Not the wounded warrior novel I expected
353769
This is the first book I've read by this author and it appears to be the second novel in a series. I requested this novel because of its wounded warrior/sister of his best friend theme, but this novel simply didn't work for me.

Journalist Catherine (Cat) Kingston is the daughter of a wealthy family in the ill-named town of Buckleberry Bend because she's going to be the maid of honor at her brother's wedding. She's had a crush on his handsome best friend, and soon to be best man, Preston, for years, but prior to getting together with Preston, her engagement to what sounds like the dullest man on earth ended. She and Preston even had an almost-all-the-way one-night stand one year ago, right before Preston was deployed to Afghanistan, where he was wounded--a roadside bomb blowing his knee to bits. During his deployment, Cat had been writing and Skyping him, exchanging email, and sending him letters and small gifts. After Preston is wounded, he cuts off all communication with Cat, breaking her heart, and Cat wants to know the reason why, so, as the novel opens, she impersonates a prostitute to sneak into Preston's home. He soon recognizes her and the next thing you know she's in his lap and topless when her brother, Derrick, walks in, unannounced. They lie and admit they're dating, which is just what Cat wants and just what Justin doesn't want, or does he?

Justin, the son of an absentee mother and alcohol and drug-addicted father doesn't think himself worthy of a relationship with the daughter of the wealthiest family in town, but he wants her one minute and pushes her away the next. Then, these two immature adults decide to continue the fake-dating act so that they won't disrupt the week of wedding events--an act that doesn't fool anyone. Their relationship goes from fake to real so many times throughout the novel, and Cat goes from happy to heartbroken so often that this reader went from wanting their relationship to work out to wanting to smack Justin over the head and scream "make up your mind already!" several times.

Additionally, as if the plot of this novel wasn't already absurd enough, Justin's war wound is basically a bad knee and a mild case of PTSD. So many of our servicemen are coming home with far more serious and life-altering injuries, and committing suicide at such alarming rates, that Justin's "my life as I knew it is over" take on his own injury seems insulting to those brave men, who struggle daily with far worse. Repeatedly breaking the heart of the woman he loves, the woman who also loves him, doesn't speak very highly of his character, or lack thereof. Frankly, by the end of the novel, I agreed with Justin--he wasn't worthy of Cat.
1041037
When I picked up a copy of Hart's War, I was pumped.  It combined two genres which I really enjoy -- a good mystery and WW2 era fiction.  Now that I have finished this story, I am left feeling a bit mystified.  Why?  Because even though I found the story to be generally very good, I still find myself feeling a bit let down by it and I am not really sure why because it was a pretty darn good book.
As I'm sure you can tell from the numerous reviews, the story takes place in a German POW camp housing mainly captured American fliers.  One of these captives is brutally murdered and the blame is placed squarely on the shoulders of the lone African-American fighter pilot held in the camp.  Mix in the atmosphere found in the old "Stalag 17" movie and the setting is ripe for a ripping good yarn.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, that yarn never fully matures.
Basically, I found the first half of the book to be pretty absorbing.  However, with the beginning of the accused's trial, I found myself being less and less "excited" about the story.  I considered this to be strange, since I actually felt that the book was very good.  Nonethelss I felt that somewhere along the way the story had lost its edge, becoming somewhat predictable and just a bit of a cliche.
As I read on to the conclusion, I simply could not get past the fact that my attitude toward the story was becoming more and more lukewarm.  On a personal note, this was compounded by the author's use of overly flowery and strangely inappropriate metaphors in the last few chapters.  I say strangely inappropriate because as I read each of them, I had to stop and wonder why the author chose to include them when no such literary license was exercised in the entire previous part of the book.  To me, they immediately broke the sense of being there with the characters and reminded me that the story was merely the creation of an author.  They further left me feeling like he had thought out this portion of the story much earlier than it appears in the book and had manufactured some very creative and mighty flowery turns of phrase which he was quite proud of and intended to include no matter what.
Overall, Hart's War is really a pretty good novel and certainly worth a read.  My disappointment with it stems not so much from any particular failings in the book itself, but rather from the fact that I really believe that it could have, and should have,  kept me on the edge of my seat much more than it did.
276099
I really loved Terms of Enlistment, I thought it was the best book I'd read last year and one of the best books I'd read in a long time.  I was very anxious to read this but I was really disappointed by what I got.  It was really hard to get into, it was almost like a new character had taken over the book.  The humanity of the first book all but disappeared in this novel.  There was one wonderful section where our hero is on leave that made me feel like I was reading something related to the first book other than that it didn't have a soul.

