Nothing But Sky by Amy Trueblood

Nothing But Sky

by Amy Trueblood

Grace Lafferty only feels alive when she's dangling 500 feet above ground. As a post-World War I wing walker, Grace is determined to get to the World Aviation Expo, proving her team's worth against flashier competitors and earning a coveted Hollywood contract. No one's ever questioned Grace's ambition until Henry Patton, a mechanic with plenty of scars from the battlefield, joins her barnstorming team. With each new death-defying trick, Henry pushes Grace to consider her reasons for being a daredevil. Annoyed with Henry's constant interference, and her growing attraction to him, Grace continues to test the powers of the sky. After one of her risky maneuvers saves a pilot's life, a Hollywood studio offers Grace a chance to perform at the Expo. She jumps at the opportunity to secure her future. But when a stunt goes wrong, Grace must decide whether Henry, and her life, are worth risking for one final trick.

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

3 of 5 stars

Share
3.75 stars
Thank you to NetGalley for the e-copy in exchange for my honest review.
Grace is an eighteen-year-old young woman who is a daredevil who walks on the wings of planes. This was a part of history that happened after WWI and was called Barnstorming and went on through most of the 20's. For Grace's story though while it is fiction it is based on several real-life women.
Grace, her uncle, Nathan, and Daniel are a team with two planes. Daniel and Grace are the 'stunt' people and they do amazing daredevil tricks. All the men are very protective of Grace and don't want her to do a lot of the stunts that she comes up with. Grace is determined though and doesn't let them stop her from achieving her dream of them getting a big contract that will provide them with some financial security. One problem, they need a new mechanic again... This is something that's a reoccurring problem for the crew and they are out of options it seems until Henry shows up and gets the job. Henry, Nathan, and Daniel are all war veterans and while only Henry talks about it it does affect the others as well.
Overall I really did like this book. I loved how strong of a character Grace was and how she didn't take anything from anyone. She knew what she wanted for her and her team and wasn't going to let anything stand in their way. And there was a lot at times, between the government, an opposing team doing everything they can to stop them, and financial troubles. I loved Grace's friendships though and how they had side stories as well. I do wish we had gotten to know more about Nathan and Daniel though and even the Uncle. Besides them being important parts of the team and very protective of Grace, I didn't really feel like we knew them at all.
I also really wasn't expecting the romance part of this book, and when it started to happen, I kept hoping it wouldn't. I didn't mind the characters together, I just wished it hadn't of become a bigger portion of the book towards the end.
I did like how the side effects of WWI were talked about with the PTSD episodes that Henry has.
I'm very interested to see what the author writes next as I did really enjoy learning about barnstorming.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 26 February, 2018: Finished reading
  • 26 February, 2018: Reviewed