While this one didn’t have quite the same impact for me that Amelia Unabridged did, this one still hurt in a way that makes me want to ask for more!

Ashley’s writing is stunning, heartwarming, heartbreaking, hopeful, and gut wrenching. The emotional rollercoaster is always my favorite and her books deliver this in spades.

If you’re looking for a great book this football season that is reminiscent of Friday nights spent under stadium lights, the marching bands music vibrating your body, this book is for you!

I didn't particularly loved this book. I thought some of the secondary characters and secondary plot lines could have been fleshed out a bit more, but it was still a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the digital advanced copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this book! I liked the narrator and felt that they went good with the story. I hope to read more by this author in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and to the author for the ARC!

This was my first book by Ashley Schumacher even though she has been on my radar for a while. Full Flight is told in the alternating voices of Anna James and Weston. Both are members of the Fighting Enfield Marching Band in Enfield Texas. Anna wants to improve her playing and earn a solo and needs help from Weston, a musical genius who is marked as trouble.

The writing was realistic and authentic. The last 20% wasn't surprising, it kind of could be guessed from the synopsis, but it still hit hard. The characters were likable and written in a way that you could see their relationship developing in the real world. This is a book that I will recommend to people who like romances, realistic fiction, and emotionally charged books.

Oh my goodness, this was heartbreaking but beautiful. It really shows the all encompassing teenage first love. Ashley Schumacher does such a great job eliciting all the emotions, from love to grief. Anna's parents bothered me and were rather strict.

The narration was well done. Both Tina Wolstencroft and Cody Roberts were perfect for the characters.

Oh. My. God. The tears and ugly sobs that just left my body.

This books was so innately heartbreaking, yet beautiful. To read about young, first love - with a forbidden romance trope thrown in - I just adored everything about this. It was magical and everyone needs to read it, NOW.

Narration was great - no issues there. But I was BROKEN when the blank chapter popped up.

And now, I need to read all of Schumacher's backlist.

Initially I was fully on board with this book. As a former marching band kid I was quite enamored with the way Schumacher captured that world. Outside of band I had more problems. I felt like it went too far: too far with the protective nature of parents; too far with the judgement of a small town; too far with feeling like an outsider. While I applaud the willingness to take risks and defy expectations with plot points, some things happen suddenly and with no good reason. After that strong start, I found the later chapters more of a chore.

Full flight is a sweet teen romance between two unlikely characters who find common ground.

The cover and audio narrations were both superb.

The main characters, Weston and Anna, had good development as well as their respective friend groups. The story progression was very sweet up until a teen death was tossed in like an out of place plot point. I'm not sure why authors seem to think losing one of their own is the only way to tug a teen's heartstrings, but it felt like a gimmick here and the subsequent narrative felt like an entirely different story.

So from reading early reviews, I knew this was going to be a super sad read. But while reading them, I also managed to spoil the ending for the myself. Like why did I do that to myself?!

Anyways, this resulted in me anticipating to finish it, but the more I read, the less inclined I was to actually finish.

While I liked both Weston and Anna as characters, I didn’t feel any sort of connection to either of them. However, I found myself relating more with Weston’s character ‘cause of his parent’s divorce and his thoughts on that.

I wasn’t a fan of Anna’s parents, especially the mother, she was a freaking bitch.
Also why were they unnecessarily strict!? Like it wasn’t that deep and yet they forbid Anna from seeing Weston. Honestly, their motive made no sense.

Despite my thoughts on this, I truly believe if I wasn’t spoiled for this book, I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more. However, I still want to read her debut eventually and give her a second chance.

See post on my Instagram account @alexlivesathousandlives. Soon to be on goodreads.

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Thank you to @netgalley for proving me a free Arc of this book for my honest review.

Genre: YA
Format: audiobook
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Favorite Quotes from the Book:

"The duet isn't over, and tomorrow the sun will rise over our same sky".

Synopsis One Liner

Two teens grow together in and out of love.

Thoughts

To be fair, I almost put this one down because I was not the biggest fair of the plot line progression, but I am happy I didn't. I really enjoyed this story beyond just the love interest even though most reviews focus on that section. I could not agree more that this novel is a young YA contemporary romance, but I believe there is more to the story which is portrayed more in the later half of the book. That, to me, is what changed my rating.

Weston and Anna are complex characters together and on their own. The author did an incredible job with the characterization to bring out the true themes, I believe are prevalent in this novel. What does love do to oneself but also to other people.

The audiobook for this novel was very well done and brought the story to life in a younger full of life sense. While listening, I thought a lot about the movie My Girl which has similar themes to this book.

Finally, I really do think the synopsis cuts this book a little bit short because yes we do have a love story, but we have more of coming of age and development that I wished was also included when describing this book.

2.5 ★ Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in audiobook format.