There's a lot of battles and action if you're into that sort of thing you'll enjoy the book, if you're looking for personal attention there isn't much to go on, just bits and pieces here and there.  The author seems to have a theme of good vs. evil but isn't sure what the evil is, is it us or the alien enemy?  This disjointed connection makes the whole book fall apart in my mind.  The people I like in the book seem to battling the system more than the alien enemy.  In my mind common sense tells me that if there are two battling forces who have a common enemy then they should get over the petty differences, join together and fight against their common enemy.  A lot of the novel was very frustrating to me, so much of it seems to be childish squables that should have been settled years ago.  Where is the diplomacy?

The other thing that bothers me is a common problem I see with new authors and old tired authors, where they ramble on and on about something with no real point.  I suspect they do this to fill up pages with words to make the story longer and I am getting bored with page wasters.  If you're going to write a story then write it give us something exciting and interesting to read to blab on and on about something inconsequential just to fill up pages, it's a waste or your time and mine.  I did a lot of skipping ahead in this book especially during the insurrection chapters, good lord Marko went on and on detailing so much mundane action I almost quit reading the book right then.  From the very start of the insurrection I knew what the outcome would be, he gave us enough clues ahead of time to let us know what he believes as a person and what direction is book is going in so the long description was a waste of time.  It might have been more interesting if he had used some diplomacy to show that people can work out a problem by using reason and logic instead of force.  One would hope the given the right circumstances man will see the error of his ways when he is faced with the right information and not have to wait for the punishment of death to see the truth.

This could be a pretty good book with some severe editing, I'm very lukewarm about it and very disappointed over the loss of human connection we had in Terms of Enlistment.  It's more about action than about the people.  I really wanted to continue to feel like I was a witness to the life of our hero instead of a someone reading about some guy in space.

Will I read the next book?  Only if it's on sale for $1.99 or less and then I'm not sure I'd be interested.
2848421
As a civilian providing support to the military in Washington, DC, I have lost many friends and seen countless families devastated by the loss of one of our nation's service members. As such I was looking forward to reading An Unremarried Widow.
However, for several reasons  it was difficult for me to make a connection to Artis Henderson.
In detailing the story of her marriage to an Army helicopter pilot, Ms. Henderson comes across as if everything about the military life, especially the other Army wives, was beneath her. Yet she never took the time to get to know them, to learn what their own educational backgrounds were or what dreams they may have had of their own. Perhaps she was too young to fully understand that marriage is about compromise - military family or not - so she instead blames all of her personal disappointments on the military.

I was also surprised that as a journalist she showed no interest whatsoever in looking into the discrepancies in the official reports of the accident that claimed the life of her husband and another pilot. Most disappointing was her refusal to help the other pilot's widow in her own search to uncover the truth about the fatal incident. Ms. Henderson was in a position to help another widow through her grief yet repeatedly refused.

Another area I could not relate to was Ms. Henderson's seeking out psychics and mediums, both before she met her husband and after his death. Nothing wrong with that but like her husband, I find comfort in my faith so it was not something that made a connection with me.

As another reviewer pointed out, several parts of the story are left unresolved. What did happen to Jimmy and Scott, her husband's fellow soldiers, after she became intimate with them after his death?
Throughout much of the book, Ms. Henderson continually stresses how much of her own dreams she sacrificed to be with her husband, and moving from base to base is never easy. Yet she makes it sound as if she gave up years of her life to do this when in reality it was a matter of months.

There is no doubt Ms. Henderson is a very talented writer and I am grateful to her for sharing the story of her husband and his sacrifice. I especially liked how she paced the book, moving between the present and flashbacks to life with her husband as well as her childhood. With a less talented writer, that would have been too disjointed.

But I wasn't sold on this book. It is fine if you simply want to read about Ms. Henderson but unlike Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking it is not a book I would recommend to help someone else through their grief.
1152354
I guess I'll be the dissenter here.

