Reviewed by Cindy
TITLE: A Collar for Christmas
AUTHOR: A.E. Lawless
PUBLISHER: Loose ID
LENGTH: 147 Pages
BLURB: For actor Liam, anxiety and panic attacks are old friends, but they only get worse the more famous he gets. Nothing has ever worked to help him control the anxiety until his costar, Aaron, introduces him to bondage. Too bad Liam develops feelings for Aaron and ruins the only solution he’s ever found for his neuroses.
Aaron only wants to keep history from repeating itself. He’s already had one co-star spin out of control, resulting in her tragic death, he can’t just sit idly by and watch another friend and colleague destroy himself from the inside out. He’ll do anything to keep that from happening–even enter into a non-sexual BDSM arrangement with him.
What starts out as a way to control Liam’s anxiety becomes so much more. At least for Liam. So, tired of pretending he doesn’t want Aaron in his life for good, Liam decides to give him the perfect Christmas gift. The kind that will show Aaron exactly what Liam wants from their relationship: the collar he’s been dreaming of Aaron putting on him for months.
REVIEW:
Liam is an actor but instead of the usual swagger and confidence, he suffers from debilitating anxiety attacks that leave him unable to do anything. The author writes his emotions and fear quite well and I felt an immediate connection to the poor man.
Aaron is someone who seems to understand from the start what Liam needs when everything overwhelms him and they enter into a non-sexual relationship to help him control that. I had a hard time connecting to Aaron as I found his apparent oblivion puzzling, but once they were revealed I did find his reasons for not wanting to take things further understandable.
The biggest downfall for this story is the length. I would have liked the angst to build a little more before Aaron’s reversal of opinion. Maybe show a little more what the breakdown of their relationship was doing to Liam before resolving it so easily.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this story. The sex is hot and the emotions are sweet and I loved the interactions between Liam and his family. His sister’s sassy attitude made me smile and his parent’s acceptance of him was very nice.
Aaron remains very much a mystery throughout the story. Besides the revelations about his former co-star, we don’t get to learn much about him and I think that explains my lack of connection to the character.
A sweet holiday story and I think the non-BDSM crowd will love it all though it might fall a little short for those who are more into the lifestyle.
RATING: 