Review of Reflected in You (Crossfire #2) by Sylvia Day
Reflected in You is the second book in the series Crossfire.
Eva Tramell and Gideon Cross have a passionate yet struggling relationship. They're both damaged by violent pasts, and it affects their ability to relate to each other. Gideon is high-handed and brooks no disobedience while Eva is strong-willed and stubborn.
Their relationship is filled with difficulties, and they have trouble finding a place in each other's lives even as they're madly in love.
Then things take a turn toward a breaking point.
Trigger warning: This novel contains intense themes of childhood rape and sexual abuse, and a scene of attempted assault.
I'm still struggling with both characters' histories of childhood rape as it's a subject that can be triggering for me. I'm trying to focus on them as survivors and how hard they're working to overcome their pasts and not let it interfere in the relationship, but Gideon's sexual parasomnia (sex in his sleep) nearly pushes me to my breaking point as it does for Eva. I sincerely hope there isn't an instance of this in each book.
The characters are strong and likable even in their intense flaws. I like that Eva has had a different flaw to work on in each book and not one she's struggling with throughout the entire series, though her flaws are not perfectly fixed by the end. Her flaw from the first book is something she still struggled with a little, but it was to the point that she actively understood when she was heading down that path and turned away.
Gideon's actions in this book were a little baffling, but not to the point of breaking suspension of disbelief. More like I didn't understand what was happening though I knew there must be a reason. I understood the genre means there's an HEA involved, so I knew the situation would be resolved, but I didn't know what that resolution would be because I didn't have a clue what was happening. When I figured it out, I both was and wasn't shocked even though the solution is never completely confirmed. There's no admission, only assumption, and I liked that it ended that way. It held an air of mystery at the end, and it's probably better the reader doesn't know for sure.
The plot was in some ways stronger and in some ways weaker than Bared to You. I found the continuing development of Eva as a character to be continually strong, though it wasn't quite the same with Gideon because his actions through half the book were so baffling, but we do finally get the details of what happened to him as a child that broke him so completely. I had my suspicions of who had done those things to him, but it wasn't what I expected.
The secondary characters, like Cary, Gideon's brother, and his mother, were strong and lifelike. They had their own flaws and likable characteristics, though some were more likable than others.
Cary seems determined to destroy his life even as he's trying to improve it. I understand that self-sabotage, though his seems to be focused on his love life. It frustrates Eva, as it should, but she loves and accepts him, and she tries to help him through his difficulty. My only issue with Cary's character is it was hinted that his inability to stay faithful was because of his bisexuality. It wasn't spelled out that way, but it came perilously close. That's something that pervades social views of bisexuals and it's completely false. When I see it perpetrated in novels and movies, it infuriates me.
Descriptions of settings, people, and action were all excellent. With Sylvia Day, I always know what I'm looking at and what's happening. She didn't rely on my memory of the first book to fill out descriptions in this book, though the people and places from the first book may have only gotten a brief reminder which I find perfectly workable.
Sylvia Day's technical abilities are excellent, as is her ability to weave a good story. The combination makes for an excellent novel that's easy to read and absorbing.
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