The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West is the compelling and page-turning story of the Dole Air Race of 1927.

The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman

Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Dual Timeline, Trailblazing, Aviation, California, Hawaii

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary of The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West:

Welcome to my stop on the HTP Winter 2024 Blog Tour for The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West. Thanks #NetGalley @HTPBooks @HarlequinBooks for a complimentary e ARC of #TheUnchartedFlightOfOliviaWest upon my request. All opinions are my own.

The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West is the page-turning story of a female aviator who embarks on a daring air race from California to Hawaii in 1927. Olivia is adventurous in spirit and has a passion for flying. When she hears about the Dole Air Race, she is determined to qualify and participate. In a male-dominated field, this requires a great deal of strategizing and cleverness. In a 1987 dual timeline, Wren Summers inherits a remote piece of land on the Big Island. She plans on selling it and living on the money. However, she discovers a piece of aviation history in the barn that causes her to embark on a quest to uncover Olivia’s story.

I’m linking up my review today with the #2024NewReleaseChallenge hosted by Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog.

My Thoughts:

Aviation History

Diving into a piece of history is always a benefit of reading well-researched historical fiction. The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West is the page-turning story of a female aviator who enters a daring air race from California to Hawaii in 1927. At a time when some pilots built their planes, the flight from the West Coast to Hawaii was twenty-seven hours long! Olivia is adventurous in spirit and loves to fly. When she hears about the Dole Air Race, she is determined to qualify and participate. In a male-dominated field, this requires a great deal of persistence and determination. Olivia can fly planes but she couldn’t break into this particular male-dominated race. She ended up as a navigator. In 1927, navigators (and pilots) relied on maps, weather patterns, a compass, stars, guts, and a great deal of luck. Fortunately, Olivia could fly as well as navigate because she had to fly the plane in this race when the pilot was unable to. In the real historical event (and in this story), only two of the planes made it from California to Hawaii. Some were lost and some were forced to turn back (or never made it off the runway).

Dual Timelines

I enjoy a dual-timeline story, but often I tend to be more engaged in one over the other….and it’s usually the past timeline that is most compelling. In this story, both timelines are good but, in my opinion, the 1927 timeline is most appealing. First, the race itself is tense and risky. Whenever the story switched to the 1987 timeline, I was eager to return to 1927 to find out how Olivia fared. The 1987 timeline (set in Hawaii) could be considered women’s fiction. While enjoyable, it was slower-paced (in comparison) and it took me longer to connect with the characters. The two timelines do connect in the end in surprising and satisfying ways.

Inspirational Character

Olivia is an imagined character in the very real and historic Dole Air Race of 1927. She is high-spirited, adventurous, and loves to fly. When she hears about the Dole Air Race, she is determined to qualify and participate. In a male-dominated field, this requires a great deal of courage and negotiating. The best she’s able to do is to land a position as a navigator. She’ll take it because she’ll do anything to fly. Fortunately, she can also fly because she needs to take a turn at the controls when the pilot is incapacitated. The story is historically interesting in many ways from the description of the planes to the flight itself to the risky race to the male-dominated field. Olivia is determined, clever, passionate, trailblazing, spunky, and brave. You will enjoy this likable, unforgettable, and inspirational character.

Themes

Thoughtful themes include defying the odds, going after what you want, trailblazing, starting over, and friendship.

Romance

If you are looking for a histic/women’s fiction mashup, Sara Ackerman does this well! A side of romance is usually an element in Sara Ackerman’s stories. The romances never overwhelm the story because there is always other substantial content. In this story, I enjoyed the slow-burn potential romance mixed with a spirit of competition in the 1927 timeline more than the insta-love of the 1987 timeline. I appreciate Ackerman for her closed-door romances.

Auto-Buy Author

Sara Ackerman is on my auto-buy author list, and I’m an Ackerman completist. Her histfic stories are set in Hawaii (what’s not to love?!). They are well-researched histfic and contain elements of friendship, women supporting women, thoughtful themes, and sweet romance. The stories are filled with vivid descriptive details and memorable characters. I can recommend them to anyone. Although I’ve enjoyed them all, my very favorite is Radar Girls.

Recommending The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West

I can enthusiastically recommend any of Sara Ackerman’s books and The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West is no exception. Fans of histfic/women’s fiction, aviation history, and inspiring characters will enjoy this one!

Related: My reviews of Radar Girls, The Lieutenant’s Nurse, Red Sky Over Hawaii, The Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers, and The Codebreaker’s Secret.

My Rating:  4.5  Stars

Meet the Author of The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West, Sara Ackerman

Sara Ackerman is the Hawaii born, bestselling author of The Codebreaker’s Secret, Radar Girls, Red Sky Over Hawaii, The Lieutenant’s Nurse, and Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers.

Sara’s books have been labeled “unforgettable” by Apple Books, “empowering & deliciously visceral” by Book Riot, and New York Times bestselling authors Kate Quinn and Madeline Martin have praised Sara’s novels as “fresh and delightful” and “brilliantly written.” Amazon chose Radar Girls as a best book of the month, and ALA Booklist gave The Codebreaker’s Secret a starred review.

Find out more about Sara and her books at http://www.ackermanbooks.com and follow her on Instagram @saraackermanbooks and on FB @ackermanbooks.

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QOTD:

Is Ackerman’s new release on your TBR or have you read it?
Does an aviation storyline interest you?

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