All I Want by Stella Starling
Christmas has a funny sort of magic that even the most spoiled of human beings are susceptible to. Vulnerability and openness are commonly explored around such a holiday in a book and this little beauty is no exception. All I Want is a lovely book by a beautiful woman that is clearly an LGBTQ+ ally or member.
The story takes place in Chicago which centers around two of the main characters Ashby “Ash” Bennett and Elliott Gaffney, the latter being the delinquent son of a billionaire and the latter, an employee of the company. Their first meet and greet were through a Santa outfit at the department store’s “North Pole” for the youth. I mean, Ashby was only doing this as penance for a lewd sex scandal but it’s admirable.
Here’s the main thing that I love about this story is the slow transformation for Ashby and Elliott. You can quite literally see how Ashby is changing from a spoiled playboy who only wants to shag his interest to actually courting and romancing him. But you imagine that it would difference to date a man while Ashby tries to hide true identity to avoid scaring off the already shy Elliott. He also began to learn about his “friends and family” and what they really think about of him.
What’s interesting about this story is that there’s no clear villain. There are scrooges and mean-hearted characters but that’s it. No character trying to break them up. No character trying to bring up the past (well, his father but he stopped after his son stood up to him.) Just a clean love story with a lovely ending.
Overall, the story follows a very familiar formula and it works beautifully. I do miss stories with a nice villain but this is an interesting change in pace.
Grade: A
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