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Verdict: A funny, big-hearted fake-dating debut between an anxious ER nurse and an ambitious pilot, with grief and mental health handled more honestly than most rom-coms dare — undercut by a cartoonish ex, a saggy middle and an ending that leaves its biggest threads hanging.
Best for: Readers who want a rom-com that also makes them cry, who value authentic anxiety representation, and who do not mind a book carrying more family drama than romance.
Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — explicit, on-page scenes after a slow build)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.7/5 — a 3.95 Goodreads average across nearly 7,900 ratings, docked for a villain readers and Publishers Weekly both dislike)
Tropes: Fake dating, viral video, opposites attract, fear of flying, nurse and pilot, sunshine and grump, third-act breakup, grief, caregiving, bisexual heroine.
Fly with Me by Andie Burke is a standalone debut from St. Martin’s Griffin, published in 2023 — a contemporary lesbian romance in which an Atlanta ER nurse who is terrified of flying saves a passenger’s life on her first flight, goes viral, and agrees to fake a relationship with the pilot who sees a career opportunity in the footage.
It holds a 3.95 average across almost 7,900 Goodreads ratings and a positive Publishers Weekly review that called Burke a writer to watch. Readers love its heart and argue about its shape. Both are worth knowing before you board.
What Is Fly with Me About?
Fly with Me is a fake-dating rom-com with a much heavier book inside it. The viral-video setup and the pretend relationship give it a classic comic engine, but the story is equally about grief, caregiving and mental illness: Olive’s brother is in a long-term coma, and Stella’s father is living with Parkinson’s. Burke, a nurse herself, writes the medical side with clear authority.
Olive Murphy is a bisexual ER nurse with anxiety, panic attacks and a family that is falling apart around her brother’s hospital bed. Stella Soriano is a driven, type-A Latina copilot who wants her captain’s stripes and is quietly carrying her own family load. The book is told entirely in Olive’s first person — warm, self-deprecating and funny — which keeps the anxiety vivid but leaves Stella’s inner life to be guessed at, a choice several readers wish had gone the other way.
What Makes This Sapphic Fake-Dating Rom-Com Work
- The mental-health portrayal: Around eight readers say Olive’s anxiety, panic and depression feel real and lived-in, and the Lesbrary reviewer called it the best sapphic romance they had read so far that year.
- Laughing and crying: About eight readers praise the way the book mixes comedy with genuine grief, and say it hit harder than they expected from the cover.
- The banter: Around seven praise the humour and chemistry, and Publishers Weekly said the book balances sweetness and heat skilfully.
- The nursing detail: Readers notice the author’s medical background, especially in the respectful handling of end-of-life decisions.
- A fresh fake-dating setup: A viral act of heroism is a modern spin on the trope, and several readers say it felt new.
Book Synopsis
Olive Murphy runs into emergencies for a living, but airplanes are a different story. Getting on her first flight is a personal act of bravery, one more thing she is doing for her brother Jake, who has been in a hospital bed since his accident. It is supposed to be a quiet trip. Then a passenger collapses mid-flight, Olive goes to work, and by the time the plane lands someone’s phone has turned her into the internet’s favourite nurse.
Stella Soriano was in the cockpit. She is precise, ambitious and one promotion away from captain, and she knows a good story when she sees one. If the hero nurse and the airline’s copilot were dating, the attention could help both of them. Olive, who cannot think of a single good reason to say yes, says yes anyway.
Fake dating someone who flies for a living means more flights, more cameras and more time with a woman who is far more complicated than her uniform suggests. As the pretend relationship blurs into something real, Olive’s family is facing an impossible decision about Jake, Stella is holding her own family together, and an ex who refuses to stay in the past is circling. The question is whether two people this overloaded can let each other in — and whether anything built for an audience can survive when the cameras stop.
My Review
Olive is the heart of this book, and she is a terrific narrator. Burke gives her a voice that is funny and anxious in the same breath, and the panic attacks, the bad days and the gallows humour of an ER nurse all feel earned rather than borrowed. Readers who live with anxiety recognise themselves here, and that is not a small thing in a rom-com.