I thought the book was good, very readable, with good chronological order, which helps young readers make more sense of what they read.  I could identify with the main character, Jamie.  I was a girl during the Vietnam war, I had a father who had been in the military and who thought the war was just.  I idolized my father like Jamie idolizes hers.  The premise of the book was okay--how a young girl feels about the war her brother is fighting in. Overall, it wasn't bad.

However...(you knew that was coming)...the story falls a little flat because of poor character development, lack of depth in the story development and a hugely unsatisfying ending.  It ends so abruptly that I had to look up the author's bio to see if she died before she finished the book.  It was the only explanation I could think of to end the book on such an odd place.

Although Jamie, the main character, spends a lot of time with several of the side characters, we find out little about them.  Yes, soldiers are trained to be stoic, but the story would have been much better if the author would have let us have the tiniest peek behind the stoicism to see honest emotions.  What did her best friend feel when his brother was killed?  What emotions were below the surface when he discovered he was about to be shipped to the war?  What did the other soldiers really think about Jamie's enthusiasm for war in general?  Why didn't the Colonel try harder to prevent his son from enlisting?  Just leaving hints about going to college instead of going to war really seems out of character for a hard-driven man who is used to being obeyed.

The mom almost doesn't exist at all.  She seems to be in the novel simply to give Jamie a two-parent family.  We know nothing about how she felt about her only son enlisting during a time of war.  I know several mothers whose sons have done just that in the last couple years and I can tell you that even the "army wives" don't just go on with business as usual, as Jamie's mother seems to do.  I would have been nice to experience some of the angst she must have felt at the prospect of her only son potentially being killed.

The motif of the moon is totally lost in the story.  There doesn't seem to be any reason at all for TJ to photograph the moon so much. If only we would know WHY the moon is important in this story...

I can guess that Ms. Dowell intends this book to be semiautobiographical?  If only she would have shown us the honest emotions this book begs for, it would have been a supremely wonderful read.  As it is, I have to wonder what the point of the story is.
3521774
Seriously? The hero literally tortures the heroine and a lot of other people. This is not about a wounded warrior. He's seriously messed up from something terrible that happened when he was young and now he's a torturer and drug addict who couldn't function in normal society. Really made me feel like I was reading about a battered woman who magically changes her wounded, misguided man and that makes everything okay.
2318581
This book definitely had it's engaging moments, and the love that Trinity's handler feels for his dog is contagious.
The main plot, however, is not about a military war dog.  It is more about a former Green Beret's quest to find his place in life and his budding romance with a woman he meets along the way.  Trinity is present, but she is not the main character.  There are too many characters in this book with difficult to remember names and I found the constant repetitive thoughts of the characters in the story distracting.  Additionally some times details were missing making the book and action not credible to me.
1488071
Unlike others who have reviewed this book, I will not comment on the professionalism of the shooters portrayed in the book, I am not qualified to do so. Surely, many of them are very brave, skillful marksmen who performed heroic acts. Each chapter focuses on a different marine scout/sniper and his team and some of their experiences in Iraq in 2003-2005. For many, a brief biographical background is also given. It is not clear if the author collected the information from interviewing first-hand witnesses, second hand accounts, after action reports or a combination thereof. But, he was active as a scout/sniper in Iraq during 2004-2005 and may have been personally acquainted with many if not all of them. Unfortunately, the writing style is not interesting or engaging. The dialogue seems to me a bit clich, many of the sentences are just fragments. Mark Bowden in "Black Hawk Down" writes in a style that engages the reader with the intense action the participants experienced; that is not the case with this book. Evan Wright clearly captured the clip, pace and patois of military vernacular and the youth currently serving in the armed forces with his book "Generation Kill"; that is also not the case in this book.
3669916
This book was not only trite and predictable, it feels like it was written by two different people. The nursing situations seemed to be written better than, and just differently from the rest of the story. The story line about what happens after the war is rushed and in one case, somewhat inhumane imho. The author showed little compassion for what was then known as shell shock and I found it off-putting how she just tied everything up with a bow after the troublesome character was no longer a problem. I don't understand why it is called wives of war as no one is really a wife during the war. Maybe it should be called nurses of war? I am a lover of historical fiction, I read for 3-4 hours a night, I read 80-100 books a year and rarely write a negative review. I was prepared to overlook the historical errors, (as I read other reviews prior to reading the book,) I could handle the highly unbelievable parts of the story, (come on, how far fetched was the whole brother thing, not to mention the convent,) but I just couldn't shake how much the lalst half of this book bothered me. I wish I skipped it.
3071706
This was the first book that I've read by this author, and my feelings towards it were lukewarm. I wanted a love story, and this was more of a historical fiction about a Scottish clan with a love story tacked on to it.

