The synopsis for this book pretty much tells you everything that's going to happen, so go into this one blind if you still can.

When I requested this as an ARC, I did so feeling confident that I would enjoy it. It was definitely going to be at least 3 stars. After all, I loved Amelia Unabridged last year.

And now here I am, writing a 2 star review.

Let's start with how much I am not the target audience for this book, and not because I'm an adult and this is YA, but because of the setting and how that impacted the rest. The story takes place in a small, southern American town. That's not a setting I tend to gravitate towards in general. But what really makes this a problem is that this small town of Enfield, Texas apparently sees Weston, one of our main characters, as a "bad boy". This is central to the plot, and it doesn't make a lick of sense to me unless this is set in the 80s (they have cell phones, so it isn't).

I had a hard time staying immersed sometimes because the reasons Weston was shunned by the whole town felt incredibly superficial to me. The possible motivations the town has to label Weston a bad influence are (and these are all assumptions but if it's not because of this list, I'm even more confused):
* his parents are divorced? (because of course he has total control over that)
* he transferred to a different school for a year?
* he's moody and withdrawn? (which makes sense because his parents recently got divorced)
* everyone assumes he killed a tree the community planted? (there is zero evidence though, they just assume he did it because they already think of him as bad)
* he wears a leather jacket all the time? (this is the one that gets mentioned most often, but why is this a red flag?)

I'm not American, so maybe these are all perfectly valid reasons. They just didn't make sense to me, but YMMV.

We also have protagonists that make clearly bad decisions, just for the sake of more drama. If you're keeping a secret from your parents, and you know some of their friends have found out, you don't think "I'll just tell them tomorrow" because OF COURSE they will find out before then. 🙄 I've been in that exact situation as a teenager and I definitely didn't make that mistake.

Both books by the author have a lot to do with mental health and depression. Both Anna and Weston seem to suffer from a form of it, even though it's never explicitly named. In Amelia Unabridged, the main character's depression was symbolized by whales, and she would imagine them in various scenarios according to her mental state at the time. In this book it's driftwood and a specific type of bird. There seems to be a theme here, and it's not one I enjoyed upon repetition. It might just be me, but it feels a little bit like depression is almost being romanticized. There's also the issue of both characters magically feeling better after falling in love; like it's that easy to stop being depressed, all you need to do is find your second half!

If you're looking for a hard-hitting contemporary, I honestly think this one misses the mark a bit, but the writing is pretty good, and if you don't mind the parts that I had issue with, you could really enjoy this book.

this story by schumacher was truly a charming yet devastating one providing the first love heartache readers expect given the synopsis. anna and weston being two characters of complete opposites in terms of socially accepted within their small town but nevertheless see each other on a different level than most of anna's surface level friends. along with both of them struggling under the weight and eyes of pressure the small town has on them with needing to fly their wings free to do what their creativity seeks. sure this story is definitely a bit whirlwind, predictable, insta-love as it is but what was expected of a young adult novel tackling love and then grief soon after. i do wish that we were able to get more time with anna and weston since there was truly little time with them with seeing more growth in their dynamic and a bit more slow burn because i could've seen myself get more emotionally attached to them. but in spite of that, the plot twist that comes in still felt like a punch to the gut honestly, but that could just be me as a mood reader. the grief dealt with that comes after definitely could have been more drawn out but the moments between characters and the legacy left behind with its meaningful impact on the characters and how it gives a full circle to the story of anna and weston how it all started with their duet. would recommend to anyone looking for a quick, easy to breeze through read that still hits with emotion they need despite character development but still wonderful storytelling.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Listen, if I start sobbing while reading your book, and not because I am in physical pain, you automatically get 5 stars. In 2021 it was Chasing Fireflies by Chloe Fowler, in 2022 it is THIS BOOK, that will go down as causing me pain and heartbreak - but in a good way?

This book follows Anna and Weston, both in marching band in a small town in Texas, who get put together for a duet solo during the performance competition routine. They help each other grow throughout the book, and subsequently, fall in love. The symbolism in this book is stunning, it is incredibly well written, and it broke me. Once I realized what was going to happen I started panicking, which led to me crying for a solid hour as I read the end of this book.

