I was so disappointed because this book was not nearly as enjoyable as her debut novel. I was not able to finish it since I just did not find the characters to be interesting or the dialogue compelling. I am sad since I loved Evie Drake, but this one just was not nearly as good.

This was a very readable book, just not the quality I expect from Linda Holmes after her amazing first novel.

Flying Solo is the latest book from Linda Holmes. I picked this up not even reading the synopsis since I adored her previous book, Evvie Drake Starts Over, a few years ago. Sadly, this book just didn’t hit the same.

After her recently cancelled wedding and about to turn 40, Laurie returns to her Maine hometown to handle the estate of her great-aunt Dot, a spirited adventurer who lived to be 93. While going through Dot’s boxes of possessions, Laurie uncovers a mysterious decoy duck that leads her down a journey of self-discovery, new (second chance) love with her highschool boyfriend, and family secrets. The decoy duck plot definitely took center-stage in this story, with Laurie trying to figure out what it was doing in her aunt’s belongings, who made it, where it came from, if it was worth anything, etc. At one point it is even stolen and it’s just a whole character on its own. We do get a very light second chance romance situation between Laurie and her former highschool boyfriend, who is now the local librarian. The romance is definitely more of an after-thought, whereas in Evvie Drake Starts Over there was more focus on the romance. I did like that the romance in this was a bit unconventional, Laurie is very independent and confident that she does not want to be married or even live with someone but she does want someone to share moments with in her life. The story is told in a mixture of flashback memories and current-day which I found kind of disjointed in the storytelling. While this didn’t live up to my enjoyment of the author’s previous book, it was a very short read and I ended up finishing it in one sitting. I liked the little mention of Evvie Drake in here as both books take place in the same charming Maine town.

Thank you to the publisher (Random House, Ballantine Books) for an e-ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts in this review are my own. Flying Solo has a publish date of June 14, 2022.

I might be the only one but the writing is good but that characters are lacking development. I just wish there was more. I couldnt connect

4.5 stars. Linda Holmes has written a charming follow-up to Evvie Drake Starts Over, equal parts mystery, heist, and romance, set in the same small Maine hamlet. Laurie comes back to town to clear out her late great-aunt's house, and uncovers a mystery among the mountains of collections and clutter. Aided by her childhood best friend and a charming (and cute) antiques dealer, she comes across a duck decoy that might be the lost work of a local artist. She also reconnects with her high school boyfriend who now runs the town's library, and spends time with her boisterous siblings and parents.

Holmes says in the introduction that she watched a lot of Antiques Roadshow during the pandemic, and was inspired to write this tale of family and unexpected treasures. It's a lot of fun.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

I got an early copy of Flying Solo from Net Galley - thank you so much Net Galley! The author, Linda Holmes, also wrote Evvie Drake Starts Over, which was one of my favorite books when I read it in 2020. I had high expectations for this book, and while this book is quite different from Evvie Drake, I was not disappointed. It is not a HEA straightforward romance, and I really appreciated that. I loved the way the author followed romance storylines, while also writing it in a different way. I won’t say more because I don’t want to include any spoilers, but I loved the realistic portrayal of hetero relationships. Not everyone falls in love in the first minute and never has any doubts or setbacks. Laurie returns to her home town to clean out her deceased great-aunt’s home, and reconnects with old friends, lovers, and family. Truly the best relationship was between Laurie and her best friend from childhood, it felt very real and supportive and loving. While it didn’t quite live up to Holmes’ first book, I still think this book was well written and interesting, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light read.

This is a nearly perfect gentle read! I was a big fan of Evvie Drake Starts Over and there's no sophomore slump here. The characters are convincing, funny, charming. The plot is sweet and slightly wacky. The romance is swoony in a simultaneously adolescent crushing and people who've lived a life kind of way. And the ending is an HEA that actually manages to do something different but still satisfy. There's nothing wrong with marriage and babies, but it is refreshing to read about a woman making different choices, being fulfilled, and still being surrounded by love. It's not so much the marriage plot as the partnership plot.

It’s been a hard year for Laurie Sassalyn. She’s called off her wedding, and favorite aunt has died. Now she’s home, cleaning out her aunt’s house in Maine, and reconnecting with old friends…including an old boyfriend.

Things are going well until she finds a wooden duck hidden in her aunt’s house. And things start getting crazy.

There’s so much to love here. Rich writing, a mystery, heist, and a spunky, 40-something protagonist who isn’t a size 6. Linda Holmes writes contemporary romances that explore hard issues and also make you laugh. This is no exception.

