Jen’s review of Her Special Forces by Sophia Roslyn
Retired Marine Viper helo pilot and ground cover expert, Kacey O’Donnell is called out of retirement for a special assignment: to assist in extracting the kidnapped daughter of a U.S. Senator, after an FBI team is betrayed and taken out.
Former SEAL hero Nathan Weatherly looks forward to his new job as Deputy Sheriff in the small, quiet Normal Rockwell town where Kacey grew up. The former lovers have a history she has no desire to revisit, and a dark secret she refuses to share.
With a young girl’s life at stake, Kacey helps pull Nathan’s team together for one last assignment. But, she finds it next to impossible to work with Nathan again—especially when she knows he wants so much more, and she has so much to hide.
You ever read a book where one scene ruins the entire experience for you? That’s what happened to me with Her Special Forces.
Kacey O’Donnell is a recently retired helo pilot who’s come back to live in the small New Hampshire town where she grew up. She had a burgeoning relationship with SEAL Nathan Weatherly while in Afghanistan, but after an operation gone wrong coupled with a personal tragedy back home, she left the Marines and Nathan without so much as a goodbye. Now, Nathan is retired as well, and he’s come to New Hampshire to find Kacey. She’s an emotional and physical mess, and despite their attraction, pushes Nathan away as hard as she can. When they need to get back together with Nathan’s SEAL team to help rescue a kidnapped girl, it pushes the two together even more, but it also exposes how far Kacey has really broken down.
Kacey is a frustrating character, though I cut her some slack because she clearly is suffering from major PTSD. She’s stubborn, confused, and just plain mean much of the time. Having a genuine mental health problem isn’t pretty. Her behavior is hard to read, but I could at least respect the attempt at realism. (I have limited knowledge of PTSD though, so someone with more expertise may have a different perspective.)
Nathan too is awfully frustrating, and I had a harder time cutting him slack. Yes, he’s extremely sweet to Kacey sometimes, like when he tries to make sure she’s eating, when he bathes her, etc. But then he’ll get mad at her unwillingness to get help and will storm off saying he’s done. Of course, later he’s back to repeat the cycle again and again. If you don’t think you can handle Kacey’s problems, go. Otherwise, sticking around requires more patience, buddy.
Right from the start, I wasn’t particularly enjoying the book. The plot doesn’t make much sense. The dialogue is a bit stilted, and there are copious amounts of sex scenes that weren’t particularly sexy. And then something happened that just completely ruined any last shred of interest I had in the book.
About two thirds of the way through the book, Kacey and Nathan are once again fighting because Nathan loves her and wants to get closer and Kacey wants to push him away. She lashes out by suggesting there’s no relationship, just sex. This breaks Nathan’s heart, so he suggests they just fuck now then, if that’s all they are. Kacey calls his bluff and they both start stripping down, and an erect Nathan starts grinding on her in a threatening, icky, angry way. That’s when it gets really, really ugly.
Omigod, he’s going to do it. He’s really going to do it. How could he want her like that? Eyes squeezed tightly so she couldn’t see the anger, the pain in his face, the tears came, and a tiny whimper escaped, nearly unheard. She’d pushed him too far–he was going to do it. Will it hurt? Was he angry enough to hurt her? A roiling part of her brain almost hoped so, hoped the pain would assuage her guilt. She deserved it, and the agony he could inflict for what she was doing to him. [emphasis in the original]
OMIGOD is right. I could almost see this as just an ugly part of Kacey’s brain except for the fact that Nathan has an erection and is pinning her down, despite the uncertainty and fear Kacey starts expressing to him right before this excerpt. Eventually, Nathan pulls back and leaves the room before he actually rapes her. (And yes, when a woman isn’t consenting it IS rape.) We don’t get Nathan’s perspective in this scene, but he gives no indication through his actions that he’s not considering raping Kacey. At best, he intentionally made the supposed love of his life, who is suffering from a severe mental problem, feel threatened and believe he was going to rape her. Fuck that shit. Nothing about Nathan’s actions are heroic, respectful, loving, or even remotely acceptable.
I honestly don’t know why I even bothered to read the rest of the book. (Full disclosure: I did skim some parts, though I still feel comfortable that I read what was important.) I suppose it was just that I wanted to give the book a grade and didn’t feel right about doing that if I didn’t really read it. If I could exclude the near rape, I might give the book a 2 out of 5, but I can’t exclude it or overlook it.
Grade: 1 out of 5
This book is available from Entangled Publishing. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.