Bared to You (Crossfire, #1) by Sylvia Day - Review

On the heels of the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, there were bound to be some look-a-likes floating around. Quite obvioulsy, Bared to You has been marketed to be the next Fifty Shades and so I had to pick this little treasure up and give it a try.


Bared to You features a young woman named Eva who has recently moved to New York city. With her troubled past seeminly behind her, she looks to start fresh in the city with a new job and her best friend Cary. Of course, things never go according to plan as she meets the devistatingly hansome and weathy Gideon Cross. Together, they find that they have a lot in common and much more in the chemistry department.While their sex life may be stellar, they both have deep routed issues that they must face as a couple. These issues will either make or break their relationship and they must find out whether they are strong enough to make things work.

I will start off by saying that I did not enjoy this book as much as I did the 50 Shades series. I've recently re-read these novels and while they are racey and have some graphic content, I still enjoyed the characters and storyline very much, probably even more when I read it the second time.

While reading Bared to You I felt was a poor atempt at catching the E.L. James's audience. I have to admit, the story was a little more unique and the characters, especially the female lead, were different. With this being said, I still felt like I was reading a story where someone was purposefully trying to shock me, and it didn't work. I won't go into too much detail as I don't want to ruin the story for anyone, but I often times felt like Day just threw certain extra intense sex scenes into the story just to add some scandal and to be more like Fifty Shades of Grey and I didn't love it.

I think one of the bigger problems I had with this book was the use of the "c" word. I hate that word. While there are other words used in the English Language to describe this particular part of the female anatomy, I think the "c" word is the worst. While in real life (okay, just when I'm not typing to an online audience) I have the mouth of a sailor, but that word never crosses my lips. It's demeaning and disgusting and anytime anyone uses that word around me, I wince. I think it's a horrible word and to hear it used as a sort of sexual endearment, I had to cringe.

The characters also didn't do much for me. While Eva was  a different character than Anna from 50, Gideon was a poor mans version of Christian. I didn't believe his back story and I had a hard time falling for him, especially as the book came to a close. I just didn't find his actions and his relationship with Eva to be believable, which made it very difficult to get into the story.

Lastly, I've heard a lot of bloggers say that they enjoyed this book more because the writing was better. While I agree that Day's writing was better edited and had more of a flow, I thought the plot was repetitive and boring. The constant running away that Eva did and the back and forth between Gideon and Eva (I want to be with you, no I don't... I want to be with you again, no I don't...etc.) grew very tiresome. I was also confused at times of the story. I felt like the pacing was off and I was rushed in some spots and in others, the story drug on too long.

Overall, I was bored by the plot and the characters and while the writing was better, this novel didn't hold a candle to the 50 Shades of Grey books. I felt like I had to compare them because Bared to You because everywhere I went, I saw the two books together. Now, I say that I won't read book two, but I most likely will and when I do, I hope I like it better.

Happy Reading :)

5 out of 10