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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I will preface that am no snob when it comes to literature, I read romance and fantasy, specifically looking for smut.
That being said, romance readers all know where the book is headed, what’s got to be good is how you get there, and this book confused the hell out of me whole time.
Makes no sense why he fell in love, it all happens in the span of a week or so. The character development is terrible. The main character is annoying as can be expected. It’s ridiculous. The whole thing.
That being said, romance readers all know where the book is headed, what’s got to be good is how you get there, and this book confused the hell out of me whole time.
Makes no sense why he fell in love, it all happens in the span of a week or so. The character development is terrible. The main character is annoying as can be expected. It’s ridiculous. The whole thing.
Bared to You was frustrating. My reading experience was an odd combination of infuriating, worrying and enjoyable. Initially, I wasn’t a huge fan of the book and seriously thought about giving it up. The initial attraction between the main characters was all about “fucking.” I’d say sexual attraction and lust, but that isn’t the language Day uses, no for much of the book the characters just “fuck”, which bothers me because I need more of a connection between my characters than “fucking.” Eventually, the characters connect on a deeper level…or at least that is what Day tells us. They each have a possessive, obsessive need for one another despite the fact that they cannot get through a conversation—not that they have much of those---without lashing out and freaking out. These two people should not be together, and in real life they would be a freaking train wreck, but it’s fiction, and somehow that makes their totally destructive relationship okay. Gideon and Eva are traumatized people, and I guess they are trying to save/ fix each other, but there is a lot of trauma in this book.
Speaking of trauma, I feel really uncomfortable that the main characters were sexually abused as children. The adult erotic situations, intermixed with discussions of childhood sexual abuse, really bothered me. I’ve read books that had main characters that were sexually abused as children, were dealing with their trauma, and had romantic relationships with sex (the Elena books in Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series) so it can be done well, but in this particular book it didn’t set well with me.
Maybe what bothers me the most is that in romance books I want to root for the main characters to be together, and I want to see that they love each other and are good for each other. But in this book the relationship between the characters developed and imploded so fast and so frequently that I didn’t ever see that they were really right for each other. I don’t know if they will get their happily ever after and that bugs me as a reader. Character flaws and relationship imperfections are fine, great, necessary…but I need to have something to root for…something other than the flaws. I hate that as a reader I doubt the legitimacy and longevity of their relationship.
So, why three stars… because I will read the next book and if it was out right now I would buy it and start on it because I desperately want to know what happens next. Gideon and Eva grew on me throughout the book even if their actions did inspire levels of anger few fictional characters have ever managed. I want to know how their stories end, I want to find out Gideon’s secrets, and against all laws of logic I want them to end up happily ever after together.
This book has serious flaws and for the most part I recommend most readers just stick to Fifty Shades, but it has sucked me in and I will stick along for the long infuriatingly messy, but pretty damn intriguing, ride.
Speaking of trauma, I feel really uncomfortable that the main characters were sexually abused as children. The adult erotic situations, intermixed with discussions of childhood sexual abuse, really bothered me. I’ve read books that had main characters that were sexually abused as children, were dealing with their trauma, and had romantic relationships with sex (the Elena books in Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series) so it can be done well, but in this particular book it didn’t set well with me.
Maybe what bothers me the most is that in romance books I want to root for the main characters to be together, and I want to see that they love each other and are good for each other. But in this book the relationship between the characters developed and imploded so fast and so frequently that I didn’t ever see that they were really right for each other. I don’t know if they will get their happily ever after and that bugs me as a reader. Character flaws and relationship imperfections are fine, great, necessary…but I need to have something to root for…something other than the flaws. I hate that as a reader I doubt the legitimacy and longevity of their relationship.
So, why three stars… because I will read the next book and if it was out right now I would buy it and start on it because I desperately want to know what happens next. Gideon and Eva grew on me throughout the book even if their actions did inspire levels of anger few fictional characters have ever managed. I want to know how their stories end, I want to find out Gideon’s secrets, and against all laws of logic I want them to end up happily ever after together.
This book has serious flaws and for the most part I recommend most readers just stick to Fifty Shades, but it has sucked me in and I will stick along for the long infuriatingly messy, but pretty damn intriguing, ride.
Jesus Christ, why did I read this? I can only justify myself by saying it was a train wreck and I couldn't look away. For a book where the two main characters were survivors of sexual abuse, there so many scenes when consent was sketchy at best that I could hardly believe it.
Spoiler
Not to mention there are far too many sex scenes and every single one of them involves oral sex - my jaw hurts just from reading the book.
