Love in Row 27

by Eithne Shortall

[Leah]

I really enjoyed Love in Row 27 – for as long as I’ve been reading Chick Lit, I have loved the stories about people falling in love during an aeroplane ride – there’s just something magical about who you may find yourself next to, during a four hour or twenty-four hour flight. In fact, the only other book I know of that has two people falling in love during a plane ride is The Sweetest Taboo by Carole Matthews. In fact, it’s been that long since I’ve read it that I’m not actually sure of that at all. BUT IT CALLS TO ME. So it shall be that two people fall in love on an aeroplane by The Sweetest Taboo and you can fight me if you disagree.

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Love in the air. Is there anything more magical? I mean yes there probably is, since aeroplanes these days are cramped to the max and there’s no room to swing a cat, without injuring a fellow passenger… But there’s still something magical about two people meeting each other, particularly if it’s in Row 27 and Cora has anything to do with it…
Cora herself. Now, Cora is a bit of a hypocrite (having a near-meltdown when a colleague dares to interfere in Cora’s love life, but it’s OK for Cora to interfere in complete strangers’ love lives? HM. MORAL DILEMMA. However, I actually did love Cora (hypocrite-ness aside). I loved how unashamedly romantic she was (and how much science she put into the pairings on each plane – she’s WASTED in air travel and should be a spy/run a dating website).
The entire goings-on in an airport. Yes, I am one of those people endlessly fascinated with airports. For some reason, I always loved travelling to England for a visit when we lived abroad. Watching the planes take off, doing some shopping in duty free, but I’m also fascinated by the behind the scenes stuff. The people live Cora who make an airline function and planes fly on time (er, mostly. Actually that’s a lie. I’m pretty sure that every single time I flew Tenerife-England and back, the Tenerife flights N-E-V-E-R left on time) and I just loved the camaraderie with everyone working with Cora.
AIDEN. I called it. I called it the moment his Irish self entered the novel. I have no idea why characters in books find Irish men so appealing (seriously, like every two out of three Chick Lit books have Irish heroes) or, should I say, MORE appealing than any other men, ever, but there ya go. Aiden is another to add to that list. I actually liked Aiden, though. Him and Cora were quite cute, when they weren’t bickering, which was like one time for like thirty seconds before they were bickering again BUT THEY WERE CUTE OKAY.
This surprised me, but the way Cora’s mother, Sheila’s illness is dealt with, was pretty impressive. I expected a light, funny read (which I got), I didn’t expect dementia. But it was handled very sensitively and, at times, it made me want to cry because what a terrible, horrible illness it is indeed. My grandma suffered with it, but I was a baby so I have no idea what it does to you, but I know it’s always (and still does) affect my Mam so, so hard, and I could see Cora struggling and I just don’t know how people cope with family members with dementia. It just seems like an uphill, horrible struggle.
Phew, things got a bit heavy there. I’M SORRY, BOOK LOVERS. But I have to give props where props are due and the dementia storyline was poignant and heart-breaking, but written so beautifully.

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As specified, Cora is a hypocrite.
There’s a very anti-gay feel to George, who is the only gay character in the book. He’s always harping on about Cora not setting up LGBTQ+ couples, or setting him up, etc, as if Cora’s doing it because he’s gay, and I never really got that feeling. It was just a bizarre addition, that George was kinda trying to make Cora out to be homophobic without any actual intention? So it just came across as bitchy.
There’s a few typos. *Deep sigh* George “peaks” at something when he really means to “peek” at something, and other small, minor but irritating (for me) issues. Yes, I am easily irritated. Basically because I want people to pay me to look for typos because I AM THE TYPO QUEEN. #ForeverPickingOutTypos
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Overall, I really liked this book. I liked the plot, the characters, the little love stories (and hate stories) that developed throughout the book. I liked that we got to see things from other people’s perspectives, thanks to the third-person narrative. Eithne Shortall has written a fabulous little read, one I knew I was going to enjoy the moment I read the synopsis. More novels need to be set on planes. They just make me so freaking happy, the same way Sheldon Cooper gets about trains.