military

When expectations are challenged: Fourth Wing

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

A year ago, I wrote about my journey as a reader to loving flawed characters and appreciating how their flaws shape the story. And since then, I’ve been more aware of how a story can challenge the reader regarding their belief about the real world or literary expectations for specific genres and character types. I recently had a wonderful experience being challenged by Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. 

How corrupt governments are viewed by the protagonist

The first chapter already had me raising my eyebrows. It didn’t make any sense to me why the government would set up tests and challenges that could kill a citizen who is willingly trying to be part of the military. Right away my question was, “Why don’t they have some sort of magical something to catch the people who fall from the parapet so that they can pick a different career since they aren’t cut out to be a dragon rider?” And it made even less sense that those who made it into the rider’s quadrant were not only allowed but encouraged to kill their classmates. Once again, why isn’t something set up to protect their lives, but they can still fail and be sent back to civilian life? This violent and deadly setup was my first major clue that the government was corrupt.

The next early clue is the fact that children of separatists (a rebellion/secession that happened before the story started) are forced to walk the parapet and to [hopefully] die in the rider’s quadrant, though many make it through, like Xaden, Imogen, Garrick, and Liam. 

But where I got stuck was Violet’s (the main character) acceptance that this is how it is. She doesn’t question it. She doesn’t want to be part of it herself, but she doesn’t view it as bad or evil, just not for her. And it took her a long time to start to question what was going on. It was very frustrating for me because there was a very clear Hunger Games vibe with many of the training, tests, and games that the riders do to strengthen themselves for war. And because of that, I erroneously expected Violet to be more like Katniss in knowing right off the bat that her government is awful.

But Violet doesn’t come from an oppressed part of the kingdom. She’s moved around as a “military brat” with her mom rising in fame and power as a war general. So, of course she’ll have a different view of things. It’s not how she starts, it’s how she ends. And in the end, Violet accepts the truth.  

Whose job is it to flirt in fiction?

Violet and Xaden are both dealing with enemies-to-lovers and forbidden love tensions that make them fight their attraction toward one another for the first three-quarters of the book. Before they give in to their feelings, the reader gets 300 pages of Violet’s inner thoughts about how beautiful, muscley, and hot Xaden is. And at first, it was a little cringe for me. 

Tangent time: I was in high school when Twilight came out, and I fell hard for that series. My dance coach decided to read the first book because all of us teenage girls were constantly talking about it. Her response: “I got really bored of Bella constantly moaning about how ‘he’s so hot, I can’t stop thinking about him.’” It made me laugh then, and it still makes me laugh now. 

Anyway, that’s how I felt being in Violet’s thoughts about Xaden when it appeared he didn’t feel it back, yet. (Keyword: appeared) 

So, Violet and Xaden eventually give in to their attraction and they have two kisses before they finally do the deed. After that, Xaden doesn’t quite say “this was a mistake” (thank Gods), but he does say they’re not going to be in an official relationship. Violet decides she has more self-respect than to be his dirty little secret, so she decides they won’t have anymore physical relations if they aren’t going to also have an emotional relationship. Xaden respects her boundaries, though he’s confident he can break through them again. During their “dry spell”, Violet continuously reminds Xaden how great they could be together and how she’s certain he does feel something for her. 

During these moments I felt second-hand embarrassment for Violet. She was coming off as clingy and crazy.

But then I had a realization and metaphorically slapped myself in the face. If Violet was a male character, all of her thoughts about Xaden being beautiful and her attempts to convince Xaden to give them a try would be viewed as cute and expected for a romance. I realized I was still stuck in the society I had grown up in: the boy chases the girl, the girl does not chase the boy. 

And I got to thinking about my own relationship. I offered my number to my husband first. I asked him on a date first. 

So in our 21st Century of trying to retain equal rights: girls can chase the relationship if they’re comfortable doing that. And Xaden loves Violet’s confidence. 😉    

Cliff Hangers 

Rebecca Yarros ends almost every single chapter on various levels of a cliffhanger. Which writers have been strongly encouraged to do. You want the reader to NOT pause at the end of the chapter. But I’m not the kind of reader that needs every chapter to end that way. When the story is amazing, I don’t need a cliff hanger to convince me to keep reading. And Fourth Wing is more than good enough on its own. I’m happy when a chapter ends with temporary breaths of relief, resignation, or something more calming. In addition to that, several cliff hangers didn’t lead into the next chapter. The scene would skip several hours, days, and sometimes weeks. So It was a little frustrating when that happened. In my opinion, a cliffhanger should only happen if the next chapter starts where the previous chapter left off.

