Bared to You (Crossfire Series) Audio CD – Unabridged, August 7, 2012

(Re-read)Book 1 in the Crossfire world is one to not ever forget!The instant chemistry and fiery passion between Eva and Gideon is so powerful, you know it’s going to be a bumpy ride.These two are both sparks ready to ignite and once they come together it’s magic. It’s scary and ultimately vulnerable for both of them to share such a connection with someone, especially sexually, that they cling so hard to each other. They try to hold onto that feeling and never let go.Gideon himself is an enigma of a man despite being a public figure. A playboy, sure, but Eva discovers there’s so much more darkness and light to be found inside him.

Sylvia Day made me want to go into a room, lock the door, curl up into a ball and read this story from cover to cover. This book has it all - dark pasts, controlling men, beautiful people, wealth and power. The story features Eva Tramell, a twenty-something college graduate from a wealthy and influential family that wants to make her way in the world based on her own merits. Eva is no virgin, and comes with her own dark past. Eva lives with her bisexual best friend, Cary, with whom she has a completely platonic relationship with. Cary is beautiful, and an aspiring model with a penchant for falling in love with the "right" guys and then screwing up those relationships with the "wrong" woman or man. Cary shares with Eva a dark and disturbed past.Before Eva's first day on her new job at an advertising agency, she scopes out her place of work. She accidentally bumps into a tall, dark and beautiful man. This is our first introduction to Gideon Cross. Unbeknownst at the time to Eva, Gideon Cross is the owner of the building she works in, The Crossfire Building. Immediately, Gideon's demeanor changes when he looks at Eva. Something happens between them, leaving Eva breathless and Gideon on the hunt, so to speak. Gideon is magnetic. He's full of maleness and confidence and immediately enthralls Eva with his looks and his grace. Eva is no shrinking violet. The first thing she thinks about after she meets Gideon is what it would be like to have sex with him. Her thoughts include the words "primal" and sheet-clawing."Eva's second day of work brings her interesting news - her boss explains that he received a request for proposal (RFA) from Kingsman Vodka, a company owned by Crossfire Industries. Eva is invited to the pitch, and the pull between Eva and Gideon begins in earnest. Eva and Gideon's relationship begins, him by wanting nothing more than to have sex with her, and her playing hard to get. Eva might like sex, but she's nobody's toy. There are lunch meetings and dates, and their relationship progresses. Eva demands that sex with her be personal. She says that there doesn't necessarily need to be romance, but she requires friendliness and respect. I like Eva very much because she doesn't give in to Cross like a doe-eyed little girl caught in the headlights of a rich and powerful man. Eva's from a similar background to Cross - she wants Cross, but she's going to do it on her terms. Although Gideon sees Eva as "trouble" for him, he is drawn to her and cannot let her go. When Eva rejects Cross' suggestion of no-strings-attached sex, he is the one willing to "revisit and revise" what he wants from a relationship with her.So Eva and Gideon begin a friendly relationship. Eva learns that Gideon has a dark and tortured past. This is a plus for me as a reader, because there are few things I adore more than dark and twisted pasts. I love tortured and vulnerable characters, making this book like a drug for me. Gideon makes many mistakes along the way, which I chalk up to him not knowing how to deal with Eva. He's falling in love with a woman against his better judgment. He doesn't really know how to be in a normal relationship. We see the darkness in Gideon several times, but Eva does her best to stand by her man. We discover Eva's twisted secrets, but Gideon's run deeper and darker. He is very disturbed by something that happened in his past.My only problem with Eva is that her answer to any problem with Gideon is to run away. If she's feeling hurt, used, pissed, jealous or any negative emotion, her answer is to take off without a word. The first time she does this, I can understand her fears. But by the end of the book, I had had enough of that behavior. Eva has a few moments where she really can't make up her mind about what she really wants from Gideon. One minute, Eva thinks Gideon only wants sex from her. When he shows the world that he's in an actual relationship with her, she's not quite happy with that, either.There are a few places in this book where Gideon deserves Eva's anger, no more so than at the end with the introduction of someone from Gideon's past. But to be fair, Gideon is very up front with Eva, and I believe that he really does want and love Eva. However, both of these characters have dark and desperate pasts to deal with, and until they do that, they will continue to hurt one another. I especially enjoyed when Eva put her foot down concerning Gideon's ex calling him every day. Gideon, like many men, cannot see why or how this would bother Eva to the degree that it does. Ha! I love how Eva plays him at the end of the book - telling him that if he doesn't put an immediate end to his ex's infatuation with him, that she will take his cue while dealing with her own ex-boyfriends. This is just the type of thing to drive Gideon crazy! Gideon, though, is able to show his vulnerabilities to Eva, which is a big start for him.Like I stated earlier, I'm a sucker for dark and tortured characters. This book delivers on several characters that can fit this description. From Eva and Gideon, to Cary and even Magdalene and Corinne (both ex-lovers of Gideon). I think we're going to see a lot of drama in the next book. I think that Corinne is going to play a bigger role in aggravating Eva, and I think that Corinne isn't all that she appears. I think Gideon is going to make progress on his past issues, and that Eva will be there with him, until she can't handle the jealousy that she will undoubtedly have because of his ex-lovers. I think Deeper into You is going to be an emotional roller coaster, and I'm just happy to say that I will most definitely be along for the ride!

