Beyond the Limit

He’s not happy with his team’s top-secret mission, training the first female SEALs and Griffin Caldwell is determined to prove that his former beauty queen trainee doesn’t have what it takes to join the world’s most elite warrior’s club. Navy media officer Sherri Tate has been given the opportunity to achieve her dream of becoming a SEAL and she won’t let anything stand in her way, not even her sexy, arrogant trainer. The first book in the Valkyrie Ops series is a surprisingly powerful read. The characters are strong, bold and take no enemies in their quest to achieve their goals, exactly what you expect from a SEAL right… But the chemistry between these two is off the charts magnetic and has sparks flying in every direction. The relationship off course has a couple of major snags that just may prove to be impossible to overcome, the trainee and trainer relationship and the fact that Griffin doesn’t think females belong in the SEALs, so this keeps lots of emotional turbulence flowing from the pages even as the passion is building to volcanic proportions. But this fast paced plot is more than a just a romance, this story is about something that the majority of the world feels is impossible… a female becoming a SEAL. The author builds the suspense of the achievement throughout the story and the story pulls readers in ensuring that readers become completely engaged in the lives of these characters as the author has portrayed it in an informative with lots of details to make it realistic and yet not so many to make it boring or overdone. The story also has several twist that adds danger and excitement to the story so, there is no way for a readers to lose interest in this powerfully explosive and emotionally gripping read.

BEYOND THE LIMIT is the first instalment in Cindy Dee’s contemporary, adult VALKYRIE OPS romantic, military suspense series focusing on female SEALs. This is Lieutenant Sherri Tate, and Navy SEAL Griffin Caldwell’s story line. Told from dual third person perspectives (Sherri and Griffin) BEYOND THE LIMIT follows the rigorous and arduous training as Sherri Tate, and two other women warrior’s attempt to pass the BUD/S training for the US Navy SEALs. Sherri Tate is a media officer for the Navy, and is hoping to become the first female SEAL in US history but the fight to the top is harder than expected. From the outset our heroine is targeted by the people in charge, people who struggle with women in the US Navy SEALs. Enter SEAL and Reaper Team member Griffin Caldwell, the man with whom Sherri will fall in love. What ensues is the forbidden and secret relationship and romance between Sherri and Griffin, and the potential fall-out when SEAL Team Reaper walks into an ambush, and Sherri becomes collateral damage in an international war with the US Navy. Griffin Caldwell’s career as an active member of Team Reaper has been side lined by potential career ending injury. Assigned to the SEAL training division our hero will come face to face with former pageant queen Sherri Tate, a woman who stirs something deep within our story line heroine. Not everyone is happy to see women vying for a position with the US Navy SEALs, and Sherri, for all her determination and guts is targeted on more than one occasion. The relationship between Sherri and Griffin is one of immediate attraction but Griffin battles between head and heart believing women in the Navy SEALs is a mistake and a disaster waiting to happen. Griffin is not the only man who believes this to be true, as our heroine will discover as she struggles her way to the top of the class. Having to hide their relationship and keep secret their love, our couple battle to remain stoic in the face of potential danger and loss of their jobs. The $ex scenes are intimate, passionate and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including two other candidates for US Navy SEAL: Lily VanDyke and Anna Marlow; Commander Calvin Kettering, as well as several members of Griffin’s Reaper SEAL Team: Kenny, Trevor, Axe, Sam and Jojo; and a number of recruits vying for one of the few remaining BUD/S training positions. BEYOND THE LIMIT is a detailed story of discrimination and determination; of betrayal and revenge; of love, lust and happily ever after. The author, a pilot in the US Air Force, uses her knowledge and experience to bring the story and her characters to life. The premise is engaging and intriguing; the romance is seductive and steamy; the characters are strong, determined and energetic.

If you watched GI Jane and liked the movie you will love this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are several women trying out for seals, besides the expected issue with "politics" and Seals who say no place for women this was really well done. A tad to much hot sex for me, (yes I know its personal preference) it seemed a bit much while they were supposed to be training and learning. I actually had a tear at one point (no spoiler) and it left me with the question of the future. I want to hear more about Tate and Griffin, how they juggle and all that transpires. Since his is book 1, am guessing the rest of the series will be with the other members. Hoping that these two pop up ! Thank you Cindy Dees, Thank you Sourcebooks Casablanca and thank you Net Galley! All thoughts and opinions are my own and were unsolicited.