Generally speaking I don't think you NEED to read Special Forces to get this one. What you miss is mostly the forming of a sexual relationship between our MC - ex-Marine Matthew Donahue "Matt" and Delta Force Hubert Bozic "Hooch", both being "acquaintances" of Dan and later on Vadim (the two MC in Special Forces). Yet along the plot of Vadim and Dan, both Matt and Hooch appear and it's obvious that something more is going between them especially after Hooch is being captured and badly injured.
The Prologue of this book takes us back to Hooch's capture (if memory serves me right, it's exactly the same as was portrayed in Special Forces) and from then on, there is almost no mention of Dan and Vadim even though they supposedly do meet occasionally during the course of time we read about. I think it was better this way, not enacting same scenes even if from a different POVs. This book simply stands on it's own.
This book was impossible to put down, though I did have to do that occasionally.. you know how it is when life keeps interfering with my reading.. The interaction between Hooch and and Matt was something to behold. It started out as something that Hooch did to "pass the time" (back when they met in the gulf) yet when the book concludes it's almost impossible to comprehend the change both in the man and the relationship he and Matt build together.
When Matt and Hooch met for the first time in 1991 Matt was 21 and Hooch 31, the story comes to a close 20 years later on 2011 with Hooch 51 and Matt 41 - they have been living together for the past 13 years (round where the book starts at 1998). I can't say that their love story was as EPIC as Dan and Vadim's but I guess no couple can top those two.. :) Yet it was an amazing ride that even though was somewhat out of my comfort zone was well worth it.
Round half of the book is about Matt and Hooch building their relationship. It's not easy, mainly because Hooch is a very difficult guy and I guess that's part of what made their relationship so interesting to watch. About half way through the book there is a very big change from a more "normal" relationship, having it's problems - to a hard core BDSM relationship. Though it's not usually my "forte" I really could understand the changes in the relationship between them, why it happened from both their sides and the progression truly made sense to me which I can't say about a lot of books with a BDSM theme to them. It was kinky, kinky as HELL! Yet even though it's not something I'm comfortable with usually, it was actually quite fascinating mostly because it all made sense and wasn't just about the kink, it was about a need that I might not get personally but could somehow understand that is exactly what a masochist like Hooch needed.
Yep, Recommended! :)
Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 328 pages, 6-7 March 2015 / On GoodReads
ABOUT THIS SERIES
Special Forces by Aleksandr Voinov (Vashtan) & Marquesate is a MM Romance series telling the EPIC love story of Scottish SAS soldier Dan McFadyen and Soviet Spetsnaz soldier Vadim Petrovich Krasnorada. It was published on the authors' websites as a free novel in parts between July 2006 - April 2009 and can still be found on Marquesate's website (as HTML), Aleksandr decided to remove it from his website awhile ago. [
If you're interested in the second and third part in MOBI format please
contact me. I made MOBI files from the HTML published on Marquesate's
website. ]
The reality of these two men is dark, brutal, fueled by aggression and insane lust. Steeped in pain and killing, with death as their shoulder companion, these Special Forces soldiers meet in 1980. Their intense hatred caused by rape, revenge and torture turning into fucked-up lust and years of secret encounters in the rat-infested labyrinth of Kabul and the Afghan mountains. Time, despair and desolation smoothing down the sharpness of hatred, its venom drained with each physical encounter, the lust helping to form an understanding that only two men of the same kind can share. Enemy Mine and Brothers in Arms - on two different sides.
I truly feel like I have nothing more to add to what the authors themselves have to say about this series so I'll try and sum up my feelings - This is an EPIC love story between two enemies that started with hating each other and became inseparable. 25 years of so much heart ache I sometimes wonder how I went through it all. This series changes everything I think about romance, gay or hetero, it doesn't matter. What Dan and Vadim went through in the 25 years we are part of their lives put me out of my comfort zone too many times to count, right from the first chapter to the very ending which was beautiful and naturally left me with tears as too many scenes did (not something that happens to me very often..).
Dan and Vadim aren't perfect, they are human and not that good or nice about a lot of things they do in the time we get to know them. I started off hating Vadim with a vengeance and generally disliking Dan yet somewhere along the line I fell for them both and wanted to see them truly happy together and it took quite a lot of time to get there through any torture possible.
It was an EPIC ride. I truly felt changed when I finished reading it. Though I can't say that the series was perfect, it was out of this world amazing. My main issue with the series is there were, at times, too many sex scenes that in my personal opinion just made the story drag for no apparent reason, yet I don't begrudge the series for it.
The first book in the series is the most viewed post on my blog strangely enough. Though I don't take back anything *I* wrote about this series, Aleksandr has said many times he disliked these as they were written in a darker period in his life and is very different from what he writes today and the general place he is on at the moment. He also said he was dabbling with writing more darker erotica (this book has it all..). While I didn't always like this fact, I liked the overall arc so much I just skipped those scenes. Yeah it means I skipped quite a lot in the second part but again, I was more invested in where all these experiences took Dan and Vadim and not specifically being "there" with them throughout it all. I don't think I'll even get to re-read this series as it's VERY long, and somewhat similar to Aleksandr I feel like I'm in a different place at the moment as well so reading something SO dark isn't a current fit for me. Yet still it doesn't change the strong feelings I was left with when I read these. They are still meaningful as they were back then when I read them.
There are two more spin-off novels written separately by these authors.
Deliverance by Marquesate and T.A. Brown (27 February 2012) ★★★★★
Tells the story of ex-Marine
Matthew Donahue "Matt" and Delta Force Hubert Bozic "Hooch" whom we met
in the second installment of Special Forces, both being friends with
Dan and later on Vadim having a close relationship with Hooch.
Gold Digger by Aleksandr Voinov (15 September 2012) ★★★★
Tells
the story of Vadim's son - Nikolai Petrovich Krasnorada findig his HEA in Henri LeBeau. There was a sort of resemblance to
the unlikely circumstances Vadim met Dan. We got to see Vadim again and
see him as a father, a real father who talks to his son and gives him
advice when needed which was beyond beautiful.
Special Forces #1 - Soldiers (1980-1989) ★★★★★
Special Forces #2 - Mercenaries Part One {Chapters 20-35} (1989-1992) ★★★★½
Mercenaries Part Two {Chapters 36-53} (1992-1993) ★★★¾
Special Forces #3 - Veterans (1994-2006) ★★★★
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