** This is the new cover! I tried uploading to Booklikes like 4 times and it still hasn't updated, so I thought I'd share **

 

    Sky Ghosts grabbed my attention right away, it was said to be "The Avengers meets Shadowhunters"  which sounded AWESOME to me! I mean, I like both of those things, so why wouldn't I love a combination of the two?! I thought the Sky Ghosts were an interesting bunch, protectors of the city and the people in it, battling against their enemies, the Beasts, who have no regard for human life and live to serve their maniacal boss. So yeah, the Sky Ghosts were pretty badass, and their story was something I enjoyed reading about.

 

   While I enjoyed the Sky Ghosts and the plot line, I did struggle getting into the story due to the narration. It was kind of disjointed, and the multiple points of view ended up hurting the story more than it helped, in my opinion. I am very particular about multiple POVs, I do enjoy them, especially if they are there for a reason and add something more to the story. I can see the benefits of being able to see multiple perspectives. But I do believe somethings must be done to differentiate which character has the reins, whether that be starting a new chapter, or even a new paragraph, or having distinctive enough personalities and voices so that the reader can easily tell who's head we're currently in. One of the POV's in Sky Ghosts, and arguably the foremost one, was Pain, and her character was unique enough to easily tell when she was in charge. As for her sister Jane, Dave, and Chad....I struggled with them. Sometimes the POV would change multiple times within one page and I wasn't always sure who it was until later. Their voices blended together at times.

 

 

I was better able to do so more towards the end, when Chad started getting really fleshed out, but that still left Dave and Jane not being quite there.

 

    I love a good strong heroine, and Pain, and even Jane too, were just that. You don't see a ton of stories where the women are protecting the, nearly defenseless, men, so this was something fresh and I quite enjoyed the women kicking ass and taking names!

 

 

 Even though Pain could be rather obnoxious at times, I liked her, she was spirited, strong, brave, and underneath all the bravado, a kindhearted person. I really liked Marco and Skull too, they had that same tough as nails, semi crazy persona, but you just knew that there is a lot more to these characters than initially meets the eye, and you want to know more. I'm also curious about Ryan, as it seems like he's got secrets. I would like to see more of those characters in the following book/books. As far as Jane, Dave, Peter and a few others, they never quite grabbed me. To me, they weren't fleshed out or compelling enough to get me invested or even curious about them, which was slightly unfortunate as two of them were main characters.

 

    All in all it was a decent story, and I would be interested to see the developments that take place in the next book. I just hope that the narration is a little tighter in the next one, and I think that would allow people to focus more on the kick ass story.

 

   I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review

Sky Ghosts: Marco - Alexandra Engellmann In this Prequel to Sky Ghosts: All For One, we learn more about Marco, one of the more engaging characters from the first book. In ‘All For One’, Marco and Pain are close friends and sparring partners. Marco is a bit irreverent and seemingly salacious. It is hinted that he has a past he doesn’t want to talk about.

In this story, Marco ends up at Headquarters under suspicious circumstances, after apparently taking down six Beasts on his own. He and, then sixteen year old, Pain take an instant disliking to each other and in true Sky Ghost fashion their rivalry moves quickly from taunts and pranks to outright violence. This was a terrific opportunity to see more of the inner workings of Sky Ghost Headquarters.

Knowing the two become close friends eventually doesn’t take the edge off this short story. It was also nice getting to know more about a few of the peripheral characters. Pain may be the focus of the series, but I am certain each of the Ghosts could carry their own volume quite easily. Skull and Betsy? I have to know to more. This is a world I will gladly visit again.

I received a copy of this story in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I will admit it, I knew I would like this book after reading the dedication. It didn’t give away the end, but it showed an acute sense of humor. There is so much to like about this book. For starters, there is no set POV for this story. For many readers the POV establishes who the main character is, tells us who we should be paying attention to. Some authors try to pass it around and too often that leads to continuity and flow issues with the story. Who wants to read a novel that sounds like it should be four different stories? That was not an issue here. Changing between the main characters was seamless and allowed the reader to take time to consider what was really going on in the story and just who the story was actually about.

I totally enjoyed the characters . There is always a chance with super powers to be cliche. The powers either corrupt a person or they are unrealistically altruistic, and in almost all cases non powered characters either become bitter or sycophantic. Not so here. The Sky Ghosts are made up of wonderfully diverse people that never seem to lose their human frailty despite being able to fly, fight to death and heal themselves like total badasses. Their “powerless” counterparts may seem a bit lost at first, but only because they are thrown into a world so unlike what they know. They all have something to offer and there is a nice balance that plays out to the end of the story. I really loved that the strong women stayed feminine and even a bit girly and that the men managed, in the end at least, to appreciate their strength along with the feminine and girly.

I liked that this story isn’t just supernatural, it isn’t just action, it isn’t just a romance. Real life doesn’t work that way and it is nice to see it reflected in fiction. It had some great twists and even when I knew what was coming I didn’t see it all, which is refreshing for me. I do have one complaint. The synopsis refers Dave and Chad as boys and going into the story based on that, I was expecting children not young men actually older than than the sisters who are fighters that an army of Sky Beasts fear.

This book had me hooked from beginning to end. It would have been a terrific page turner had there been pages to turn. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series and see how it plays out. I heartily recommend this book to everyone 8th grade and up. There is violence and some minor adult humor.[b:Sky Ghosts: All for One|25635011|Sky Ghosts All for One (Sky Ghosts, #1)|Alexandra Engellmann|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1433046664s/25635011.jpg|43450423]

Let me just say YAY! Strong female characters! I absolutely love it when a female character is ready, willing, and able to kick butt at a moment's notice. There's been an upsurge of this type of character lately, and all I can say is its about time!

This was a hard book for me to review. I discovered, after committing to review it, that it was, essentially, just not my style book. Alexandra Engellmann definitely has talent. She writes in a way that makes sure each scene is fully-fleshed out in your mind. This is not a bad thing. Not at all. Unfortunately, it is not my thing.

I am one of those readers, I have already admitted this and will continue to, that does not do well with books that give me tons of description. It is one of the reasons I don't like to read Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, etc. Give me too much information and my mind gets overloaded. Next thing I know I'm staring at my belly button, wondering if it needs a good swabbing.

Overall, the author did a solid job with this book, but I do think it needs a bit more tightening up. The pacing seemed a bit uneven. In the beginning it was like there was either a lot happening, or there was nothing happened. The characters initially seemed a bit shallow, but I think she fleshed them out a bit more towards the end. However, all in all it was a good read, and I'm sure it'll appeal to many readers out there.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.


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