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Review

AN ABSOLUTE EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER, BUT OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!

I could gush on about how amazing Gideon is, and how beautiful his and Eva’s love story is, and how hot the sex is (seriously… Gideon is a freaking machine!), but it’s all been said before. And if you’ve read the first book – Bared to You – then you’ll know what to expect.

I would like to say that this book definitely had the potential to be a bad experience for me, and I was a little scared to start it. I don’t usually tolerate stupidity in my characters, and this book had Gideon and Eva not communicating, jumping to conclusions, having totally neurotic moments and just acting downright bizarrely.

However, when I was halfway through I hit a huge WTF? moment, and was so pissed off with Eva that I had to stop reading to debrief and actually ended up having a very intense, two hour discussion with a friend in which we picked both Gideon and Eva’s actions absolutely to bits.

I’m not condoning Eva’s actions in any way, because she was absolutely wrong for what she did, but after hours of hot debate, I felt like I was able to sort of understand her actions and managed to calm myself down and move forward without seething with resentment.

Yes, this book has intense drama, and yes, they both had some intense moments of stupid, but the bottom line is this – they are both completely fucked up. They have both suffered terrible childhood traumas that they are still struggling to overcome, and the damage done to them is manifested in their behaviour as adults. And because they’re both so broken, they play by different rules. Their relationship is one of the most intense I’ve ever read, they have an absolute need for and addiction to each other, and with them both trying to overcome the traumas in their past and find a way forward, they don’t react to situations in the same way that we might, but they do what they have to do to move on. As Gideon says – “We’ve hit our own rhythm and it works for us”, so who am I to judge?

I’m thinking that this is why a lot of people don’t like this book. Because if I hadn’t been able to work through my feelings on this, and therefore been able to tolerate all of the crap that continued to fly, I probably would have really disliked the rest of it as well.

Gideon also had me shaking my head at times, but after some encouragement from my GR buddies, and having made my resolution to just go with it, I trusted that he was doing what he thought was the right thing for him and Eva. Although my mind was reeling the whole time I was reading, trying to come up with the reasons behind his actions. And I was pleasantly surprised to see Eva stand up and call him on acting like such a jerk. But with one word from him, I knew it would all be ok. “Wait”. God, even now that one word gives me shivers.

So, yes, Gideon and Eva go through a lot of drama in this book, and some of it is really hard to read as they both hit rock bottom and fight hard to get through some major hurdles. There were tears from Eva, tears from Gideon (which absolutely killed me!), and many, many tears from me – both happy and sad tears. Because in amidst all of the drama, there was also some fun bantering and some REALLY gorgeously swoony moments. Eva’s relationship with Cary is beautiful to see, and we get to see her with her Dad which was also incredibly special. But it is Gideon and Eva who absolutely steal the show with their intense, obsessive, all-encompassing love for each other. Well, that and the sex. I swear to God, Gideon is a machine, or at least has a magical crotch. The man just does.not.stop!!

This is definitely for fans of the first book. If you didn’t like Bared To You – chances are you won’t like this one either. And if you are going to give it a try, I just want to say – have patience. It’s hard going through it, and you’ll want to smack them both (I certainly did), but it’s totally worth it to get to the absolutely beautiful, romantic, heart-clutching, teary, swoony, ending.

“You’re everything I’ve ever wanted or needed, everything I’ve ever dreamed of. You’re everything. I live and breathe you. For you.”

SWOOOOOOOON! *sniff*

I’m so glad I took my time with this book and figured out what I was feeling as I went along. It’s an incredibly emotional read and even though there are lots of happy moments, and lots of swoon, be prepared to have your heart broken, ripped out and smashed before you get to the HEA.

I’m hoping things will settle down for Gideon and Eva in the third book, and after another somewhat abrupt ending from Ms Day, I am very greedy for more!!

 

The Crossfire series