This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Amanda Keats
While Eve is excited to start a new job in Manhattan, she is not prepared for what happens when she encounters the powerful and hideously wealthy Gideon Cross. Both Eve and Gideon are damaged, having suffered tremendous traumas during their respective youths, but when they start a passionate love affair, their pasts come flooding back as the walls they have each spent years putting up come crashing down around them.
In the wake of the Fifty Shades phenomenon, it is unsurprising to see a surge in erotica hitting our bookshelves. Bared to You is Penguin's latest offering by American writer Sylvia Day, and takes readers on a hot and steamy ride through the emotional, dramatic, destructive and therapeutic relationship of Eve and Gideon. This is not a story of dominance though. While Gideon is used to being in control and having his way, Eve is no wallflower who bows to his every request. She challenges him at every turn, only increasing his desire for her. Eve herself, having been abused in her youth, is yet to experience the pleasure of a hot and fiery relationship. As soon as she gets this with Gideon, she can't stop herself giving in to it. But Gideon is a well-known man and she fears her past will be revealed and embarrass him.
Though Gideon is the wealthier, more powerful party in their relationship, this is much more of an equal pairing. They need each other and are obsessed and infatuated with the other in equal measure. Fans of erotica who are put off by the severity of S&M novels will devour Bared to You, which looks past the sex and heads straight to the core of a person's passion and heart. Eve and Gideon are not simply baring their naked bodies to each other, but their entire beings – heart, body and soul. They are stripped bare in every sense of the word.
Bared to You is a relentless, intense tale.
9/10
SYLVIA DAY'S WEBSITE