At the same time, I think I understand why Rebecca Yarros wrote Fourth Wing this way. This book takes place over the course of an entire calendar year, and we have to go through action packed military college scenes mixed with spicy romance. There was a lot to cover, and the book is already incredibly long, so some things did need to be skipped over and left up to the reader’s imagination or summarized through telling. 

Overall, Fourth Wing was a wild ride that I enjoyed immensely. In fact, I’m so hooked on Violet’s journey, that I moved the sequel, Iron Flame, to the top of my tbr list. I’m 300 pages in and can’t wait to write my analysis for that one.

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Interesting WWII Facts from the Warhawk Air Museum

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Last week I traveled to Nampa, Idaho for my great-grandmother’s funeral. Whenever we have visited, I have always seen an advertisement for the Warhawk Air Museum. This time, I decided to finally go since I don’t know when/if I’ll go to Nampa again. As a history buff, I thought I’d share what stuck out to me in the museum.

Who were the Allies?

In school, most history teachers focus on the U.S., Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union fighting for the Allies. But in reality 47 countries allied together against the Axis powers.

War Propaganda

There was a plethora of war propaganda to encourage American citizens to help with the war effort. Most of the propaganda is about being frugal with food and resources and buying war bonds. War bonds were debt securities. Basically, you gave the U.S. money, and it would grow in interest. The government would pay you back in interest when the bond “reached maturity,” which was several years after the bond was purchased. This allowed the government to get more money for the war without raising taxes. Below are the posters that stuck out to me. 

“Spoils of War” decorations

Starting in WWI, using shell casings to create home decor became popular:

American soldiers were allowed to take and keep whatever they could carry home or pay to send home from conquered areas. Three examples in the museum were two Japanese Flags and a silk Japanese parachute.

The flag below had flown at Iwo Jima, and when U.S. forces won the island, they took the flag down and signed their names. Whoever ended up with the flag in their possession, donated it to the museum. 

The flag below was a personal flag for a Japanese soldier who had it blessed by a Buddhist priest and signed by his loved ones. It’s sobering to guess that the original owner died at the hands of an American soldier, and that’s how it ended up in a museum in the U.S.

The silk parachute was mailed home by an American soldier who ended up in Honshu, Japan. When he returned home and met his future wife, his mom used the silk parachute to make her daughter-in-law’s wedding dress. The info cards explained that his parachute hadn’t been used. It was found in a warehouse taken over by the U.S. military during the mainland invasions.

The News Doesn’t Always Get Their Facts Right

Below are two newspaper headlines announcing the attack on Pearl Harbor. The one from Seattle reported that 104 died while the paper from San Francisco reported 1500 died. Of course, getting fast and accurate information during that time wasn’t instant or easy. But it’s a good reminder to look at multiple sources when forming an opinion or making a decision.

Pieces of the Berlin Wall are scattered around the world

About ⅔ of the museum was dedicated to WWII, and the rest covered the other modern wars that the U.S. has been involved in. There was a small section dedicated to the Cold War, starting with pieces of the Berlin Wall. When I teach the Cold War, I show a newsclip showing Berlin residents hacking at the wall. I’ve watched that clip 8 times a school year, and it still makes me tear up.

Living on a battlefield was not glamorous

The picture below is a portable bathtub. I’m no good at guessing measurements, but one would definitely have to spend their bath with their knees bent into their chest, and the horizontal sides would only cover the waist and feet. 

WWI was originally called The Great War

While I did know this before going to the museum, seeing the headline below was a great reminder. As a history teacher, we call The Great War by its new name because that’s its new name. While I do mention to my students that it was originally called The Great War, it’s not a fact I test them on. We focus on U.S. involvement and the changing technology from the first year of the war to the last year of the war. But it is good to know this if you’re going to study primary sources because this is the language that will be used during the time period.

Soldiers have access to religious ceremonies while serving

I have a childhood friend who is now a military chaplain. And him choosing this career path is the only reason I know this position in the military exists, and thus I actually noticed these kits and took pictures of them to send to him. 

