Bared to You

A Crossfire Novel, Book 1

By: Sylvia Day

Narrated by: Jill Redfield

Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sylvia Day comes the first novel in the Crossfire series - a provocative masterstroke of abandon and obsession that redefined the meaning of desire, and became a global phenomenon.

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness...

He was 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...

©2012 by Sylvia Day. (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“If I were to recommend any book today to readers who enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey… this would be the first one I would offer… Scorching love scenes.” ( Dear Author)

"An erotic romance that should not be missed.” ( Romance Novel News)

“Hot… page-meltingly hot.” ( Darhk Portal)

So so

I wanted to love it, but the relationship was just so frustratingly toxic that it was hard to look past. Cross is a total crazy person, which was angering to hear. I was waiting for her to leave him the whole time.

Great read

It is my fourth time reading this book, and still loving it. Great for commuting.

Good Overall

Ava and Cross have sex, then they fight, then they make up. This repeated cycle is basically the story. The sex is really hot, though.

if you loved fifty... you'll love cross

i'd just finished Fifty Shades Trilogy and was desperate to find something, anything to fill the void that Fifty left on me. what to read next? i had no clue. then a friend told me to read Bared to You. it's similar to Fifty except the writing is on a higher level, the characters more developed and the narration is superb.

if you're missing fifty or you're wanting a fresh, new escape, try this listen. you'll enjoy it from beginning to end. my only negative comment would be the length of the book. it's too short. i'm hoping her next installment, due out in october, will be longer. this was just over too fast! i'm already missing the characters. :)

Clearly the superior read of this genre

After my positive experience with Fifty Shades of Grey, I decided to give this book a try seeing how so many comparisons haven been made between the two. The story is definitely similar as is the rich, alpha male stereotype but its Sylvia Day’s writing that is the clear winner here. The narrative flows well, the vocabulary is diverse and there’s minimal repetition which is a feat in itself considering the number of sex scenes in this novel. Bared to You is clearly the superior read amongst the two contemporary erotica series’.

I found that both of the main characters were reasonably well-developed but that Eva was significantly more defined than Gideon which is not surprising seeing how Day probably wanted him to maintain a certain degree of mystery. Tramell is just as messed up as her counterpart which surprised me a little because I’d expected there to be only one broken person in this book so there’s another un-Fifty like characteristic for you. Eva’s past is a troubled one and her tell-all session with Gideon took real courage and made my opinion of her skyrocket.

One of the things that irked me about this novel is that every single character, even the secondary ones, are beautiful. I expected as much of Eva and Gideon seeing how their initial attraction was purely physical but was it really necessary that Tramell’s roommate and Cross’ receptionist be equally as stunning? It felt like overkill to me. Also, as I mentioned, Day probably purposefully didn’t explore Gideon’s character in detail but by the end of the book I didn’t know much more about him than I did when he’s first introduced; other than the fact that he’s gorgeous of course. I’m thinking that this first installment was more about Eva and am hoping that the next book will focus more on Cross. You can only push the “mystery” so far in my opinion until it morphs into shallowness and this novel was close to falling into the latter category.

Jill Redfield is an enthusiastic narrator to say the least and listening to Bared to You while at work was… interesting. I will definitely be adding more erotica audiobooks to my library in the future! Redfield does every scene justice by adding just the right amount of emphasis to suit the storyline. She does a great job of alternating between a sassy tone and a dramatic one. More than once I found myself looking around my office to see if any of my coworkers were finding it as hot in the room as I was. Needless to say, it was just me!

I read the entire Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy so I think that it’s only fair that I give Sylvia Day’s next installment a chance as well. Hopefully Crossfire will improve with each book unlike its sister-series. But one thing is for sure, Bared to You will make your blood boil with either lust or anger and sometimes both!

Love it!

Would you consider the audio edition of Bared to You to be better than the print version?

Haven't read the print version.

What did you like best about this story?

The story line was actually plausible.

What about Jill Redfield’s performance did you like?

Jill Redfield did a fantastic job!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes.

Any additional comments?

I have a lot of questions that need answers. Some things were left open but it was still a very good listen.

Steamy but...

Initially I was enjoying this book and the steamy parts were great but then after a while I realized the male character just uses sex as a weapon and the female character just takes it and I lost respect for her.

Great narration!

Gideon and Ava's story is phenomenal all the way! Two broken souls finding their way to one another! Breathtakingly beautiful!

We're all a little crazy <br />

I absolutely loved this book, how Ava fights for herself and her man. Throw in her love and protectiveness she has for her roommate and her life is a wild ride.

Beating a dead horse!

Too much of the same scene. Became boring toward the end.

I would not call this a happy ending...