Review: On a Wing and a Prayer
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 22, 2013
Romance is a strange genre. Its conventions are very specific and sometimes inflexible. You MUST have an HEA - happily ever after - ending, for example. Other aspects aren't conventions or rules as such, but are so common as to seem so. (The heroine is almost always going to make obvious missteps on her way to romance. At some point she'll probably misinterpret the hero's mood or what something he said or did means.) With a high level formula that is carved in stone, I'm always amazed at how using unique characters and situations, romance authors find a way to tell a story that, even though everyone knows where it is heading, can still engage the reader and keep them guessing how the story is going to get there.Flaps Down sets up a situation that has some of the expected elements (the hero, Parnell, and heroine, Rebecca, get off on the wrong foot and don't seem like much of a match at all, another common romance plot point) and a few that are far from the norm, a group of orphans the heroine is escorting on a trip would seem to be plenty to put a damper on romance, but then when the plane crashes, stranding the group in the wilderness, I'd have thought the odds of a romance blossoming were nil. Of course, I was wrong. How they get to that ending and the events that happen to them on the way are intense and often humorous, as Rebecca and Parnell learn that things they've long believe were true about themselves and others aren't always, and grow as people as well as into a couple. I also enjoyed the orphans who added more to the story than I anticipated.**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **