Brier’s Bargain by Carol Lynne

More than one year ago I read Bram’s story; it was part of the first series by Carol Lynne, one she started with Ellora’s Cave and then continued with Total-e-Bound. Brier was the evil twin of Bram, but in reality he was an abused child, turned in an abused young man. Brier was the product of lack of love, and so he didn’t learn what love is. In another book by Carol Lynne, Reunion, Brier has his first taste of love with Jackie, a colleague of his brother Bram, but also he looses also this love even if temporarily. Now it’s the time to tell his story, and to give him his happily ever after, and to do that, Carol Lynne has decided to start a whole new series, Bodyguards in Love.

Jackie is on a mission abroad, and Brier misses him; it’s not easy to write Brier’s character since he has a mental handicap and it’s not something he will ever be able to overcome. Brier will never be like a “normal” man, he will always have an unsteady mood, and he will always see the world in a different way from other people. He has the eyes of a child but the body and desires of a man; someone can argue that Jackie should not have sex with him, since Brier doesn’t fully understand what an adult relationship is, but I don’t agree with this position. Having sex is something natural, and very much linked with your body; through it’s also a question of mind, sharing your body has to be a conscious choice, but Brier wants to have sex with Jackie. I’m really tempted to read Reunion, even if it’s a ménages a trois M/M/F, and usually I don’t like them, only to see how the author managed the first meeting between Jackie and Brier, and if their relationship, of better the budding of their relationship had some explanation in that book. In any case, I like the output of it, I had the feeling that Jackie gives strength to Brier, and at the same time, now that also Jackie has a physical handicap (he lost half a leg in a work related incident), Brier feels somewhat more useful, and to a nearer level than before to Jackie.

There is not too much drama, probably Brier had enough of it in the two previous stories where he was in, and Brier’s Bargain is more a romance, as I said, the time for him to be happy; and so the story is also all centred around him, Jackie is a supporting/supportive character, but it’s Brier who catches all the spotlight. I think Carol Lynne had an happy hand with him, she didn’t underestimate Brier’s issues, but even with them, she manages to give him an ordinary, and happy, love story.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0857150596/?tag=elimyrevandra-20