I’m not sure this is my usual genre but it looked cute and if Susanna Hoffs can’t write about a one hit wonder than who can?

I found This Bird Has Flown to be a little off. Not horrible but some core parts, to me, made little sense.

I liked the premise; one does wonder about what happens to one hit wonders!

But some parts felt off— the repeated use of the phrase “heavy petting” and the lack of any googling when it made sense. If she was curious about Tom’s ex, why not google her early on? At 33 she grew up on the internet. Why did she know nothing about her boyfriend’s ex until she learned drips and drabs from the people around her? Set it in the 90s if you don’t want people to use the internet for some reason. Part of this might be the author’s age but if you are going to write about people 30 years younger than you, talk to them! Do some very low level research.

I also found it very strange that a person at 33 would think of Jonesy (at around 39) as so much older than them.

I was picturing Jonesy to be pushing at least 50–how did he have so many unknown albums when he too was famous before 30? I get he continued to have a career when she didn’t but when she had a hit with a cover of his songs they were both in their twenties. He was her peer when she recorded his song. How did she come across they song when other fans didn’t seem to know it existed?

The other part I found out strange was that she, at 33, cared so much about someone’s ex. Her reactions to finding out Tom had dated pretty much at all were what I’d expect from someone half her age. Surely by your early/mid-30s you would assume everyone has a dating history and had a long term relationship and perhaps even been been married or engaged?

She seems stunned he had a serious relationship before he met her and to take it very personally. She was apparently a literal rock star in her early twenties. Surely she’d dated as well? If anything, you’d think it was a red flag that he seemingly only had one serious relationship his whole life and it was one that other people described as toxic.

I can see being surprised that he didn’t mention he had been engaged but honestly, they didn’t seem to talk much about anything at all. She didn’t even introduce him to her friends until way after she spent time with his friends and colleagues many times. How was that not a red flag about her?

The book would have been so much better without this plot point. It just dragged on forever. I also thought it was not to to make it more explicit how bad Jonesy’s behavior was to her and other women. It’s 2023. I am sure horrible stuff goes on but it didn’t seem like anyone even noticed that it was horrible?