Entwined with You by Sylvia Day

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Penguin UK

Pages: 360pgs

The Story

The worldwide phenomenon continues as Eva and Gideon face the demons of their pasts, and accept the consequences of their obsessive desires . . .

From the moment I first met Gideon Cross, I recognized something in him that I needed. Something I couldn’t resist. I saw the dangerous and damaged soul inside–so much like my own. I was drawn to it. I needed him as surely as I needed my heart to beat.

No one knows how much he risked for me. How much I’d been threatened, or just how dark and desperate the shadow of our pasts would become.

Entwined by our secrets, we tried to defy the odds. We made our own rules and surrendered completely to the exquisite power of possession . . .

The Review

I have loved Sylvia Day's Crossfire series from the get-go and quite honestly it's one of my favourite and not to mention guilty secret pleasures in life because it's just so good! So after reading the first two books in the series and just finding out that the series is no longer going to be a trilogy but rather it's going to have two more books after this third one right here, I have to say I was pretty damn excited about it, especially when it comes to reading this book and knowing the series is not quite over yet. Yup, it's pretty damn exciting indeed.

For the third installment, ENTWINED WITH YOU, while we get plenty of emotional, intense and some very hot moments going on between two of our favourite characters, Eva and Gideon, unfortunately I was really disappointed in this third book. I know! How could I be disappointed by this sexy read? Me of all people? But it happens I guess. So while we do get to know 'a little' bit more about our two leading characters, but for me personally that's how far it went for me and if I was being really honest here with you all, I felt as if the story was just same old same old, you know? No further progression. No new storyline. Instead we have more sex scenes and less of a continuation of a story, which is boring for me. So whether it was because we still have two more books to go with this series and because of that we have just a thin middle book right here . . . I guess we'll just have to wait and see and hope for more progression in the future books, which my guess would be correct considering how this book ended. Even on much smaller note.

As for the characters themselves, I still very much love Eva (even though she did run a bit wild in this book) and Gideon as I always do, and that's because they have come so far in this storyline of theirs and even though this book does set them back from time-to-time (sometimes in an annoying and come on sort of way), but in the end of it all, they have come out strong so in that sense I still love and care about them very much. However in future books, I just hope they get a break from all of this chaos going on around them and from their past secrets because sometimes it becomes too ridiculous so again I hope they catch a break soon since they deserve something good to come out of all of this. But apart from them, some of the other characters did grind on my nerves - including Eva's silly mother, but at least we have Gideon to calm our minds down or rather take our minds off the really dramatic side of things.

Overall, ENTWINED WITH YOU was still a good book but it just wasn't necessarily my favourite installment coming from the Crossfire series.

The Rating

3/5 stars

Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 282pgs

The Story

A tale of ambition, love and lust.

Pursued by fortune hunters, heiress Eliza Martin is the victim of diabolical scheming to get her to the altar. She won't be bullied, however, and she will get to the bottom of this plot. She needs a man to infiltrate her suitors and find the villain.

Thief-taker Jasper Bond is entirely too devilish and too dangerous - who'd believe Eliza would be seduced by a man like him? But client satisfaction is a point of pride with Jasper and it's his pleasure to prove he's just the man - for all her needs.

The Review

A big thanks to the publisher on netGalley for accepting my request in reading this book early!

Having loved Sylvia Day's Crossfire series (honestly that series is so, SO addictive), I have come across many reviews where readers suggested and recommended others books of Day's, and since I loved her writing already I thought I would love those other books as well. Unfortunately, while I don't mind reading a historical romance now and then, this book was a bit of a letdown for me.

Though the plot was well-written, had decent characters, many unexpected plot twists, and little surprising secrets spread across the entire storyline (ones of which I did enjoy), but on a whole I just couldn't find the storyline compelling enough to urge me in reading more pages of the book. Not to mention the paragraphs and the character dialogue was just . . . how should I put this . . . a little too long-winded for my own taste and I guess I was waiting for something big to happen when really . . . there was really nothing big there to begin with. At least not until the very end of the book.

Overall, PRIDE AND PLEASURE just wasn't the book for me and I would only recommend it to very selective readers. But be sure to check out Sylvia Day's Crossfire series anyway, because I absolutely love that series and couldn't recommend it enough!

The Rating

1/5 stars

Reflected in You by Sylvia Day

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Penguin Books

Pages: 400pgs

The Story

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

As I fell in love Sylvia Day's Bared to You, I knew with absolute certainty that I MUST read her second book in the Crossfire series. And just when I thought sequels couldn't surpass the first books anymore, boy was I wrong in that department because this sequel did not disappoint at all and talk about this book being so intense and sexy . . . no wait . . . it was SO insane! With massive character craziness, alpha-male possessiveness, raging arguments flying here and there, and with some damn right jealousy messing up relationships entirely, the author really knew how to push her characters over the edge and I loved her for it!

