Just Fly Away

Written by Andrew McCarthy

Narrated by Suzy Jackson

A debut novel about one girl's discovery of family secrets, first love, the limits of forgiveness, and finding one's way in the world, written with wisdom and sympathy by the bestselling memoirist, actor, and director. When fifteen-year-old Lucy Willows discovers that her father has a child from a brief affair, a eight-year-old boy named Thomas who lives in her own suburban New Jersey town, she begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her family and her life. Lucy can't believe her father betrayed the whole family, or that her mother forgave him, or that her sister isn't rocked by the news the way Lucy is. Worse, Lucy's father's secret is now her own, one that isolates her from her friends, family, and even her boyfriend, Simon, the one person she expected would truly understand. When Lucy escapes to Maine, the home of her mysteriously estranged grandfather, she finally begins to get to the bottom of her family's secrets and lies. Fans of the rebels and antiheroes in the novels of Rainbow Rowell, A. S. King, and Meg Wolitzer will welcome this sharp, observant new voice in young adult fiction

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781501956911

Andrew McCarthy

Since starring in movies like Pretty in Pink, St Elmo’s Fire and Less Than Zero, ANDREW McCARTHY has become a director, an award-winning travel writer and a bestselling author. He has directed more than eighty hours of television, including Orange Is the New Black, The Blacklist, Gossip Girl and many others. For a dozen years he served as editor at large at National Geographic Traveler and his award-winning travel writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic and TIME. He is the author of a travel memoir, The Longest Way Home, and a young-adult novel, Just Fly Away, both New York Times bestsellers.

Reviews for Just Fly Away

[Amy Homan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An extremely enjoyable book! Fantastic narrarator! I really loved it!

[carriewuj · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

YA. Andrew McCarthy definitely had the teen thing down in his 80s (heartthrob) movies but in his attempt to write for them, I felt like he missed the mark. It starts out promising: 15 year-old Lucy Willows sets up the story: "There are just so many unsettling possibilities about life that you can't be on guard for them all. Things will be going along fine -- not extraordinary or fantastic, just normal, regular -- and then something like this happens and nothing is normal anymore, and it won't ever be normal again. There is nothing you can do about it. Absolutely nothing. And even though this kind of thing might happen to anyone, it's still a big deal when it happens to you." "This" is a bomb dropped on her and her "happy" family life: her father has a child by another woman, and they live in the same town. Her younger sister (13) either doesn't understand or chooses to stay in her happy musical theater world, and her mother has accepted and lived with this reality for at least 8 years, so Lucy feels alone in the discovery. But her reaction is curiously devoid of the introspection or even emotional explanation that begins the book. She freezes out her parents and her best friend, picks up a questionable boyfriend who "magically" becomes just the guy to lean on, and she begins smoking pot and other experimentation. Her first sexual experience with said sketchy boyfriend doesn't seem to have any more impact on her than going to the local gas station for a Coke. Lucy locates the brother and actually meets him in a park -- a little stalkerish, but she realizes the kid is pretty likeable and not to blame for her dad's infidelity. At the peak of her misery in her new reality, Lucy runs away to her estranged grandfather's house in Maine. Their relationship is a high point in the book -- he helps her to see the good in her father and the power of forgiveness and there is a bit of an "On Golden Pond" feeling to the turn of events that occur as a result of her odyssey. The story itself has a lot of potential but the flat affect of it all was disappointing.

[nwieme-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

eh. was a YA, but I thought I'd give it a try. I liked it, but I didn't LOVE it.

[muddyboy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Let me premise this by saying I think young adult girls will like the book but few beyond that audience. The central event in the novel is when Lucy (protagonist) finds out that she has an eight year old half brother from a tryst her father had with another woman even though he remains married to Lucy's mother. Meanwhile, Lucy falls for a boy named Simon and shortly after she decides to take a bus trip ( which spends entirely too much emphasis on how much money she is spending) to visit her grandparents. She finds that her grandmother has gone on a trip. The whole premise of this visit just doesn't hold water just after she falls in love with this boy. Why leave then? I think that young ladies will be more forgiving and enjoy the book.

[standhenry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Just Fly Away lets the reader join 15 year old Lucy as she navigates complicated family issues and relationships. It's a unique story and the 1st chapter hooks you right away. Vivid descriptions put you at every scene. Awkward sentence flow shows the author's novice with fiction. But the story shines with landscape and geography detail. Incorporates travel and love of new experiences well.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fifteen-year-old Lucy’s happy normal life is thrown for a curve when she learns she has an eight-year-old half-brother, the result of a brief affair her father had. Lucy is understandably angry and decides to run away to her grandfather despite the fact that she hardly knows him and he lives half way across the country.I had mixed feelings about the YA novel Just Fly Away by author Andrew McCarthy due partly because I was never able to connect with Lucy and partly because the story seemed disjointed in parts. It often felt like vignettes pasted together which seemed to offer promise and then went nowhere, seeming to serve no real purpose within the story. The most interesting part of the story is the relationship that quickly develops between Lucy and her grandfather. Or perhaps the problem is mine – I am, perhaps, too old to appreciate teen angst or to be able to relate to the idea that parents must always be honest with their kids about every lurid detail of their lives. Still, if the story didn’t exactly work for me, it is well-written and I suspect it will resonate with its intended audience which is fair. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review