Holy smokes! That is about the shortest and least dramatic way I can describe Reflected in You by Sylvia Day. Ever since I read the first Crossfire novel, Bared to You, I was jonesing for more Gideon and Eva. Even a week after I finished Reflected in You, I’m still reeling a bit from the emotional roller coaster.
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…
I can honestly say that I felt just as crazy as Eva does throughout Reflected in You. One minute I’m happy, enjoying the tender moments between Eva and Gideon, and the next I’m so completely frustrated with one or both of them. For example, one paragraph, Eva is all starry eyed and mooning over how in love with Gideon she is and how he’s great. The next, he’s done or said something (or perhaps not really) and Eva is all whiny and having self-doubt, which at times leads to self pity. It drove me CRAZY.
Ms. Day completely ramps up the emotional intensity with this installment of the Crossfire series. I feel that Bared to You was a lot, emotionally but that Reflected in You..upped that emotional factor. It isn’t a boo-hoo type of emotion, but more of constantly switching of intense emotions. There’s happiness that Eva and Gideon seem to genuinely want to work on having a healthy relationship, work on their issues–both separate and the ones they have as a couple. And then there is anger and a whole lot of mistrust on both ends. I love emotional books and is part of why I enjoy this series. But, at times it felt like too much, especially too much back and forth on the emotional scale–happy one second, pity, self doubt, etc the next.
I could not put Reflected in You down. Between all the emotional drama and then this mystery surrounding Eva’s best friend and what happened to him, there is either action or some sort of character growth (via drama) happening. I didn’t feel like there was as many smexy parts to Reflected in You as there was in Bared to You. Yes, the sexual attraction, pull and chemistry is all still there, just simmering below the surface. The main focus is on the characters…their growth and development. Now, don’t go and freak out, you still get some smexy scenes. Just not like before. The main focus really is on character growth and moving along the overall storyline.
I loved Reflected in You. Sometimes with super steamy series/novels we forget that the story and the relationships between the characters and growth for the characters is just as important, if not more so, when moving a series along. Reflected in You really brings these points to the forefront. And, just a warning, the ending will leave you speechless. I can’t even begin to decipher my own feelings on what happened. It’s not a cliffhanger, but it is most certainly a “holy smokes” moment. Enjoy!
Read Order:
Bared to You
Reflected in You
Entwined by You (December 31, 2012)
