High Flying

High Flying is the coming-of-age story for Skylar Haines. Living with her grandfather, Skylar has had a pretty rough life. While only a teenager, she has had to deal with the death of both of her parents and the anxiety and emotions that go along with not fitting in at school. The death of her father could be seen as no big deal, since he died in an airplane accident eight months before she was born, but, after this mishap, her mother was never the same and caused a rough upbringing for Skylar, who had to live through drugs, violence, and less than ideal living conditions for a young child. Now, living with her wealthy grandfather, one might say she is in a better place, but under the sleeves of her clothing, her arms would tell you a different story.

Things change when she becomes friends with Roxy and starts making progress with her therapist. But, after an accident involving Roxy and her mother occurs, Skylar knows she’s had enough of her cold-blooded grandfather and this current life. Away she runs and makes a new life for herself involving her one true love, flying. Now a stunt pilot, she finds herself in the middle of a storm that carries her to the past where she gets to meet, and ultimately help, her parents, as well as other known characters from her past, and learn their true pasts to understand where they came from in her present. Navigating herself through the past will help her grow in many ways.

Kaylin McFarren has woven a tale involving flying and time travel, a fun combination. Combining adventure, violence, and some romance into a story worked out well for McFarren because she has allowed the reader to encounter an array of genres in one story. Not being able to relate too much to Skylar and her family history, I still found this story entertaining and a quick read, which will be enjoyable for all readers. One thing I found a little hard to understand was how loose-lipped the authorities and Dylan were when giving Skylar information on people, when I feel like, in reality, police would be a lot more tight-lipped to a “civilian;” however, I understand the need to get the information out in the story, and I couldn’t think of another way to do it. Overall, a fun read that was easy to understand for the most part (a little confusing when there were so many characters), and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys romance novels or adventure because it combines the two (though I would say would there’s still a bit more adventure than romance).