When Anna James is given a duet in the marching band with Weston Ryan, the quiet boy no one in town gives a chance to, Anna looks at it as a chance to get to know Weston. She breaks down his barriers, and neither can deny their attraction. Still, her mother has forbidden Anna to date Weston, and judgment from the town is just the start of the obstacles their love will face.

Pros: Anna is definitely portrayed as a realistic teenager, with the mood swings and irrational actions that go along with it. The puppy love between Anna and Weston was sweet. The book was well written.

Cons: The blurb of this book gave too much away – the big plot twist that can easily be deduced from it occurs 86% of the way through the book. I also didn’t get why Weston was such an outcast in his town – his parents are divorced and he wears a leather jacket? If there weren’t mentions of things like cell phones in the book, I would assume it took place in the 1950s.

Overall, this was a good book but not great. I definitely would read more books by this author, though!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

I was able to read this ebook through NetGalley!

I'm not a huge fan of insta love.. and I'm not a huge fan of chick flick, beachy reads.. so this just wasn't a book for me. It felt way too much like it was trying to be [b:All the Bright Places|18460392|All the Bright Places|Jennifer Niven|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404331702l/18460392._SY75_.jpg|26113532] by Jennifer Niven, and I'm sorry, but Niven just did it better.

I was cringing from the beginning, and I just didn't care about either of the characters...

BUT-- I gave this 2 stars because this book was written for someone else, not me.

This is the best book I have ever read in my entire life.

If you don't want to take the time to read this review, I'm just begging you to go read this book.

This is a story filled with love, soulmates, challenges, and heartaches.
Anna James and Weston Ryan live in the small town of Enfield, Texas, where everyone knows everyones business and rumors spread in the blink of an eye. Anna, who is seen as the perfect student and daughter, is attempting to prove herself as the great musician she is trying to become when she gets paired up with Weston, the boy her small-minded town thinks of as nothing but trouble, for a duet. As he helps her with learning and perfecting her duet, Anna can't help but notice the smiles he saves only for her and wonder if maybe she is helping him with something too. When her strict parents find out that she has been secretly seeing Weston, they try to keep them apart, and together they have to learn what it means to fight for something they love. With the marching contest nearing and the time for them to finally perform their duet, something unthinkable happens which leaves Anna grappling for a way forward without Weston by her side.

The writing in this book had such a lyrical feel to it and the story flowed perfectly from begging to end. Schumacher is able to create relatable and extremely real characters that simply make you stop and just think. It had the most amazing romance, filled with laughter and banter, while also showing the characters deepest thoughts and how their minds work. It's truly a work of art.

I can't wait to buy my own copy as soon as it comes out and reread it, while also recommending it every chance I get.

He really was the missing half of her duet.

Talk about sending me for a whirlwind of emotions. The characters were flawed and so different from each other. It came together so well. The idea that band brought them together and then they fought to stay together. I can totally understand how family can be a huge factor when having a partner and if they don't give that person a chance, it leads to other things that aren't particularly healthy in that family relationship, like lying. I loved that struggle being explored in this book. I also really enjoyed the plot and the spacing. It did seem repetitive at times, but Schumacher made sure to add new elements that built off of one another. It was refreshing.

4/5 stars! Totally recommend for a band nerd at heart and the romantic that roots for all the relationships!

**Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy, I am leaving this feedback voluntarily.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for providing me the opportunity to read this book prior to its release date!

Full Flight tells the story of two teenagers, Anna and Weston, who are both assigned to perform a duet together for a marching band performance contest. Through the process of working on their duet, the two form an unlikely friendship and begin to fall hard and fast for one another. They both begin to bring out the better in one another, releasing Weston from the cage of disapproval from others at the high school and Anna from her unfortunate preconceptions of him.

Y'all. I have to say that this book is amazing. This is my first look into Ashley Schumacher's work. I took over a month to read it, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because it was so good I didn't want it to end. The pacing was perfect, Anna and Weston's interactions and love story was beautiful to watch as Weston begins to release himself from his shell and allow himself to love, and the humor was spot on and not overdone in an effort to "appeal" to the YA genre like so many do in contemporary romances like this.

Also, that ending. Had. Me. In tears. In the best way, of course. I was absolutely not expecting it (despite the blurb implying it) and it absolutely broke me. Suddenly, a story about two teenagers falling in love for the first time has become a story about dealing with loss. It filled me with so many emotions, especially after loving all of what came before it.

The only thing I didn't enjoy which knocked my rating from 5 to 4 stars was all of the marching band terminology. As I'm an orchestra kid from birth, there were a lot of words that I found myself having to look up that kind of disrupted my reading flow. I don't remember if there was a glossary of them at the end, but if not, I definitely think it would be worthwhile to have.

Beautiful and devastating, as I’ve come to expect from Ashley Schumacher.

I don’t know small-town life well, so I was very confused why Weston was considered bad news (just the leather jacket?) but that aside, I really enjoyed watching Anna and Weston fall in love. Until, as the synopsis spoils, things get really, really sad.

I think the most heart wrenching element for me was learning about the Kaua’i ‘ō’ō. Never getting over that poor bird.

I feel like I was stabbed in the heart but want it to happen again and again. Ashley Schumacher is a genius at sucking me in, at comforting me through my relatable teenagery angst, and then twisting my heartstrings and creating unstoppable waterworks. I currently have tears in my eyes as I write these nonsensical thoughts.
Amelia Unabridged is on my YA pedestal. Ashley hits hard and fast with grief and the aftermath of collecting oneself in the ruins. Full Flight - on the other hand - is like a sleeper cell. You almost get too comfortable before the punch to the gut. You know it's coming, you know it will hurt. While devastating to my heart and eyeballs - I don't know when they've leaked quite this much - the entirety is simply too beautiful to miss.
I refused to read reviews or spoilers heading into this read. I knew it would require tissues and a comfort blanket but I didn't know why. Throughout reading, I had my guesses but I was all over the map with how and when it would happen. And then it did and just WOW.
I love Ashley, I love her writing, and I can't wait for her to give me all the feels again. Full Flight is completely full of heart and love and the range of emotions that will make it completely unforgettable.
Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.