Linda Holmes is now an auto-buy author for me. I loved Evvie Drake so much and was so excited for this one. It did not disappoint. As someone who just turned 40, I appreciated that Laurie was approaching her 40th birthday. This book really dealt with some deep topics and it was super thoughtful and explored a new side that we don't always see. Throw a caper and an adorable librarian into the mix and it's a winner!

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes (PUB 06.14) Thank you to @ballantine @randomhouse and @Netgalley for the early copy.

What You Really Want To Know: I've read Evvie Drake Starts Over cover to cover at least twice. And I've lost count of the number of times I've skimmed bits. It's clearly a favorite. Although I liked this book slightly less than her debut, I still devoured it in a day. I strongly recommend it to readers looking for a fun and funny story filled with the kind of characters you'd like to have as relatives, friends, and neighbors.

It was witty and heartfelt with plenty of substance. A story about family, love, second chances and having the confidence to live the life you want without conforming to other people’s expectations. It has great rom-com energy, strong relationships, fast-paced storytelling and snappy dialogue.

I read this a couple weeks ago and what I keep thinking about is this: Laurie is a regular size woman, on the cusp of 40, who isn't fixating on landing a partner and having kids. She's complete and satisfied with the life she's intentionally created. I have friends and loved ones who are single and childless by choice. Their lives are no less fulfilling or rewarding than those of us with a partner/kids. It was validating, even for me, to see this reflected in fiction.

This is a fun and thoughtful book. Laurie is a journalist who long ago left her hometown in Maine. She now lives alone in the Pacific Northwest, after she broke off an engagement a few years ago. The book picks up with her traveling back to her hometown to help settle the estate of her aunt, who died in her 90s after a long and eventful life. As Laurie is packing up her Aunt Dot's house, she comes across a mysterious wooden duck. Based on where she finds the duck and a reference in a letter she finds, Laurie believes the duck may be valuable or important. She is informed that it is nothing special by someone helping her with her aunt's estate and she sells it. But Laurie later comes to suspect there is more to the duck, and undertakes an increasingly outlandish effort to recover the duck and learn its true history. In the process, she learns more about the town, and the former boyfriend, she long ago left behind, the part of her aunt's life she never knew about, and what her own future may hold now that she is about to turn 40.

This is a great read. It is a story about family relationships, romance, and even how you can still be coming-of-age when you are entering your 40s. The characters are very charming, and the mystery is highly engaging.

Highly recommended!

Mixed feelings. First, I enjoyed the story - the characters and their relationships with one another, the plot (the duck, the mystery, the shenanigans involved with figuring things out), and the lovely way the author captures community life in small town coastal Maine.. What threw me off was the last few chapters, when it became clear that despite all that had happened, the main character, Laurie, was going to end this story as exactly the same person she was when it began. There was no growth arc, no shift in perception, no forged connections that made new things possible. I appreciate that the author attempted a new type of happy ending. But I found myself increasingly frustrated by Laurie’s insistence that who she was was who she would always be. By the end of the book, she just seemed psychologically stuck and selfish. As her best friend June said to her, “The way you’re approaching this is exhausting.” June was right.
That said, I’m glad I read this book - The entertainment value of the story was worth my frustration with the lack of a character arc. I’ll look forward to other books by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.

Reading this book is like sitting curled up on the front porch on a fall day with an apple in your hand and maybe a neighbor stopping by to say hi. The humor snaps. The setting is comforting. The observations make you smile. This is a hard book to describe because - like most so-called "women's fiction" - it doesn't quite follow the conventions of a second chance romance or a mystery but it has elements of both. I think of Linda Holmes' novels as part of the quirky loner sub-genre and they are excellent at that. Smart and soothing at the same time. I didn't rush through this read because I savored it.

𝘼 𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙠, 𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙖 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙢𝙚𝙨’ 𝙨𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡.

When Laurie returns to her hometown to take care of her deceased great aunt Dot’s property, she stumbles upon a wooden duck and other mementos that seem to be worth much more than she can put her finger on.

As she becomes determined to figure out what the significance of these relics is, she is also faced with her own choices in life and relationships, seemingly paralleling Dots. What does she want out of life? Does she want to be alone or is she afraid of building a life with someone else? And then there is Nick, her high school/college love who she has never truly gotten over, and who is there again ready and willing to take a chance if only Laurie would feel the same.