My one criticism is that this book should have had some trigger warnings - because I was not in the emotional/mental state to handle the content of this book right now, as I was going into it thinking it was going to be a sweet YA love story with some growing pains. I wasn't completely wrong, but I also think it is valid to have warnings for its content.

All in all, this book was beautifully written. Like the songs and the birds in this book, it will leave an imprint on me, but I think I am good with letting this book fly away for a bit. 5/5

2 stars

I loved Ashley's first book but this one just didn't for me. The plot was just meh and the characters just plain. I didn't see the connection between these 2. I will try her next book and just hope this one was a sophomore slump for me.

Title: Full Flight
Author: Ashley Schumacher
Genre: YA
Rating: 3.5

Everyone else in the tiny town of Enfield, Texas calls fall football season, but for the forty-three members of the Fighting Enfield Marching Band, it’s contest season. And for new saxophonist Anna James, it’s her first chance to prove herself as the great musician she’s trying hard to be.

When she’s assigned a duet with mellophone player Weston Ryan, the boy her small-minded town thinks of as nothing but trouble, she’s equal parts thrilled and intimidated. But as he helps her with the duet, and she sees the smile he seems to save just for her, she can’t help but feel like she’s helping him with something too.

After her strict parents find out she’s been secretly seeing him and keep them apart, together they learn what it truly means to fight for something they love. With the marching contest nearing, and the two falling hard for one another, the unthinkable happens, and Anna is left grappling for a way forward without Weston.

Solid writing in this, and I enjoyed the story, until tragedy occurred. Up until that point, this was a light, fun YA read. The tragedy felt pointless and completely unnecessary. It accomplished nothing in the storyline, as people’s perceptions had already been changed before it happened. And…the story ends shortly after it happens, so it’s not liked the reader gets to see Anna finding her way forward. The story just ends. Sorry, but this just didn’t work for me. It felt forced and manipulative, not believable.

Ashley Schumacher lives in Dallas. Full Flight is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Thank you to Wednesday Books/ St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Ashley Schumacher has a very rare gift: the ability to make you feel like you're the main character feeling the emotions. I felt everything Anna was going through and then some. Her writing is raw, authentic, and captivating. My heart broke, I cried, I laughed, and I felt the love Anna exudes, even when she loses it. Schumacher's ability to make you feel like you're the one going through the emotions of the main character adds such a depth to her stories that will make you feel those emotions long after you've finished reading. The raw authenticity that comes across is something I don't see much of in the YA I read (there probably are stories out there, I personally just haven't had the chance to discover them). Schumacher is easily creating a root in my heart and has become one of my must buy authors.

Love may come and go, but Schumacher's talent shines through every page and continues to stay with you once you've closed the book. This is a must read.

I was highly anticipating this YA book as I loved the author’s debut (Amelia Unabridged) last year.

Set in a contemporary small town in TX, this is a story about high school bandmates Anna and Weston, who are virtually strangers when they begin practicing together (saxophone and mellophone) for a duet during contest season. Anna struggles with pinning down her future goals (music or writing) and parents who are overprotective/strict. She has always felt that she has to be “good” and excel. Weston struggles with coming to terms with his recently divorced parents as well as being seen as the “weird”, leather-jacket-wearing, nothing-but-trouble musical genius.

I did enjoy this one, but I didn’t relate as well to it as the previous one. I think a big part of why was the pacing. I felt everything was a bit rushed (especially the romance). And while I felt I knew Anna fairly well, I didn’t feel that with Weston. He seemed a bit over-the-top (with the divorce) and a little too obsessed with Anna. But one of the things the author does well is how she understands and writes teenage fears, insecurities, and confusion.

All-in-all a good book about first love and the euphoria that comes along with it.

My sincere thanks to #NetGalley and #WednesdayBooks for providing me the free early arc of #FullFlight for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

I absolutely adored Schumacher's debut novel, so I was ecstatic when the publisher reached out with her second novel. Set in a small Texas town, the story alternates between Weston and Anna - both in the school's marching band. Enfield revolves around high school football and as a latecomer to the band, Anna feels the pressure of performing perfectly her duet with Weston. He agrees to help her, but worries that his own bad reputation (as a leather-jacket wearing, swearing, son of shockingly divorced parents) will rub off on her.

