Flying Solo by Linda Holmes is the definition of a quick, cozy romance read! If Evvie Drake Starts Over is a Hallmark movie, Flying Solo is a Hallmark Movies & Mysteries movie! I read this book in one sitting, I just couldn’t put it down. As a single woman in her 30s, I really related to the characters frustrations around dating/settling down and all of the nuances that come with that. My only complaint is that I wish the book were a little longer, or at least more of their back-stories were more fully formed. I would have also really enjoyed some flashbacks from Dot’s perspective, I think that would have really informed some of the MC’s decisions. Overall, I think this is a great second book by Linda Holmes! 4 stars, I would definitely recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I was a bit late to Evvie Drake, but I loved it when I read it, so I was excited to check out Linda Holmes next release, which is a return to Calcasset (with a lovely nod to Evvie), but this time following Laurie, a wildlife reporter from Calcasset who currently lives in Seattle, but is back in town to take care of her great-aunt's estate. She's also nursing a recent breakup of her engagement and trying to reassess her life as she approaches 40. When she finds a carved duck buried in a wood chest while going through her aunt's things, Laurie can't help but see a mystery. With a gaggle of friends, detective work and capers ensue to get to the bottom of the mystery—with perhaps a little romance with her high school sweetheart and town librarian Nick on the way.

As someone who is also plus size, approaching 40 (in the way that Sally is in When Harry Met Sally), and very comfortable and covetous of my independence and space, I felt an immediate kinship with Laurie. Even more so when Laurie shares that she would often escape to her great-aunt's house to escape the chaos of home because she had four brothers, and I also have a big family that was full of chaos and I would escape to my grandmother's house. The sense of humor is also exactly my sense of humor so it really works for me.

One of the things that I think Linda Holmes is extraordinarily talented at capturing is the complicated nature of grief. This was true in Evvie Drake, and true in Flying Solo. She perfectly captures the heartbreak of having lost someone, especially if you were young-ish when it happened, and realizing that now there are some things about that person that you will never get to know. How did my grandmother pay for college in the 1930s as a girl who was born in a house with dirt floors? I'll literally never know.

Reading this FEELS like nostalgia. I don't know how else to say it. And I'm a sucker for nostalgia, despite (and sometimes because of) its downfalls.

Also, completely random, but I have to mention it: I want to live in Ginger's lighthouse. Especially once it was mentioned there was a library? I'm there.

CW: infertility, sexual content

With Flying Solo, Linda Holmes is officially the queen of the cozy romance. I loved Evvie Drake Starts Over, and Flying Solo is a worthy, delightful follow-up.

The novel follows Laurie Sassalyn as she returns to her Maine hometown to clear out her beloved great-aunt Dot's home after her death. Laurie has recently canceled her wedding and is wrestling with what her predilection for independence might mean for her. While going through Dot's things, she doesn't stumble on an answer to her questions, but she does find an intriguing mystery: a beautiful wooden duck decoy tucked away. Is it a shameful secret, a tacky piece of junk, or an incredibly valuable heirloom? The duck kicks off a cozy mystery that leads to a cozy heist, and both intertwine with a rekindled romance with Laurie's first love, Nick Cooper, the town librarian.

This book deftly explores questions of romance between established adults, all the ways we create community and the ways that even romance can leave us lonely. It features delightful banter and endearing elderly people. It stars a plus-size heroine who is confident and matter-of-fact about her body. There's a realistic and very compelling romance, and did I mention there's a cozy heist?

I loved reading this book -- delightful is the perfect word for it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this one - laugh out loud funny and smart and surprising. I'm including this one on my annual summer reading guide.

Warm and charming are, in fact, excellent words to describe this book.

