this was so much sadder than I expected, but was very meaningful as well.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this novel!

Full Flight
I've not cried this hard in quite some time.
From the dedication to the last word of the
acknowledgments, I felt how deeply personal this novel was for the author. I feel so privileged to have been let into this story, and will keep it close and safe in my heart for eternity.
Full Flight is beautifully written with gorgeous glowing prose, fully-rounded characters that leap from the page and walk around in your mind, and it's ultimately a story of star-crossed lovers navigating small town gossip mongers, first love, and first loss.
Ashley Schumacher has a way with words and grief and sadness that reminds me of Adam Silvera. Captivating and harrowing, and so, so, so, worth it.
@ashwritesbooks @wednesdaybooks @netgalley thank you so, so much for the earc of this gem.

The characters had good relationships with each other and I think the way emotion was shown was executed well. There was a little too much band talk for me though.

Full Flight performs the Ashley Schumacher miracle all over again—characters who are so real you weep for their pain and cheer for their success. The marching band setting was specific and fascinating, and the world these teens live in is so fully-drawn and richly-imagined. This one dealt a particularly intense emotional blow at the end, and when I finished I had to sit down, cry, and stare at the wall for a while. A masterpiece!

*Arc provided by Wednesday Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review."

Full Flight is a book about a boy and girl in band that fall in love and it ends tragically. Weston is the pariah of small town Enfield, Texas after his parents divorce and rumors of him destroying a beloved town landmark. Anne is desperate to prove herself in the school's band. The two are assigned to play a duet together and the rest as they say is history.

Full Flight was a struggle to read. I was never in band, but I can't even remotely imagine a band getting ready for a competition would select someone who can barely play an instrument to be in a duet. If the story had been her learning to play to compete for the duet spot, sure, but not being assigned it. Girl falling for the town bad boy is a pretty standard troupe, but bad boy because his parents got divorced? That also seems a bit unrealistic. Maybe in small town Texas these are things? The romance was instant love and that is probably my least favorite YA troupe because it never feels organic. In the end, this one just wasn't for me personally, but I'm sure if you like insta-love and small town drama this one might be for you.

I am so glad I finally picked up Full Flight. Several of my friends told me that it was going to be great, but that it was also going to ruin me for other books.

They weren’t wrong.

Full Flight had everything I love in a YA contemporary.

We’ve got a guy and a girl who are forced together (in this case, Anna needs help with their duet for band, Weston is her duet partner and the only one who can help her.) They start to catch feelings, but her parents hate him.

There’s romance and funny friendship. Their’s high school kids who are struggling to find their place in the world, and finally find it with each other.

ALL THE STARS for Full Flight.

And also all the tears.

I went into this one fairly blind, but based on what my friends had told me, I still prepared for the worst. I still cried a lot.

This book is beautiful and heartbreaking and hopeful and emotional.

It’s worth the read, even though I haven’t been able to read anything since I finished it.

Full Flight is about Anna and Weston. When they have a duet, Anna is struggling to learn it. To help perfect it, she leans on Weston to master it. From there, they get to know each other more and their relationship starts to bloom.

This is one I wanted to love and when I finished it, I thought it wasn’t bad, but the longer I’ve thought about it the more I’ve realized it’s on the lower end for me. It’s one of those “that’s a book” books for me.

One thing that I think really pulled me out of this was how much band related content there was for me in here. For someone who was in band, they might love this and appreciate that more than I did. With it being on nearly every page, it was just a lot for me.

Weston was also someone that everyone said they didn’t like. He was this bad boy and a weird kid, but this was never really something that was explained. None of it added up for how he actually acted and it made no sense to me.

Which brings me to their forbidden romance once again not making sense to me. Maybe part of it was the insta-love as well as Weston’s background not making sense to me, but it didn’t work. It simply served as more of a frustrating point than anything.

This one was not for me. I could see maybe a band kid or and more of the target audience enjoying this, but there were too many things I couldn’t overlook.

This is Ashley Schumacher's second novel. I adored her first novel It was 5 stars. She explores hard hitting topics, which I love. Full Flight made me cry like no other, but it truly reached me as a person. I will be buying a physical copy. I recommend this for older teens due to the topics discussed. Also, the cover is gorgeous!

TWs: Bullying, grief, car accident death


I first stumbled across Ashley Schumacher when I read her debut novel, Ameila Unabridged. I immediately was drawn to her method of storytelling and her lyrical words, that I was happy to see return in her sophomore novel, Full Flight.

The way readers are able to connect to Schumacher's stories and characters is nothing short of magical. The author does an incredible job at making you care about these characters as though they were real people. She makes them relatable, and in doing so, helps readers become attached.

There were so many emotions running through me while reading Full Flight... Nostalgia, happiness, amusement, grief, sadness... I admit at one point I did tear up, and I rarely cry while reading.

This book has gotten high ratings and rave reviews and after finishing it, I can see why. The pacing felt a bit slow for me at first, but I was definitely more engaged later on, and one of the main things that kept me interested was the writing style and how beautifully written the book was. As we read about the relationship between the two main characters, we see how important they are to each other and how devastating it is when Anna’s parents try to keep them apart.