The first thing I noticed about Bared to You was that the writing is phenomenal! This is one of those books where I feel like I need to quote every other line because they're all loaded with power, meaning, and intensity! And on top of that, the dialogue was hilarious! The main character Eva is brilliantly witty and her lines in particular had me cracking up!Since the synopsis doesn't really tell you much about the plot of the book, I'll go over it briefly. The story is about 24-year-old Eva. She moves to New York City to be closer to her wealthy mother and stepfather. She starts a new job and that's where she meets Gideon--an extremely wealthy, young bachelor. At first, he's only interested in sex, but he becomes so captivated by Eva that he wanders into the unknown: an exclusive relationship. But both Eva and Gideon have demons and traumatic pasts that threaten to tear them apart.So it sounds very Fifty Shades of Grey , right? Well, it's about a million times better. I feel like Bared to You is what Fifty Shades of Grey should have been. It has the same plot elements: controlling billionaire changes his playboy ways and falls in love with girl. But Bared to You is hot, passionate, sexy--NOT disturbing--, emotionally devouring, beautifully written, and all kinds of incredible... everything Fifty Shades wasn't (for me).You know what my favourite part is about Bared to You ? Eva isn't a blubbering idiot. She's not some silly naïve girl who says two words and just lays back while some controlling guy has sex with her. No. She takes control. She's witty, extremely intelligent, funny, and has a controlling interest in the relationship. Heck, the first time they had sex, she was on top. She initiated it. And even from the way Eva speaks, you can tell she's intelligent. She certainly knows how to hold her own amidst some playful banter.Eva and Gideon had both the most dysfunctional and most functional relationship I've ever read. Both these people are broken. They have dark, hidden pasts that haunt them day and night. For Eva, it means her self esteem is broken and shattered. For Gideon, it means he craves control and power. Put these two broken beings together and you get an intense, passionate chaos. But on the other hand, this is one of the few relationships I've read about where the couple actually communicates. Imagine that! They don't play games with each other. If one of them is pissed off, they'll say, "I don't like seeing you with another girl. It makes me jealous and uncomfortable." If Eva gets frustrated and leaves, Gideon gets upset and says, "I don't like it when you run away. It makes me feel broken and alone." PEOPLE, THEY'RE COMMUNICATING!!"We don't fight, angel. We just have to learn not to scare the hell out of each other."--Page 248, Bared to YouEva and Gideon voice their opinions, fears, hopes, dreams, frustrations, and anything else on their mind! If they're feeling it, they say it. They talk about going to couples therapy to work through their issues together. They sit down and have heart-to-heart talks. They work out the kinks in their relationship. So sure, Gideon may be a bit of a crazy, power-hungry control freak and Eva may have severe jealousy and self-esteem problems, but they know they have those issues and they work them out like a proper couple. Most of the time in books, the couple just plays mind games with each other and expects the other person to be a mind reader. This is not the case in Bared to You ! Talk about refreshing.And if it wasn't obvious, this book was HOT. Freaking hot. Unbelievably hot. One of the most intensely hot books I've read in a while.. and that's saying something!Despite my intense enjoyment of this book, I do have two issues, both centered around the fact that Bared to You felt more like a "part one" of one book rather than the first book in a series. There were a few things that were introduced in the book that never really got resolved. We meet Gideon's family, but nothing develops with them. We learn that Gideon clearly has some abuse or trauma in his past, but he never comes forward about it. It would have been okay if at least Eva made some sort of official declaration of acceptance of the fact that Gideon wasn't ready to talk about it, but I felt like the whole issue was just ignored. And finally, I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending. It wasn't bad, but I feel like it literally just got cut off mid-book. There wasn't an epic showdown or a huge resolution of some kind.I'm sure all my issues will be addressed in the second book, but I feel like there still should have been more of a wrap-up in Bared to You .Even so, this book was absolutely phenomenal. It was hot, sexy, emotional, intense, gritty, dark, and absolutely mind-blowing! It's safe to say I'm running out to buy the next book--Reflected in You--immediately!

