The problem of non-military people writing "military romance" is they fetishize "military" without doing research on what would really happen in real military situations. While the scenario initially sounded rather romantic, the book soon fell to WTF comical alternate reality that made the book impossible to read with any seriousness. And if you leave out the "military" out of this book, what you got left is just a bunch of sex scenes.
SPOILER AHEAD
To recap, Corporal Watson hadn't seen any female in 4 months, so when he sets his eyes on Ariana, a reporter in Afghanistan, alongside a couple aid workers they're supposed to evacuate, let's just say he was barely able to control himself. When their vehicle was disabled, Corporal and his squad chose to separate and make it to friendly lines separately (heh?) and on their way, Watson and Ariana had sexy times in an abandoned building, must be the adrenaline rush. They trek through the countryside alone, finding no support, dodging "bad guys", him doing his macho things killing bad guys to get away. Then he made a mistake and she was taken prisoner. He finally got to friendly lines alone, finding he was the only one who lost the civilian, but fortunately, his unit was called to conduct a rescue, and he stumbled in the dark, got grazed by a bullet, and found her tied to a chair. He pulled her out and saved her. The end.
Problems are so numerous here the book was just laughable
1) Only special forces are deployed in small teams. To send 6 regular army guys out (less than half a platoon) to both secure civilians in potentially hostile territory and to possibly fight their way out? Utter madness. It should have been several trucks worth, maybe two platoon's worth at least, plus other attached units and maybe drone overwatch.
2) Separate? Make their way alone into the countryside, and somehow THAT is not dangerous? This is counter to every military principle. Separate only when you need to fade into the country side, not with a civilian in tow. It's called evade and escape. One does not do that with civilians.
3) Afghanis are portrayed as generic enemy. Why would they bother kidnapping a female reporter any way if not to desecrate her? Do they even know she's a reporter?
4) If it's really a hostage rescue, regular troops would not be involved. Delta or SEALs would be called in to do it.
5) Watson was literally stumbling in the dark in the final battle, feeling around walls, and stumbled into a room where she wasn't even guarded, merely bound. That's really professional, bro.
The book is about as military as plastic toy soldiers. It was a total joke. Only civilians with absolutely ZERO understanding of the military could have written something that had this much utter disregard of reality. I am NOT expected Tom Clancy level of detail, but this is ridiculously hilarious.
Category: Military / Romantic Suspense
Primary Plot: Squad leader had to get the civilian reporter to friendly lines against a whole country of hostiles...
Tropes: protector, woman in peril, kidnapping
Overall Rating: 1/5
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