This is a beautiful told, beautiful intimate YA with a central romance trope I adore (misunderstood boy/sunshine girl). I love the dual POV and how it lends such a sense of dramatic irony to the story, with readers knowing what Weston and Anna think of each other well before they do, while also compounding the agonizing sense of loss towards the novel’s conclusion. Sweet, soft, and written to break your heart, this is the first book by Ashley Schumacher I’ve read and I look forward to reading more.

Schumacher wrote another one that pulls the heart strings. She smeared my emotions all over the pages. The story pulled me back to being an angsty teen and falling “in love” for the first time. I should have known better than to finish reading it in public because I had the weird wide-eyed, I’m not crying your crying, look on my face.

The only reason I didn’t give it 5-stars was it got a little wordy, repetitive, and a bit slow in the middle which kind of made my eyes glaze over. Otherwise, Schumacher has written her way to my must-read author list.

I really wanted to love this one, as I did really enjoy Amelia Unabridged, but this was not the book for me. While FF is angsty in a similar way to AU, the stakes are so much lower with less interesting characters (almost caricatures of YA stereotypes).

I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, which it never did. The male character is a pariah because his parents are divorced (?!?!) and his classmates whisper about him because he wears a leather jacket. The female character is unique because she doesn't feel like she fits it (even though there is no reason for this) and her family grossly overreacts to everything in a very unrealistic way.

It felt like Eleanor and Park in modern times and without any of the things that actually make those characters' lives difficult. So... just the angst levels of E&P and that's literally it.

Some may enjoy this, and to be fair I am not a teenager anymore, but I just feel like there are so many more interesting stories for young adults out there. Basically, if you like marching band you'll like this. Wouldn't recommend to anyone else.

This is more of an YA book so I enjoyed it but it’s not the kind of book I really love! The plot is good and centered around music which I love! The characters are enjoyable but I sometimes got bored from them. I think if you enjoy YA this would be a decent book to read!!!

This book made me ball my eyes out. I knew it was going to break but I could have never expected that. It was quite slow in some parts but overall I loved it

I ended up DNFing this book. I couldn’t connect to the characters and I was getting very annoyed with how whiny and self centered they were. I did like the plot and thought this would be a great book just by reading the synopsis, but it just wasn’t for me. I will be recommending this to YA fans though!

Arc provided by NetGalley.

After loving Amelia Unabridged, I was excited to read Ashley Schumacher new novel.
At first it was hard for me to be completely into the story, I though it was a bit slow....I enjoyed the last half of the book way more!
The plot is nice, I love the two pov narrative and the music centered story. I feel like it's really a YA story and should be read by young adult readers but adult readers can find enjoyable and closure to some characters/scenes.
I wish I had this book a few years back, I kinda related to Anna a lot. She's one of these characters I want to hug and be her friend so much.

Ashley Schumacher has such a beautiful written style, it's poetic, deeply moving and enchanting.
While reading, I wasn't expecting the ending it was really surprising and touching.

Ashley Shumacher is an amazing writer, with some well-done characters. I personally could not get into this novel because of how young it reads. That may be my bad, YA is a hit or miss with the age range it reaches.

Marching band book!! I did color guard for eight years, so this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

I don't want to talk about how I read this book in public and cried profusely in a Starbucks, but that's exactly what happened. I adored Ashley's debut and this book hit me in all the right places - beautiful, poignant, and sweet! Anna's such a fun narrator and her voice really brought me back to high school and nonstop rehearsal. I also loved how earnest she was - unapologetically willing to give Weston a chance despite his reputation. I love complicated bad boys, but I also love characters who remain kind and open in a tough world.

I received an ARC of Full flight by Ashley Schumacher, and I was instantly swept up in the story. It’s ultimately a love story about an unlikely pair of high school students, Weston and Anna, who build a deep connection while practicing a duet for their ultra competitive marching band. Their relationship is intoxicating, even though their friends and family don’t approve. Its that special young love that consumes them and feels bigger than anything else. It’s a beautiful love story, but this book will break your heart. I was happy that my kindle is waterproof because it was drenched in tears.

What I loved most about this one was that it centered two kids in the band. So often, stories like this are across cliques, and sometimes we just want a stand-alone band kid love story. I will say that this one had so, so, SO many feels. I didn't see that part coming, and whoa. This was just a good ol' high story story, and I loved that it was focused wholly on kids in the band. More stories like this, please - Orchestra kids are a great subject, too!

