Flight of Life (Essence)

I only discovered author E.L. Todd a few months ago, but everything I have read so far by her has been AWESOME!The story follows Calloway, his cousin Breccan, and their friend Easton as they begin their journey to tackle evil. Along the way, a whole host of other characters join the mix, and they start to see that what they are up against is far more serious than they could have ever imagined. The book is a series of ups and downs and twists and turns that kept me reading nonstop!I loved Calloway - his life story, his past, his optimism in even the worst of situations, and his bravery. His relationships with all of the other characters are a true testament of just how good a person that he is. I love the interaction between him and his teacher, Mr. Avey. Even the troubling feud between him and Hawk was something that I was drawn to. He handled himself with grace in every situation that he was faced with!This is a series that I will be following until the end. I can't wait for the next book!!

It's such a pleasure to read for this author and I have fallen in love with her writing style. I really enjoy working with new authors, watching from the sidelines as they develop their work into the books that we all love to read. Ms Todd has a unique touch that brings her characters off the page and into your life.In this new series we meet Calloway, his cousin Breccan and their friend Easton. Calloway is a gifted young man in his senior year of high school, that has lost his parents and is living with his cousin and his parents which are his legal guardians. Due to his aunt's illness the family is under a financial strain. Calloway is struggling to deal with the loss of his parents and the financial stress of his home life plus trying to understanding the fight against the Hara-Kirs.Cal was very young when his father was killed by a mugger. His father left him two objects that are very confusing along with a letter so mystifying he becomes depressed coming to terms with what they could mean. As the story develops Cal, Breccan and Easton develop a very close bond with each other while they figure out how to fight the Hara-Kirs. As this happens the story line takes a lot of twists and turns and more characters are added.I was very impressed with Calloway as he firmly believed that people are not what they wear or the amount in their wallet but good people making the right or wrong decisions. No matter who they were they deserve to be treated right and given a second chance. His feelings of respect for his aunt and uncle was very uplifting in addition was very fortunate to be able to have the support of one of his teachers and experience a special bond with him.I can't wait for book two to be released and the continuation of the story plus the development of Easton, Breccan and the added characters of Weston, Easton' s older sister and Marquan, Cal' s co worker. I was hooked and could not stop reading. You can count on more laughter and lots of emotional highs like all Ms Todd's books!

Hello Lovelies!This book receives an “A” for effort when it comes to an original plot line and innovative ideas. The author reveals new information about the fabled Hara-Kirs throughout the novel and keeps the reader intrigued. Calloway’s empathetic heart and chivalrous nature charmed me from the beginning, but started to grate on me as he continuously acted sweeter than saccharin. Real people stumble at times, even the most kind and thoughtful have moments of bitterness, but Calloway, while depressed at times, continues steadfastly in his selflessness. I have a hard time with liking such vanilla characters, but that's just me. The other characters are entertaining but somewhat two-dimensional. As a grammar Nazi, this book pained me to read. The errors continued to add up, and while a small number of errors is understandable, the ones in Flight of Life literally hurt to read.I did not particularly enjoy this literary journey, but I think that the next book in the series has potential to be a really awesome read.-Whimsical Whit[...]