Review: Reflected In You by Sylvia Day

 

 

Title: Reflected In You {Crossfire #2}

Author: Sylvia Day

Published: Penguin October 2012

Synopsis: 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…

Status: Read on November 17, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Penguin Australia}

My Thoughts:

So far I have been disappointed in the titles rushed to publication on the coat tails of Fifty Shades of Grey incredible success and I confess that I expected I would read a few pages of Reflected in You and then set it aside. Instead I was surprised to find myself caught up in the relationship between Eva and Gideon as they try to build a life together. While their mutual attraction is never in doubt, Eva and Gideon are finding that reconciling their emotional needs is much more difficult.

There isn’t nearly as much sex as I expected in Reflected In You, instead the focus is on the couple’s attempts to connect in ways that are not exclusively sexual and establish trust and honesty in their relationship. As both Eva and Gideon have major issues stemming from the abuse they endured as children neither trusts easily and true intimacy is something they need to work at developing. Unfortunately their pasts seem intent on sabotaging their attempts with Gideon’s scheming ex lover causing trouble and Eva’s abuser making a shocking reappearance.
While the relationship between Eva and Gideon is not exactly healthy, clouded as it is by lust and obsession, it’s a surprisingly equal partnership. I had expected more of a master/slave scenario both sexually and in their everyday interactions but that was not the case.

Perhaps what I found most surprising about Reflected In You was the quality of writing, Day’s experience as an accomplished author is evident. There is a lot of angst, contrived misunderstandings and melodrama but there is also a genuine portrayal of passion, affection and intimacy.

I haven’t read Bared to You, the first installment in the Crossfire trilogy, so I came into this storyline without any knowledge of the characters but I found this didn’t really matter. Reflected in You is a surprisingly engaging read and I think that readers who have been reluctant to embrace the mainstream erotica trend should sample the Crosssfire series before dismissing the entire genre.

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US Cover

The Crossfire Series