Velva Jean Learns to Fly

I never would have picked this book up on my own. I would have turned it down for review if it were offered. But it wasn't. It just came one day and I always at least try to read the books that come. Because I knew if this one sat on my shelf for long I would start to dread even trying to read it, I picked it up immediately. I figured I'd get bored and I would send it on to my mom to read and review instead. So I was shocked when I was immediately sucked into the story and how much I came to love Velva Jean Hart and her determination in all the things she set her heart on doing. This book touched me in so many ways and it had me laughing, crying, and incredibly angry at some of the things and people she had to deal with. My emotions show more were all over the place, but I was definitely feeling this book.

I fell in love with Velva Jean. I think she's a person that we would all love to be. Even though she was afraid she still stuck with her determination in whatever she set her heart out to do. She left her safe sanctuary of a home in the NC mountains and took off to sing in the Opry in Nashville. She worked to get herself there and did everything she could possibly do, but when it didn't work out and the war came about she found her love of flying. And yes, she was afraid to get in that airplane, but her brother pushed her and once she was in the air she realized she wanted to fly that thing. And she did. She took lessons and eventually went off to school and in the end she flew pretty much every sort of plane the US military flew. And some that many men in the military wouldn't even fly. She dealt with prejudice and sabotage and watched friends die in planes, and even had some bad situations herself, but she stuck with it. And I couldn't admire her more. She had every sort of obstacle there could possibly be, but Velva Jean Hart, with her big heart, her voice of an angel and her resolve of steel, did what she felt she had to do.

Maybe now your thinking that yeah, Velva Jean might be a great character, but the whole flying thing... it just sounds boring. Well, maybe it would be boring for you. I grew up flying in a small airplane, my grandfather had one and he flew from farm to farm selling livestock feed to farmers and I went with him a few times and I know the feeling of being in a small plane, but I never flew one and I never had the strong urge to. In Velva Jean Learns to Fly we get some details of flying, but there were no long descriptions and everything just seemed to go so fast. Seriously, with all that happened in this book I would think it would be some 2,000 page book and not 416. So everything that happened wasn't real lengthy which kept the pace of the book up. And it's not all about her flying. It has so much more about her life, and even some romance which I actually loved (like loved, loved, loved). And while everything wasn't all rainbows and unicorns, it was a book that really made me feel. I felt the love, the hate, the pain, the anger... I felt so much that it hurt. But it was perfect.

I did not read Velva Jean Learns to Drive and this book stood just fine on it's own. But at times I was really wishing I had because I think I would have understood things just a bit more. Things happened in her past that haunt her a bit and while I got the gist of much of it, it would have been nice to know just a bit more. I'll definitely pick it up in the future because Velva Jean has become a favorite character of mine. I really hope the author continues Velva Jeans story, I don't think it's quite finished yet. But she didn't leave it with a cliffhanger or anything. It kind of felt like the perfect ending, but yet I still wish for more.

I very highly recommend this book. I'm glad that I stepped out of my normal comfort zone and tried something different. It ended up being the perfect book and it made me realize that sometimes we really don't know what we'll like until we try it. Also, I think this book is considered adult but it would definitely work as a YA. Velva Jean is on her own and has gone through much more then most girls of 19, but it would still be a book appropriate and appreciated by girls of any age. show less

Nineteen-year-old Velva Jean Hart has had enough of her life in the North Carolina mountains with her husband, Harley Bright. So, like every good 1940s housewife, she sets off on her own - in the truck she learned to drive in the previous book - for Nashville, where she hopes to start her singing career with the Grand Ole Opry. Once in Tennessee, however, she finds that it's full of people wanting record deals and contracts. Losing hope in finding musical opportunities, Velva Jean turns her dreams from singing to flying and heads off to Texas to join the group that will become the Women's Airforce Service Pilots as the second World War catches hold of the country.

