Reviews - Bared to You | The StoryGraph

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2.86k reviews for:

I really liked this book at first but it slowly got worse and worse for me. I really felt like this was too similar to Fifty Shades of Grey, just way darker and toxic. So many things in both books just aligned way too well. We all root for the toxic/damaged men in these type of books but this one had me wanting them to not be together at all by the end of the book. The FMC was unlikeable and toxic too. I wanted to DNF around 75% but ending up finishing it.

Content Warnings

lil1508's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

dpacker's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 stars for me, but I rounded up to 4 stars because if you REALLY like these kinds of books, I guess this one is pretty good. They aren't really my kind of books, but sometimes I like something different from what I normally read. I opted to read this one because I kept seeing mentions that it was better than Fifty Shades of Grey. I actually liked that series, and I even read the second set from his perspective, which I found more interesting (and possibly better) because you get to really understand why Grey is so messed up, which is really the most interesting part of the story for me. Now, moving on to Bared To You, the first book of the Crossfire series. I went in with the expectation that this series is better than FSOG, which probably isn't the best way to approach a new series.

I like the premise of the story, but there were some things about these characters that are just a little odd. SPOILERS will follow, so don't keep reading if you don't want to spoil anything. I understand attraction, but these two take it to a new level. Having not experienced anything like this, I find it hard to understand how to people physically can't stand to be apart from one another. Is this really thing? Did I miss out somewhere along the way? I also have a little trouble understanding how into sex Eva is since she was sexually abused at a young age by her older stepbrother. Maybe my thinking is flawed, but it seems like that kind of thing would make a young woman have issues with sex. I understand that she had a lot of therapy over the years, but does therapy really erase the trauma she experienced? Given one of the scenes in the book, I'm thinking it doesn't, so my confusion about her being so sexual remains unexplained to me. That brings me to my next point. Just like FSOG, it seems like these people do nothing but have sex or think about having sex when they're not having sex. Having read the FSOG series, I've become numb to the sex scenes, so I can read the book for the rest of the story, but still...all the time?

I'm going to read the second one to see if I want to continue with the rest of the series. I'm curious about the story and what it is that causes all of Gideon's nightmares. I'm guessing the author held that back so that readers would want to continue on to book two, even if the constant sex scenes do nothing for them. Honestly, the characters are likable and you want to pull for them to have a happily ever after, but the things I mentioned above just make it all a little unlikely for me. It's supposed to be erotic fiction though, so I'll accept those things and move on. That's why I give it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. It's not my normal kind of book, but I hate when people read outside their normal genre and then judge a book harshly because of what it is.

librarymistress's review against another edition

4.0

Definitely a roller coaster ride. I'm gonna eat my words because I said that I won't read any other installation of this novel. Clearly, I would. But I'd prolly just skip the steamy parts.