Title: Reflected in You by Sylvia Day
Crossfire Book Two
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Imprint: Berkley Trade
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 432 pages
Book Rating: B
Review Copy Obtained from Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
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…
The Review:
Reflected in You, the second book in Sylvia Day’s Crossfire series starring Eva Tramell and Gideon Cross opens right where Bared to You leaves off. Eva and Gideon are still the same two emotional messes who confuse love with obsession and use sex to avoid working out their problems. But, thankfully, the more I read, I finally began to see some positive changes in Eva’s behavior that left me hopeful that their relationship could be salvaged from the codependent disaster that began in book one.
Both Eva and Gideon are still dealing with their individual insecurities and self-esteem issues. Do either of them need to be in a relationship? No way and especially not with each other. But their explosive passion and need for one another are too powerful to ignore and they heedlessly push on despite their numerous problems.
Eva and Gideon’s relationship is an unhealthy combination of jealousy, anger, control and obsession. There are serious trust issues on both sides. Gideon’s need to know Eva’s every move continues and it is still eerily stalkerish. The jealousy they both experience is compounded by a severe lack of communication. The head games continue on both sides and the angst reaches an all time high.
Sex between Eva and Gideon is still intense and incredibly hot. But Eva and Gideon are equally guilty of using sex to evade probing questions. They also use sex as a weapon and a punishment and as a means to get their own way.
In Reflected in You, we finally see more of the self-assured and self-aware Eva that we were originally introduced to in Bared to You. She recognizes their relationship is unhealthy and she finally begins to stand up to Gideon’s unreasonable demands. She still gives in way more than she should, but at least she acknowledges that Gideon’s behavior is NOT normal or healthy. Eva is no longer content with the bits and pieces that Gideon is willing to share and she finally becomes more insistent that he reveal his secrets to her. And when he won’t? Eva gets up the nerve to take back the control she so willingly relinquished and finds her self-respect.
Gideon continues to frustrate me on so many levels. He is convinced he has all the answers and compromise is not part of his vocabulary. Gideon confuses protection with control and it is just creepy how he continues to keep such close tabs on Eva. So much of his and Eva’s anguish could be avoided if he would just TALK to her. Unfortunately, Gideon is a bit slow on this point, and it takes him FOREVER to finally spill his secrets.
Overall, I liked Reflected in You a whole lot more than I did Bared to You. I am still not sold on the idea that either Eva and Gideon are truly in love and I also have my doubts they are ready for a relationship. But I am happy that they are finally making some kind of progress. Their journey is an exhausting rollercoaster ride that is full of extreme highs and lows and I am hopeful they are working their way to finding some middle ground. Maybe once they achieve that, they really will find the love they are so desperately seeking.
Read my reviews of the other novels in the Crossfire series HERE.
