Entwined with You

Entwined with You (Crossfire, Book 3)
by Sylvia Day
Published by Berkley Trade
368 pages
Genre: erotica, romance
3.5 / 5


Gideon Cross.

Those two words ought to stir your quiver, girls. If they don't, then you need to begin here (Bared to You), continue here (Reflected in You, which I just realize I have never reviewed ... must fix that). You need to connect with Gideon Cross, who puts the MAN in man.

For reals.

As a caution: this review will include information from the first two books, so if you haven't read them, stop what you're doing and READ THEM. Then come back, read this review, and go get a copy of Entwined with You.

When last we left Eva and Gideon (le swoon), they were facing their next step together after Gideon murdered the man responsible for abusing and terrorizing Eva. This one picks up right after that, as our happy couple navigates those stormy waters.

The murder pops up here and there in this book, and the threat it poses for Gideon and Eva looms over them throughout. Other issues come into play as well, and by "other issues," I mean, "too damn many." At one point, Eva even wonders what else can happen to her and Gideon, pointing out that every time they start to gain some equilibrium, something - or someone - comes on the attack.

I had issues with Eva in Bared to You. I thought she took off running too quickly, and I could not see what Gideon found so attractive about her. In fact, I asked Sylvia Day that very question on Twitter and was told that Gideon saw some of himself in Eva. Both were victims of sexual abuse, both were protective of their hearts, both enjoyed some frisky relationships in the past.

In this book, I finally came to love Eva. She is firmly on Gideon's side, and she appreciates him and what he brings to her life. In one scene, she reacts with her typical knee-jerk reflex, but as she examines what has pissed her off, she comes to see that Gideon wants nothing more than to protect her and make her happy. The "old" Eva would have taken off and run. This Eva sticks around.

Oh, she does run at one point, but not so much from Gideon as from herself. She isn't fleeing their relationship or him, but rather trying to make peace with a mistake she believes she made.

We continue to learn more about Gideon and Eva, and we continue to love that hunka hunka burnin' love that is Gideon Cross.

Which brings me to the sex scenes.

Strap on your vibrators, girls. It might just be possible that Sylvia Day has outdone herself.

There is loads (no pun intended) of hot headboard rockin' in this book. One particularly memorable interlude takes place on Gideon's plane, and it is shattering. He and Eva rock headboards, walls, nightclubs, bathrooms. No place is off-limits, and thank goodness for that. Gideon connects with her through sex; he needs sex with Eva because he believes theirs, for all of its rawness and fierceness, is pure. It cements their union. When Eva wants to burrow into Gideon's core, when she wants to help heal him, she does so through sex. She understands its importance to him.

And, of course, his stamina is a fantasy that makes Christian Grey grind his teeth with envy.

As hot as the sex scenes are, though, the rest of the plot disappoints. There are WAY too many things going on, and they do nothing but serve to muddy the story. I get it, Sylvia Day. You want us to keep reading. But trust your characters; trust that you have created two people we care about and want to continue to read about, if for no other reason than their scorching sexy times. You don't need to throw all these different loose ends at us to keep us reading. Good grief. In this one alone, we have a surprise pregnancy, a potential Russian mob connection, a suicide attempt, extortion by sex tape, and an illicit affair between two former lovers. It's too much. Pare back to what matters: Gideon and Eva.

The good news is that it looks like we might be in for a fourth installment in Gideon's and Eva's story. The bad news is that it does have to end sometime.