Review: Starting over is a great book...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 21, 2013
Thirty-six year old Kate has to start over after Doug, her husband of 14+ years is killed in a routine helicopter crash.  Kate hasn't worked outside the home in years and is six months pregnant with her first child.  She is totally devastated, not only by the loss of her husband just before the birth of their baby, but also at the seemingly inevitable loss of their business.  Doug was the only pilot, and the business is drowning in debt.  She resolves to hire another pilot and keep the business going if possible.  She hires a young pilot, Rusty, who was referred through a mutual friend.  Rusty is a rolling stone and only passing through Texas, but promises to help Kate get the business back on its feet before he moves on.  Rusty is personable, outgoing, kind, patient, an extremely knowledgeable and capable pilot, and a real Mr. Fix-it.  Along the way, against his will, he falls for (the very pregnant and 7 years older) Kate and even holds her hand when she gives birth.The story was very well-written and I enjoyed nearly all of it.  What kept it from being a five star book, was the "Surprise" that I as a reader, could see coming a mile away, Kate's extreme naiveté (or gullibility), about her husband, her marriage, and their helicopter business and lastly how perfect Rusty was.  She was way too clueless for a thirty-six year old woman and while I loved Rusty, he was too perfect.  I love strong, competent men, but I don't think Rusty had any faults, and that along with Kate's "eyes wide shut" mentality took me out of the story more than once.  There were also some date conflict issues (not too distracting).  Per copyright info, this is a re-release of a 1991 book and therefore set before the cell-phone era, but there was at least one reference to the year 2001 and another to Michael Phelps (the Olympic swimmer) for example.  Starting Over is a highly recommended read in all, especially at the current price (free).