Though this is the sequel to another novel, Velva Jean Learns to Fly can show more be read without having read the first book. I faced some confusion as to minor characters from Velva Jean's hometown and family but for the most part had no problem jumping in on Velva Jean's story in the middle. The first half of the book is rather unexciting, but it's rarely boring. After all, not all of history was a thrilling adventure. The second half of the novel picks up more as Velva Jean begins her training and eventually goes to Camp Davis in North Carolina. For me, seeing the prejudices and trials that the first female pilots faced there was the most interesting part of the book. I also found it surprising that, after completing months of training and courses, the WASPs were relegated to such tasks as flying fabric targets for soldiers to practice shooting at. With live bullets. That would hit the actual airplanes.

Niven has also done her research on the female pilot programs of World War Two. Her writing contains descriptions of the planes flown during the time and how to control them, as well as details on military life down to what the women were given as uniforms. I did a little research on my own and found that some of the incidents Velva Jean hears of or experiences happened in real life and were recorded by the real WASPs at Camp Davis. Knowing that historical fiction is drawn from actual experiences lends even more credence to authors as they draw readers into the lives of fictional characters such as Velva Jean. The end result: Niven has written a convincing portrait of a not-so-ordinary young woman as she tries to find her place in the world as it's in the midst of near-chaos. show less

First of all, I didn't read the first one, Velva Jean Learns to Drive. There was nothing in a premise about a girl learning to drive a truck and sing in the Grand Ole Opry that appealed to me. However, I must read any women in aviation book I can get my hands on, especially concerning the WASP, the Women Air Service Pilots. So I got my hands on this one thanks to LibraryThing and despite the fact I didn't know much about Johnny Clay, Harley, or the history of Velva Jean, I loved it.

The book begins with a Velva Jean driving her yellow truck away from her husband and family. She don't like being tied down. She's not cut out to be a preacher's wife... she has dreams that extend beyond her little town. She's gonna make it big in Nashville show more and sing. She thinks, however, that a business card given to her long ago is gonna lead to fame and fortune, but the entire city of Nashville is filled with wanna be country singers... Velva Jean doesn't make it big, but she makes some terrific friends while trying to.

And then thanks to her brother is going to be a paratrooper and head off to war, she learns to fly and her dreams of being a singer are replaced for the moment with dreams of being a pilot. And she joins the WASP despite the fact she never made it past 8th grade and is only 19 years old. She excells, she flys to Mexico for a quickie divorce, she finds love again only to lose it, she makes friends and watches them die... and she sings the entire time even if there is no one there to hear her.

Velva Jean is a remarkable character. She has thoughts that make me stop and think myself.. and ponder things I've never pondered before. Like the blues....

"Right now I had the kind (of blues) he (Daddy Hoyt) called the Gentle and Wholesome Blues-not the type, like the Mean Devil Blues, that made you kick the door or break someone's window. The Gentle ones were quieter, but they were just about the worst kind because they sat around you and on you and in you, just like a headache or a bad winter cold, and wouldn't leave you alone."

Or being told you can't do something...

"If there was one thing I hated in this world, it was folks who told you that you couldn't do something. That was worse than being told you shouldn't do it. I knew she meant well, but a person had to believe in herself even when no one else did."

The baggage we carry...

"The more things that happened to me, the more I thought it was like carrying a suitcase-you kept adding things to it.........You just started adding these things to your suitcase until the case got heavier. You still had to carry it around wherever you went, and even if you set it down for a while you still had to pick it up again because it belonged to you and so did everything inside it."

