Bared to You (Crossfire, #1)

by Sylvia Day

[Cocktails and Books]

I've had this one in my TBR pile for awhile. After reading 50 Shades, I decided to give myself a bit of time before delving into this one because of all the talk of the similarities between the two. I'm glad I waited because I think that distance enabled me to appreciate the similarities and differences between the two.

Gideon Cross is an uber wealthy 28 year old who happens to run into Eva Trammel as she times her commute from her apartment to her new job at the Crossfire building. She has no idea who the god-like man with dark hair and blue eyes is, but her stirs two emotions in her (even if she didn't quite realize what those were at the time): fear and hope.

As I read the first half of the book, I could see how Eva's reluctance to bend to Gideon's will would have others saying this was similar to 50 Shades. He does have stalker tendencies. She, in no uncertain terms, tells Gideon she doesn't want anything to do with him. But for me, once you get past that and follow them as their embark on their relationship the similarities ended.

Eva and Gideon both have a very key and vital parts of them that is broken. They have trust issues related to the events that caused them to be the way they are. They both struggle for control over their relationship because that is what they need to make sure the past does't repeat itself.

While Gideon tends to alienate himself to ensure complete control, Eva has surrounded herself with people that have just as many issues as she has (which can't be good for her recovery either). Her best friend, Cary, is a recovering something (addict maybe) who she met in therapy in San Diego and hasn't been separated from since. We, along with Eva, get to watch him self-destruct and it makes you wonder what kind of effect that will have on Eva. Then there is Eva's mother. She's a whole lot of "out there" and definitely someone who blurs and crosses lines for her "piece of mind" regardless of the affect that will have on her daughter. While Gideon does fit into that same role with Eva, you can also see a hint of them wanting to break out of the molds they have both put themselves in and work together towards something healthy.

The one thing you'd think these two would have it together on was the sex, considering how combustible they were from their very first kiss. But even with sex they had issues, granted not quite as large as everything else in their relationship, but it was still there. I did scratch my head when Gideon declared that Eva was a submissive, because everything we'd seen in their sex life up to that point showed them pretty evenly matched. I mean, who wouldn't melt if you had a god-like man that turned you on giving you multiple orgasms. But after thinking about it, I could see where Eva was a submissive, reluctantly.

Clearly it's not going to be a clean and easy process. The last half of the book was messy and emotional, leaving me wondering "what next" as I flipped the page to see what would happen.

Sylvia Day has created two very complex characters who's emotional scars are laid bare for us to read. Both of them are hard to connect with, because of those emotional scars, but as the story progresses and they share more of themselves with each other you can start to understand them better. I look forward to reading Deeper In You and learning more about Gideon and Eva.