Review

Nikki Burgess’s life is thrown into chaos as soon as her ex-husband dies and she gets full custody of her two children. As an airline pilot, this is not the most ideal situation for her but she loves her kids and she is willingly to do whatever it takes to take care of them. Immediately, I thought this is a great start to a book about a woman who is dealing with the pain of the past and adjusting to life.

To top it off, Nikki has two best friends (also in the airline industry) that come with their own set of issues and her overbearing and materialistic mother to contend with. After discovering that her deceased ex-husband has left her and the kids with little to nothing, she jumps on the chance to be a pilot at a new airline in Vegas. This should be the perfect start to a new chapter in her life. Her friends and mother follows which I find to be a bit weird but they are an intricate part of the story. As she starts her new life, she faces the struggles of an older woman with kids, her own insecurities and a new boss.  

Then there are the secondary characters, Carlisle and Dixie, both have interesting stories but the author doesn’t focus on them. Well, she gives some insight to Dixie who meets a man that is not her “type” but Carlisle is left hanging dry. He has such a great storyline since he is the victim of abuse by his partner. He does get a HEA but it is thrown in and doesn’t feel authentic.

I’m a fan of Robyn Carr and I do love the Virgin River series. I have read other books by Ms. Carr and enjoyed them as well, so I didn’t go into this book comparing the book to the popular series. With that being said, there are several components about this book that distracted and annoyed me. First, I wouldn’t call this book a romance. There is very little romance in it. Sure, all of the characters have some small romantic interactions but the primary focus of this book is not romance. I would label it more Chick-lit.

The author constantly pours aviation information on each page and after a while it becomes tedious. Some of the fact drilling could have been removed and more could have been focused on romance or more character development for the main character, Nikki. She is basically a mess in her personal life and she needs people to hold her up. Her friends become a real clutch for her and I typically like stronger women in my stories or at least some growth.

 If the characters had more dimensions and the story focused more on them and not aviation, I think this could have easily got more than three stars from me.