I felt myself growing up with Velva Jean. I only have quibble, but not a big enough quibble to take away a single star. Velva Jean ends up on the cover of Life magazine. Though I know this is historical fiction, I felt this was kinda wrong cause every WASP fan knows that Shirley Slade was on the cover of that magazine and I kinda felt that putting VJ in her spot wasn't right. It's not Velva Jean's accomplishment, but Shirley Slade's. show less

I just loved this book. I wish I had had a chance to read it's predecessor, 'Velva Jean Learns to Drive' but the author does a great job of filling in the blanks regarding our heroine Velva Jeans history before we meet her in her new adventures. Velva Jean is a lovable, likeable and believable character who grows from a backwoods country girl bride to a woman with amazing talents. She has come of age and she knows what she wants and will not stop until she gets it. And she can sing! The description of her training as a pilot rang very true to me. I have taken ground school and been around many airplanes as my husband and I own a flight school, we have taken many cross country trips in our own plane. The author did a fantastic job of show more sharing what it must have been like for these young women training as pilots during WWII. They were harassed and some of their planes were sabotaged by some of the jealous male pilots in training at the same base. Unbelievable to think that that was what was happening - but I know it was true as I've read about it elsewhere.

Velva jean Learns to fly is a bit funny, a bit sad, historically accurate (as far as I could tell) and thought provoking. I look forward to the next adventures of Velva Jean Hart. I highly recommend this novel. show less

This book is the sequel to ‘Velva Jean Loves to Drive’. But it works very well as a standalone. I enjoyed this book but thought it just a tad too long at the beginning.

What I loved the most was the main character, Velva Jean. She grew up in a very isolated area in the North Carolina Mountains. At the beginning of the book, she decides to leave her husband, Harley Bright and go to Nashville, Tennessee to become a Grand Old Opry singer.

Velva Jean is so full of spunk, ambition and heart; it would be very difficult to not love her. She knew that she could accomplish her dream because she had taught herself to drive! I can’t imagine doing that. I took driving class in junior high with a football coach who scared any confidence that I show more had at the beginning, later after several private teachers, I learned to dream. So Velva Jean is very different from me when it comes to mechanical things. But I could see myself in her can do attitude and that really bonded me to her.

When she hits Nashville in her old yellow truck, she is shocked that you just can walk into a studio and become a singer. The opening of this book was in the pre-war 1940s, so competition in Nashville was already fierce.

Velva Jean had a very close relationship with her brother, Johnny Clay. So when he chooses to be a paratrooper, he introduces her to a flight instructor. Then she falls in love with flying. I have never flown an airplane. I have always been attracted to books about women pilots, Jackie Cochrane, and other early women pilots and so I have a pretty good idea about the accuracy of Jennifer Niven’s book when it comes to real events and the real characters in this book.

When Velva Jean decides flying is her dream, she joins the WASPs (Women’s Air force Pilots). Women were only accepted as civilians not as a genuine part of the Armed Forces during that time. There was a lot of prejudice against women as pilots. The incidents in the book actually are a true part of history.

This book reminded me a lot of Forrest Gump. Velva Jean was a fictional character placed in places and situations that really happened and with real people of the past. There are many more characters in the book but I think that is for you to discover. There is some romance, some family, and some dangerous situations. I am sure that this book will not let you down. Now I am a fan of Jennifer Niven and plan to read ‘Velva Jean Learns to Drive’. show less

As a true fan of southern women protagonists, I looked forward to receiving Velva Jean Learns To Fly by Jennifer Niven. I haven't read her first book, Velva Jean Learns To Drive, but this one works just fine as a standalone book anyway. Velva Jean is an interesting mix of innocence and brazenness that I think personifies southern women - then and now. I really enjoyed learning about women in the armed services during World War II, way more than I thought I would.

I found Velva Jean's voice a bit inconsistent which was a little distracting, but in the end, she's a very engaging character and the story overcame that technicality. Highly recommended.

Velva Jean is one of the best characters written in a long time. Although I liked Velva Jean Learns to Drive a bit better, this is still a great story. Velva Jean is now in her early 20's and she has left her Appalachian home to move to Nashville. VJ soon learns she has a love of flying and joins the WASPS. Niven has done her research, her depiction of the WASPS in WWII is accurate. I love that Johnny Clay, VJ's brother, is brought back in this novel; I enjoy his character. VJ also meets many other characters that you want to read about and get to know. VJ is truly a wonderful character, full of wit, wisdom, spark and sass. Hopefully we will continure to grow with Velva Jean. It would be great to follow her through her life and adventures.