Book Review: “The Sky Over Brigadier Station” by Sarah Williams

I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reading “The Sky Over Brigadier Station” by Sarah Williams! This book, as well as the prequel “The Brothers of Brigadier Station” and the third book “The Legacies of Brigadier Station,” were provided to me by Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review (and yes, I’ll be reviewing the third book in the future)! I enjoyed reading the first book, so here’s a summary so we know what this one is about!

“He guards his heart. She yields to no man. Will a chance encounter set a course for true love?

Noah McGuire buries his demons deep inside. But when he’s forced to return home to Brigadier Station to collect his inheritance, he can no longer avoid digging up his painful past. With the wounds of childhood trauma reopened, his world plunges into darkness until a beautiful pilot sets his heart afire.

Riley Sinclair isn’t afraid to fly against the wind. While the spunky helicopter pilot’s cattle herding business ruffles the feathers of most men, the handsome Noah seems different. But as demand for her skills grows, she worries that giving into passion could keep her dreams grounded.

As their chemistry soars, an unexpected tragedy throws their lives and their budding romance into a tailspin.

Can Noah and Riley leave their baggage behind to let love fly free?”

Trigger warnings for this book:

There are mentions of domestic abuse and physical abuse mentioned in some descriptions in the book, as well as a few mentions of rape and alcohol abuse. The things mentioned here are not too graphically described except for the physical abuse in conversations between characters. If any of this makes you uncomfortable as a reader, I’d suggest you read with caution or you might want to avoid reading this one.

Plot development: 3 out of 5 stars

Please note: It’s been a canonical two years since the events of the first book (it’s noted in chapter 2 of “The Sky of Brigadier Station”). The main plot itself is simplistic; Noah comes back home to see his brother Darcy marry Meghan, meets Riley, and Noah and Riley fall in love. That’s basically the main plot, with a dash of added tension when Riley does end up experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder late in the book due to a horrendous accident that affects one of her friends. Unfortunately, I felt like because the romance got together so fast, I feel like the added tension was forced into the plot to simply add the ‘will-they-or-won’t-they?’ plot point of the romance.

However, I do think the saving grace plot-wise are all the sideplots. We see Darcy and Meghan get married, Lachlan struggles with drinking but eventually decides to become sober and stop drinking for good, and we do learn more about the past and about the abusive father. Because of this, I feel like this book acts more like a ‘filler’ than having its own standalone plot that just happens to have continuity.

Romance development: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Riley and Noah, as a romance, felt way too love-at-first-sight. Or, rather, lust at first sight. I didn’t really feel much chemistry between them, which is a shame given how well-written the romance from last book was. I could sense sexual chemistry, but there was nothing that felt remotely close to romance until close to the end. They went from noticing each other physically to having sex with each other only a couple chapters later. Speaking of sex scenes, there were more of them than last book, but because the chemistry built between them romance-wise didn’t work very well, I found myself not really caring about any of the several sex scenes (even more than last book!).

Character development: 3 out of 5 stars

Noah gets a lot of character development. We learn more about his past, particularly about how abusive his father Daniel was to him and the other brothers (as well as their mother, Harriet). We also see, however, that Noah’s determined to do anything and everything to not be like his father; he leaves home to get away from his abusive father and also works on healthier ways to process his anger and frustration instead of hurting other people.

Unfortunately, Riley gets very little treatment in terms of development. Sure, she’s a pilot who hates having to deal with people who have been sexist before, and she does have friends, but we don’t know much else about her past or why she’s so hesitant at first to fall in love with Noah. Yes, she struggles with later post-traumatic stress disorder, which affects her and her relationships with the others (particularly Noah), but other than that, we don’t know much about why she’s a pilot in the first place or anything else that led up to who she is as a person in the present events of the book.

Overall, I’m rating this book 2.5 out of 5 stars!

This is not as good as the previous book in this series, but if you enjoy reading a family slowly heal from the past and moving on-types of plots, you might enjoy reading this book.