Although there's mention of cell phones, texting and social media, this town's attitude towards divorce makes it feel like it was set 70 years in the past. Seemingly at odds with the rest of the recent YA fiction books that I have read, the cast here has no diversity - racially or sexually. It seems like the town would really implode if something like that happened if they shun a kid for having divorced parents... I just really had a hard time buying into Weston's "bad boy" image. It just seems so anachronistic. The book also gets off to a really slow start, though I did like the last quarter of the book more than I expected... It's not a bad book, but I really found it off-putting initially. I did enjoy the role of Kaua'i'o'o bird throughout. It works nicely and I am are the marching band aspect will appeal to some readers. But, ultimately, this one didn't resonate with me as much as her first novel did... I am still looking forward to her next book though!

4.5 stars

Okay, if you are or were a band kid, you're going to love this. If you weren't, but you get band kids, then it's likely you'll love this. I belong in the latter category and I really did love this story. I loved Anna and Weston's love story but I also really loved Ratio and his relationship with both Weston and Anna. This was a beautiful story of first loves, and I definitely had many tears at the end, but my only complaint is that the blurb really does give a lot away, so I knew where the story had to go. In that sense, it felt predictable to me. That said, I loved the note of hope that the ending left us with. The author did a great job using music to tie them together and there were many times I wished I could actually hear the music. In this respect, I think this could make a great movie. I also loved the story of the Kaua'i'o'o bird and how the author used it in this story. I looked up the bird and yes, it is extinct, but I love the hope that comes from thinking of the bird and its call to its mate.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book is being published February 22 so look for your copy soon.

Full Flight brought back so many memories of high school marching band. Marching practice, summer band camp, football games, competition, hanging out in the band hall…I had so many connections to this story. Full Flight explores the emotions that go along with a first kiss, first love, the joy of being in love, the way a young person feels so deeply. Ashley is a brilliantly gifted writer. Both Full Flight and Amelia Unabridged are wonderfully written stories that leave your heart aching and your eyes full of tears. Have the tissues handy for this one! And be sure to read the acknowledgment at the end.
My Goodreads review will include much more, but I don’t want to spoil the book for those who haven’t read it. If you’ve read it, I’d love for you to read my Goodreads review and let me know what you think.

Thank you to Wednesday Books, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for a free digital ARC.

When alleged bad boy, Weston Ryan, returns to her school after a year away, Anna James is assigned a partner duet with him in the school band. She discovers he is not at all like people think and finds herself falling for him despite the disapproval of her parents and others, but she may not be able to change their minds before it's too late. This is a bittersweet story of first love. Anna and Weston are such a sweet couple. Your heart will break for them. The story also teaches an important lesson about not listening to rumors and hearsay and only forming an opinion about someone when you get to know them yourself.

My heart feels simultaneously broken and healed. The only way I can think to describe it is this:
In Japanese culture, Kintsugi is the art of putting a piece of broken pottery back together with gold, the idea being that in embracing the imperfections caused by the cracks, you can create a stronger and more beautiful piece.

That’s what my heart feels like right now. My heart was healed by the same story that broke it and even though I can still feel the pain, the story is the gold that put me back together.

I’m in awe of the author’s writing — written in dual POV and full of lyrical metaphors, this story is one long musical duet and that will come to mean more to you than you can possibly imagine once you’ve read it. Camouflaged as a seemingly typical coming of age YA focused on two members of a high school marching band, you’re sucked into a love story that is sure to stay with you. Like a piece of music, it ebbs and flows, radiating loneliness and first love exhilaration and heartbreak. The characters’ feelings of being alone and then feeling known are so tangible that my chest ached. You never forget your first love and I will surely never forget this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC copy of this book in exchange for a review.

This YA story was so good! Even though it was a little predicable, I enjoyed it. While a tragedy occurred, it was a beautiful story and I'm looking forward to reading other novels by this author.

I really had high hopes for this book because of the premise, I was a female saxophone player in a Texas HS band and I wanted to see someone like me find first loves. This book was fine, just fine. No one was unique or interesting to read about and it just fell so flat for me.

Everyone was so dramatic for no reason, like this isn’t realistic to high school. I guess I’m not the target audience anymore so that could be way I didn’t enjoy it.