There’s not much more I can say about FULL FLIGHT by Ashley Schumacher outside of “it will absolutely break you” *sobs uncontrollably*

Much like AMELIA UNABRIDGED, this book is packed with thoughts on life and love, and embracing the things that make each of us unique. I found myself beaming, full-on ugly crying, and relating so much to the pressures of high school.

Not only are the characters in this book so incredibly lovable, but Ashley writes in such a poignant way, that I just *swoon*

I will forever pick up whatever she writes, and this one is no exception.

Huge huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review - I’ll definitely be picking up a physical copy on release day!

Publication Date: February 22, 2022

This book wrecked me. Beyond 5 stars. It was absolutely heartbreaking yet full of love and joy and just...everything. I really enjoyed the marching band aspect as that was something my school didn't have and I knew zero about, and it was a perfect setting for this story. The way music was used as a theme was really well done. Even though I knew it was coming, when Weston died I literally cried, which never happens to me. I absolutely loved this story and will be recommending it to everyone.

If you use posits or highlight your books, get ready for war! Because this one I was highlighting like mad! I haven't read a book that had so much emotion in a while. This one had me laughing and crying and just going crazy insane as I read each page. The only issue I had with it is the major spoilers that are given in the synopsis I think that if you see this one and think it might be for you. Don't read it!! I usually skip them but ended up reading this one before I started reading and that was a mistake. Overall, I really fell hard for these characters even kind of knowing what was going to happen.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this!

I was instantly intrigued by the synopsis of this book. This book instantly drew me in, I got to explore through the eyes of our main character and this is always my favorite way to discover these details of the story and, it was done very well in this book. I really enjoyed this book and the plot. This author did amazing. I loved the writing style.

Beautiful cover, beautiful writing, beautiful story. I love Ashley Schumacher’s words, and her first YA novel is one I recommend quite often to my students, Amelia Unabridged.

This one has deep character development, an appeal for the high-school band members, and an incredible plot twist that I felt.

Wonderfully written characters and a well-developed plot line from beginning to end. I will definitely be recommending this book too! Can’t wait for her next.

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

This book was a quick read and heartfelt, but just a little too insta-lovey for me! If you like that trope, then you will like this book. For me, it all just felt a little too rushed to really connect with the characters and their struggles. I also did not appreciate having a major plot reveal in the synopsis, as I felt like I was always waiting for something else to happen as well. However, Ashley Schumacher's writing is lyrical and beautiful and there were so many lines that I found myself rereading because of their beauty. Overall, I enjoyed this book.

Schumacher's first book, Amelia Unabridged, is absolutely one of my favorite reads of 2021. As soon as I saw she had another book, I put in on my GoodReads TBR shelf.

After reading the synopsis, though, I was confused. Didn't that seem like the entire plot of a book, spoiled?

Yes, yes it is.

I'm having a hard time separating my feelings about the writing and characters in the book from how frustrated I am at the synopsis spoiling everything that happens in the text, including the major event that happens 85% into the book. My enjoyment as a reader comes a lot from the ride of a book, enjoying and being surprised at the events. In this case, the publisher's synopsis totally destroyed that. I would really like them to consider changing this before the publication date. I'm not sure what the intention is, but I think it's a major mistake.

All that said, here's the rest of the review!

Full Flight is a love letter to high school marching band, and anyone who participated in theirs and likes YA will love this read. Anna started band in 9th grade in a Texas town where football and band are both a big deal. Most of her bandmates started in elementary school. So she's struggling with an assigned duet when she storms in Weston's practice room and all but demands he help her.

Weston's a little bit of an outcast after his parents' divorce and a year at another school. He wears a leather jacket and it is rumored he chopped down the school's Memorial Tree. He's not a cookie-cutter rebel, though, and I like that about him. He still cares about his friends, especially best buddy and drum major Ratio. He's sad but feels a quick connection to Anna in all of her exuberance and Christmas socks.

Their romance is a little forbidden, a little awkward, but overall very sweet as they learn their duet ... in band and as people. (Yes, that's totally cheeseball and I regret nothing.)

Schumacher's writing is just as lovely as in Amelia Unabridged. This never feels rushed and the characters are well-developed. Like Amelia, it's maybe a touch on the sappy side, but so am I.

This book I guess wasn't for me. I enjoy love stories where two people aren't meant to be together but they have to fight the odds to end up together in the end. That said, this book was more of a love at first sight where after two weeks or less the characters are saying "I love you" and losing their virginity. It was too quick, too clean. It was like nothing really happened for most of the book. For the last quarter or so, it really felt like I was reading a different book. Like the author had a plan for a big plot twist but no idea how to get there so they just threw it in, no matter what, and prayed it worked. It didn't.