The relationships in this book -- the friendships, the sibling dynamics, all of it -- are central and so incredibly lovely. They felt a little idealized, maybe, but not saccharine. They felt authentic. The caper is fun, the romance is predictable and mostly closed-door and honestly, kind of not the point. This book is a love letter to all the things Linda Holmes loves, I think, and anyone who's been reading or listening to her pop culture critiques over the years will recognize her voice in Laurie.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

Flying Solo is the first book I've read by Linda Holmes, although admittedly her previous has been on my TBR for ages. There is one tiny mention of Evvie at the beginning of this book, but otherwise they stand on their own and reading one before the other is clearly not essential.

Laurie is on the verge of 40, has just called off her wedding, and is back home in Maine to deal with her Aunt Dot's house after her recent passing. Flying Solo shows us how Laurie is dealing with Dot's passing, the house, and rediscovering old relationships in her hometown, while struggling with her own identity and desire to remain independent.

There is a mystery involving a decoy duck, that ends up stolen. It's all very cozy though, and I loved how Laurie and her friends and family worked together to get the duck back, and figured out it's origins.

Once that story line wrapped up, the book did drag a bit for me, as if transitioned to focusing on the romantic relationship Laurie has with Nick, her high school sweetheart. The will she, won't she kind of grated on me, and then it all wrapped up too neatly and they miraculously figure it out.

All in all, a fun little book, and I will circle back and read Evvie Drake eventually.

Thank you to Random House - Ballantine and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for my review.

I wanted to love this so much, I loved Evvie Drake, and I expected this to be as good. Unfortunately, it just wasn't. The characters felt like sketches, which I think came down to the very awkward blocks of dialogue. It's maybe how real people talk, but I found all the fillers and exposition to be pretty boring. I did appreciate the attempt at subverting the city-girl-returns-to-small-town-and-falls-in-love trope, but it ended up coming across as a defensive justification for a certain kind of non-traditional lifestyle instead. A lifestyle I happen to understand and enjoy! It just felt exhausting having the main character try to explain it.

Overall, kind of a bummer read, though I did enjoy the duck intrigue, and I'll pick up her next one.

This is a solid entry from this author. I liked how she explores the concept of spinsterhood and marriage and how it's possible to be happy or unhappy whichever way you choose to live. I also liked that there were no easy answers, each decision required sacrifice and compromise. This was well written, though I do think I enjoyed the author's previous title a little more.

Flying Solo was a delightful book. I was so invested in Laurie's story - both her personal journey and the mystery of that duck. :) I could barely put this book down! Linda Holmes' writing was just as smart and fun as it was in Evvie Drake Starts Over. I especially enjoyed the references to town events and characters from that book. However, I didn't rate this book as high (only a three) because I felt the pacing was a bit off. I felt that more could have happened then actually did, and I didn't quite believe that Laurie was so committed to her Seattle life. I don't know, that aspect just didn't feel genuine to me so I was disappointed about how the story progressed in that element. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book but it wasn't quite as good as the author's debut.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced ebook copy! All opinions are, as always, my own.

Flying solo by Linda Holmes released June 2022. Flying solo is a cute little beach book. This will be the perfect book to read on vacation and leave at the air bnb for others to read

Laurie Sassalyn creates a path for herself that is outside the traditional confines of society. She knows what she wants and holds firm to her dreams despite her families best intentions to dissuade her. Her story inspires readers to explore curiosity and imagine what their life could look like if they honored their needs and dreams as well as Laurie. Laugh out loud funny, heartwarming, and thought provoking, Linda Holmes second novel does not disappoint.

A very enjoyable read that made me hurry to see how it ends. The characters were eccentric and believable. The banter between the characters was clever, and who knew a story about a mysterious duck decoy could be so much fun? A little long, but definitely time well-spent on a dreary day.

I recommend Evvie Drake regularly but didn't find much to promote in Flying Solo. Completely understand that a 2nd book is Tough but while I still enjoyed the Maine setting and most of the characters, the story felt forced and the romance was flat.

This was fine but I will remember nothing about it in a week. I liked the chemistry with Laurie and Nick but the obstacles were simultaneously realistic and pat. The mystery likewise wasn't that interesting.

