Review: Reflected In You (Crossfire 2) by Sylvia Day

“I couldn’t imagine that I’d ever fall in love again like I had with Gideon. For better or worse, he was my soul mate. The other half of me. In many ways, he was my reflection.”

Holy crap, Reflected In You by Sylvia Day (Book 2 in the Crossfire Series) was a rollercoaster! It had me swooning, crying, yelling (in my head), angry, frustrated, hot and horny, moody, hopeful and resigned. I began last night around 11:30 pm, put it down when I couldn’t see the words anymore and picked it up the second I woke up. I finally had to stop when I was about 85% done to do some carpooling. Bad time to stop….I was in this crappy, melancholy mood. So beware, this book will affect your mood, big time. (Oh yeah, earlier though, it also made me take a break for….um….let’s just say, my husband enjoyed that break as much as I did {hee-hee})

This book picks up exactly where Bared To You ends. Eva and Gideon are working to make their relationship more functional, but they are both so messed up, possessive, jealous, and in total lust with each other, they can’t seem to make it work.

“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.”

This quote says it all. Despite the world trying to pull them apart, their obsession with each other is clear. They need each other like they need air to breathe, they are shadows without each other. But reading this book was like watching a train wreck. You so hope people will survive, but you can’t turn away from the destruction.

It’s strange, so much happens in this book, yet nothing really changes that much. Gideon continues to keep secrets, big time, (though much is finally revealed) while Eva has completely bared herself to Gideon (See what I did there? Bared to You? ). It is clear how nuts they are about each other, but:

“The simple fact was, Gideon and I were the best and worst things that had ever happened to each other.”

Gideon is so controlling, alpha, sexy, swoon-worthy, possessive, romantic, and completely broken. Eva is awesome, but also possessive, jealous and broken. I love her snark, she is real, and made one HUGE mistake in this book (that I still blame Cary for), which to me, made her even more real. They are made for each other, if they could just get over all the shit and trust each other.

That is where the growth finally took place. That one word, trust. It’s not easy to trust a man when his ex-fiance is always hanging around, even when he says things like:

“I’m obsessed with you, angel. Addicted to you. 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.”

or “You know what happens when you run angel. I catch you.”

It is clear that the two are crazy about each other, but is it enough? Can you love someone who is still so closed off to you? They still connect the best when they are naked or intimate, and express their deep feelings best with their bodies.

“It was somehow as intimate as when he was inside me, maybe more so because we were wide open and on display. Totally bared. Our pleasure reflected in each other”

This review is very difficult to write without spoilers. I must say, it was well written, but there was a little too much angst and not enough of the good stuff for me. There were times when I thought that perhaps they were better off apart, and a big portion of the book where I wanted to kick Gideon’s ass.

There is a big twist at the end that I had figured out….kind of. But it still came as a shock the way it all went down. We also got to visit more with Eva’s mom (who I realized I really liked in this book) and her dad, who is awesome. Cary had his own story line continue as well.

Likes:

• I still love Gideon and Eva, they are clearly meant for each other.
• The passion between them is explosive.
• When they are good, they are SO GOOD.
• I loved that Eva finally took matters in her own hands.
• I could not put this book down.

Dislikes:

• Gideon and Eva were still apart more than together. I wish there was more together time to cement what they have.
• While it seemed that book one was leading to a Dom/sub relationship, that didn’t really develop more in this installment.
• There were a number of instances where I had difficulty determining who was speaking in the back and forth of the conversation.

Rating 4.5 stars, 4.5 for heat

This was clearly an “in between” book. It seemed like Gideon and Eva took one step forward and two steps back the whole time until the end. I loved Reflected In You, but it wasn’t an easy read. It was way more angsty than the first book, but you still can’t help yourself from DEVOURING the whole book in one sitting if possible. I can’t wait until Entwined with You, where I am hoping there will be more ‘together’ and less ‘apart’.

 

Please see the Crossfire series reading order here.

Purchase Bared To You (Crossfire #1)  at: Amazon || BN.com || iBooks

Purchase Reflected In You (Crossfire #2): Amazon || BN.com || iBooks

Book 3: Entwined With You (avail Dec 31, 2012) Pre-order: Amazon || BN.com || iBooks

***Book provided by Net-Galley in exchange for an honest review.

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What are your thoughts?