First off, the good points. The historical detail was vast and well drawn. I felt like I was really there experiencing what the author was describing. Her prose gave a vivid picture of Scottish clan life during the medieval times, yet it never felt overly wordy, or as if it detracted from the story. This is difficult to do, and I applaud Karyn Monk for being able to do this well.

Also, I often find that books set in the medieval period seem to be very dark and almost devoid of humor. That was not the case in this book. This story had some very funny moments (like when Malcolm is trying to train reluctant poets and artists to become warriors) that had me laughing out loud.

The action and plot was also very well done, and story had a good flow, and the pace was comfortable; interesting, yet not too fast or too slow.

I also liked the idea of a physically imperfect hero. So many romances out there are about people so beautiful that they should be angels. Well, wonderful for them, but don't normal-looking people ever find love? I liked the idea of a tortured hero who will never fully recover, and yet the heroine loves him anyway. I'm so sick of novels about someone who's deaf, or bilnd, or crippled, etc, who just magically recovers. Again, can't someone who has a disability find love too? I really liked that this book tackled this subject, and the author did it well and with delicacy.

My complaints? The romance part of this book was very weak. In 370 pages, it seemed that less than 50 were devoted to the relationship between the hero and the heroine. While I liked the fact that they didn't immediately fall in love (or lust), I felt that the romance aspect of this book was sacrificed for the sake of the plot. The love story was okay, but it didn't make me sigh with happiness or leave me with a warm glow, which is what I want with a romance. When they were seperated, I was not moved very much. A good romance novel usually moves me to tears when the lovers are parted. That didn't happen here.

Also, this book had a secondary romance that had about 5 pages (or less) devoted to it. I kind of felt that the author shouldn't have put the second love story in the book, if she wasn't going to spend any time developing it.

Still, this was an enjoyable read, and I never had to force myself to finish it. If I came across other books by this author, I might try them. Still, if you're looking for really good historical romance that has more focus on the romance, I suggest the works of Jacquie D'Alessandro, LaVryle Spencer, Sabrina Jeffries, Mary Jo Putney, Teresa Medeiros and Catherine Anderson. As for "Once A Warrior", I would recommend borrowing it from the library, as I don't think it's a keeper.
669900
I was expecting more after reading the reviews of this book. It was often repetitive (bordering on tiresome) in it's eagerness to get a point across (Tuesday is the most AMAZING dog you'll ever have the luck to meet). Yes, Tuesday is beautiful and wonderful, but millions of dogs are just as incredible.  The real hero is his trainer, Lu.  She has taught Tuesday how to heal Luis.  His purpose is to do so.  If you like this point of view, read The Art of Racing in the Rain or A Dog's Purpose.  They are simply much better written (but are, or course, fiction).

The author's story, while incredible, was presented in almost a defensive manner, as if he had to convince me that PTSD is real, that his wounds are real, and his need for the service dog and the disability benefits are real.  I found myself saying "I get it!  Please don't repeat it yet again!"  I wish the author had not put so much energy into this objective but had instead spent more time discussing how his treatment and healing is multifactorial and very complicated.  There are other heroes here, ranging from his friends, doctors, family, therapists, priests, and comrades in the military.  Diving into those relationships was much more interesting to me after hearing so much about the dog.

Perhaps my problem with the book was that I had just finished reading Unbroken: A World War II story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.  It was beautifully written and also discussed the cases of PTSD, TBIs and other "hidden" wounds that the veterans had to face when they came home. It acknowledged the lack of treatment we gave those veterans but didn't get on a soapbox about it.  I walked away feeling in awe of that book's protagonist.  I just didn't feel the same way here.
3167890
Over the last several years I have come to greatly admire the work of the War Writers Campaign. http://www.warwriterscampaign.org a nonprofit independent publisher who understands the power of therapy through communications. In my publication of Courage in America: 7 Warriors with Character and through the Character Building Project, I have tried to support their mission of promoting social change surrounding veterans issues through written awareness.

