FLY (Velocity #1) by Molly McLain-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 14, 2016

Meet Colton Wade, FMX rider…

I’m just a small town guy who caught a lucky break. Now I’m living the dream, on the brink of high-flying super-stardom. But something’s missing.

That something is Taylor.

She’s my best friend. The one who makes me want to push harder and higher. The one I fall back on when shit gets tough. The one I’d give it all up for.

I’d do anything to protect her. To make her dreams come true too.

But a single night changes everything.

And now the one she needs protection from…is me.

•••••••••

REVIEW: FLY is the first installment in Molly McLain’s contemporary, new adult VELOCITY romance series focusing on FMX rider Colton Wade, and his best friend Taylor Jansen.

Told from alternating first person points of view (Colton and Taylor) FLY focuses on the friends to lovers relationship between Colton and Taylor. Best friends for most of their lives, Taylor and Colton have been dancing around their attraction to one another for years. When an opportunity presents itself for Taylor to join Colton in Vegas, as part of his latest FMX professional tour, things begin to heat up between our couple wherein expressions of love are revealed in the heat of passion. But things go from good to bad when Colton’s management team wants to publicize and use a fake relationship with his ex Bria (friends with benefits), forcing a wall between Colton and the woman he loves. What ensues is a series of misunderstandings, miscommunications, mean girl set ups, and the immature reactions of two people who aren’t willing to speak up when the time is right.

FLY has a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including several members of Colton’s FMX team, fellow riders, and competitors. We are also introduced to Bria-Colton’s friends with benefits-who wants something more and is willing to do everything in her power to possess the FMX star; and Matt-a young man who has fallen for Taylor Jansen. Taylor’s family and friends play a significant role in her life including a father whose personality is volatile following an accident that left him with permanent brain damage, and a mother who stands by her man.

FLY is a story of building love but a story that is more YA (with the exception of one love scene) than new adult. The requisite love triangle (s) and other love interests vying for attention is front and center; as well as the mean girl who uses her relationship with Colton to destroy Taylor’s heart. The story line trope is very predictable and better left to the YA audience; for me, the appeal of the YA trope disguised as NA has passed its’ expiry date. The lone $ex scene is mostly implied; there is no graphic sexual content or text.

There is limited background information about Taylor and Colton’s earlier years together, as well as limited information about Colton’s rise to stardom in the FMX games. I would have liked the story to delve a little deeper into their earlier history together. The story behind Taylor’s father’s accident is very slow to reveal with only hints as to what has happened and why.

FLY ends on another predictable cliffhanger. Let’s hope that our couple grow up fast and realize they are no longer in high school.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy