Rating: 
Summary: Good writer, needs to ditch romance subplot ...
Review: Hmm - it's hard to know how to rate this book. The best I can say that it is very uneven - I LOVED the parts about the restaurant and the relationship between Rose and Anna, but I'm afraid that Anna's romance with Mason left me cold. It feels like something simply tacked on to give the book a romantic interest and I can't help feeling that the author didn't have her heart in writing these scenes. I skimmed over those bits in the end (especially when Mason was going on about wild birds of something) and I wish she had just concentrated on the restaurant and the relationships between the people who worked there - that was fascinating and I was constantly being amazed by the honesty and astuteness of her writing. I don't know if the publishers made her put in a love interest so the book would sell but I feel it would have actually been a great book if it had only focused on Anna's relationship with her aunt and her employees at the restaurant.
Rating:
Summary: Good writer, needs to ditch romance subplot ...
Review: Hmm - it's hard to know how to rate this book. The best I can say that it is very uneven - I LOVED the parts about the restaurant and the relationship between Rose and Anna, but I'm afraid that Anna's romance with Mason left me cold. It feels like something simply tacked on to give the book a romantic interest and I can't help feeling that the author didn't have her heart in writing these scenes. I skimmed over those bits in the end (especially when Mason was going on about wild birds of something) and I wish she had just concentrated on the restaurant and the relationships between the people who worked there - that was fascinating and I was constantly being amazed by the honesty and astuteness of her writing. I don't know if the publishers made her put in a love interest so the book would sell but I feel it would have actually been a great book if it had only focused on Anna's relationship with her aunt and her employees at the restaurant.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm sorry I bought this book.
Review: I did not enjoy this story because each time I read part of it, I could hardly remember what I had read once I had put it down. I did finish the book, I do that with all books no matter how awful, to at least give the author a chance to redeem him/herself, but in this story, the characters could have been cardboard figures. The plot is extremely arid, there just isn't enough "oomph". Anna Catalano is our protagonist and she is called home temporarily to help out in the family restaurant. For Anna, home is not a safe haven. Home is a place of bad memories and disappointments. Anna does return home eventually and the author tries to throw in some romance that might be an attempt at a plot. There just isn't much of it and it fizzles out. There are no "Flight Lessons", I must be missing something. The title doesn't seem to have any relationship with the book. Perhaps Anna Catalano's flight to home is the answer. If you must read this one, borrow it. To me, it was not worth my time or money.
Rating:
Summary: What is this one about anyway?
Review: I did not enjoy this story because I could hardly remember it when I put it down. The characters could have been cardboard figures, the plot is dry, there just is not enough "oomph" to get the story off of the ground. The character Anna Catalano is called "home" temporarily to help out in the family restaurant. For Anna, home is not a safe haven, but a place of bad memories and disappointments better left buried and sorrows best not come to light. Patricia Gafney, the author, does make an attempt to trhow in some romance, but there just isn't enough there and the story fizzles. There are no "flight lessons" unless the author is trying to describe Anna Catalano's flight to and from home, and herself. If you must read this one, get it from the library. To me, it was not worth time, effort, or money.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven book
Review: I found the premise of this story interesting. What worked really well for me were the scenes set in the restaurant. The conflict between old and new ways of doing things rings so true, as does the competition between the self-made chef and the trained, creative one. These scenes hummed along. The challenge of a chef working in the restaurant biz and battling alcoholism was great, and real. The problem for me, was that there were too many other stories competing with the restaurant. I just never cared about Mason, probably starting with his name, which is about as unsexy as it gets....makes me think of that pudgy kid that used to do the Oscar Meyer commercials. Besides that though, we just never got to know him. The e-mails back and forth were boring, I skimmed them to get to the story, which for me was about turning around the restaurant. That's where the life and passion was, for me. Anna's so called 'romance' with Mason didn't work for me, I skimmed most of it. Also skimmed the scenes with Rose and Theo....just didn't care about them or Aunt Iris....just wanted to get back to the fun stuff.So, I whipped through this book, actually probably read about 2 thirds and skimmed the rest. Enjoyable, but lots of wasted stuff here.
Rating:
Summary: Better the first time around . . .
Review: I listened to the ABRIDGED audio version of this story twice. It was much more interesting upon the first reading and didn't hold my attention all that well the 2nd time around. It tells the story of Anna, a young woman, who returns "home" reluctantly when she catches her lover in bed with another woman. Anna and her aunt were once close but betrayal and bad feelings have kept them at a distance. Anna is talked into going to work at the family restaurant and discovers new friends, a new love interest (in a reclusive, scarred man) and puts her past to rest. This is a very character oriented story with little action.
