Review: Flying Lessons by H. Lovelyn Bettison

Title: Flying Lessons
Author: H. Lovelyn Bettison
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Nebulous Mooch Publishing
Publish Date: May 26th 2012
Source: I received a copy from the author; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a fiction fan.
• You like family stories.
• You like love stories.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Henry and his daughter, Chandra, are stuck. Haunted by the past, they sleepwalk through life until unexpected relationships shake up their perceptions of reality. Henry’s new friendship with a neighbor blurs the boundaries between the living and the dead, and Chandra starts to see possibilities she’s never noticed before."

My Two Cents:

I really liked the storyline in Flying Lessons. From a lot of books, you might get the picture that a love story is only for the young. There are two love stories in Flying Lessons and while one does deal with a young couple, the other story deals with two older widowers finding love again after their spouses pass away. It was definitely refreshing to see that love comes in all different shapes, sizes, and of course, ages.

This story is about coping with loss and forging a way forward. Henry loses a loving wife and Chandra loses a loving mother when Ava dies. It takes both of them a very (very, very) long time to totally deal with her death. While I understand that when you lose someone very close to you that you never really get over it (been there, done that more times than I would have liked too unfortunately), you do move forward. The timing of the book just seemed strange. When Chandra and Henry begin their respective love affairs, Ava has been gone for over a decade. While I realize that you would definitely still think of a spouse or a parent who passed away after that amount of time, I didn't really understand from the book why Chandra and Henry seemed so stymied in their growth.

The writing in this book is decent. At first, there was a little more telling rather than showing. We learn exactly what the characters typically say what they are feeling rather than showing through their actions at the beginning of the story and things felt a bit forced. However, the story eventually evens out and finds its stride in a very pleasing and enjoyable way.

This story also has a little taste of magical realism, an effect that I really loved. This element is where the title of the book comes from. It's subtle but it definitely adds a lot to the story.

Bottom line: This is a great book for those who love a subtle love story!