3.5 Stars.

I picked this up because I saw the name Andrew McCarthy and wondered if it was THAT Andrew McCarthy-- it is. It's the brat-packer from Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo's Fire (& most recently The Family-- RIP) and all that 80's goodness. So I thought why not?? Let's see what inspired him to write YA as a 50-something.

I started out really liking this book. I especially liked all the descriptions the author used to put me in the place where the character was. Descriptions aren't usually a big selling point with me, so I know these ones were top shelf if I was noticing and loving them.

I think I would have been all about this book if I liked Lucy better. Or if there was another character that was fully developed that I could like. As it was, Lucy is really the only character in this book, and I didn't get along with her. There was a boyfriend-type guy in this book that I almost got to know, but not really-- and I kind of wished the book was about him instead because he was a cool guy.

A weird thing: I really liked that she was immature. That's not something I can usually love in a character, but it was refreshing to read about a 15-year-old who doesn't have it all together. She was emotionally immature for sure-- super impulsive-- pretty much everything a teenager is, and it made me like her more than I wanted to.

Why I didn't like her: She was super selfish and kind of dense. I can get behind impulsive, but denseness is a whole other thing. Like okay, you're going to Maine on a whim-- but maybe don't accept rides from random dudes?? And you can be immature and still care about other people. Lucy only cared about how the big secret affected her. She didn't even try to talk to her sister or mom, she was just ME, ME, ME. And I got bored with that. Also, anyone who is okay with wearing the same underwear for multiple days, I don't trust :)

I think this was a good try for a first novel, but I think it needed MORE characters and MORE plot. Not a lot happened asides from hanging out and running away.

OVERALL: It's readable and interesting, but needed a few more developed characters for me to really like it. Lucy got on my last nerve and she was really the only person in this book, so for me it wasn't really a book I'd recommend.

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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. ( )

Lucy is fifteen and enjoying what seems to be a happy, normal life with her parents and younger sister when she has a bombshell dropped on her: her father has an eight-year-old son with another woman. And they live only a few blocks away. When Lucy learns of this news, she is incredibly angry at both her parents: her father for cheating on her mother and keeping the secret, and her mother, for passively remaining with her father and not telling her daughters what happened. Lucy wants to return to happier times, but she finds herself unable to move past her father's news.

I didn't love this book and for a while, didn't think this would even get up to a three-star review. It did grow on me by the end: mostly due to Lucy's relationship with her grandfather, who was perhaps my favorite character in the novel. Alas, I never really connected with Lucy, and I didn't completely find her voice authentic. The beginning of the novel was quite slow, and there were a few points where I wasn't really sure I wanted to keep reading. It's really a rather sad and serious book, and it seems to meander a bit, with no real ultimate point. The overall plot, as well as the small details, seem to veer off on weird tangents. Do we focus on Lucy's anger at her father? Or her growing up, exploring boys and teenage life? Or maybe her grandfather and his strained relationship with Lucy's father? Often, there were many times where I found myself wondering why the author felt the need to include certain details, or include a particular plot point.

At times, Lucy felt incredibly self-involved, even for a teenager, and I wasn't sure if her anger--which seemed to be meant to serve as the main plot device--was really that justified. As I said, when the book shifts and Lucy comes into contact with her grandfather, it did pick up, and I found myself enjoying it more. This could be perhaps because Lucy felt less time focusing on her father's betrayal, and we could get to know her a bit better. Still, I would have liked to have seen more character development, less tangents, and just a better developed voice for Lucy. This one barely grazed 3 stars for me, but it is McCarthy's first novel (albeit I'm sure he can always fall back on that acting career!), and I can see some potential here.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review; it is available everywhere as of 03/28/2017.

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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. ( )

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. ( )