"A Flying Affair" by Carla Stewart - a fun taste of the Roaring Twenties

After one taste of flight, Mitty Humphreys has completely caught the flying bug. Balancing her passion for aviation with her family's Saddlebred business tricky, when she loves both, but it becomes even more difficult when trick pilot Ames Dewberry reappears in her life. To complicate matters further, Bobby York, son of a family friend, also turns up to give flying lessons at the airfield. Falling in love has never been on her radar, but suddenly she has two men competing not only with each other, but also with her love of horses and flight for her affections--and it's anyone's guess which of them will win out.

If I were to sum the story up in one word, it would have to be Fast. The author does a good job bringing out the frenzied pace of the Roaring Twenties, both in Mitty and in the tone of the story. When Mitty gets interested in something, she jumps into it. She's not one to wait around when she can do something right now. She is absolutely a risk-taker, though she eventually learns to be wiser in which risks she takes. And the world around her is racing at a frenzied pace--aviation taking off not just for men, but for women in all kinds of publicity stunts. Investments are skyrocketing. People all over are teetering on the edge of the laws of prohibition.

I enjoyed the tug between Mitty's two loves--horses and flying. While aviation is her passion, horses are her roots. She loves both worlds, and she is good in both worlds. It's a rare person who only has one interest in life, and Mitty is realistically not one of them. Contrary to my expectations, I ended up liking Calista, Mitty's competition and fellow female aviator. It was encouraging to read about how close and supportive the women aviators were, even though they were also fierce competitors--their love of the sport surpassed any rivalry.

The thing I didn't care for was Mitty's choices in the romance department; she moves fast, like in every other aspect of her life, and not always wisely. It fits her personality, but I don't think I would read this novel just for the romance. There is a minor faith thread to the story, though not anything too profound. This is the first book I've read by the author, and I doubt it will be my last. I got the impression that some of the secondary characters might have had stories of their own, though it didn't impede the story in any way.