Reflected In You by Sylvia Day

Sex is a powerful tool. Sometimes, it can even be a weapon.  There are people who know how to use sex to their advantage to get what they want.  I too have fallen victim to it.  Just like Eva "[t]here'd been a time when I'd turned to sex to feel affection, confusing momentary desire with genuine caring."  I guess that's why I really like this novel.  I feel there are times that I can relate and empathize to the characters because I have felt and experienced what they are going through.

Reflected In You is the second book in the Crossfire series.  The relationship between Gideon and Eva has really deepened in this book.  At the start of the novel, it can be seen that the thought of two days away from each other is unthinkable and unbearable for them both.  Being the intense individuals that they are, that is expected.  However, something as consuming as their affair is not healthy (and their therapist shares my opinion).  Two days is not that long a time for one not to be able to endure the separation.  They have become too dependent on each other and I think that it is bordering to something obsessive.  Isn't it suffocating if you're with your partner all the time?  We need our space once in a while, some "me" time, don't we?

I still find Gideon sweet, in his overprotective and controlling ways.  During their first time apart, when a guy was flirting with Eva, one of the hotel's staff (since Gideon owns the hotel) interrupted them and told Eva that someone will get her order from the cabana she and Cary are occupying.  When Eva didn't leave the bar, the hotel staff insisted that guy the guy move to the other end of the bar.

When Gideon explained to Eva that Corinne was taken aback because Eva did not look like her Gideon said, "x x x I wasn't looking for her in other women. I didn't know I was looking for anything until I saw you."  That is one of the sweetest things that a guy can say to a girl.  There was also the time when they went to North Carolina for two days.  Eva was stunned to find that the bathroom of the place where they stayed was furnished with her usual toiletries.  This shows that not only is Gideon sweet but he's thoughtful and attentive, as well.  Or when the time Cary was in the hospital, even before Eva asked Gideon has already arranged for an extra bed in Cary's hospital room so that she can stay with her best friend.

I think I now understand Eva's tendency to run away when things get shaky.  "x x x My recovery was so fragile that I'd learned to protect it at all costs.  When something threatened my stability, I ditched it."  I haven't had a traumatic experience (and I don't want to) much more something as harrowing as what Eva went through, I can only imagine what she must have felt and the scars that it left in her.  I guess I would also be running away at the slightest indication of a risk to my security.

But she should give Gideon more credit though.  He also underwent something disturbing but he tries to set aside his issues for her. "Gideon had told me more than once that it terrified him when I ran, because he couldn't handle the thought that I might not come back.  What good did it do to say that I couldn't imagine living without him when I so often showed him otherwise with my actions?  Was it any wonder he hadn't opened up to me about his past?"  It's a good thing Eva came to this realization.  How does she expect Gideon to trust her with his past when all she does is run away?  If she wants their relationship to work, she has to have faith in him, she has to stay and fight for them.  As Gideon puts it, "I go out of my way to make sure you don't have any reason to feel jealous, but when you do get possessive, I like it.  I want you to fight for me.x x x But possessiveness without trust is hell.  If you don't trust me, we've got nothing."

The series, particularly this book, feels personal for me.  I've mentioned that at times I can relate to the characters because I have felt and gone through what they were going through.  Also, I believe that the story is something that most can identify with because it happens in real life as well.  Case in point, "he had been the recipient of many I love yous over the years, but he'd never believed them because they hadn't been backed up with truth, trust and honesty.  The words mean little to him, which was why he refused to say them to me."  I know there are people who utter those three words too often or too soon.  Some just throw it around without meaning it at all.  That's why for some, those words have lost their meaning or significance.  Nowadays, we seem to have taken for granted the imports of even a simple "thank you" or "you're welcome".

The details of issues in their relationship (Eva-Gideon's and Cary's) may be messed up but the issues they are having are real.  Maybe because of what he went through, "Cary was so unhappy when everything in his life was going so well.  He was an expert at self-sabotage, never truly believing he was worthy of happiness."  There are those who feel that they don't deserve to be happy so they ruin or destroy whatever it is that brings them joy.

Although Eva and Gideon are not typical, their relationship has problems that we typically encounter - like jealousy and distrust.  Their reactions are normal too like when Gideon punched Eva's ex-boyfriend when he saw them kissing.  But that was because Eva was acting in retaliation for knowing that Gideon went out to dinner with an ex!  I know some of us are guilty of doing something like that.

While reading this novel, I realized (in some scenarios) that I am in the same situation as Eva is with Gideon.  There is this guy in my life who also has issues (not like that of Gideon though) and Gideon reminds me so much of him.  They both want to overcome their issues to have better relationships with other people.  They both want to do good and be better individuals.  And like Gideon, this guy is also wondering why I'm still here.  There are lines in the book which seemed familiar because I have heard them before or something similar to it, "You know the way I am.  You've seen me at my worst.  Last night, you said you want me anyway."  I just wish that he would trust my decision to stand by him notwithstanding his flaws.

I'd rather argue with you, angel, than laugh with anyone else. - Gideon

Rating: 5 of 5 STARS