It was alright. I didn't enjoy it as much as the author's previous book (Evvie Drake Starts Over) which I enjoyed immensely. Laurie was a pretty good protagonist in that I appreciated that she knew what she wanted and stuck to it but at the same time it didn't leave her much room for growth. I found the plot kinda predictable, a bit dull. I really hate to say that but it's true, it felt a bit like a cozy mystery but without the intriguing mystery part to propel the story along.

The writing itself is good though, a casual tone that really suits the feel of the story, but that alone wasn't enough for me to not just skim the last third and leave it at that. All of this to say: if you think the blurb sounds good, you should read it. Never let a review talk you out of a book that looks good to you!

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

Thank you to Random house publishing and Ballatine Publishing house for a copy of Flying Solo. This book was a cute book about a neice who clears out her aunts house and finds a wooden duck and try to determine the significance of it. She also runs into a former boyfriend and tries to reunite. This book was quick book and enjoyable to read. This is my first book by Linda Holmes but, I will read another book of hers. Thank you to Netgalley for introducing me to new authors.

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
An enjoyable story with a realistic look at relationships.

I absolutely ADORED the author's debut novel and was delighted to try her latest publication. It could be a case of unrealistic expectations, given my experience with her previous novel, but I did not enjoy this one even close to as much as I did Evvie Drake. I found that the narrative dragged a bit and I did not find the characters to be quite as engaging. While I did enjoy the story of Laurie and Dot, I think the alternating timelines were tough to follow and made it feel a little disjointed. I will certainly give this author another try in the future and I'm sure this will work well for readers who are looking for a slower pace.

Flying Solo is a delightful read. Laurie, who lives in Seattle, returns to her hometown in Maine to clean out her beloved great-aunt’s estate. In the house where Aunt Dot lived for decades, Laurie finds boxes and boxes of photographs, souvenirs from Aunt Dot’s travels, and a wooden duck. The duck was hidden under some blankets in a chest. Why was it hidden away and not displayed like many of Aunt Dot’s other treasures? Is it valuable? What did it mean to Aunt Dot? Laurie is determined to find out the duck’s history. Assisting her is June, her childhood friend, and Nick, the town librarian who also was Laurie’s old high school boyfriend. Laurie, just shy of her 40th birthday, is very independent and doesn’t have any plans to move back to Maine. But she finds that she is still attracted to Nick, a divorced man with strong ties to the town. Should she rekindle the romance that they shared as teens even though she knows that she will be in Maine for only short time?

I enjoyed Flying Solo. It had a quiet comfortable feel to it. I liked the characters and their genuineness. This is women’s fiction with a bit of mystery, a little romance, and some humor thrown in. Having also read and enjoyed Linda Holmes’ novel, Evvie Drake Starts Over, I look forward to future novels by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for providing me with an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 stars. I enjoy standalone series, and while I wouldn't necessarily put this book totally in that category, it exists in the same universe as Evvie Drake Starts Over, which I loved. The story didn't hold my attention quite as well as EDSO, but it was cute!

Evvie Drake Starts Over was one of the best, most hopeful books I read in the dark depths of 2020. It led me to Linda Holmes, her regular updates on her charming dog Brian (who is the best boy and goes to what looks like the best dog daycare). I've repeatedly recommended it to customers, family, and friends. It's that wonderful intersection of romance and relationship fiction, where the main character gets to process their trauma/shit/fill-in-blank but also gets to find a fulfilling romantic relationship, and those two things are somewhat exclusive and somewhat not.

Flying Solo also treads this wonderful line, but even more so. After ending an engagement, nature journalist Laurie returns to her small Maine hometown to help sort through her beloved Aunt Dot's home. Stuffed to the gills with memories, half-finished crafts, and other evidence of a life well lived, Laurie is giving her relative the respect she hopes she one day might also received. Determined that she will happily live unmarried as Dot, she fears her life as a single woman will be judge, seen as lesser-than, a waste. But she knows she's too particular, too happy to live a life beholden to no one, to pursue married life.

A wooden duck becomes the impetus for her to reaffirm — or reject — that belief.

Once again Holmes has produced a book with a character so authentic and wholehearted, it's difficult to leave the world she's created. Laurie's struggle to balance dueling desires within herself, her need to prove her lifestyle to others, it's all unbearably relatable to anyone who is going up against social norms, family expectation, and their own shadowy doubts. Holmes is a master of character and setting. From the slimiest of faux feminist assholes, to charmingly over-the-top grannies (Ginger, for fans of Evvie Drake, is back), to sweet and honest librarians, everyone feels impossibly 3D. And despite having never set foot in New England, let alone Maine, I feel like I spent a week in Calcasset. Small towns are all the same and yet all their own.

