Review: Aerial (Flying High Duet Book 1) by Manuela Rouget

Aerial by Manuela Rouget
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

NA Polyamory

I’d probably give this book 4.5 ⭐️ if I could.

This is the first book in a duet, however, there is no cliffhanger.

Fauve is french and partway through a business degree when she finally persuades her demanding parents that she can attend a prestigious circus arts school in Montreal. The course she is taking only lasts a year and the best student gets a guaranteed place at a very successful circus company (like Cirque d’Soleil).

Leaving her boyfriend Loup behind is a hard decision as they’ve been together 6 years and he’s also her best friend and acrobatic partner. They’ve decided to have an open relationship whilst they are apart, which on the face of it seems a bad idea, but they believe they can make it work.

The flat she moves into has two gorgeous men, one is a full degree course student at the circus arts school that Fauve is to attend and the other is an engineering student. Both men are gorgeous and they become flirty friends instantly and Fauve knows they could be something more.

I loved the premise of this book. It’s clever and something that young people face all the time, whether to make a go of a long-distance relationship or end it, or whether to try an open relationship which is always a risk. Fauve and Loup have been together forever and therefore have only small amounts of sexual experiences separate from their relationship but they also trust each other with their lives on a daily basis working together in acrobatics. Knowing they talk about everything and are capable of total honesty makes taking the opportunity to learn more about what they enjoy sexually when they are apart something they feel confident in trying.

I like how slow-moving the change in relationships are in this book. Fauve is in a very intensely physically and mentally challenging programme and as such is often exhausted with little free time. This slows everything down and gives a more realistic timeline than most romance novels, despite them all living together.

All three men are very different from each other, with different priorities and needs and Fauve enjoys being with them all for different reasons. I like how we get to know the characters slowly, rather than having cookie-cutter personas, which is often a risk in a reverse harem book.

Whilst there is plenty of hot sex in this book, it's not the main focus. For Fauve the school is the priority. Learning new skills and getting the opportunity of a lifetime is her prime focus and often the relationships take a back seat to it.

I loved hearing about the circus skills and Fauve, Tibault and Loup’s passion for them. There was a lot of detail and I found it fascinating.

There is also interpersonal drama of the friends variety, because of the pressure of school system where half the students get cut every quarter of the year. This makes things insanely competitive and puts additional pressure on any friendships.

I think this may have been a first published book for this author and I’m really impressed. It’s well-paced, articulate and imaginative. The characters are interesting and the world in which they live is fascinating. I’m looking forward to seeing the next book in the duet, when it comes out, even though there is no cliffhanger. I just want to read more about these characters and their lives together.

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