Review: Fighting for Flight by Jamie Salsbury

Fighting for Flight
Jamie Salsbury
Series: Fighting #1
Publication date: February 25th 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

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What happens when in order to win, you’re forced to lose?

The only daughter of an infamous Las Vegas pimp, Raven Morretti grew up an outsider. Liberated from the neglectful home of her prostitute mother, she finds solace as a mechanic. With few friends, she’s content with the simple life. Flying under the radar is all she knows, and more than she expects.

Until she catches the eye of local celebrity, UFL playboy Jonah Slade. 

Weeks away from his title fight, Jonah is determined to stay focused on everything he’s trained so hard to achieve. Undefeated in the octagon, he’s at the height of his career. But resisting Raven’s effortless allure and uncomplicated nature is a fight he can’t win. 

Jonah trades in his bad-boy reputation and puts his heart on the line. But when her father contacts her, setting in motion the ugly truth of her destiny, Jonah must choose. In a high-stakes gamble where love and freedom hang in the balance, a war is waged where the price of losing is a fate worse than death.

Will the hotheaded Jonah be able to restrain his inner fighter to save the woman he loves? 

Or will Raven be forced into a life she’s been desperate to avoid?

Raven Morretti is nothing more than a pawn in a game she doesn't know she's playing.

She's the daughter of an infamous Las Vegas pimp who basically used her mother to create the perfect hooker. Yep, that's right. Raven's mother was bred (actual word used in the book, I know) to give birth to a child just so she could grow up to work for her own father.

No need to say Raven is not close to her parents. Her father wants nothing to do with her until she's grown up enough to fulfill her "duties" to him and his business, and there's really not much mention of her mother except for the fact she's still turning tricks and basically neglected Raven her entire life. It's a screwed up thing to do, but understandable.

So Raven grows up and falls in love with cars, making her money working as a mechanic at one of her friend's shops. And that's where she crosses paths with Jonah "the Assassin" Slade, UFL playboy, and her entire life turns upside down.

Jonah is your typical playboy. His life as a fighter has made him rich, and he doesn't do relationships. He doesn't sleep with the same women twice, and he never brings any of the girls he's been with back home with him. He's all about his career and making sure he keeps his winning streak intact, no distractions.

Until he meets Raven, and everything chances. There's just something about her that instantly grasps his attention and he can't seem to stop thinking about her, no matter how hard he tries. And Raven is the same way. She can't believe the Assassin would ever look twice at her, but she can't deny the chemistry between the two of them as they spend more and more time together and get to know each other.

But then reality comes crashing down in the form of Raven's father and, suddenly, everything they've worked for is in danger of being taken away. Raven finds herself discovering the truth about how she came to the world, and Jonah ends up having to fight for the life of the woman he came to love. Literally.

The entire daughter-of-a-pimp scheme was what first got my attention in Fighting for Flight, because I just knew nothing good could come out of it. The prologue was as horrifying as it was interesting, and I was instantly hooked.

Too bad I didn't stay that way.

Fighting for Flight up until Jonah and Raven met was great. And when I say great I really do mean that. I was into the story, I wanted to know what would happen, the pacing was good and it kept me interested, and I was just really liking what I was reading.

But the thing is - and I think it's important for me to say that I don't really have a problem with insta-love as long as it's handled carefully and not thrown in your face all the time - Raven and Jonah's relationship just felt like too much way too soon. Parts of the dialogue between both of them were supposed to be really sweet and loving but ended up sounding so awkward and forced that I'd mentally cringe from it.

The only reason I kept reading it was because I was still super interested in finding out how Rave'n's dad would screw things up. I so desperately wanted to know what kind of messed up thing he had in store for her and how that would affect Raven's life and the lives of people she cared about.

And that's actually why this book was awarded three stars from me. I wasn't disappointed with Morretti's complete detachment from his own daughter, how sick and twisted he was, and the lengths he was willing to go through to get what he wanted. And I don't want to give away any spoilers but Raven's mom also comes through in the end and I just really liked her for that.

In my opinion, Fighting for Flight had everything to be a better book than it was but the romance part of it just felt flat. It was still a good read about not judging people based on where they come from, creating something good for yourself out of something bad, and learning to feel worthy of people's love for you. I don't know if I liked it enough to read the sequel, but who knows? Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.