The second strength is how much the book is willing to carry. Olive’s brother and Stella’s father give both women real weight to bear, and the scenes in the hospital are handled with a nurse’s honesty and care. Readers keep saying it made them laugh and then cry, and that combination is the book’s signature.
Where it struggles is structure and the villain, and these are the consistent complaints rather than one reader’s view. Around nine readers, along with Publishers Weekly, say Olive’s ex is a cartoonish plot device who faces no consequences. About as many say the middle sags and the book runs long, around eight feel the external drama crowds out the romance until it stops feeling like a rom-com, and roughly eight say the ending is rushed, leaving the family threads unresolved. Smaller groups wish for Stella’s point of view, found the chemistry thin, rolled their eyes at the third-act breakup, or found the narration’s internet slang grating.
One expectation to reset: the cover and marketing promise a sparkling, steamy rom-com. Several readers say it is closer to a grief and caregiving novel with a romance in it. If you came for light fun, calibrate; if you came for something with weight and warmth, it delivers both.
My honest note: A moving, funny debut whose ambitions outrun its structure. If you need a tight, breezy rom-com, this will feel heavy and long. If you want a love story that takes grief and anxiety seriously, it is well worth the flight.
| Element | In Fly with Me |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Olive Murphy & Stella Soriano — an anxious bisexual ER nurse and an ambitious Latina copilot, fake dating |
| Core tropes | Fake dating, viral video, opposites attract, fear of flying, third-act breakup, grief and caregiving |
| Setting | Atlanta, airports and a trip to Orlando and Disney World |
| Heat level | 4/5 — explicit, on-page scenes after a slow build |
| Series | Standalone — HEA after a third-act breakup; some family threads left open |
| Content notes | Death and grief, a sibling on life support, terminal and chronic illness including Parkinson’s, panic attacks and depression, a toxic and gaslighting ex, workplace sexism and harassment, homophobia and lesbophobia (crowd-reported on StoryGraph) |
How Spicy Is Fly with Me?
A 4/5. I could not get a romance.io reading for this title, so the number comes from reviews: Publishers Weekly praised the sex scenes’ mix of playfulness and intensity, several readers call the book steamy, and StoryGraph users tag the sexual content graphic. The heat is on the page and explicit, but it takes its time — one reader notes the leads do not sleep together until well past the halfway mark.
No reviewer I found flags kink content; the heavier material is emotional, not sexual. If you want fake dating at a similar temperature, Written in the Stars and The Snowball Effect sit in the same band.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you want anxiety and grief represented honestly, you enjoy a funny, self-deprecating narrator, you like fake dating with a modern twist, and you are happy to cry in a rom-com.
You may want to skip it if: one-note villains drive you up the wall, you want a tight, light rom-com, unresolved family threads frustrate you, or you need both leads’ points of view.
In short: a warm, funny, emotionally heavy fake-dating debut that tries to carry more than it can land.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)
This book has had a steady, healthy life without a viral moment of its own. It came from a major publisher with good marketing and a Publishers Weekly review, and it has built a large readership since: a 3.95 average across almost 7,900 Goodreads ratings, 3.88 across about 1,360 StoryGraph reviews with a 4% did-not-finish rate, and 4.4 from around 1,200 Amazon ratings. I found no Reddit or BookTok conversation driving it. Lesbrary’s reviewer loved it, with reservations about the single point of view and the breakup. The audiobook, narrated by Chelsea Stephens, runs 11 hours 41 minutes and holds 4.6 stars from 174 Audible ratings.
Prefer audio? Listen to Fly with Me on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The mental-health representation and the emotional depth, roughly tied — about eight readers each say the anxiety feels real and the grief lands. The banter and chemistry come next, then Olive herself, whom several call lovable and three-dimensional. Readers also appreciate the fresh take on fake dating and the nursing authenticity that comes from the author’s own career.
