Flight Blog Tour: excerpt, review, giveaway

We are today's stop on the Flight The Crescent Chronicle, Book 1, Blog Tour, presented by Full Moon Bites Blog Tours. There is an excerpt, our review and a giveaway. Having enjoyed Books 1 and 2 of Alyssa Rose Ivy's The Afterglow Trilogy, we jumped on the chance to read her latest.

Purchase: Kindle | Nook

Title: Flight

Series: The Crescent Chronicles, #1

Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

Genre: Mature YA/New Adult Paranormal Romance,

Publisher: self-published

Format: Ebook

Words: 55,000

Book Description: Sometimes you just have to take flight.

A summer in New Orleans is exactly what Allie needs before starting college. Accepting her dad’s invitation to work at his hotel offers an escape from her ex-boyfriend and the chance to spend the summer with her best friend. Meeting a guy is the last thing on her mind—until she sees Levi.

Unable to resist the infuriating yet alluring Levi, Allie finds herself at the center of a supernatural society and forced to decide between following the path she has always trusted or saving a city that might just save her.

Excerpt:

Closing my eyes, I tried to block it all out. Convinced I was about to die, I was only partly aware of his arms around me.

“You said you wanted an adventure,” he said quietly, teasingly, as he tightened his hold.

My stomach dropped out as an intense and complete feeling of weightlessness engulfed me. The wind stung my face as memories flooded my mind. I thought of my parents, of all the things I wanted to tell them but never did, my friends from home, and the experiences I longed for. Quickly my thoughts changed to more recent memories, to Levi.

“Open your eyes,” he whispered, somehow knowing my eyes were clenched shut.

Against my better judgment, I listened. The scream died in my throat as we hurtled toward the water that had seemed so beautiful from the roof above.

About the Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write.

Find the Author: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

The full tour schedule can be found here

 

Review: Flight was definitely an absorbing read. Allie, 18, has just graduated from high school and is traveling from her hometown of Westchester, NY (the next county over from my own home) to New Orleans to work in her father's hotel. Along for the ride is her BFF, Jess. There's a saying that opposites attract and these friends are like night and day. Jess is a flirt, lively. and wants to enjoy herself while Allie is the serious one who has her life planned out, even if part of that means going to a college because her mom went to it, not because it's her dream school. Her parents have been divorced since she was seven and she views this trip and new job as an 'adventure'. 

Adventure is what Allie finds. The hot guy in the lobby soon sets his sights on her, pursuing her, even when she's what his friends call 'flippant'. This guy is Levi and Allie, soon left behind by Jess as her best friend flies back home, begins spending more of her free time with him. She is attracted to him but is hesitant to really get involved. Within a few days Levi is sharing his secret with her--he's a shifter, a Pteron, half human/half crow. Allie is shocked but also intrigued when he takes her flying. There are plenty of scenes of Allie, Levi and his friends, Jared, Owen and Hailey drinking and enjoying the New Orleans nightlife. The setting was cool and I enjoyed the descriptions of the various places.

Even though Flight is a Mature YA story, I still found it suffered from the 'insta-love' that so much of the YA paranormal genre does. Levi comes across as older, full of himself, and relentless as he pops up around Allie. He also divulges his secret to her soon after they meet which was questionable. For a New Yorker, Allie was trusting. She accepts drinks from Levi, a relative stranger, without thinking about anything bad happening to her. Since she was 18, I wondered about the drinking age in this new town. Allie falls asleep on his shared apartment's sofa and wakes up next to Levi with his arms wrapped around her. As for Allie, I did like her from the beginning but needed time to warm up to Levi. 

Eventually, both characters got to me and I became invested in their relationship and the events. By the end of this first part of the series I was interested in the paranormal world  of the Pterons the author created to seek out the next installment when available. The vibrant setting of New Orleans featuring a new supernatural creature to learn more about, Flight offers readers an interesting mix paranormal fans may want to find out more about.

Rating: 3

Cover comment: Love the cover.

Book source: I received a digital ARC from the author in exchange for my honest review during a book tour.

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