It has been a long time since I have written a book report. I wondered if I shouldn't make a shoe box diorama to go along with my review of Bared to You by Sylvia Day. I decided against it.

Is This Just 50 Shades in Disguise?

I first heard of this book from a co-worker over the summer. She had finished reading the 50 Shades series, and she recommended this one as the book to read next. Having read the former series after acquiring it here on Eden, I felt compelled to take this one as an assignment to see how it compared. What I discovered is that there are similarities between 50 Shades and Bared to You (book one in the Crossfire series), as has been hinted at here and there. For one, in each series, you have a strong, wealthy, successful, handsome, well-hung man who is a control freak, with the implication that the reason for this is a deep, dark secret from his childhood. Next, you have this man meeting the main female character in an unconventional manner and becoming instantly obsessed with her. Beyond that, you have the man, a confirmed bachelor, very quickly becoming willing to give up his single, no-strings lifestyle for this woman. As I see it, this is about as far as the comparisons go.

In contrast, I will tell you that there are some major differences between the two series.

1. In Bared to You, the main female character (Eva) is wealthy in her own right, has her own secrets, and has her own control freakishness to throw in the face of her suitor (Gideon). She is a much stronger character than 50 Shades's Ana. Personally, that made me like her better.

2. The writing is a lot better - none of the "Holy crap!" business you heard out of Ana in 50 Shades. There is also not one single mention of an "Inner Goddess." If that put you off of the aforementioned series, you can rest assured that you will not have reason to complain about the immature level of the writing in this book.

3. The sex scenes are great! No, they are not very kinky - Gideon does have sex toys, for example, but they are never used on Eva - but they are still hot. This could be a personal preference, since as a mostly dominant switch, I love it that Eva often initiates sex, and other times tells Gideon what she wants to do to him once she gets him alone. Not to mention...there is a lot of dirty talk. That sort of thing just gets me going.

4. Once you leave the bedroom, the scenes between Eva and Gideon are not as informative or emotional as those between the main characters in 50 Shades. That was one of the main areas of disappointment for me. The story was good...but it didn't make me care about whether these two characters were going to stay together.

5. The supporting characters are a lot of fun - from Eva's bisexual, party boy, model roommate, to her neurotic, stalker mother, to her gay boss and his prankster partner. You will feel like you know them all.

About the Author

Sylvia Day is a 39 year old American author (and former Russian linguist for the U.S. Army) who has written over a dozen novels and more novellas and short stories. She has won multiple awards for her romance fiction. She also writes under the names S.J. Day and Livia Dare.

Design

This is a paperback edition published by the Berkley Publishing Group. The cover art is elegant - a pair of cuff links placed on a black table with a gray background. I would say that this is a book you could feel comfortable carrying about anywhere, as it is rather discreet. The font size in this edition seems a little small for my eyes...but perhaps that says more about my age than the quality of the text.

The ending of the first book leaves you hanging, and perhaps not caring enough to continue...but you should. It will be worth it. While I was not overwhelmed by the plot line or the characters, I was interested enough in the story that I did download the next book in the series, Reflected in You, on my e-reader. I lost sleep with that one, staying up one night until I finished the whole book. The characters open up more in the second book. It is a lot more emotional and touching. It also features a much more captivating story line. Reflected in You is where the first book is leading but unfortunately does not get soon enough.

The series deserves five stars for what it will be, but this first book gets only three stars for what it is.

I will still say that this book is a nice opener to the series, but the ending fails as a stand-alone novel. It's a good thing then that this isn't one. I eagerly await the third book in the series - Entwined with You - which sadly will not be released until May 2013.

This first book would make for a nice stocking stuffer though.