Pretty good beginning to a great series ( )

I gave 4 Stars because it's a great premise and I really love Brier. I should have taken off a star (but I didn't) because I was lost occasionally since there apparently is an intense back story in another series - Men in Love. Wish I'd known that going in. ( )

I loved this book which tells the story of two of the characters in Men in Love: Brier and Jackie.

They don't have an easy relationship and need to deal with their past (and Brier's promise) before they can explore their future. The emotional intensity of their love and the uncomplicated way Brier has of looking at the world fascinated me.

A real winner, as far as I am concerned, and a great start for this new series! ( )

The author relied too much on the history in previous books and didn't bother to develop the characters or story fully in this book. I expected more from the start of a series, even one that was spun off another. The characters and the narration was stilted and awkward. I expected more from this author as I have read some of her other series and while they are linked each book had it's own story, this was not the case with this book. I might have felt differently if this had been a book in the middle of the series but it wasn't. It just didn't stand on it's own and as a start for a series that's disappointing. ( )

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