on a flight to fulfill her comatose brother's bucket list, nurse Olive has to leap in and save the life of a passenger, unintentionally becoming a viral sensation. She wants to avoid the attention--but the super sexy pilot Stella makes an instant connection with her. So when Stella asks Olive if she'd like to fake a relationship in order to help Stella move up the career ladder... I mean, Stella is very hot.

A sapphic romcom debut that had me totally engaged the whole time--and it did hit me me in the gut a couple times. Yet it was also fun and sexy! Very impressed.

Quick Takes:

--One thing I really appreciated about this novel was the way that it was funny, but was also a bit devastating. There are a lot of intense things dealt with here. I never felt overwhelmed, however. A sad moment would be cornered by a happy moment. There was a lot of bittersweetness. Never in the romance, but in everything surrounding it. And I think that, overall, Andie Burke did a great job with having those issues act as an impetus for Stella and Olive to be together, rather than a distraction from their love story.

--I really appreciated the way this book touched on how nurses are diminished and dismissed by the general public, especially in the wake of COVID. The author is a nurse, and she does a great job of, again, framing this without letting it take over the fact that this is a romance novel.

--About this being a romance novel... I so enjoyed this love story. I often feel like sapphic romances kind of turn into "everyone is smiley and smart and they don't have dumb issues" stories. Which I get! We want queer love framed in a positive light. But the thing is, men in m/m romances get to be dumb and horny and messy.

Stella and Olive are undeniably both good people, but they are also dumb and horny and messy. A good part of the reason why Olive agrees to this fake dating scheme? Is because she really really really really wants in Stella's pants. And why wouldn't she? Stella is a hot pilot, hypercompetent, super lovely, and very good in bed. And you did get to see how good she is in bed.

I think that Andie Burke did a thing I would love to see in more sapphic romcoms, which is just like... mess. Olive and Stella act like a couple of morons in the best possible way, because feelings are hard. Olive has a crazy ex who I feel some may object to, but I don't know. She felt like an old school romcom crazy ex, which is to say, loathsome, but--not impossible. Especially with a partner like Olive, who feels so concerned about accommodating others.

--Speak of accommodating others, I will say, the emotional abuse Olive receives from her mother in particular is like... intense, and it's not the stereotypical sapphic romcom issue, and it did make me feel so fucking bad for Olive. The situation she was in is just impossible and heartbreaking and something I think a lot of people should put more thought into.

And frankly, there isn't a bow put on the issue at the end. Sometimes families are rough. I appreciated that this romance could cover love and cover that at once.

--That said, Stella has a similarly complex but more loving family unit. I don't think I've read a contemporary romance before where the heroine is gay and her dad is also gay? And we should see more of that.

--The one thing I will say is that I think Andie Burke could've written this as dual POV, and it would've benefited from that. At points, being in Olive's head only made it feel like she was a universal victim. I would've liked to see more of Stella's POV, not just because Stella is probably my favorite out of the two, but because she had a lot of her complex issues going on that I think we should've seen more of.

The Sex Stuff:

This is a slow burn, and it does take a while for this two to have sex. But when they do, it is quite hot. I really loved the usage of toys in this book, which we should totally see more of. I feel like whether I'm reading m/m or m/f or f/f or even poly romances, I don't see enough toys.

Anyway it was hot and I especially love the shower scene.

A very strong debut, and a great edition to the f/f romcom canon, which needs to be broader. The narration was solid as well.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for providing a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.