Book Review - Love At First Flight by Jo Watson - #BookChallenge #24In2024

This is book #1 for my #24in2024 challenge.  And for this book I have visited South Africa. 

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Title: Love At First Flight

Author: Jo Watson

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Headline Eternal

Publication Date: 18th January 2024

Rating: 5 Stars

Things Pippa enjoys: her job, airplanes, synonyms and tropical fish.

Things Pippa does not enjoy: repeating patterns, tight clothes, people asking why she's single and school reunions.

After four months of only speaking over intercom, when air-traffic controller Pippa Edwards finally meets pilot Andrew Boyce-Jones face-to-face, they discover they've got much more in common than simply working at the same airport.

In fact . . . they both need a date.

Tired of every relationship ending before it's even begun, Pippa wants to evade the inevitable questions at her dreaded ten-year school reunion in Cape Town. And Andrew needs to get his well-meaning family off his back about settling down.

The solution seems simple. A pact - a fake dating pact - for as long as it's mutually beneficial. It's perfect.

Or at least it would be if their very real attraction wasn't about to make Pippa question everything she thought she wanted.

Wow this may be Jo Watson's best book to date!  It feels slightly different but it's no less awesome as a result. 

I couldn't read enough about Pippa, I absolutely loved her, and seeing her getting into a fake dating situation which is one of my favourite tropes was just brilliant. 

She is neuro-diverse, and a totally brilliant air traffic controller (not a profession I've seen featured for a main character of a book before), which was rather refreshing.  She clearly likes the voice of one of the pilots but it isn't until they meet and discover there are some similarities between them that things start to get really interesting. 

Watching Pippa slowly emerge from her comfort zone, with Andrew is joy to see. It's clear he understands her better than she thinks he does, and I completely fell in love with Andrew myself. 

From their first fake dating mission, Pippa's high school reunion in Cape Town, they are finding their feet, but the level of support Andrew offers her is just impressive.  And the following days in the vineyard tour with wine tasting, and then museums that they both like, you can tell it's the start of something special. 

And meeting each others families, what a contrast.  I adored ever  second spent with Andrew's brood, and well Pippa's family were well impressive but in a different way. 

I loved every thought that Pippa had, and I really adored the fact that she isn't ashamed to say she plays the Pokémon Trading Card game, something that I have played a lot of in the past, and the passing mention of Magic The Gathering, another game I know far too well, pleased my inner geek a lot! 

Just what a fabulous book, it's not the smoothest or most obvious of romances, for Pippa at least, but that is just what makes it all the more real. 

Loved loved loved the characters, the setting, and just everything about this book. 

Thank you to Headline Eternal and Netgalley for this copy which I have I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.