Thank you Netgalley and Canary Street Press for the copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a JOURNEY... get it.. HA!

Okay, serious time: it starts off slow, but keeps a good pace. Lainey and Ridley are precious, even if Ridley comes off a little inconsistent at times. Spicy moments were a pleasant surprise! Lainey was a well rounded character, had her self-doubt and family drama that made her realistic and relatable.

Overall, not only was this an engaging and INSANELY heartfelt read, but it reminds us that love and happiness IS worth the risk.

This book was a love letter to airports and meeting a stranger on a plane. The complications of long distance relationships and family dynamics had me speed reading to find out what happened next.

Not for me… the chemistry between the 2 MC were forced… even though the book was a slow start for me I continued to try and get through it and when I finally finished I wasn’t satisfied. Lots of questions left unanswered.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Lanie Turner is an American living in NYC with her mother. She dropped out of her PhD program and has never had a successful relationship. She's being traveling to London to visit her mother's family since she was a child and is finally headed back there after the pandemic kept her grounded for awhile.

Dr. Ridley Aronsen is a medical researcher, widower, and single dad living in London. He is struggling with his work-life balance and a custody battle with his daughter's bio dad.

Lanie and Ridley meet on a plane from NYC to London. Throughout the book they travel that route both ways: she is traveling to help out with her cousin's wedding and her sick grandma and he is traveling for work. They start off as friends and the relationship really grew naturally. Since there was no indication of romance in the beginning, they were able to be honest with each other rather than trying to hide their flaws.

Lanie and her mother have a very co-dependent relationship. Her mother could use some of the therapy that she insinuates that Lanie needs. At different points in the book, her mother tells her to "aim lower" and that the women in their family just can't keep a man. I'm sorry, what?! Who says those things to their child no matter their age? Lanie could benefit from therapy, too (real therapy, not talking to her friend the therapist). She has some serious abandonment issues. At one point, she majorly overreacts to Ridley asking her to leave his house so he can deal with his young teen daughter finding out that Lanie is not just her dad's friend.

I honestly could not figure out exactly why Lanie dropped out of her PhD program. Maybe I missed it, but I don't think that was fully explained.

I have no knowledge of British-Caribbean culture, but the random mocking of the accent by the younger generation seemed...icky.

Gemma was a brat. She acted more like a teen planning her fantasy wedding than a 30-something. Lanie may have overstepped by taking over the planning, but Gemma never stopped her and never tried to say anything. Lanie was just doing what she thought Gemma wanted. Also, Gemma seemed very insecure when Lanie was around Jonah. Obviously she would know that Lanie was in love with Jonah for years, but she should've known that Jonah did not reciprocate those feelings.

Some of the more minor characters were very enjoyable in their scenes like Gavin, Fatou, and Les.

The amount of families in this story with themed names for their children was, frankly, distracting.
Lanie's mom and aunt: Ryan and Elliott (boys names because their father wanted sons)
Ridley and siblings: Sigourney, Jamie Lee, Carpenter (horror movies)
Tulip and sister Hyacinth (flowers)
Dash's kids: Peach, Clementine, Plum, and Crispin (fruit)

And a therapist named Narcisa.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read, but didn't blow me away.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lanie Turner is going to England to visit family after being holed up for a few years due to the pandemic and after finding out the best friend she has been in love with most of her life is engaged to her cousin. She meets Dr. Ridley Aronsen on the plane and is feeling chemistry between them until she goes to the bathroom mid-flight and returns to Ridley wearing a wedding ring. Lanie chalks it up to her bad luck in love and tries to forget while also dealing with her heartbreak over her best friend's engagement.

Then she gets asked to be the "best mate" - maid of honor and best man roles because of her relationship to both the bride and groom. And before she leaves, her beloved grandmother falls ill.

And what do you know? She and Ridley meet again. He's a widower and a single dad dealing with custody issues and a busy job in medical research trials that is taking him back and forth between London and New York City. As Lanie gets more involved in wedding planning for her cousin, Ridley is learning how to be a single dad and to socialize and date again.

I really enjoyed Frequent Fliers. I think it's a pretty realistic picture of two different people in two different places in life who really like each other trying to figure things out. Lanie has been unlucky in love and has abandonment issues. You think she's been pining over her best friend Jonah with no reciprocation, but get a surprise 3/4 of the way through the book. I think the author let Jonah off too easily here, but won't say more or I would spoil it.

I find Gemma to be a huge brat. She was pretty mean to Lanie, who did a lot to help her with wedding planning even if her heart wasn't in it. Perhaps Lanie was a bit take charge, but I felt like she was only doing what was asked of her.

Ultimately, the story revolves around Lanie and Ridley slowing getting to know and fall in love with each other, as they each work through obstacles their lives have thrown in their way.

I was a little sad that it wrapped up so quickly, and thought the way the custody issue wrapped up was weird and unrealistic, but overall a sweet story of finding love again.

This book was cute and nicely written, but I found it hard to get really invested in either of the main characters. There were so many great nuanced aspects in the story around race, family, how significantly our parents (and other family) can shape us and how we show up in relationships. But I just couldn’t find myself rooting for Lanie. I also didn’t feel fully convinced of the chemistry/fit of the two MCs.