2024 Reread
I’m probably more pensive after finishing this than I need to be, but it’s both funny and thought provoking on the second run. Especially with how much my life has changed.
I first read this series as follow-up to Fifty Shades of Grey. I remember loving it so much and thinking that this better written. To an extent, it is. Does it make it a better book? Not necessarily. However, if the author’s aim was to publish something that is 80% arousing, 15% problematic characters, and 5% plot then goal achieved.
The smut is sultry, no doubt. Not necessarily explorative.
The plot is hardly there but minimally progressive, I guess.
It’s the character development that takes up the bulk of this book. Frankly, if they were to be summarized: detestable. They’re awfully broken. Both of them.
I would leave it there, but I can’t in account of the victims of assault I’ve met in clinic. They’re riddled with behavioral problems and their coping mechanisms are sometimes as aberrant as the protagonists in this book. It’s easy to dismiss them, as they often are, and very difficult to like them or even understand them. It’s the forceful realizations that broke the mirage for me; the knowing that you fucked up after 2 minutes without intent to fix it. While that behavior can be very real for victims, it did clash with Eva’s “progress”. It felt like a combination of immature psychological responses in otherwise highly functional people.
I understand the judgement of these characters, but I also hope others create space for “understanding”. You can, in fact, meet people whose adult life is in disarray because they were so brutally battered as children.
I can’t, in good conscience, rate this anything above 3 star. More so out of nostalgia than merit. For those seeking some reprieve and a little fun…pick it up.
——
Review from 2013
So I'm going to start off this review with something that has been bothering me all along. Stop judging this book in comparison to Fifty. If we were going to do that with all books we'd have to create a shelf for all dystopians, or at least ninety percent of them, and label it as, "Here you will find the same story sixty times."
This book was great! I found myself laughing at the characters more often than not. She pisses me off! That's great! We readers have to feel some form of...something towards our characters. Whether love or hate, something is something.
I did think that it was a poor plot. I closed the last page thinking, "Well that was...not informative." We still don't know what's up with him or his family or anything for that matter. Hopefully the next book resolved that problem. I don't think I can deal with another book filled with childish tantrums from a childish idiot. Maybe I'm just jealous.
I’m probably more pensive after finishing this than I need to be, but it’s both funny and thought provoking on the second run. Especially with how much my life has changed.
I first read this series as follow-up to Fifty Shades of Grey. I remember loving it so much and thinking that this better written. To an extent, it is. Does it make it a better book? Not necessarily. However, if the author’s aim was to publish something that is 80% arousing, 15% problematic characters, and 5% plot then goal achieved.
The smut is sultry, no doubt. Not necessarily explorative.
The plot is hardly there but minimally progressive, I guess.
It’s the character development that takes up the bulk of this book. Frankly, if they were to be summarized: detestable. They’re awfully broken. Both of them.
I would leave it there, but I can’t in account of the victims of assault I’ve met in clinic. They’re riddled with behavioral problems and their coping mechanisms are sometimes as aberrant as the protagonists in this book. It’s easy to dismiss them, as they often are, and very difficult to like them or even understand them. It’s the forceful realizations that broke the mirage for me; the knowing that you fucked up after 2 minutes without intent to fix it. While that behavior can be very real for victims, it did clash with Eva’s “progress”. It felt like a combination of immature psychological responses in otherwise highly functional people.
I understand the judgement of these characters, but I also hope others create space for “understanding”. You can, in fact, meet people whose adult life is in disarray because they were so brutally battered as children.
I can’t, in good conscience, rate this anything above 3 star. More so out of nostalgia than merit. For those seeking some reprieve and a little fun…pick it up.
——
Review from 2013
So I'm going to start off this review with something that has been bothering me all along. Stop judging this book in comparison to Fifty. If we were going to do that with all books we'd have to create a shelf for all dystopians, or at least ninety percent of them, and label it as, "Here you will find the same story sixty times."
This book was great! I found myself laughing at the characters more often than not. She pisses me off! That's great! We readers have to feel some form of...something towards our characters. Whether love or hate, something is something.
I did think that it was a poor plot. I closed the last page thinking, "Well that was...not informative." We still don't know what's up with him or his family or anything for that matter. Hopefully the next book resolved that problem. I don't think I can deal with another book filled with childish tantrums from a childish idiot. Maybe I'm just jealous.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Failed in comparison to Christian Grey and his Fifty Shades
It’s like 50 shades but without the BDSM. There’s something so great about a words and story that can capture the darkness of past traumas but still let love shine through.