FIGHT OR FLIGHT by SAMANTHA YOUNG

“You have the power tae hurt me. Only you.”
“When you hurt, Caleb, I hurt.”

Some love stories not only touch our hearts but also have the ability to overwhelm our feelings as we capture every ounce of emotion along with the characters. We don’t simply read their love story, we become it. When their love story connects with us in such a way, we experience the honesty, joy, and pain the author elicits from their words. And that is exactly what happened in Fight or Flight. Wow! The way in which Samantha Young laid Ava and Caleb’s emotions so bare ensured their story touched every part of us. We found ourselves simultaneously caught between elation and heartbreak, and of course, we loved every anguished moment with the grouchy Scot and his ‘wee yin‘, Ava.

Ava and Caleb’s first meeting didn’t get off to the best start, with first impressions being quite critical on one another. An argument over a seat, carried onto their flight to Boston, in which the two strangers were seated next to each other. Caleb’s overbearing and rude demeanour grated on the polite Ava, whilst Caleb had the preconception that Ava was all beauty and high maintenance, with a lack of substance, and their criticism of each other didn’t abate during their flight.

“I just…..I need to feel like you want me. I need to feel that you see me.”

However, there was a passionate spark between the two that couldn’t be denied, and as fate, luck, or coincidence would have it, their paths would cross again in Boston through mutual friends. They acknowledge the spark, and with both not wanting a relationship, agree to a ‘friends with benefits’ hook up while Caleb is in Boston for a few weeks, however, conflict, feelings, and confusion creep in as Caleb’s time in Boston becomes more permanent, though he still doesn’t want a relationship which suits Ava just fine at this stage.

Whilst the physical relationship, the feverish chemistry, and banter was off the charts, and being that their connection was initially, purely physical, never once did the sex overwhelm the emotion and the story. In fact, it enhanced the connection between Ava and Caleb, allowing the familiarity, and adoration to simmer into an angsty yet beautifully authentic slow burn love.

“We’re all afraid of something, sweetheart. It’s up to us whether we stay and fight that fear…or whether we run and hide from it…”

What particularly worked for us was the fact Samantha Young chose to tell Fight or Flight solely in Ava’s pov. We love a dual pov as much as the next reader, however, there are times when the mystery surrounding the hero’s feelings binds us to the heroine so we experience the gut-churning emotion and hurt as she does, and the effect worked incredibly well in this story.

“I just…I need to feel like you want me. I need to feel that you see me.”

Our emotions were always kept on the hop, and we were completely rapt in uncovering why Ava and Caleb were so anti-relationship, especially Caleb. Just when we thought we had a handle on Caleb’s feelings for Ava, his actions would be so contradictory we’d be left with pondering exactly what was going on in his head. Our hearts wanted to believe he loved her, yet our heads continually questioned his actions and feelings throughout, and boy he did have us in a quandary.

‘My feelings were most definitely engaged, but I buried that truth, knowing if I let those feelings reign it would lead to an inevitable war between us. A war for Caleb Scott’s heart.
A war I knew I’d lose.’

We laughed, we cried, we swooned and we ached as Samantha Young’s words hit their target. This love story was heartfelt, raw, complex and honest, with the author delivering insurmountable feelings between Ava and Caleb. He wasn’t an easy man to love, but love him we did! We adored this book, we loved Ava, and desperate to hear more from the secondary characters. Leo, Jamie, and Harper…we want to hear your stories because they captivated us as much as Ava and Caleb did! We do wish the epilogue would have given us a little more though. Considering what Caleb and Ava had experienced in life, a glimpse into their future would have been the icing on the cake.