On a Wing and a Prayer

by Karen D. Badger

Airline pilot Cassidy Conway, haunted by memories of her lover's death, has closed her heart to love. Content with the occasional physical encounter, she's happy in her solitude. Roxanne Ward is an award-winning science fiction writer. Caught between her own needs and those of her family, she is unable to break free of an abusive relationship. When Cass sees Rox's portrait on a book cover and sends her an e-mail, the friendship that forms between the two women sets off a tumultuous chain of events, rife with danger and suspense.

Genres: Lesbian

360 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Karen D. Badger, better known to her online fans as "kd bard," was born in Vermont at the end of the Hippie era. She is the second of five children and was raised by a divorced mother, who to this day remains one of her best friends. Karen graduated from college in 1978 with a B.A. in Drama. Later, she returned to school and in 1994 earned a B.S. in Mathematics. She currently works as an Engineer in the semiconductor field, and fills her spare time with writing, family and friends.

Reviews

[AnnMaree Of Oz · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very peculiar story, that often had me cringing and wincing with the naivety of the characters and bizarre situations through the plot. Kindle Unlimited.

This is rather dated, which is the only way to excuse the online emailing that has the two women confessing love without even meeting one another face to face. It takes until 62% in for them to meet in person, and for one to realize the other is infact a woman, not a man, as she assumed. Angst ensues.

It also deals with some really traumatic stuff, physical abuse and a woman who insists on staying with her abuser and wanting to maintain the veil of her perfect life. Continued threats against her life and safety, and that of her friends.

OH I almost forgot, one character has an 'inner voice' that is a separate personality in itself, and talks to her in a way that IRL would cause me concern and have me ringing the mental health department! It's supposed to be some comedic relief, but it's just another cringey-thing that makes the whole tone of the book and it's characters seem really odd, and not in a good way. I mean I'm the queen of odd, I LOVE weird, but this was just downright strange!

The other problem I had was far too many melodramatic plotlines and one dimensional villains stroking their moustaches, and that all the friend character voices ultimately came off as the exact same! So not one I'd recommend.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frustrated. That's the one emotion I kept feeling while reading this book. The story is predictable but I knew it would be just by reading the blurb. I'm a sucker for this type of story, though. But the major interaction the main characters have is through email. When one would write an email, it was in the book at that point, then five minutes later when the recipient read the email, there it was again in its entirety. I found myself skimming over parts and I hate when I do that but I couldn't stop myself because I was, well, frustrated. But darn if I couldn't quit reading! The thought crossed my mind a few times to just stop reading but I hate not finishing books and there was that small part of me that wanted to make sure it would end like I was assuming. I did have to chuckle at the characters' response to logging on to the 'net'. The story takes place around 2000 when dial up connections were still the norm. I forgot what it was like to wait to get online and not have all my email at my fingertips whenever I want it. Oh how spoiled I am!

[Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't find anything in this story to even remotely enjoy. The premise is basically a female pilot falls in love with an author via the dust jacket picture (yes, really) and writes her a fairly creepy run of the mill crazy fan letter. For whatever reason this author actually shows interest and the two continue corresponding via email (with each letter appearing in its entirety twice) with increasingly creepy and love spewing letters. Oh and for whatever reason the female author fails to realize the fan is another woman. Somehow that catch is drawn out for over half the book! It's written in 2005 but everyone appears to still be using modems and apparently Google doesn't exist in this world. Finally at the half way point the author mentions (again, via creepy email) having called the fan and a woman answered, but this sets no warning bells off for the fan even though this phone call (and immediate hang up) occurred just pages earlier. Honestly, the whole story is ridiculous and uncomfortable. There are also multiple poorly developed B-stories solely for the sake of putting the characters in peril, from abusive boyfriends, to drug cartels, to plane crashes. Although possibly my favorite is the plane crash and resulting national media coverage that manages to conveniently never mention the pilot's gender. I'm still trying to decide whether the book falls into the so bad it's good category or the so bad and I've wasted two days of my life reading it arena

[Windy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm just starting to delve back into romance novels so I guess this is up to par? I haven't been into the love at first sight plot line since my teenage years. Although I did find myself not wanting to put this book down because I needed to know what was going to happen once Roxane discovered Cass wasn't a man. . I am hoping this is the one and only time the enforcer shows up I have finished the book and still have as of yet to figure out why it was even included all it did was annoy me as a reader.I will probably read more of this authors books

[J H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but I had some issues

Triggers: repeated violence, physical and verbal partner abuse

For the most part, the plot and characters were great. The character that was the most adamant about staying out of relationships ended up being relatively desperate for the romance and love. Both MCs had unhealthy boundaries in their prior relationships, and I feel that some of that carried over into the beginning of theirs as well.

I really enjoyed the metaphysical aspect of the story, and it was much more believable than the "rescue mission." Aircraft have a specific type of radio (IFF), which has been around since 1939, that transmits a specific signal that is easily tracked. There were a few other problems with the aviation and rescue aspects, but I was in the Navy, and worked in the aviation field, so I am aware of things that the average reader wouldn't know.

I'm middle-aged, fairly well educated, and an avid reader, so my appreciation of the novel is most likely going to differ from many other readers. That leads me to believe that others will enjoy this story more than I did.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author!

Karen, your writing gets right under my skin (in the best way). This is the 3rd book I’ve read by this author and the 3rd book I’ve loved by this author. She has a way of filling a book with so much enriching detail without over-doing it. I really shouldn’t let myself get pulled so thoroughly into a book when there’s so much to do around the farm but I was utterly helpless at the hands of your story telling. Again. Thank you for putting your books out there.

[Daisy Teragram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, please, just no
This story is really dated. It's really long, too. It's not dated for a time period, but dated for how far we've come. This is a definite alt uber and it's very over-the-top. Everything is just unbelievable and outrageous. The coincidences, too, are too much. I appreciate the author for trying, but I don't think this is more than an amateurish effort.