Ok, so I knew what was coming. I mean…you can tell from the synopsis. I read up until the moment I knew the death was going to happen and then I stopped and didn’t read for a week. I thought that would take away some of the connection I felt to the characters and the story.

Guess what? I WAS WRONG.

As soon as I started reading after my week-long break, tears…SO MANY TEARS. It’s like someone cracked open a fire hydrant.


And it’s because Ashley Schumacher wrote Anna and Weston so well. You just connect to them immediately. From page one when Anna bursts through the door and asks Weston to please lie for her. And as they get closer, the more you feel connected to them.

Most of the time, I feel a connection to one character over the other, but Anna and Weston…there are parts of me in both of them. The anxiety and invisibleness Anna feels and Weston’s role as the outcast in the town are VERY relatable to me. I also used to wear the same jacket every day to school lol.

There is also something about Ashley Schumacher’s characters that…I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s like you get a view into their souls. It’s like they become a best friend while you read the book and it’s hard to give them up once the book is finished.

I don’t know how she does it, but there is a reason I sob reading her books. She draws you in with the characters and then punches you by making sad things happen to them. I love it but IT HURTS! (and she has a new book coming soon!)

Overall (if you couldn’t tell), I loved Full Flight. The romance, the teen angst, the parental issues, and the absolute destruction of my feelings. I loved it all. 5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommend!


Full Flight is available now!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ashley Schumacher’s debut novel, Amelia Unabridged, was one of my absolute favorite books of 2021. So, when her sophomore novel was announced, I knew I would be reading it. I also knew from early reviews that it was going to be sad, so I needed to wait for the right time to read it. Turns out an evening with no responsibilities was the right time.

I read this in one sitting - a very rare occurrence for me. But, just like with Amelia Unabridged, I was sucked in to the story and had to know all about Anna and Weston and what tragedy would befall them.

I have very limited musical knowledge, so I wasn’t sure how much I would care about marching band performances. Suffice it to say I cared a lot more than I thought I would. Ashley Schumacher is a talented storyteller and I will continue to read whatever she writes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Anna James has finally got her chance to be a part of her school band. Her parents financial rollercoaster has precluded her from joining in the past, but now is her moment. Only one problem. She has been tasked with performing a duet with the bands mellophone player, Weston Ryan, and she’s not sure she can pull it off. In a full panic, she tells her band teacher that Weston has agreed to help her…without actually asking him first. Weston’s reputation isn’t a good one and most of the school has deemed him as “weird”. Anna is nervous to actually ask him for help, but after some hesitation and push back, he eventually agrees. And, so begins their story together. The pair begin spending a lot of time together, working on their duet tirelessly, all while getting to know each other intimately. Anna has to hide what she’s doing from her parents, as the rumors have also reached them and they don’t approve of him. Everything comes to a head when secrets are revealed and consequences threaten to drive a wedge between them. Just when things may have turned a corner and start looking up, tragedy strikes and everyone has to learn to pick up the pieces and move forward.

I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read, the plot pacing was good, I connected to Anna and Weston as characters and was emotionally invested in their story. I think the end was slightly disappointing, only because I think after reading the book blurb, the ending was inferred, so I was expecting what happened to some degree. However, it still gave me all the feels. Overall, I would recommend this book! If you haven’t read the book blurb yet, DON’T! I think that will make it that much better.

Thank you to NetGalley + Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for my personal review!

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, & Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

DNF @ 15%

I knew where this one was going, and I just couldn't do it. The writing was really good, and I've heard nothing but wonderful things from trusted book friends - hence the 3★.

I felt like I started in the middle of this book. The story of the two main characters didn’t seem to have a clean introduction and for some reason I always felt like I was playing catch up with their story. This is a solid YA book that deals with forbidden love and then surprisingly takes a serious turn. For whatever reason although it was a cutesy story, I just could not get that invested in it. There are rave reviews so it may be me, but I’m giving this one 3 stars ⭐️. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher.

I will pick up EVERYTHING Ashely Schumacher comes out with. She is 2 for 2 in amazing prose, plot, characters and feelings. A new favorite author.

Full Flight is an emotional read that will pull you into this beautiful, tender, and heart breaking read. I love the characters and the story plot that tore me from the inside out. Schumacher totally gets the plight of being a teen - the awkwardness, challenges, being an outcast, and yet also wanting to experience being loved, accepted, and having that emotional connection with someone else.

What a special book!

My heart is so broken but I loved Full Flight. After reading Amelia Unabridged and falling in love with that book, I knew that I would read anything written by Ashley Schumacher. Ashley’s writing is so poetic and absolutely beautiful. The ending was extremely painful but I love how Ashley can tell an amazing story about first love. Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and amazing yet heartbreaking story.

A beautiful story about love and loss. Though these themes have been done many times in YA, Schumacher's sophomore novel transcends cliche.

I could not wait for another Ashley Schumacher book, Amelia unabridged was one of my top favourite books last year! This book was so heartbreaking and beautiful. An amazing story about first love. Another awesome book!