A YA romance that’s wasn’t like any I’ve ever read. It’s centered around two people who meet again at the beginning of their band practice and the story explodes into something really magical. I simply couldn’t get enough of Weston and Anna. They had very different families and still find a way. A great romance between these too!
I love the way Ashely Schumacher writes and loved Amelia Unabridged so I was elated when I got this. AS writes beautiful complex stories and was great and sad at times. But I’m so glad I experienced it! I highly recommend it.
Thanks Wednesday Books via NetGalley.

First things first. Ashley Schumacher is an amazing story teller. So much description and so many emotions fill her words. It all flows just so seamlessly. YA is a bit of a branch off the norm for me, but I am love a good story no matter what genre. & this is a good story! I live in Texas and love the whole Friday night lights experience as most Texans do. I was expecting a bit more of that vibe going in. The marching band element is very heavy throughout the book. I was never in band, nor am I musically inclined. I feel like those who are in band or have been at some point in the past would really connect with this book. Anna and Wesley are both relatable, likable, and seem ordinary in the most unordinary of ways. As a mom of three teenagers I connected with the story and the characters. Real life struggles that in hindsight may seem small but in the moment make up their entire existence. Emotional and heartbreaking. I'll definitely recommend this to the YA readers in my life and even more so the self proclaimed band geeks I know and love. Four stars. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is one of those stories that will stick with me for a long time. It left me utterly bereft and broken, and yet I can say that it is one of the best stories I’ve read in a long time. Full Flight by Ashley Schumacher is a story full of first loves, stolen moments, and the mood swings that come with being a teenager. Written with a distinct and unique voice, Schumacher transported me back in time to my own high school days, to the excitement surrounding a game day, to the band playing our fight song, and to the memories made. The story unfolds around Anna and Weston, two band members who know but don’t know each other, each struggling in their own ways, and finding that maybe together they won’t have to struggle so hard.

Anna and Weston couldn’t be more different. Anna has a bubbly personality, always smiling, always trying to find the good and always trying to be her best. Weston can be off-putting, quiet and reserved, haunted by his parents’ divorce a year earlier. And yet, they bring out the best in each other. They find a way to fill in the places that they feel are empty within themselves together. Anna sees Weston in a way that no one else does. She understands him and his shadows because she has her own. She pushes him out of his comfort zone and shows him that if he’d let others see him as she does, he wouldn’t be lonely.

I love how Schumacher handles mental illness in this book. It isn’t named as such (like as depression or anxiety), but instead described in terms that a teen would describe it. Anna describes hers as the shadows on the wall, creeping in on her and keeping her in the dark. Weston’s is a barren wildfire, consuming everything in its path. I related to these descriptions, remember the feeling of being lonely in a crowded room at their age, not fitting in but trying to.

I also love the duality of the band duet they practice together and the bird from an old school report. These two themes carry throughout the book. A call and a response. Anna’s first introduction to Weston in the story is her begging for his help with her part of their assigned duet, and he answers her call. She responds by helping with homework. A reluctant friendship forms into something more, and it is beautiful to read. These characters are so true to life. Their joy and heartbreak become yours as the reader. And I personally feel like that is the mark of not just a good author, but a great one.

Overall, despite shattering my heart into a million pieces, I loved Full Flight. Anna and Weston are a beautiful representation of what it is like to be a teen in love for the first time. I highly recommend it.

Another heartachingly beautiful book by Ashley Schumacher.

Schumacher captures the big feelings and valid emotions that young adults experience whether through "first loves" or friendships, growing up, grief, anxiety. Often, the way teens feel is downplayed and dismissed. Ms. Schumacher gives a loud and clear voice to them. After all, weren't we all that age once? It's easy to forget how it feels to be young the further away it gets from us.

Full Flight is a story about a young girl who keeps up her appearances. She's bubbly, she's driven, she's the girl she is expected to be for all. Her friends, her parents, her teachers. What they see is what they get, but for Anna, underneath the expectations is a hidden part of herself that she struggles with. While Anna excels at hiding her "shadows" from her friends and family, one boy unexpectedly sees through it all: Weston Ryan.

An unexpected team is formed between Anna and Weston when she desperately asks for help on the duet piece for marching band. In fact, she's actually already promised the band instructor that she'd get help from Weston. So, she's relieved when she puts Weston on the spot and he agrees. Weston is a musical genius, no one would deny that but he's a bit of a loner. And people in small towns don't tend to like people who don't fit into tidy boxes. Her parents warn her against getting involved with him, her friends clearly disapprove, and yet, Anna and Weston have an instant chemistry and connection that Anna doesn't want to walk away from.