Although I really enjoyed Holmes’ debut novel, Evvie Drake Starts Over, this one fell a bit flat for me. I liked the premise of the book, but it became repetitive in plot and dialogue, and really began to drag at the halfway point. The characters were likeable enough, but I didn’t develop any kind of emotional attachment to them, which for me is a sign that character development was lacking.

If you are someone who loves books about self discovery and the journey to find out who a person really is, this book is for you.

I really wanted to love this book but it totally fell flat for me. I have not read Linda Holmes previous book but I knew it was a New York Times bestseller and I saw a lot of positive reviews for it. So when I saw this new book of hers coming out, I really wanted to give it a try. This book, unfortunately, just wasn’t a winner for me. The writing felt very amateur and the storyline was not quite interesting enough to hold my attention. There was nothing about this book to keep me excited and wanting to turn the pages. I did like that Laurie’s character was independent and self aware. I’m sure others will enjoy this book and I still intend to give Evvie Drake Starts Over Again a try, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you Net Galley and Ballantine for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

Flying Solo is a journey of self-discovery that happens to revolve around a wooden duck. In Holmes novel, Laurie is a middle aged, never married nature journalist who returns to small town Maine from Seattle to help settle her aunt's estate. Her aunt Dot was a fabulous woman who was also never married and who had many an adventure during her long life. Laurie is going through her things when she finds a wooden duck that piques her interest. Why does Dot have a wooden duck? Why is it hidden? Is it valuable? What does it mean?

During this journey, Laurie not only finds new friendships, but she rekindles old friendships as well. Her self-awareness of who she is slowly dissolves and gets rebuilt during the course of the novel.

What I Liked:
- Laurie's journey from somewhat self-assured journalist to wavering middle aged, mid life crisis, back to self-assured but also able to rely on others.
- Dot's character
- The setting of Calcasset

What I Didn't Like:
- Laurie's personality. I felt she was too hard-headed and while she was self-assured, she was also quite rude to many people and didn't seem to take other's feelings into consideration
- The relationship between Laurie and Nick. It felt weird from the beginning and it just didn't mesh with the rest of the story

All in all, this is a solid 3 star read. The dialogue was a bit choppy at times, but the overall plot was commendable. I definitely preferred Evvie Drake Starts Over to Flying Solo.

I loved this book. The messages, the characters, getting to revisit this little Maine town, all of it fit so well. I laughed, I cried. All of this sounds so cliched, but this book hit so personally for me that I couldn’t put it down and read it in one day. Highly, highly recommended!

I liked Linda Holmes first book, so I was excited to read her new one. I liked that Laurie was a “regular” sized women and that she was a little older than who is normally featured in books about single women. I liked all her friends and I thought the heist part was amusing but not my favorite part of the book. I liked that she learned about her aunt and about herself, but I got frustrated with her relationship with Nick.

Flying Solo, the second novel by Pop Culture Happy Hour co-host Linda Holmes, has great rom-com energy, strong characters and relationships, fast-paced plotting, and snappy dialogue. Readers who appreciate Holmes's warm, generous, smart podcast persona will find she treats her characters with the same affection and respect she shows co-hosts and guests, and will recognize her wry wit in many of the characters' conversations. Although I liked this book slightly less than her debut, Evvie Drake Starts Over, primarily because Flying Solo's plot gets a bit too madcap to be believable, I devoured it in one evening and strongly recommend it to readers looking for a fun and funny story filled with the kind of characters you'd like to have as relatives, friends, and neighbors. (Also, thanks to Holmes for the sweet Easter egg early in the book. I hope it signals that she will continue to create a universe of stories in this charming setting!)

Laurie returns to her small hometown in Maine (the same one Evvie Drake lives in) to help her family by sorting out the estate of her late Aunt Dot. Dot was an independent single lady her entire life, and has a multitude of keepsakes to go through. Laurie is determined to do right by her beloved aunt and resolves to go through everything. Deep in the bottom of an old chest, she finds a wooden duck decoy that just might be valuable. That sets her off on an adventure that turns into a fun mystery/caper involving her former boyfriend, Nick, who is now the town librarian, as well as her best friend from childhood and some new friends she meets along the way. All along, there is a "romance problem" for Nick and Laurie to solve as well. Both of them are close to turning forty, and have built their own independent, fulfilling lives on opposite ends of the country. What to do? Without giving anything away, I'll say that they come up with a creative solution. This is such an engaging story, with a bit of mystery, lots of romance, and family looking out for one another. I look forward to recommending this title.