Publishers Weekly
07/03/2023
Burke skillfully balances sweetness and heat in her delightful sapphic romance debut. When flight-phobic emergency room nurse Olive Murphy braves her first plane ride in order to run a marathon at Disney World to honor her comatose brother, Jake, medical disaster strikes and she ends up saving the life of a fellow passenger mid-flight. The plane makes an emergency landing in Atlanta, where grateful pilot Stella Soriano offers to drive Olive to Orlando herself—and then asks Olive to pose as her girlfriend so she can use the positive press about the incident to force the airline into the long overdue promotion they’ve been squeamish to offer a gay Latina woman. Olive and Stella’s quirks are both lovingly depicted, sex scenes have a refreshing mix of playfulness and intensity, and the tension between the couple’s insistence on their relationship being for show and their clear joy in being together drives the story forward at a brisk clip. Subplots about familial relationships as Olive visits Jake and Stella helps out her father, who has Parkinson’s, add heart, but the external stressor of Olive’s sabotaging ex, Lindsay, feels like an irksome plot device to add some late-stage conflict. Still, readers will eagerly cheer on the charming central couple. Burke is a writer to watch. Agent: Mariah Nichols, D4EO. (Sept.)Correction: An earlier version of this review mislabeled the book as a lesbian romance.
From the Publisher
"A modern, tongue-in-cheek view...Fly with Me makes you laugh right before it makes you cry." - The New York Times
"A one-way ticket to sapphic delight." - PopSugar
"A soaring, swoony fake-dating tale." - Electric Literature
"Fly with Me is a delightful tale full of beloved romance tropes...Burke manages to center a nuanced look at grief while also maintaining the book's sexiness and humor." - Autostraddle
“Fly with Me is a hug in book form. Opposites-attract goodness, top-tier banter, and delightful tenderness all combine to make Andie Burke’s debut an instant favorite. I fell head-over-heels for Olive and Stella from the first page, and this hilarious yet beautiful story of love, grief, bravery, and acceptance was unrelentingly delightful. A celebration of queer love and joy from start to finish.” - Mazey Eddings, author of A Brush with Love
"Fly with Me took me on a deeply emotional journey. This touching sapphic romance champions the healing power of found family, facing your fears with compassion and patience, and surrounding yourself with people who see and love you just as you are. Perfect for fans of Alison Cochrun and Abby Jimenez!" - Chloe Liese, author of Two Wrongs Make a Right
"Burke's writing is elegant and effortless and had me completely charmed from the first page. My cheeks hurt from smiling. Fly with Me balances the humour of a disaster sapphic fake-dating her hot pilot heroine, with the heavy emotional weight of loving (and losing) family. Sprinkle in the perfect amount of tension and heat and Burke had me flying high." - Ruby Barrett, author of The Romance Recipe
"A sizzling debut! In Fly with Me, Burke delivers a love story that is heartfelt, entertaining, and utterly romantic. I enjoyed every second of this wonderful read." - Kate Bromley, author of Ciao for Now and Talk Bookish to Me
"An amazing sapphic romance...hard-hitting yet hopeful." - Culturess
"Burke crafts a heartfelt, emotional novel about two women who must learn to trust themselves enough to fall in love. Recommend to fans of Helen Hoang and Abby Jimenez.” - Library Journal
"Burke skillfully balances sweetness and heat...readers will eagerly cheer on the charming central couple. Burke is a writer to watch." - Publishers Weekly
"In this adorable yet heart-wrenching story of overcoming limiting beliefs, Burke weaves a classic romantic tale of fake dating while diving into the naked truth of trauma and mental illness." - Booklist
"Fly with Me will undoubtedly make you believe in love! With its dazzling set of characters and opposites-attract romance, the story will take you to all kinds of highs that you won’t ever want to get down." - Book Riot
Library Journal
07/01/2023
DEBUT An in-flight medical emergency and a viral video send two women on a collision course to love in Burke's first novel. Olive Murphy, an emergency-room nurse with a fear of flying, is on her very first flight across the country when she saves a life on board, which forces the plane to land shy of its Florida destination. The event goes viral while Olive is stuck in a strange airport, miles from where she needs to be. Then beautiful pilot Stella Soriano steps in and offers to drive them both to the Sunshine State. After one day together, sparks are flying, but it takes an idea from Stella to get them together: take advantage of their momentary fame by faking a relationship. As challenges mount for the two, it's not clear whether they can take the relationship from fantasy to reality. The characters deal with serious issues, including anxiety, caregiving, end-of-life decisions, workplace sexism, manipulative exes, and family conflict. VERDICT Burke crafts a heartfelt, emotional novel about two women who must learn to trust themselves enough to fall in love. Recommend to fans of Helen Hoang and Abby Jimenez.—Sierra Wilson
DECEMBER 2023 - AudioFile
Chelsea Stephens fully embraces the complexities that result from dragging emotional baggage into a new relationship in this queer rom-com. Olive Murphy's life confirms Murphy's Law: What CAN go wrong WILL go wrong. But when she meets a captivating pilot named Stella after saving a man's life on her first-ever flight, Olive gets a new lease on her once fearful life. To win Stella the captain's seat and protect Olive from the limelight, the duo pretend to date--that is, until pretending turns into reality. While the story involves classic romance tropes, Stephens's performance offers contemporary twists and all the joy, steaminess, and trepidation of new love. A.A.H. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
