While sometimes the protestations are a little overdone, and the jusification of the US presence in Afganistan was a bit obvious, overall this came across as pretty realistic story of two medics falling in love.

Luke Collier is a marine corp combat medic and his life takes an unexpected twist when he's told that a female medic is going to join their corps. Megan Trayhorn is determined to prove that she can cut it as a frontline medic and help with building bridges with the locals, alongside trying to resist the temptation that is Luke.

It's not a bad read, I enjoyed it and I'm pretty sure it's as realistic as it can be, Lindsay McKenna's own experiences I'm sure fed the story quite well. ( )

I love Lindsay McKenna's military romances and this was another top notch book. Megan is a Trayhern, and as such has followed in the family tradition of military service. She is also a healer and nurturer so she chose to train as a nurse and become a combat medic. She is part of a group that assigns women to combat units so that they can interact with Afghan women who are forbidden to speak to men who are not family members. Her presence also makes things safer for the men of the unit. When she is sent to a Marine unit on the Afghan border she is assigned to the current medic for training and support. Luke is thrilled to have Megan there because he sees the need in the local village. He doesn't expect an immediate attraction to her. They fight their growing feelings but it is a losing battle. I really loved both Megan and Luke. Megan knew her strengths and weaknesses. She had great empathy with the women of the village and was able to jump in an help immediately. She had a wonderful ability to keep calm in a crisis which helped her a lot. Luke was experienced as a combat medic and was able to give Megan a lot of great advice. The story also did a wonderful job of showing what life is like for the villagers. The explanations of the relationships between the villagers and the troops and how they had to work with culture differences were well done. The action was fantastic from the attacks on the base to Megan's kidnapping. I loved seeing Megan stand up for her patient and face down the woman's husband. I really liked seeing the way that Megan and Luke took their developing relationship slowly and tried hard to keep it out of their working relationship. I also loved the character of Mina, the head man's wife. She was the perfect liaison between Megan and the Americans and her husband. She was terrific at explaining to Megan the way things were from the women's point of view. I loved seeing Emma and Khalid again. I also look forward to seeing more of the Turkish woman pilot - I expect she will have her own story before too long. I was also excited to see that throughout the book Marine and Marine Corps were properly capitalized (a pet peeve of mine). Maybe the editors at Harlequin finally understand how it is supposed to be done! ( )

Beyond Valor by Lindsay McKenna
5 STARS

Beyond Valor is a new series of books that starts off from a old series from Lindsay,
Morgan's Mercenaries. Megan Trayhern is a trained nurse and medic. Her father is Noah Trayhern a retired Coast Guard officer.
Megan has kind of followed her family's tradition of serving in the armed forces. She could have been a Officer but chose to be in the field helping. Megan is sent into Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. Megan as a women can go into the nearby village and treat the women and young children. They could not recieve medical help from men.
She is made welcome by the Afghanistan chief's wife. Given 4 widows to make a clinic and help her.
Her commanding officer is not thrilled to have a women in his combat unit. They only have one medic where they need at least 3. He assigns Luke Collier, A marine corps combat medic to be in charge of her. Luke is excited about this trial program because he sees the need for women to help the other women when they need it.
Luke and Megan are drawn to each other right away but they both fight it. While they are equal in rank they can be quartmashelled if they have a relationship.
This novel is full of action and drama, strong characters, explains pretty good the life the Afghans villagers must face with different factions willing to kill anyone who does not belive like them. Some of the things that we take for granted they have to fight for. I was drawn into the story and did not want to put the book down till I had finshed it.
Thier is one love scene in the book.
I enjoy reading Lindsay McKenna's work and look forward to reading more of it in the future. I wish I new where I put the Morgan Mercenaries novels that I have in a box some where.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review from Netgalley.
01/22/2013 PUB Harlequin Imprint Harlequin Romantic Suspense 288 pages ISBN-10: 0373278098 ( )