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.

I got this for free on Kindle a long while ago, but I didn't feel a great need to read it.  Why?  A lot of it had to do with the fact that I burned out on young adult paranormals for a while, so it kept getting pushed to the back burner.  Some of it had to do with the fact while it sounded intriguing I was wary that it involved angels (it doesn't).  Its with great pleasure I can say however that I'm eating humble pie.

There are some problematic elements, so let me get those out of the way first.  Levi is a pushy, conceited guy who doesn't respect Allie's space nor seem to understand 'no'.  Granted that's a fairly popular trope for both YA, NA and plain ol'romance books dealing with paranormals (and this falls into the almost NA crowd I think, since its post-HS), but it grated on my nerves because Allie just..accepted it.  Levi's only saving grace was that while he was more than happy to push into Allie's personal space, he did so genuine concern and regard for her well being.

One scene in particular could have gotten really bad, really quick (when Allie is more than a little tipsy), but instead was a sweet scene.

The set up was a bit surreal as well.  Allie's dad is a hotel mongul and for the summer he offers Allie and her friend Jess a job at his newest acquisition.  Ostensibly because he wants Allie to learn the family business.  The fact he expects and know that her friend won't be trying too hard felt inconsiderate to his other employees.  Plus they get a suite of rooms (free of charge), run of the place (Allie gets a 'Master Key' at one point) and any schedule that suits them.

I was honestly not surprised he was having financial issues.

Once the story picks up though, things move along at a quick enough clip that a lot of my worries fell away.  Learning about Levi's secrets, hanging with Hailey, and New Orleans in general kept me intrigued.  Some of it felt pretty basic in terms of plotting, but an action Levi takes near the end did surprise me enough that I reluctantly reformed my opinion again.  Not that Allie reacts well at all, but her reaction was understandable.  Her way of handling things maybe not so much, but well it was quite the shock.

Allie meanwhile both worked and didn't work for me.  She was at her best when she was talking with Hailey or learning about the world that Levi inhabits.  She's genuinely enthusiastic to learn about it, after her initial 'wtf?' reaction that is and oddly her excitement seemed to make Levi less tense and all up in her personal space.  Well he still was, but it was more of a 'oh man you're not freaked out?! Does this freak you out? How about this? No? omg you are great!' instead of a 'Pfft I know I'm hot stuff and girls can't resist me, so just give it up and go out with me'.

In the end I read this over a short period of time and was entertained.  I bought the second one shortly after finishing this book and I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing how Allie puts herself into dangerous reckless situations how things continue in book three.