Title: Bared to You
Series: Crossfire, #1
Author: Sylvia Day
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy borderline Erotic
Source: NetGalley
Published: May 2012 by Penguin
Our journey began in fire...Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness—beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily...
Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private wounds... and desires.
The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart...
Why I Read this Book: I was curious. I was also a bit apprehensive to read Bared to You because I was afraid it was going to be too similar to Fifty Shades of Grey (my joint review with J9). I didn’t want to read a book that mirrored FSoG but I did want to read something that would remove any (all) remnants of FSoG from my memory. And for the most part, Bared to You did just that. Though, there is that infamous tampon scene from FSoG that will probably forever engrained in my memory.
What I Liked: The major advantage Bared to You has over FSoG is the quality of the writing; Bared to You is much, much more polished. It’s clearly the better written novel and you can tell by the first chapter.
Another thing Bared to You has is more rounded characters. There’s more depth to Gideon and Eva. Gideon is very possessive yet there’s a vulnerable side to him that comes through as well. He definitely has his flaws but he recognizes them, apologizes for them, and tries to be a better man. It’s clear that Gideon and Christian (the male lead in FSoG) were not cut from the same cloth, and thank goodness for that!
Gideon pushes Eva but Eva pushes back. She lets him steer her a bit but she’s definitely holding the reigns. There’s a ‘push an pull’ balance between the that evens out the playing field.
What I Didn’t Like: Eva is absolutely not okay with her mother invading her privacy and tells her mother just that. Yet when Gideon does the same thing, she doesn’t press the matter much, especially when he crosses a big boundary. Uh, can we say ‘double standard’?
Memorable Moment:
“Romance isn’t my repertoire, Eva. But a thousand ways to make you come are. Let me show you.”
“I have something time-sensitive on my desk and you’re keeping me away from it.”
“Confucius say ‘man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day’.”
Overall Impression: If I could turned back the hands of time, I would have read Bared to You instead of Fifty Shades of Grey. If you have yet to read either of these books, I highly recommend you go with Bared to You for its polished writing, more likeable characters, and better storyline. You’ll get more bang for your buck with this one.
Brianna’s Rating:
I also enjoyed this book more than Fifty but there was still something missing for me. I'm hoping the second book will bring some more drama and emotion to the relationship that they have started in this book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great review. I completely agree with you that nothing will ever get that tampon scene out of my head!
It's definitely better writing but I still like Christian better :)
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