3.5 Stars! Thank you, to the publisher, for this eARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was a great read. I enjoyed learning about Lanie and Ridley’s love story. At first, I was not sure how I felt about one of the main characters, but over time I grew to like them. I appreciated the character development of all involved and will be on the lookout for other novels from the author. This was definitely a slower burn but I am glad I stayed until the end. Overall, forced proximity, travel, and somewhat of a romantic-comedy - I was sold.

Thank you, Harlequin Trade Publishing, for this eARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion! If you are into women's fiction/contemporary romances, I recommend this to you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of Frequent Fliers. Lanie and Ridley met on a plane and form a friendship as they travel back and forth. I really liked the concept, but this dragged even for a slow burn. The end was good, but it was a struggle to get there.

Questions that need answers (not really)!

Isn't it against "girl code" to sleep with your best friend's/cousin's/sister's ex-boyfriend or best male friend?
How long is the grieving process for a widow who technically had a failing marriage?
Does all families have major drama?
How can you plan a whole wedding for someone that slept with your ex?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I enjoyed reading the build up of romance between Melanie and Ridley. I could tell that Melanie had some internal struggles and self-esteem issues throughout the story because of how she used others issues to ignore her own issues.
The family drama was definitely worth the read and I can relate to the family dynamics of Lanie's cousin being her best friend because they practically grew up together.
I think Lanie needs intensive therapy to work through her family/mental/self-esteem issues. I think Ridley should have been in therapy along with Bea as well- they both needed a grief counselor.
My favorite quote: You must teach people how to treat you.
3.5 stars.

Whoo!!! I had so many emotions reading this. The main one was the understanding of self-doubt and how that can impact your whole life. Not having the right people around you or family putting you down can really diminish you from reaching your full potential.This was a reminder that although you can have people that believe in you, it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in yourself. I absolutely loved the main characters who were battling their own demons but somehow found solis in each other. There were so many moments where I felt the pain, joy, sadness, jealousy, anger, but most importantly love. I would absolutely recommend this for anyone that feels stuck in life or need motivation to take that risk and trust in yourself.

I love the way they fell into friendship so easily. I love that they are both seeking but are scared to get hurt again. It’s one’s second chance to find another great but different love. While it’s the others first chance to find true love. .
This book is a very slow burn so if you aren’t in the mood for that skip this until you are.
Lanie is a sweet person who has had terrible luck with men.
Ripely is a man focus on his career and taking care of his teen daughter. Love after loss is not really on his mind. But Lanie changes all that.

I loved the premise of this book as NYC and London are two of my favorite places. It started out interesting but I didn’t quite feel the connection between the two main characters, Lanie and Ridley, and wished there had been more focus on their relationship. Overall, it was an enjoyable book.

Frequent Fliers by Noue Kirwan is what I would consider a beach read. It is an easy book to escape with that is fast paced and enjoyable.

Lanie and Ridley are a fun couple. This is definitely a lot more edgy than I typically read. Not sure why such explicit scenes are the norm now. Oh yeah, sex sells.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6384336888

I'm sorry but I tried so many times to like this book but I almost hated it.
First the glaringly obvious reason was their first meeting. They spend nearly 8 hrs next to each other on a plane talking and nowhere in those hours did they talk family?? Like she's so surprised he had a wedding ring on? You didn't see it or ask if he had a wife? Kids? No talking about stuff that people usually talk about right away. 🙄
Also, this dude sounds like a dman robot ..he talks so stilted and robotic.
No chemistry between these two whatsoever. The sex scenes are stiff and weird not in a good way.
I just didn't like it.
Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy.

3/5 stars.

Although this book started off really slow, it picked up right around the middle of the story and I actually enjoyed it. I must say, the best part of the book was the ending, and that’s why I couldn’t give it more than 3 stars. It is a fun and easy read, but it sometimes felt like there was “too much” going on with the characters (in terms of baggage) and too little with the actual plot. Would I still reccommend it if a friend liked to read romance? Yes, I would.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a digital ARC copy for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

This book is quite unique there aren’t many traveling romances that are done the right way. This book uses People of colour and single parent romance very well. This is a book that can be said to want to read for the first time again. Would love to have a physical copy really love it.

2.5/5

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC! Lanie and Ridley meet on a transatlantic flight between New York and London. Lanie is flying back and forth helping her best friend get married to her former crush and Ridley is traveling for work while trying to juggle being a single father.

I really liked the premise of this book. Unfortunately, I struggled to get into the book. The book had two main story lines tied together by the main character but I felt there were some holes in how the two plots tied together. I did enjoy some of the banter and character development between Lanie and Ridley.

Thank you Net Galley for this arc! Truthfully I was a little unsure of this book early on. I cringed when Lanie called her mom Mommy and I just didn't enjoy the pacing of the first half of the book. That being said I stayed up to read the second half until 1am. I wish some of the drama from the second half could've been added in earlier to get me engrossed in the book sooner. I do think it was a good read overall and enjoyed how diverse the book was.

A delectable story of a relationship that develops between seatmates who fly to London. An uncomfortable meeting on a flight moves on to an enjoyable time of conversation. When they find themselves again on another flight, they become seat mates on purpose. Their relationship progresses, however messy things are in their separate lives.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this book but the family dynamics I just couldn’t get over. I, enjoy supportive family and friends and I hate she had to deal with that. The love story overall.