Reviewed by Sarina

TITLE: Latakia

AUTHOR: J.F. Smith

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 340 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 4, 2011

BLURB:

Matthew likes his life in Richmond. He has his friends and his softball and his volunteer work. And he has a very good-looking boyfriend, Brian, who he’s been happily dating for over a year now. So what if his friends tend to question just how good his boyfriend is, and so what if Brian tends to have inexplicable mood swings. And so what if Brian seems to invite Matt’s suspicions on occasion. If he just shows a little faith and trust, he’ll appreciate what he has with Brian the way he should. Right? But suddenly, Matt finds himself in a desperate life-or-death situation on a trip overseas, and he realizes just how much he misses home, and Brian. He’s luckily rescued by a team of US Special Forces, only to immediately find out they’re a bunch of bigoted jerks. Worse, a quirk of his situation forces him to spend time with them that he’d rather not. And that’s when he finds out that first impressions can be misleading. When called upon, he steps up when every fiber of his being tells him not to, and discovers something deep inside himself that he didn’t realize was even there. And his life will never be the same. He finds that he can, after all, make some very overdue changes in his own life. What Matt doesn’t realize is that the bond of brotherhood runs both ways. And he winds up changing the lives of several of the men on that Special Forces team as much as they changed his. All it takes is faith and trust.

REVIEW:

Several years back I was trolling through m/m fiction on Amazon, as I was wont to do at the time, when I came across a book called Latakia. It didn’t really look like much based on the cover but the blurb was intriguing enough that after waffling about it for a minute, I picked it up. For the next year or so it then languished on my kindle as I continually bypassed the book when scanning my shelves as I was either drawn to more catchy covers or just wasn’t in the mood to read a military book. When I finally did sit down and read the book in the summer of 2014, I was ashamed at how long I’d had Latakia yet hadn’t read it. I’m currently appalled at how long it took me to re-read it even though I recommend it to people on a regular basis.

Even reading through this the second time around all I can say about this book is WOW. Seriously, this book is, quite frankly, AMAZING. The book starts you out with one of the main characters, Matt, already in trouble and then backtracks a little to show how he got there. During this part of the book we’re introduced to two of Matt’s closest friends and his boyfriend Brian. I HATE Brian. I’m fairly positive that was the point but I spent the entire beginning of the book on my first read through waiting for him to spontaneously combust into flames from the strength of my hatred alone. This time around I personally think lighting him on fire is too easy an out for the rat bastard. Really people, I’ve finished the book twice now and still want him to die in a horribly, nasty way. From the description of the book, I’d originally really thought the majority of it would deal with Matt and the Navy SEALS, and it did…but not in the way I expected. And this was the big draw for me. This book doesn’t just deal with the situation overseas, it keeps going and brings Matt back home where you can see the bonds he’d formed continue and grow. You know those books where the big conflict is over and the story just sort of ends and you wish you had an answer to ‘what happens next’? This book has that answer and it was just so well done that I found myself doing what I did the first time around; I stayed up way too late and read the entire thing in one sitting because I could NOT put this down.

There are some aspects of the book that will bother some people so I’ll give you a head’s up here. One of the characters, Petey, is brash and an asshole most of the time and that includes his language. He makes a great many homophobic comments and slurs throughout the book and when I was first introduced to his character, I didn’t like him either. Over the course of the story, however, despite the tough exterior he throws around like a battering ram, you learn just how much Matt means to him and how much he really cares. I can’t excuse his behavior, obviously, but after a while it ceased to bother me as much though you may not feel the same way. There is also the relationship between Matt and Brian; they are together at the beginning of the book and continue that way until a little over half way through. There are instances of infidelity involved but it is hinted at and even when its finally proven, nothing is shown. I personally hate infidelity in my books but this didn’t bother me at all and watching Brian get smacked down, repeatedly, later on was well worth it for me.

This was the first book I’d ever read from this author and reading it again just proves that it can’t possibly be the last. From start to finish I was hooked and found myself completely invested in, not just Matt, but in the SEAL team that ended up becoming his family. I just really can’t recommend this enough, it’s a fantastic read! If you enjoy slow burn stories or ones that features a good man in uniform, you should especially enjoy Latakia.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

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