Is it wrong to say this book is (just) “Ducky”?

Very enjoyable. I'm taking a class and getting hooked on a book right now was not what I needed, but hooked I was. :) Oh well, I guess there are worse things.

Laurie just called off her wedding 3 weeks before the big day; and is now purging her favorite aunt's home of so many belongings. Laurie had relocated to Seattle, but is home in Maine as her aunt was within walking distance to her childhood home. So of course Laurie is reconnecting with some high school friends, including an old boyfriend.

All the memories of her aunts home and some ducky mysteries to uncover.

I really liked Evvie Drake Starts Over and was very happy that NetGalley approved my advance read copy request in exchange for an honest review. Thank you also to Linda Holmes the author and Ballantine Books the publisher. Publication date is June 14, 2022.

There was an interview with Kristin Hannah at the end of the Four Winds audio; where Ms. Hannah said that good books need conflict. That kept rolling through my head as reading Flying Solo, kudos to Linda Holmes who found that conflict in the duckiest of ways.

Linda Holmes takes us back to small-town Maine, with another feel-good story about love and friendship. In Flying Solo, Laurie goes back to her hometown of Calcasset to settle her beloved Aunt Dot's affairs. Along the way, she finds a duck decoy that brings together old (and new) friends and an old flame.

As it was with <i>Evvie Drake Starts Over</i>, Holmes really gives you a feel for this town and its quirky characters. If it existed, I'd be booking a B&B today. I was also pleasantly surprised that the spiciness meter moved up - although just a little bit, still within PG-13 territory! I also loved the twists and turns of the duck caper, as well as the stories we learned about Aunt Dot's life.

I had a great time reading this, but something about this novel didn't quite hit me the way <i>Evvie</i> did. The friendships weren't quite as fleshed out and the major tension between Nick and Laurie seemed forced. <spoiler>Maybe because I don't think choosing not to get married is a radical decision in 2022?</spoiler> Still, I would recommend it for anyone who loved <i>Evvie</i> or other romance/relationship fiction fans. Thank you to NetGalley and PRH for allowing me to read an advance copy.

An absolutely wonderful story about a woman who goes, after the death of her great aunt, returns to her hometown to clean out a house full of childhood memories. She finds a new lease on life and a little mystery, with the discover of a carved duck decoy. An enjoyable read.

My Goodreads review:

Our main character Laurie from Seattle is cleaning out her single aunt’s house in Maine after her death and finds an intriguing wooden duck decoy in her aunt’s special box. She becomes obsessed with figuring out its provenance and enlists her best friend June and her old high school boyfriend Nick to help.

Since Laurie is a nature writer, her obsession with the duck fits with the story. BUT I find a plot point involving the duck as not in line with how the character would act. Of course this plot point is critical in moving the story along in two separate ways, but it’s still a head scratcher. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but let’s just say Laurie’s fixation with the duck would indicate she would have more attachment to it at one point in the story than her actions indicate.

Laurie and her aunt Dot have such similar personalities, and I enjoyed both characters. I wish we had gotten to see a few more flashbacks with aunt Dot. I was proud that Laurie didn’t need a man to define her, and I liked hearing about her flashbacks with her exes. The waffle maker makes so much sense to me!

The banter is very Gilmore Girls-like. Everyone seems a little *too* witty, but it is overall very good and engaging dialogue.

The romance you could see coming and is pretty predictable but still cute.

I really liked how Holmes did fat representation. I think we were about 1/3 in before we learned the main character Laurie is a size 18. There wasn’t any shame or dieting, and the only other time it came up was in reference to the number of hooks on a bigger bra vs. smaller bra.

Overall, I really enjoyed this second novel more than her first.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A little disappointing after her wonderful last book. This one has the great banter / dialog that I appreciated in Evvie Drake, and a good array of characters as well. Unfortunately, the plot was just a bit too dumb for me and pretty transparent to boot.

I enjoyed this story about mid-life reevaluation and romance. The duck sting added a quirky twist.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.