The Controversy of Vietnam

With each war that I teach my students, I ask the questions: Was entering this war justified? Did the U.S. stay true to their original goal? Did the U.S. fight fair? I keep my opinion out of the lesson. I am teaching my students to take the facts they’ve learned and form their own opinion in answering those questions and defending their opinion with evidence. We watch a short video about the Veterans Against the War gathering at the White House. But I’m going to add this banner to the lesson to show that just like civilians and politicians were divided about Vietnam, so too were the veterans sent there to fight.

The museum also has a section for the most recent occupation of Afghanistan. Overall, the feel of the museum is simply to educate. I didn’t get any pro or anti U.S./war vibes. It’s just simply “here’s what veterans have donated and this is what this donation teaches us.” I really enjoyed my visit.

What is an interesting fact about any war that you know? Share it in the comments! 

A Fourth of July Romance: A Boy and His Dog by Chloe Holiday

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

There are two holidays in A Boy and his Dog, actually, and both are integral to the plot. The first is New Year’s Day, when a bombing at a Kosovo parade forever changes the lives of Sergeant Grant Calloway and his bomb detection dog, Mojo.

The main holiday featured is the Fourth of July. The small town in the Colorado mountains charms the heroine, Hope Hernandez, as the community decorates for the upcoming celebration. I wanted to invoke that carefree childhood feeling of summer: the fireflies, the awe-inducing fireworks, running around at picnics, and swimming until our lips turned blue. Hope really wants a place to belong, to call home. However, she’s working in the ER as a summer “audition” intern, and her holiday is spent stitching up accident victims, unaware that her newly-adopted ex-military K9 will have PTSD triggered by the fireworks, and that the dog’s former handler is desperately searching for him.

Chloe is a military physician-turned-novelist who writes the things she loves to read: steamy, fun stories about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, smart women and men who aren’t jerks. About friendships, whether it’s close women or a good bromance. She wants all the feels: the thrill of a smoldering gaze or the barest brush of fingertips, the shocked gasp at the underhanded villain, the angst of heartbreak, the joy of reunion, and of course, happily ever after!

Chloe enjoys delivering a sneak peek into intriguing scenarios, drawing from her background (military personnel, medicine, aviation) as well as other cultures like Greece. A bit of danger always gets her going, so many of her Romances have a suspense subplot.

She hates to read the same old thing, with only the names and places changed, so her goal is to bring folks a fresh, fun, new story every time, with NO CLIFFHANGERS!

More than anything, she wants to craft a rollicking, great story readers can’t put down, one where love prevails in the end, one that will whisk people away from their own tribulations.

Come join her at https://www.chloeholiday.com/! and sign up for her newsletter to download a free copy of Finders, Keepers.

Medically separated from the Army, bomb tech Grant Calloway will stop at nothing to track down his former K9 partner. But the lady doctor who’s adopted Mojo doesn’t want to let him go.

If Dr. Hope Hernandez were any more exhausted, she’d be the one on the gurney. Her drive for perfection leaves her scrambling to juggle an insane ER schedule, studying for boards, and her boyfriend—whoops! Ex-boyfriend.

Fine. One less thing demanding her attention. Hope buries her pain in work. The truth is she’d get more affection from a dog, with less risk to her heart. Safe and uncomplicated. The second she sees the forlorn, retired military K9, Hope falls hard: he’s sad and alone, just like her. They head to Colorado, aiming for a fresh start—if she can score the coveted ER job. Yet when a scorching hot veteran shows up to lay claim to her dog, he disrupts her careful plan. He’s anything but safe—he’s dynamite. And he’s oh, so wrong if he thinks he can charm Hope into giving up her loyal companion.

Bomb disposal technician Grant Calloway’s whole life blows up after an IED detonates at a Kosovo parade. He and his working dog, Mojo, save hundreds with their off-duty heroism, but reality bites hard: Mired in red tape, then bounced out of the Army for hearing loss, Grant’s blindsided when Mojo’s adopted out by a civilian who won’t understand the needs of a military-trained dog. Grant’s best friend deserves better. Grant turns his back on a lucrative job and instead hits the road for Colorado to track down his dog.

He thought finding Mojo would be the hardest part, but the woman who took him won’t listen to reason, and Grant’s charm has no effect. Refusing to be diverted by her big brown eyes and gorgeous smile, Grant lays siege to reacquire Mojo—by whatever means necessary.

A Boy and His Dog can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097JBFXVQ?tag=namespacebran246-20