Rating: 
Summary: wonderful relationship drama
Review: In icy upstate New York, Anna Catalano ends her affair with her lover when she catches him with her boss in her bed just after she had outpatient laparascopy. When her Aunt Iris offers her the job of manager of Bella Sorella, Anna decides to accept on a temporary basis though she rarely has gone home to the Maryland Eastern Shore. Anna's Aunt Rose, whom she caught in bed with her father while her mother was dying from ovarian cancer, owns the restaurant. The aunt and the niece are banally civil, but truly communicate through Iris. Restaurant management proves difficult, but Anna handles it with aplomb. However, she has more trouble coping with her feelings towards photographer Mason Winograd, as she does not trust relationships. More complex and harder on Anna's soul is Rose wants a reconciliation with her beloved niece and will do whatever it takes to succeed. FLIGHT LESSONS is a wonderful relationship drama that is at its best when the women take center stage without any males in their way though the men are well written characters. The story line engages the reader by looking at the impact a long-term squabble has on individuals. The Rose-Anna situation is cleverly written so that many readers will recognize similar relationships with family members. However, the romance between Anna and Mason never leaves the ground, as it seems pale next to that of the women. Patricia Gaffney provides a strong character driven sequel to her best selling THE SAVING GRACES. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Good Read
Review: Patricia Gaffney presents us with a narrative involving unsolved family disputes and with the ease of a talented writer she draws you, the reader, into the midst of the conflict. Gaffney holds your interest with her many twists leading you into a well crafted and pleasing plot. Great story telling.
Beverly J Scott author of RIGHTEOUS REVENGE
Rating:
Summary: The Prodigal daughter
Review: The Oscar Wilde quote, "After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations" that Patrica Gaffney prefaces her book with, is an accurate description of the issues she explores in Flight Lessons. In a twist to the biblical prodigal son, Anna returns to her hometown on the Chesapeake bay at the age of 36 and after a disasterous end to a romantic relationship. Anna is a complex, and often quite exasperating character. She is balanced in the book by her aunt Rose, now 60 and the owner of a faltering Italian restaurant. Anna is welcomed home and agrees to manage the restaurant for the summer but is not ready to forgive and forget the family issues that caused her to leave. Rose is a more appealing character, particularly in regard to her relationship with Theo, a crusty Bay waterman, now sidelined with a degenerative disease. All of the characters are finely drawn, Frankie, the talented but troubled new chef at the restaurant, Eddie, the handsome but unreliable bartender and Carmen,the unmarried, overweight long time chef who is resentful of the new chef and the changes Anna wants to make to save the restaurant.The close up look at running a small family restaurant was particularly interesting and the bits of information about birds and bird photography, the avocation of Mason, another character were engrossing. (I will now try to catch a bird yawnings, soemthing I never knew they did) More than a love story, the book is honest and insightful as it explore the complicated dynamics of family and the ways individuals address their own family history. Anna's apparent dysfunction and inabilty to sustain relationships seems as much due to her own unforgiving nature as the tough issues she dealt with as a child and young woman. Our desire to paint family members as either black or white, good or bad is illuminated as Anna addresses her memories of her mother and father as well as Rose. More than a good summer read, the book has enough interest to make your reading list in any season.
Rating:
Summary: The Prodigal daughter
Review: The Oscar Wilde quote, "After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations" that Patrica Gaffney prefaces her book with, is an accurate description of the issues she explores in Flight Lessons. In a twist to the biblical prodigal son, Anna returns to her hometown on the Chesapeake bay at the age of 36 and after a disasterous end to a romantic relationship. Anna is a complex, and often quite exasperating character. She is balanced in the book by her aunt Rose, now 60 and the owner of a faltering Italian restaurant. Anna is welcomed home and agrees to manage the restaurant for the summer but is not ready to forgive and forget the family issues that caused her to leave. Rose is a more appealing character, particularly in regard to her relationship with Theo, a crusty Bay waterman, now sidelined with a degenerative disease. All of the characters are finely drawn, Frankie, the talented but troubled new chef at the restaurant, Eddie, the handsome but unreliable bartender and Carmen,the unmarried, overweight long time chef who is resentful of the new chef and the changes Anna wants to make to save the restaurant.The close up look at running a small family restaurant was particularly interesting and the bits of information about birds and bird photography, the avocation of Mason, another character were engrossing. (I will now try to catch a bird yawnings, soemthing I never knew they did) More than a love story, the book is honest and insightful as it explore the complicated dynamics of family and the ways individuals address their own family history. Anna's apparent dysfunction and inabilty to sustain relationships seems as much due to her own unforgiving nature as the tough issues she dealt with as a child and young woman. Our desire to paint family members as either black or white, good or bad is illuminated as Anna addresses her memories of her mother and father as well as Rose. More than a good summer read, the book has enough interest to make your reading list in any season.
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