This book was just okay for me. While there were parts I did enjoy, I found the pacing to be a bit all over the place. The beginning to middle was slow but then felt like it would jump around at times to a point where I felt like maybe I had missed something, and the end felt rushed. While I liked the way things were represented in audio format at times, I feel like minimal parts of the book were actually about what I expected it to be about. The synopsis not only spoiled too much of the book for me, it also mislead a bit in my opinion as to what the majority of this book would be about. While I found parts of the writing very poetic, I just may not be the best audience for this book.

I was a little too excited about the marching band aspect of this book and I missed that it also deals heavily with loss and grief. It's amazing, but very different from what I was expecting. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for letting me listen to an early copy!

You know, for someone who cries all the time reading books, I really expected to cry during this especially after reading reviews. But I didn't. This book isn't bad, in fact it was good. I genuinely thought it was a good book and it's sad, but it didn't burst my emotional dams the way that I thought it was going to. Maybe it's because I spoiled it by reading review where they said that they were sobbing and I kind of expected it. I don't know.

Not going to lie, the small town and the characters in this book were so eerily similar to the high school I attended in a small white conservative Christian town that I struggled a bit with getting invested. I was out of that town as fast as humanly possible and it didn't help that one of the MC's names is Anna. The author does a good job at building that small town atmosphere and the toxicity that goes along with it. I really related a lot to a lot of Anna struggles and appreciate what this book was trying to do.

I do think it falls a little bit flat on the last 3rd. The big event happens and then everything just ends almost abruptly. I feel like there were some time jumps that didn't quite make sense and the pacing felt off to me. I wish we had gotten more time spend with Anna at the end of the book. I did really love her and Weston and their relationship as a whole. Both Anna and Weston were wonderful characters and I loved them but I don't think this is a book I would reread

This was really cute, but I wasn't expecting the emotionally devastating ending. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. Anna and Weston's character development was fantastic, as were the details about the marching band that was spot on. The narrators didn't appeal to me personally, but I enjoyed the book otherwise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc in exchange for an honest review,

I went into Full Flight knowing nothing about this book. I had just finished reading Ashley Schumacher's book called Amelia Unabridged and let me tell you. She KNOWS how to write contemporary books in a way that build you up, break you down and then leave you crying and wanting more!

This was a perfect book about first love in the eyes of Anna and Weston. A saxophonist for the Enfield Marching Band and he was the boy that everyone says was trouble. They are paired for a duet and it's nothing but love in the air and helping each other.
I couldn't put this audiobook to rest until I finished it and boy was I in tears. All I can say is thank you so much Ashley for another BEAUTIFULLY written contemporary.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martins Press and Wednesday Books for the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Even though I went into this book knowing it was going to break my heart, I still wasn't ready when it happened. Our main characters, Anna and Weston had both felt somewhat like outsiders for different reasons. Finding each other was unexpected and wonderful for them. They each saw past the preconceived notions that others had about them to the people underneath.

It frustrated me even though I understand that a great deal of the "bad boy" image tied to Weston was based on a misunderstanding regarding property damage. Given that he had so many other things going on in his life at the time that were hurting him, other people's opinions didn't matter to him so much. So, he never bothered with denying it. That all played into Anna's parents not wanting her to hang out with him. It all led to their forbidden relationship which made it so much more charged with energy and emotion.

I think that for some readers, the early part of the book could move slowly if you aren't much for musical instruments or band. There is a great deal of time spent describing how to properly play the instrument or be in
the correct formation. It's understandable because it's an intrinsic part of the story. This will either enrich the story for some or they'll feel that it moves slowly.

I, personally, was there for the love story. These two were sweet together. They both had heartbreaking self image and mental health issues. Even though they found refuge in one another, those issues were still there and would have ultimately had to be dealt with if things had not gone the way they did. Of course, their romance is cut short by life's events and the repercussions are absolutely crushing. Regardless of the tears I shed, I'm still glad to have read this story. Anna and Weston's story was sweet and special.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The narrators were matched up well. It's how I envisioned the voices for these characters. I always base an audio review on whether or not I feel that it enriched the story for me and I believe this narration did. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

This is a very cute YA love story. I love the characters and thought they were quirky and unique. Perfect for music fans and band kids looking for a story that they can see themselves in.

I absolutely loved this book. Young love is so sweet. The ending though. I cried but I love this book so much. I will buy it for sure

As a thank you to @netgalley and @wednesdaybooks for an advanced readers copy of this novel by @ashwritesbooks I write this review. @ashwritesbooks reflects on the moments in high school where everything is heightened . The choices you made feel as if your whole world could change and for Anna and Weston they were. This novel explores common experiences in Anna and Weston’s life ex. Marching band, familial expectations, first love,ambition, and hope for the future. Narrated by Cody Roberts, and Tina Wolstencroft they brought to life Schumacher’s characters which added an emotional appeal to listening to this story as if you were following a conversation. The narrators pace and cadence was distinguishable to that of a teenager and proved their angst in the highly emotional areas of the novel. I hope for those who reach this title may follow along with its audiobook. I give it and the novel a strong five out of five stars on goodreads.