Review: Reflected in You – Sylvia Day

Gideon Cross. As beautiful and flawless on the outside as he was damaged and tormented on the inside. He was a bright, scorching flame that singed me with the darkest of pleasures. I couldn’t stay away. I didn’t want to. He was my addiction… my every desire… mine.

My past was as violent as his, and I was just as broken. We’d never work. It was too hard, too painful… except when it was perfect. Those moments when the driving hunger and desperate love were the most exquisite insanity. We were bound by our need. And our passion would take us beyond our limits to the sweetest, sharpest edge of obsession…

Series:  Crossfire #2
Release Date:  October 2, 2012
Publisher:  Penguin
Source:  Edelweiss
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

Wow.

With all the hoopla around Bared to You and it’s similarity to Fifty Shades of Grey, I wasn’t sure where this second installment was going to go.  But Sylvia Day took this story in a direction I certainly didn’t think it would go, but it demonstrated the lengths our couple have to go through to prove what they have is real.

Gideon and Eva are trying to build a somewhat normal relationship out of the ashes of their tragic pasts.  They both have so many issues it’s sometime hard to keep track of all of them.  But at the core of their relationship is knowing they have truly found “the one” and figuring out just how they manage to keep their relationship together without pushing each other over the edge.  It’s not an easy task for each of them.

Gideon, for the majority of the time, is closed off, possessive and pushes Eva away.  Eva is just as possessive, but she doesn’t trust Gideon and his feeling for her.  That is why she has a hard time believing  him when he tells her he’d do ‘anything’ for her.  She figures it’s his way of controlling her and their relationship.  While I could understand why Eva would feel the way she did (Gideon really is an ass for the majority of this book), I found myself getting irritated with her because she was just so willing to toss Gideon aside each and every time he got her back up.  Not very mature for a woman who is trying to lead an adult life.

Gideon isn’t a saint.  He uses sex to get Eva to admit to hurt feelings and punishing him.  Despite that, you can sense Gideon’s struggle with the depth of his feelings for Eva and just how he’s supposed to express that when Eva finds those three little words so important.  Actions speak louder than words (which I think Eva finally gets at the end) but for two people how constantly need validation from each other you can see how hard it is for Gideon.

There are a some ups and a lot of downs with this story.  Gideon and Eva run the gamut of emotions and those filter off of the page to the reader.  But for all their issues, this is a couple that I’m committed to seeing to their HEA.  For that, I must wait for the last installment, Entwined with You, due out at the end of the year.