By: Linda Holmes
Linda Holmes is such a good writer. I have read several of her articles and I especially enjoyed Evvie Drake Starts Over. Her writing just flows so well, and it is so lovely to read. You can really just get lost in the world that Holmes has created. That being said, I just found this book to be a little…boring? I stopped and started it several times. I just finished it because my library was clearly getting annoyed with me that I kept renewing it. I truly liked the main characters and it was a charming little mystery to find more about the wooden duck, but I just do not see these two characters in a HEA. Definitely a HFN, which just isn’t my personal jam.
Laurie Sasslyn returns to her small hometown in Maine to handle the estate of her great-aunt, Dot, a free-spirited adventurer that Laurie always loved and admired. Laurie recently broke up with her fiance and canceled her upcoming wedding. She is also a few weeks shy of turning 40. Now living in Dot’s house and sorting through all of her mementos and items, Laurie is confronted with her life choices and keeps running into her high school and college ex-boyfriend, Nick Cooper. She also finds a wooden decoy duck at the bottom of one of Dot’s trunks and is determined to discover where this duck came from and why Dot was so attached to it.
I do love that Laurie doesn’t all of the sudden change her mind to move back to her small, hometown. She has a real life and friends out in Seattle and her independence means a great deal to her. But, also Nick’s entire life is that specific piece of library property in said small, hometown, so, by that same logic, he should not move either. I get that is why they are going to, I guess, visit each other a lot? Which, maybe that is someone’s ideal life, but it isn’t mine and I have a hard time connecting to it. I might feel a smidge better about this arrangement if I felt Nick had a similar outlook on life. But, there are moments peppered throughout the entire book where it was clear that he would prefer to be married and living a more traditional life in Maine. I am sure I am just missing some profound point, but I felt there was no compromise here. This is really all for Laurie’s benefit, which I suppose is very nice of Nick, but I do not see this lasting long-term.
My final point is that I happened to have turned 40 earlier this year. Yes, I do look amazing, thank you so much. But, also, 40 is not as old as it used to be. I mean, it is crazy to think that I graduated from college 18 years ago (!!!) so it does explain why crop tops are extremely confusing to me. Yet, it also isn’t 60? We still have plenty of life left to live? Maybe this is just me and my circle of friends, but turning 40 was not a huge deal. Definitely worthy of a celebration, but I did not rethink all of my life choices and worry whether I made the wrong ones? It just seemed like Laurie really fixated on turning 40 when I think most 40 year olds today would have had a party or maybe go on a trip?
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟/5
I borrowed this from my local library, somehow I requested both the e-book and a physical copy, which I did not remember doing (OMG, maybe because I am 40!?!?!?).
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Flying-Solo-Novel-Linda-Holmes/dp/0525619275
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/flying-solo-linda-holmes/1140191010?ean=9780525619277
Or an independent bookstore. Try Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri! https://www.left-bank.com/book/9780525619277