Review: Flight Patterns by Karen White

Title: Flight Patterns
Author: Karen White
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: NAL
Publish Date: May 24, 2016
Source: Library

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Georgia Chambers has spent her life sifting through other people’s pasts while trying to forget her own. But then her work as an expert of fine china—especially of Limoges—requires her to return to the one place she swore she’d never revisit...

It’s been thirteen years since Georgia left her family home on the coast of Florida, and nothing much has changed, except that there are fewer oysters and more tourists. She finds solace seeing her grandfather still toiling away in the apiary where she spent much of her childhood, but encountering her estranged mother and sister leaves her rattled.

Seeing them after all this time makes Georgia realize that something has been missing—and unless she finds a way to heal these rifts, she will forever be living vicariously through other people’s remnants. To embrace her own life—mistakes and all—she will have to find the courage to confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets she was forced to keep..."

My Two Cents:

In "Flight Patterns," Georgia is forced to go back home, a place she never wanted to go back to, for her work. She is an expert in old China and when James, a client, turns up with a hard-to-find limited edition Limoges piece, Georgia knows that she has seen the pattern before in the house she grew up in. Committed to finding out where the china came from, Georgia goes home, bringing James along for the ride. Georgia eventually realizes that you can never outrun the past no matter how hard you try.

This is the perfect kind of book for when you want to get lost in a story. The author is a master world builder and I found myself quickly engulfed in Georgia's world. Between the setting and the great characters, it was easy to get lost in this book. Georgia is a great character! She has gotten so used to hiding from her past that when she is suddenly confronted with it, she doesn't know what to do at first. I certainly felt for her plight! We get to see as Georgia begins to realize that the way she thought things were between her and her family may not reflect reality. As she comes to terms with her past, readers will be cheering for her.

There is a romantic story line in the book that I ate up. Georgia and James eventually start falling for each other. At first they seem to be clinging to each other out of grief but it turns into something else throughout the book. This is the happy kind of romance that had me curling my toes with happiness.

This is the second book that I have read by Karen White and it certainly will not be the last. I love the detail that she brings into her books. I don't know anything about china whatsoever and I loved the way that the detail about different companies and patterns was brought into the book. This was a good read!