In visiting wounded warriors at Walter Reed Medical Center, Fort Belvoir and other hospitals serving the military, I have met many warriors who have successfully grown after suffering traumatic mental and physical injuries. I cannot think of a one who experienced post-traumatic growth on their own. Almost all have benefited from non-medical advisors (NMAs) as caregivers, usually their spouses. Not enough attention has been paid to the other side of the bed where the support is becoming better understood but their suffering is not.

I recently read, Sleeping With The War, a poetic take on the life after combat written by the wife of a United States Marine. The author, Melissa Comeau shares with her readers a dark undertaking of the lasting effects of war on her husband. Sleeping With The War is a difficult read, particularly for those like my self whose appreciation of poetry is limited to Rudyard Kipling and William Ernest Henley. There are a number of poems that struck a responsive chord in me and brought my wife to tears.

Learn about post-traumatic stress from not just the warrior but from the warriors spouse. Melissa prose brings home her suffering as well as that of her husband. Hopefully, many readers will purchase her book and after reading  pass it on to the wives of warriors who continue to sleep with the war.
4221411
The quote on the cover reads, "One of the very best writers of fantasy around" - Steven Erikson.  A lot of people really love Erikson's writing and with intriguing cover art I thought I'd give it a try.  Unfortunately, Kearney's retelling and spin on a classic Greek tale failed to resonate with me.  This book would be better classified as military fiction than fantasy.  The Ten Thousand takes place in the world of Kuf, which is inhabited by two main groups of people.  These are the Macht (a mountain dwelling race of warriors unparalleled in battle) and the Kufr (a vast land empire comprised of conquered and more civilized peoples).  When Arkamenes, the younger brother of King Ashurnan (current ruler of the Kufr Empire) secretly recruits ten thousand Macht mercenaries and combines them with his own army, he attempts to march straight into the heart of the Empire and overthrow his brother.  As you can well imagine, King Ashurnan doesn't take kindly to this treachery and of course war ensues resulting in unpleasant consequences on both sides.

Note: I have not read Xenophon's "Anabasis" nor have I read Frank Miller's "300" so this review has no bias in those regards.  However, I can easily see how this story is an almost exact retelling of these tales.

Here are my thoughts on Paul Kearney's The Ten Thousand;

Pros

+ A glossary was included at the end of the book detailing gods, weapons and relevant cultural terminology.

+ Decent amount of combat and battles.

+ Had a world map.

Cons

- Majority of the characters are underdeveloped, faceless and ultimately forgettable.  While the characters of Rictus, Gasca and Jason could be considered the main characters of the story, there are other characters who receive about just as much attention as they do and are less important.

- Fantasy elements are virtually non-existent.  I can only recall two fantasy related references within the story.  <Spoiler> One, being the black Cursebearer armour the Macht elite wore and two, the Macht's encounter with the yeti-like Qaf creatures while passing through a mountainous area <Spoiler>.

- Some places mentioned at the beginning of the book are not detailed on the world map.

- Bland and predictable story.

- Clich ending.

Unfortunately, after about the first 100 pages I found the Ten Thousand becoming a struggle to read.  The story didn't captivate me and none of the characters drew me into the book.  Even the somewhat eccentric usurper brother Arkamenes didn't pique my interest.  In the end, I began to contemplate that perhaps non-fantastical military fantasy is just not something I enjoy.  By no means do I need every fantasy I read to be "high fantasy."  This book just seemed to fall short on every level.  Other reviewers appear to have really loved this book.  I started reading another book half way through this one, always a bad sign.  For me it was a real struggle to want to continue reading it and I ended up having to force myself to finish it.
4124873
So Im a big fan of Sarah Robinsons Kavanagh Legends series and it was curiosity that had me picking up Not a Hero. It was definitely something different. The story is about Miles Kydd, a Marine trying to adjust to civilian life after spending years in a war zone. When he comes home Miles feels less like himself but he stays because his father has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Miles meets his fathers nurse Zoe Banks and theres a lot of serious undercurrents between the two, but with the war still fresh in Miles mind he doesnt think theres any hope for him and Zoe to have anything permanent.

