Symphony in the Sky

    Cheryl Stevens, Cher as her friends call her, is a nurse. She's known she's wanted to be a nurse ever since she was a child due to her mother having been a nurse and her father being a surgeon. However she's simultaneously had another career goal since she was a child, that of flight stewardess. Having achieved one she now wants to achieve the other. She's been accepted to stewardess school and now has to tell her loved ones. 

    Her parents are upset by her career change, feeling as tho she is degrading herself. Her boyfriend Tom, who is a surgeon at the same hospital as her, is furious at first because he worries it will waylay their plans to marry after his residency, but once he's digested the news he accepts Cher's decision and suggests they place their relationship on pause so she can be free to date other men while she's away.

Cher worries that this will open Tom up to dating Lee, his ex girlfriend that Cher is sure still carries a torch for him, and has recently been placed as nurse in Tom's surgery ward. 

    Away at stewardess school Cher becomes close to her roommate, Vicki, who has a handsome, young, sky-writer brother named Biff. After meeting at their graduation ceremony Cher and Biff hit it off right away and begin going on dates regularly whenever Cher's work schedule takes her to San Francisco, where Biff lives. 

    

    When Cher is with Biff she feels as tho there is no other man she could love, however when she's back home with Tom she feels the same way about him. She's been open and honest with both men about the other and is struggling to figure out what her heart wants. 

    When she goes home for thanksgiving she's asked to work a nursing shift at the hospital as they are short staffed due to the Hong Kong Flu. There she's told Tom and Lee have been inseparable, working closely side by side.

    Biff is flying to a sky writing job that day and will be flying over the hospital at 3 o'clock, he's arranged for Cheryl to look in the sky for him at that time so he can "dip his wings" at her but when she goes outside at the arranged time, instead of the friendly gesture, he writes "CHERYL I LOVE YOU" in the sky in full view of Tom and Lee.

    Back at work after the holiday Cher torments herself with thoughts of Tom and Lee together. Her airline has a new flight to Mazatlan, Mexico which she is assigned to. On her first trip there Biff meets her and they spend two romantic days at a beach hotel during which he subtly suggests they get engaged.

    Cher leaves Mexico more confused than ever but when a fiery explosion erupts on her flight home her first thoughts are of Tom and the fear she'll never get to tell him she loves him again. She realizes then what her heart wants.

    Cher extinguishes the fire and is hailed for her quick and calm action in the face of danger. Once safely landed she arranges to visit home and calls Tom telling him she has big new. Tom says he has big news as well and Cher convinces herself it's an engagement to Lee.

    Back home she tells him he is the only man she loves and he tells her he's been offered a job in Washington D.C. and he wants them to marry and move there together.

- This is the second book I've read by Laura C. Raef. Her writing style is somewhat different then I've encountered before, I'm not quite sure how to describe it. It feels quite boring but also paced well enough to keep me reading and wanting to know what happens next. Quite an interesting combination.

- I'm no medical student but the ways the medical parts were written, such as the baby being born during a flight, felt like they were written from an educated point of view. I couldn't find any information on Laura Raef so I don't know if she had experience as a nurse but I certainly wouldn't be surprised. 

- The pregnant lady on the plane was dumb. She's a Canadian who was visiting her husband who is working in Chicago and when she goes into labor, instead of going to the hospital and having her husband nearby she sneaks on a plane so her baby can be born in Canada. This almost cost the baby it's life. Very stupid lady.

- The explosion in the plane bathroom was never explained. I was curious what caused it. Was it a malfunction or had a passenger done something?

- I actually really liked Cheryl, I thought she's really cool. Her double career ambition is admirable and I like how she was honest with Tom and Biff about the other, not wanting to play games or be deceitful at all.

    Overall it was a pretty nice read. I thought at this point I'd be sick of flight stewardess stories but this showed me otherwise.