On the heels of the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, there were bound to be some look-a-likes floating around. Quite obvioulsy, Bared to You has been marketed to be the next Fifty Shades and so I had to pick this little treasure up and give it a try.
Bared to You features a young woman named Eva who has recently moved to New York city. With her troubled past seeminly behind her, she looks to start fresh in the city with a new job and her best friend Cary. Of course, things never go according to plan as she meets the devistatingly hansome and weathy Gideon Cross. Together, they find that they have a lot in common and much more in the chemistry department.While their sex life may be stellar, they both have deep routed issues that they must face as a couple. These issues will either make or break their relationship and they must find out whether they are strong enough to make things work.
I will start off by saying that I did not enjoy this book as much as I did the 50 Shades series. I've recently re-read these novels and while they are racey and have some graphic content, I still enjoyed the characters and storyline very much, probably even more when I read it the second time.
While reading Bared to You I felt was a poor atempt at catching the E.L. James's audience. I have to admit, the story was a little more unique and the characters, especially the female lead, were different. With this being said, I still felt like I was reading a story where someone was purposefully trying to shock me, and it didn't work. I won't go into too much detail as I don't want to ruin the story for anyone, but I often times felt like Day just threw certain extra intense sex scenes into the story just to add some scandal and to be more like Fifty Shades of Grey and I didn't love it.
I think one of the bigger problems I had with this book was the use of the "c" word. I hate that word. While there are other words used in the English Language to describe this particular part of the female anatomy, I think the "c" word is the worst. While in real life (okay, just when I'm not typing to an online audience) I have the mouth of a sailor, but that word never crosses my lips. It's demeaning and disgusting and anytime anyone uses that word around me, I wince. I think it's a horrible word and to hear it used as a sort of sexual endearment, I had to cringe.
The characters also didn't do much for me. While Eva was a different character than Anna from 50, Gideon was a poor mans version of Christian. I didn't believe his back story and I had a hard time falling for him, especially as the book came to a close. I just didn't find his actions and his relationship with Eva to be believable, which made it very difficult to get into the story.
Lastly, I've heard a lot of bloggers say that they enjoyed this book more because the writing was better. While I agree that Day's writing was better edited and had more of a flow, I thought the plot was repetitive and boring. The constant running away that Eva did and the back and forth between Gideon and Eva (I want to be with you, no I don't... I want to be with you again, no I don't...etc.) grew very tiresome. I was also confused at times of the story. I felt like the pacing was off and I was rushed in some spots and in others, the story drug on too long.
Overall, I was bored by the plot and the characters and while the writing was better, this novel didn't hold a candle to the 50 Shades of Grey books. I felt like I had to compare them because Bared to You because everywhere I went, I saw the two books together. Now, I say that I won't read book two, but I most likely will and when I do, I hope I like it better.
Great review Allison. I will have to give this book a pass. I loathe the "C" word no matter where it is used. I would have been disappointed to buy this book and read that! Not passing judgement on the author, just my personal view.
It was pretty hard to get through. I will say that the word isn't used in abundance, but any use of the "c" word seriously erks me. I didn't want to judge the author either, but I felt like it was another way she threw something shocking into the story for sheer shock value.
Great review, very thoughtful. I don't ever see myself reading 50 Shades or this book for that matter but it was still interesting to see your views on this "look-a-like". It bugs the hell out of me when series become uber-popular and then other authors afterwards try to ride that wave claiming their book is the next "big - whatever". We still have to suffer the Twi-wave. *sigh*
I completely agree Lauren. I had to give this one a try though because I really did love 50 Shades. I realize too that these romances are definitely not for everyone and if you're thinking they're not for you, I probably wouldn't try them (they get pretty intense!) but I can't help myself when it comes to smutty romance novels!
I've been MIA for about a week now, mostly becuase I think I've fit about a months worth of stuff in about a week! I wanted to post an update mostly because I'm super excited, but also because I have some tours coming up and I didn't want anyone to think I was backing out!
Well last Friday, after a very crazy and hectic and stressful work week, I came home to my boyfriend getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him. After a few tears, I of course said yes and was furthur surprised with tickets to go see my whole family back out West. Needless to say I was beyond extatic.
After a fun weekend at home, I flew home to the East Coast late Monday night and then early Tuesday morning flew to Miami on business. I just got back very, very, very early this morning and sitting at my desk I resemble a zombie.
But! I'm back to blogging starting on Monday with an excerpt from the much anticipated Addicted to You by my blogger buddies Krista and Becca Ritchie! Well it's off to Philly tomorrow!!
I owe some people a book or two and I need to pick winners from the giveaway earlier this month and I will be doing all of that next week. Make sure to stop by Monday to read the steamy excerpt and stay tuned for more consistant blogging next week :)
CONGRATS!!! That's so exciting :D Happy engagement, and that's wonderful you were able to visit your whole family. By the way, your ring is so gorgeous and not too mention cool! Your great great grandma had style ;)
WEB4FOEHR IMAGEHOST reserves the right to disable or delete any file which might compromise the security of our servers, uses excessive bandwidth, violates this Terms of Service or is otherwise considered undesirable (at our sole discretion).
WEB4FOEHR IMAGEHOST reserves the right to deny access to any user who uploads files that compromise the security of our servers, use excessive bandwidth or are otherwise deemed to be misusing the free file hosting service.
Description Mrs. Paul V. McNutt (nee Kathleen Timolat) was photographed by Bretzman in 1928. At the time this image was taken, her husband Paul V. McNutt was a professor and dean at the Indiana University Law School in Bloomington. It was about this time that he was launching his political career, he was elected governor of Indiana in 1933 and served until 1937. Kathleen Timolat was from Texas and the couple met and married in San Antonio during WWI while Paul was in the army.