I think Not a Hero is the most emotional read Ive had all year. Miles and Zoe really had to fight hard for that happy ending and it was not easy. Miles, along with his lifelong best friend Tobin experienced all the horrors of war and both struggle to adjust to home life again. Sarah Robinson didn't shy away from showing Miles in a less than heroic light and thats what made the story a bit more realistic for me. Miles didn't always look like a good guy. Sometimes he said and did things with the right intentions but the execution was less than heroic. Still, it cannot be overlooked that this was a war hero with severe PTSD who wasn't seeking treatment.

Zoe was the light to Miles dark. She was the one who brought the softer emotions out in him while still giving him the butt kicking he needed to get his crap together. I liked her because she had a terrible thing happen to her in the past but she still managed to get back on her feet and move forward. Im glad that Robinson gave Zoe the personality that she had. If Zoe had had a more dire personality like Miles Not a Hero would have been too much of a depressing story. Zoe represented hope and happiness and balanced out the seriousness of the overall story.

What was interesting about Miles and Zoes relationship was that it was in some ways tainted by Miles time in the Marines, and a bit by Zoes past. Both things made the relationship difficult for the characters, there was a lot of back and forth and while that normally bothers me because I don't like a huge amount of drama, with these characters it made a lot of sense and the author kept the relationship from becoming a joke or worse, a bore. There was plenty of attraction between Miles and Zoe but also a lot of respect between them. I did enjoy their romance, even when it was almost at a standstill.

There was so much heart in Not a Hero and I could go on and on about it but I want readers to discover it for themselves. I will say that you might need a tissue for this one because Miles journey isn't an easy one and his father is one of those secondary characters that is unforgettable. Along for the ride is Tobin, Miles best friend who has his own demons to face. I really hope he gets his own story soon.

Final Verdict: Not a Hero manages to be a real without killing the joy that comes with a happy ending. Definitely an emotional read but well worth the tears. I do need to mention that some readers might be bothered by some of the sensitive subjects that are dealt with in the plot like the murder of an unborn child, a child being killed in a war zone and general PTSD episodes.

* A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for the purpose of an honest review. All conclusions are my own responsibility and I was not compensated for this review.
738120
The story is reasonably good, but something just isn't right.  Perhaps it the rather stilted language used at times, things one would hear in a B war movie.  And, it's clear that the author never served in the military, or at least never served in the Marine Corp or Navy. The traditions of the Navy and Marine Corp are the result of centuries of development harking back to the days of sailing ships.  He constantly violates those traditions by having Marines saluting where it's not proper and replying to orders with "yes sir" instead of "Aye Aye Sir". There is a place for each. Some feeling of caring is missing from the book.  I really felt no connection to the main characters, they were just kind of stick figures.  The thoughts expressed by the characters just don't line up with what I know about the military mindset.  And, all this concern about civilians when you're fighting a war for survival? I don't think so.  A company of battle ready soldiers or Marines are far more valuable than hundreds of civilians. No general would sacrifice his combat troops to save civilians in a terribly desperate situation as depicted in the book. The first priority would be to win the war. Everything else is secondary. It's probably worth the read, even though I had a hard time with it. If you have no military background you might enjoy it more than I did.
1675903
Yes, I am also guilty of buying this book based on the cover (which is lovely) and the description on the back (which makes it seem like a horse based fantasy novel). So I was also disappointed when I started reading a totally different novel from the one the blurb describes. However, that's not my main problem with the book.

I found the characters to be very unrealistic in their reactions to the various situations they find themselves in. Both main characters fall into a different world, and their reactions are non-existent - as though this happens to them every day. One person gets dragged to jail, and seems very nonchalant about it. Another young character has a favorite animal die, and is hardly moved by it. I found it very jarring to be having more of a reaction than the characters at most every turn.

Finally, though the plot is intricate, this is more of a war story than anything else. Though I'm an avid fantasy reader, this one seemed to dwell on the moment to moment aspects of war, rather than on the plot or character development. While the descriptions were great, and seemed realistic, I don't have the patience to read hundreds of pages of strategy.
2066003
I normally enjoy Rachel Gibson books so I was excited to see she wrote a book about a former SEAL, but the hero didn't come across as a real SEAL.  He whined too much and didn't treat her respectfully.  There was nothing to like about him.  I felt like she made him a SEAL as an afterthought.
I like Gibson's writing but I think  she should avoid military heroes.