And then tragedy comes.

Schumacher has a way of writing a story where the format itself speaks volumes. I knew what was coming, and yet I still wasn't ready for it. A beautiful story, a beautiful demonstration of emotion and feeling, and beautiful characters who made me feel a sense of hope and wonder.

(Giving this 2.5 stars)

Two teens begin a friendship in a small town and must ignore the gossip and the dirty looks from everyone around them. As their friendship turns to love, they learn how to see the best in themselves and one another. Author Ashley Schumacher writes with all heart but lets her characters drift without a plot in the well-intentioned but disappointing book Full Flight.

Anna James knows that joining the marching band in her freshman year was probably a mistake. Most of the kids in the band had already been playing their instruments for years and were ready to join the group known in and Enfield, Texas, for marching band glory. But Anna’s waited a long time to be a part of something outside of her family and church, and band was it.

Now, as a junior, she may have taken on a challenge too big even for her ambitions. The band director has assigned a big duet to her and has his eye on her progress. The director is fair but also doesn’t give his musicians a lot of room for error. Either Anna learns the duet ASAP, or it’ll go to someone else.

It doesn’t help that the duet is with Weston Ryan, a senior and the school’s “bad boy.” He wears a leather jacket everywhere he goes—even in the punishing Texas summers—and he spent his junior year at the high school in the neighboring town. No one knows for sure why, but there’s gossip that Weston vandalized school property and had to get away.

None of that matters now. Anna needs to learn the duet, and Weston is the only one who can help her. She asks him to do just that, and the two begin an uneasy alliance colored at first by other people’s opinions. Anna knows what people think of Weston, and she’s convinced she knows what Weston sees in her: a girl who’s curvy in all the wrong ways and who will screw up the duet because she keeps messing up in rehearsal.

Wes doesn’t care about other people. With his parents’ divorce and them trying to figure everything out, his life has fallen apart. He doesn’t have time to listen to gossip and worry about what people think of his cursing.

When he meets Anna, though, he does start to care. Not about the people; about Anna. About her opinion of him, about not using so many four-letter words, even about his grades. Anything to make her smile and keep her attention on him a little longer.

As the new friends work through the duet and navigate the school year and small-town life together, their relationship morphs into love with ease. The band competition that determines the group’s reputation is looming, and parents, teachers, and even their friends circle side-eye them, but Anna and Weston don’t care. They know that every moment is better with one another.

Author Ashley Schumacher completely captures the headiness of teen love and its sense of magnification. Her descriptions and metaphors fit Anna and Weston’s time of life perfectly. The target audience for the book, no doubt, will find it speaks to them as a friend would.

The book comes with its flaws, however, some of them glaring. The biggest one is the lack of a plot that works toward a defined climax. If Schumacher’s intention was to relay a tale of young love, its special moments, and the bittersweet ending of it all, she has done that with masterful writing. However, the narrative keeps leading readers to believe that everything is working toward something big. When that big event occurs, savvy readers will spot it several chapters beforehand. Given the direction the book heads, there’s nothing else that could happen other than the challenge that comes Anna and Weston’s way. It’s cliché and somewhat of a letdown.

Other story elements like Weston’s parents’ divorce, the “small-mindedness” of a small town, even Anna’s parents’ protectiveness get relegated to the background. For Anna and Weston, nothing matters other than their relationship. Unfortunately the narrative also lets the implied importance of those other issues fade.

The book promises so much but doesn’t deliver on its promises. Readers who want nothing more than romance will probably want to check this out. Anyone who expects major conflicts or surprises may want to stay away.

Ashley made me cry. Again. This may only be her second book but here I am sobbing again.

Books rarely get visible emotions out of me, and even it’s very difficult to get me crying. But this book was a beautifully woven story about young love and finding your true self. I remember being in band as a teenager, just as Anna is, and being shy, wanting to do my best and find confidence. Thankfully, Anna ends up finding Weston, her duet partner for this band season, and they are able to see and understand each other like no one else can. The vulnerability and trust the blooms is something many only dream of.

An emotionally deep read that is sure to make you fall in love and shatter your heart!

Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress and @wednesdaybooks for the opportunity to read this book. The review expresses my own personal opinions.