REFLECTED IN YOU, the second installment of the Crossfire series, makes us readers dive deeper in the lives of Gideon and Eva. Not only do we learn more about their pasts but we also learn about what has seriously affected their lives, especially today now as adults, which brings us straight back to their childhoods. Terrible childhoods at that . . . the place were it all started. With sexual abuse, relationships, trust, and sex in general being heavily explored and being the main focal point of the book, I think while it may be disturbing for some readers to read about but I found Day did a splendid job in exploring these issues without giving the 'it's too much' phase, so I applaud her for that!

I think what made this sequel surpass the first book is purely because we finally get to know the characters more - more so with the two main characters, Eva and Gideon. While there is plenty of drama to get your head spinning in all sorts of directions and can be sometimes a little 'too' dramatic at times (maybe a little too hard to handle as well), but being able to understand Eva and Gideon even more now as characters rather than just two random strangers fiercely falling in love . . . it was a great pleasure to read about and my heart certainly ached for them both. Even with a incredibly strong bond between the two characters, I was quite pleased to read about their troubles and see how they worked for their love than just not work for it at all, you know? But damn, talk about the intense chemistry between Eva and Gideon! So hot.

The only little bit of criticism I have for this book was Gideon Cross himself. Even when Eva could be an airhead herself at times for not trusting her man, Gideon sure set himself up for some MAJOR drama ahead of him. I trusted him all the way through the book mind you, but when he kept things very secret and more particularly kept things from Eva it just . . . irritated me so much. While I do understand why he did what he did and with his reasons being very good in certain aspects, but Gideon just really needs to trust Eva more because that young woman - as crazy and jealous as she is - loves him to death and you can clearly see that in this entire book.

Overall, despite the dramatic side of things, REFLECTED TO YOU was a brilliant sequel, even with the smoky hot sex and angry adult angst messing with the character's heads. So if you loved the first book Bared to You than you will seriously love this book twice as more and boy I cannot wait to read the third book . . . I seriously need more Cross in my life I tell you!

The Rating

5/5 stars

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Penguin UK

Pages: 360pgs

The Story

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 . . .

The Review

I have avoided Fifty Shades of Grey for all good reasons (and I will continue to do so), but after reading some small samples of the book and reading some interesting reviews on it, from what I can tell the book is clearly and completely unbelievable (though I do have a lot of great respect for the author because she's making millions out of a book trilogy and good for her for that!). But regarding this book in particular, BARED TO YOU, while the erotica genre is only for those of a strong heart (yes I just said that) but surprisingly this is one of the most addictive reads I've ever read last year and I'm so glad many people recommended it to me because I oddly . . . LOVED it!

Blowing the Fifty Shades craze out of the water, BARED TO YOU puts together a crazy-beautiful-but-simple idea and creates something where I don't actually cringe at (finally!) but rather be entertained by and being able to immerse myself with the book rather than turn away from it. Now from what I understand about Fifty Shades of Grey and the samples I've read of it a long time ago, it dealt with a lot of sexual things (things that were way too much for my own taste and things that were pretty disgusting but whatever floats your boat I guess) but with BARED TO YOU there is a vast improvement where sex isn't being entirely used as dominance and not being constantly used in an unhealthy way either to influence the main character's actions . .  . so I'm happy about that certain aspect. But the thing I liked most about BARED TO YOU is the fact that I could actually connect with the characters on an intimate level and I so wanted them to triumph too.

Eva, our main protagonist, was someone so strong and powerful to me. She had a voice of reason than a voice of stupidity, which I have seen from many erotica books in the past, especially from what I've read and heard about Fifty Shades of Grey's main character. Sure, Eva gives into a lot of demands from her love interest, Gideon Cross, but she doesn't allow anyone to push her over and she doesn't like being told what to do nor be scolded in who she should see outside of the workplace, and based on what I've read of her, she certainly let's everyone know if they are doing that to her and tells them off straight away and I loved every single moment of it. She was awesome - very tortured perhaps - but awesome.

As for Gideon Cross, the powerful man with a lot of money hanging off his back pocket, he was also someone very tortured and even though he got on my nerves at times but . . . I really loved him. He's not what every girl should be looking for in a man but being an interesting character I shall overlook that fact. Gideon Cross is a hard character to describe and for all those thinking he'll be another Christian Gray . . . well, I suggest you re-think that again because he's not Gray whatsoever. He's not sick, not abusive, and most importantly he's not one to force things onto a woman . . . especially Eva. Even though argument after argument leads to more sex and yet more sex yet again, but I think despite their complicated bull-crap I actually thought Gideon and Eva were so perfectly matched together and complemented one another. There's really not much else to say except that they are perfect together and not to mention so magnetic.

Overall, BARED TO YOU actually has a storyline compared to Fifty Shades of Gray and sooooooo much better written in many different ways. Splendid in character development, engaging in storytelling, and with large, sexy sparks coming right off the pages in all of the right places, BARED TO YOU is definitely something that should be on your to-read list soon because it was . . . brilliant!

The Rating

5/5 stars