What readers argue about and complain about: The ex, above everything. About nine readers find Lindsey a cartoonish villain who never faces consequences — and Publishers Weekly called her an irksome plot device, which makes this the rare complaint shared by critics and readers. Second: pacing, with about nine saying the middle drags. Third: genre — around eight say the external drama crowds out the romance. Fourth: the ending, rushed for about eight, with the family storylines left open. Smaller notes: no Stella point of view, thin chemistry for a few, slang that dates the voice, and a premise some found implausible. The genuine split is the third-act breakup — some readers call it earned, others say the miscommunication lingers too long.
The standalone question worth asking first: it is complete. Olive and Stella get their happy ending after the breakup, though some family questions are deliberately left open. Burke has since published more queer romance, including With Stars in Her Eyes, if you want more of her voice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fly with Me a rom-com?
Partly. It has a fake-dating setup and plenty of humour, but readers say it also deals seriously with grief, caregiving and mental health, and several describe it as heavier than its cover.
How spicy is Fly with Me?
A 4/5. The sex scenes are explicit and on the page, but they arrive after a slow build rather than early.
Does Fly with Me have a third-act breakup?
Yes. There is a breakup late in the book before the happy ending, and readers are divided on whether it is earned.
Is Fly with Me a standalone?
Yes. It is a complete standalone with an HEA, though some of the family storylines are left open.
Is there an audiobook?
Yes — narrated by Chelsea Stephens, running 11 hours 41 minutes, with a 4.6 average on Audible.
If You Loved Fly with Me, Read These Next
The publisher compares Burke to Alison Cochrun, and Kiss Her Once for Me is the natural next stop for another fake relationship with real emotional stakes. If it was the grief you connected with, Cochrun’s Here We Go Again builds its romance around caring for someone at the end of life. And for a long, warm fake-dating slow burn with no villain in sight, The Snowball Effect is a good match.
For more like this, browse our guide to sapphic fake dating romance books or the full Book Reviews collection.
The Bottom Line
Fly with Me is a debut with more heart than structure. Olive’s voice is funny and honest, the anxiety and grief are handled with real care, and the fake-dating setup feels modern and fresh. It is also weighed down by a cardboard villain, a long middle and an ending that skips past the questions it spent the book raising. If you want a rom-com that will make you cry and do not mind the drag, it is worth the trip. Check Fly with Me on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Fly with Me ranks as a popular traditionally published sapphic fake-dating debut — warm, funny and emotionally honest, held back by a one-note ex and baggy pacing, and best approached as a grief-touched love story rather than a breezy rom-com.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 3.7/5
- ✓ 3.95 average across 7,930 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ 3.88 on StoryGraph, 4% did-not-finish
- ✓ Positive Publishers Weekly review
- ✓ Villain the shared critic-reader complaint
Romance ★★★★☆ 3.5/5
- ✓ Banter and chemistry praised by many
- ✓ Fake-dating twist feels fresh
- ✓ HEA after the breakup
- ✓ Drama crowds the romance for some
Characters ★★★★☆ 3.8/5
- ✓ Olive lovable and three-dimensional
- ✓ Stella’s family load adds depth
- ✓ Best friend Derek a favourite
- ✓ No Stella point of view
Writing ★★★★☆ 3.5/5
- ✓ Funny, self-deprecating narration
- ✓ Nursing detail rings true
- ✓ Laugh-then-cry tone lands
- ✓ Dated slang and a saggy middle
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ Anxiety and panic feel authentic
- ✓ Grief handled with nuance
- ✓ End-of-life decisions treated with care
- ✓ Family threads left unresolved
Heat Level ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ Explicit, on-page scenes
- ✓ PW praises playfulness and intensity
- ✓ Readers call it steamy
- ✓ First full scene comes late
Ending ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5
- ✓ HEA confirmed
- ✓ Standalone, no cliffhanger
- ✓ Breakup earned for some readers
- ✓ Rushed and loose for about eight
Re-read Value ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ Stephens audiobook rated 4.6
- ✓ Emotional scenes reward a revisit
- ✓ Olive’s voice a pleasure
- ✓ Length discourages a reread
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