For your elderly millennials and young gen Xers, readers who like some romance but don't want it to be the bulk of the book, or anyone who loves relationship fiction, Flying Solo is an excellent rec. I, for one, cannot wait to see what Linda Holmes shares next.

I think this is a solid read, but not my cup of tea. Maybe it was a wrong timing thing! Still going to give Evvie (her first book) a try since I think that one is a crowd pleaser! Thanks for the review copy!

Not going to lie, I almost DNF’ed this book after the first initial chapters because I had heard enough about that dang duck. HOWEVER, I’m really glad I didn’t because I ended up enjoying this one. Laurie was a really unique character and I loved her strength. The way she worked through processing her grief and honoring her Aunt’s legacy was really admirable. I liked her interactions with other characters, the parallels of Dot and Laurie’s lives, and finding out more about the history of the mysterious duck. I did find myself laughing aloud a few times as they tried to outsmart “The Grim Reaper!” The last half of the book really hooked me and I’m glad I didn’t give up on this one!

As a single, 40something, plus-size woman I loved seeing myself reflected on the page in the main character, Laurie. Laurie travels from Seattle back to her hometown in Maine to go through her recently deceased great aunt's home and belongings. While diving into her single great aunt's life she has a lot of time to reflect on her own life and choices. Along the way she comes across a wooden duck that becomes the central mystery of the story. Is the duck valuable? Why does her aunt have this and why was it hidden? Laurie becomes very focused on finding out the answers. I thought the mystery of the duck was a little kitchy, but still a fun element that helped propel the rather slow book along. I did think the book was well written and though I didn't love the ending I think it made sense for Laurie. This book felt cozy and full of warmth. I really enjoyed reading it and gave it 4 stars.

I loved this book! Even better than her first. Smart and funny and unique. It was great to see a story about a single woman that wasn't sad.

I really loved Holmes's last book Evie Drake, but this one didn't take off for me. A second round purchase for most libraries.

I went into this one with expectations that were much too high. Linda Holmes’ debut EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER is one of my favorite summer reads, so it was impossible for her sophomore novel to live up to my impossibly high expectations! This one was charming and had characters who cared deeply about one another, but I couldn’t get into the duck.

In this satisfying story by the author of Evvie Drake Starts Over, Linda Holmes offers sweet, funny dialogue; a complicated reunion between old flames; and a hometown return that's both heartwarming and fraught.

Flying Solo has been on my to-read list all summer. Because I was back in my old stomping grounds of Maine last week, seeing family and old friends in my former hometown, it seemed like the perfect time to read Flying Solo, Linda Holmes's Maine-set title about returning to a childhood safe haven and reconnecting with old friends and an old flame.

In Flying Solo, Laurie Sassalyn returns to her Maine hometown, stinging from her recently canceled wedding, facing being on the cusp of forty, and ready to dive into the massive job of dismantling her beloved, recently deceased, never married great aunt Dot's collectible- and memento-filled house.

Who, she wondered, are all these people who live in the place where I once felt like I knew everyone?
Then an unusual antique she finds in Dot's attic and an old love letter send her on a wild caper through her own past, back to her first love and her oldest friend, as well as into the hands of con artists and antique dealers eager for what she's got.

I adore Holmes's excellent ability to set up and develop a rom-com with depth. Her wonderful dialogue, appropriate and satisfying sentimentality, and the thrill of connection--I love all of it.

I wasn't sure I was going to be in for the antique caper angle here, but Holmes layers it into her story without jarring or disrupting the affectionate feel of the old-flame reunion and the true-friendship bedrock that I loved.

Regarding the love story, Holmes inserts the reader directly into the joy and heartache of two people who adore each other and who feel perfect for each other in most ways, but who continue to want different things from their lives. There aren't forced misunderstandings here, nor is there a manufactured failure to relay key information to each other, or any other manipulative element. This is a sometimes gut-wrenching exploration of whether deep love can overcome disparate life plans without subsuming one person's desires and priorities into the collective relationship.

Flying Solo is complex and beautiful as Laurie and Nick circle around each other, knowing themselves, wanting each other, yet recognizing that their differing life plans may not intersect in any long-term way.

...she had spent the last few years chasing the feelings of comfort and trust, and the magnetic and uncomplicated drawing together, that she'd felt with him.... But that feeling that she was connected like the sides of a locket to the other half of herself, that feeling had never returned. Maybe that feeling belonged to being younger, and not to him, but what if it did belong to him?
I appreciated that Laurie's desire for independence and solitude weren't swept away in a convenient, abrupt sea change. Holmes digs into a complicated, messy situation that's far more interesting than that. I loved this.

Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and is also the author of Evvie Drake Starts Over, a light fiction story I loved.

I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of Ballantine Books and NetGalley.

FLYING SOLO is the latest novel by Linda Holmes, who wrote EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER. I loved Evvie's story and was thrilled to receive the ARC for FLYING SOLO, which I was highly anticipating! FLYING SOLO tells the story of Laurie, a newly single woman approaching 40, cleaning up her beloved great-aunt Dot's home after Dot's death. I really enjoyed Laurie's story - along with learning about Dot, Nick, June, Ginger, and the rest of the robust set of characters Holmes created in this novel. FLYING SOLO didn't quite win me over as much as EVVIE DRAKE did, but I would still recommend the book and thoroughly enjoyed it overall.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.

I’m realllly enjoyed this book! It is such a cozy read and it’s such a cute little “mystery”. The characters are extremely likeable and easy to follow. There is a little Evvie Drake line in the book that pays homepage to Evvie Drake Starts Over. Linda Holmes does it again

Flying Solo is the type of romance I most enjoy - romance in the background, but more going on in the foreground. While I cared what happened with Laurie and Nick, I was really here for the mystery of the duck 🦆

Creo que mi principal problema con los libros de romance es que por mucho tiempo he creído que los romances siempre tienen los mismos clichés, dos personas se conocen y automáticamente surge algo entre ellos desde el segundo en que se ven, desde la primera página sabemos que terminarán juntos porque nada será suficiente para separarlos ya que están destinados a estar juntos aun en contra de las más absurdas situaciones. No me mal entiendan, me encanta cuando nuestros dos protagonistas terminan juntos y me llena de esperanza y felicidad que, a pesar de todo lo que pase, el mundo terminará por unirlos solo que creo que sí me gustan plots más realistas y no solo el idílico cuento de hadas. Entiéndanme, nunca fui fan de Disney.

Dicho esto, me encanta cuando encuentro historias diferentes, y un poco más realistas y este libro me pareció bastante interesante de leer.

Laurie Sassalyn recientemente canceló su boda, y ha decidido que no quiere, o no necesita casarse para ser feliz. Por cosas del destino tiene que regresar a su ciudad natal en Maine para manejar las propiedades de su tía abuela Dot, una mujer de espíritu aventurero que vivió hasta los noventa años. En este lugar no solo encontrará secretos de Dot que la sorprenderán, como una carta de amor a un desconocido que nunca fue entregada.

Pero no es lo único que encuentra, ya que Laurie se reencontrará con un viejo amigo del pasado, con quién tal vez pudo haber pasado algo más.

El libro nos habla mucho sobre encontrar la felicidad en nuestra independencia, no es necesario casarse para ser feliz, también nos habla sobre segundas oportunidades y quizá esto fue una de las cosas que más me atrajo de la historia.

Laurie me gustó, aunque no pude sentirme identificada del todo con ella. Creo que esto fue lo que hizo que el libro no terminara de encantarme, a pesar de haberme entretenido mucho.

Seguro voy a querer leer más de la autora y desde ya quiero leer su primer libro.

I had a great time reading this book. This book is less of a rom-com and more of a book about grief, second chances, a caper and finding love on your terms. ⁣
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I think it’s great that this shows a different kind of love. While I didn’t completely understand it, I’m glad to see a different perspective. ⁣
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Laurie is an independent woman who wants to have love and companionship on her own terms. To her, that means you do not have to always meet halfway. She was not willing to leave her established life and she did not want her sexy librarian to leave the life he built. ⁣
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They made their relationship work for them! I see this being more common nowadays, especially in more mature love stories. I think it’s a great thing to show!⁣
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The caper is low stakes and silly but entertaining. It was a minor plot but enjoyable nonetheless. I loved her spirited Great Aunt Dot who we learn about in stories from family and friends. She was a rebel for her time!⁣
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Thank you to @randomhouse @ballantine for the gifted galley

There is something truly special about a story of a women in her 40’s, who decides to take charge other own life and own her choices after a life of trying to meet others expectations and often experiencing disappointment. Trying to deal with her cancelled wedding, Laurie get the opportunity to start anew when her great truly fabulous great-aunt dies and she is tasked with handling her estate and all that goes along with it. Sad, but good timing for her to get away and regroup emotionally and figure out what is next up for her. A little mystery, a lot self discovery, interesting people, self acceptance all themes that make this an absolutely lovely engaging read.