This is a strange series of books – in this edition going under the series title of Angel's Unlimited (I've seen another series title for this series that I can't remember at the moment). It has everything that a standard modern girls series has – a spunky main character, her best friend (girl), the boy side kick, a love interest, and the scary but ultimately important authority figure.

The difference here is that the main character is dead. In fact, she is an angel.

The angel's in Annie Dalton's world (including Mel, our main character) serve a number of purposes. One thing young angels can do when they are training is join the history club. Here they get to travel to different times and places, lending help in many different ways. The reader follows Mel and her friends through some of these adventures, picking up just enough of the history to interest – to make the reader want to go out and read more.

The three books travel to different times. In Winging It, Mel heads off to London during the Blitz. In Losing the Plot, she is asked to look after a young man who turns out to be William Shakespeare. In Flying High she travels with the Children's Crusades, before going forward in time.

There are some interesting philosophical questions asked by the books. There is no obvious religion here – Mel answers to the arch angels, but she is also expected to participate in meditation to get things done and to refresh herself. There is no concept of time in this heaven, something which confuses Mel, and which may be explored in future books. And as well as angels like Mel, who were alive and then died, there are pure angels, who were never alive at all.

My one big quibble would be the lack of help Mel was given during the first book – I don't think explanation of where she was from another character would have harmed the story.

All in all a really interesting series – especially with regards to the history aspect. ( )