I first read this book years ago around when it first came out in 2012. But I thought I’d read it again as I knew it was a series and there is nothing I love more than a good series of books.In this book we meet Gideon Cross a wealthy CEO with a complicated past and Eva Tramell who also has a complicated past. This story does follow a similar popular book by the name of “Fifty shades of grey”. But I do feel that it has unique qualities for it to stand on its own. The story is set in New York City. Eva has moved to New York and has just started as a personal assistant for an advertising company. She wants to get a feel of the building she will be working in, so she decided to go there before she starts. As she is in the lobby of the building she gets knocked over and as she looks up, who is there? Gideon Cross of course.Eva is instantly attracted to Gideon and who wouldn’t be with a description like this“Inky black hair framed a breathtaking face. His bone structure would make a sculptor weep with joy.”Eva then reports home and tells her roommate, Cary (who is also attractive, I wish I lived near them with all these attractive people) all about her encounter with Gideon Cross.Gideon Cross is an arrogant, controlling, possessive man with his own issues which he does not want to deal with. He isn’t used to not getting his own way, is Eva going to teach him what it’s like to not get his own way all the time? Gideon has a string of ex’s who seem to think that they know him better than anyone else, they aren’t afraid to keep popping up in his life to remind anyone new that they aren’t going anywhereEva Tramell has a dark past and a controlling mother who decides to track her phone and have her under the watch of her husband’s driver/bodyguard. Eva comes from money thanks to her mother’s many marriages to rich men, therefore Eva does not need Gideon’s money, she isn’t like most girls he meets.I don’t want to give away any spoilers. So I won’t mention much more of what happens. But I enjoyed learning more about Eva, Gideon and Cary. This story is the beginning of a 5 book series, it is setting the stage for the rest of books.

It is ok. I just feel I have read it before, about 20 times. In fact I have it all so confused in my head now with other similar stories that I don't know if I can trust myself to review it fairly.Why to they lovers always have to be so perfectly beautiful? Why does the male have to be so very rich and possesive? Why does the female have to have such a low opinion of herself?It seems very cold and formulaic.There were things that I liked about this book, complex family relationships and a backstory with more to be uncovered. I don't think that it was enough to lure me into reading the next.

...... Is one of my all time favs!I bought this book (and the rest of the series) almost 2 years ago and have read it several times since and it never gets old!The start of Gideon & Eva's story....Gideon is a young hot sexy mysterious billionaire hotshot who is instantly taken by Eva, a blonde smart sensuous edgy fun woman (although when he first meets her, she's crouched on the floor and ends up on her backside so this is an insta-love story!)Anyways, Eva has had an abusive past and is very insecure yet dependant and she knows there's more lurking beneath the surface of Gideon.Can the two of them overcome their pasts? Can they open up to each other? Will jealousy ruin things? Will Cary (Eva's best friend) ever stop punishing himself?Oh the questions are endless, the drama is on going and the passion is never ending!I loved it and can't wait to read the next book - again!!

Not the first time I've read this series but I keep coming back because nothing I read ever gives me the feels like this one! I just love Gideon and Eva, not to give too much away because i already know what happens but they make the best couple! Cary shows in such unique way in this first book, he's snappy and though he's there for Eva he seeks a lot more attention for himself. very very well written Sylvia xxxx

To cure my withdrawal after reading the Fifty Shades series, I decided to pick this up. Being the next best-selling book in the erotic novel category apart from Fifty Shades, it has a similar tone and feel. Instead of Seattle, we have the Big Apple New York as the setting for the story. And again, we have the story of a young woman (Eva) meeting handsome millionaire (Gideon). However, that's as far as the similarity goes.Unlike Fifty Shades series, both Eva and Gideon have their dark past ad personal problems. This is probably why I found the story such a good read as both of them really have to make an effort in getting their relationship to work, while fighting their individual dark past. Being an erotic novel, you would expect quite a few steamy scenes which can get overwhelming sometimes. However, thinking about it, given both of their history, sex is probably their way of communicating with each other. The author uses the story beautifully to raise the issue of child abuse and the implication it can have on the victim and the victim's family.Overall, it was a very good read and I simply could not put it down and managed to finish it in a weekend. I quite like Eva as she seems very real, just like the independent woman of today who knows what she really want. I also quite like the secondary characters like Eva's close friend Cary and Eva's boss, the author did put some work into developing these characters. Cary's "baby girl" expression makes me smile very time, he is definitely the clown in the story , giving colours to this dark tale.This is the first book in the series and we get to know about Eva's dark past but nothing on Gideon. Book 2 is coming out soon and I really can't wait!!