My heart loves a happy ending!
Sylvia – what happened? When I look through the reviews on Amazon, B&N, and Goodreads – here’s what I noticed. Your readers, the people who count, aren’t happy. The book had incredible hype and the wait was incredibly long. Unfortunately, just like so many others, I also feel cheated.
The story of Gideon and Eva began strong. Bared to You – Crossfire #1 was great and I absolutely LOVED Reflected in You – Crossfire #2. If I could, I would have given book #2 more than 5 stars. Then came Entwined with You – Crossfire #3 … and it all went downhill from there.
First, Sylvia Day is an amazing author. Her writing is seamless, and I can physically place myself in her stories and live there for awhile. Captivated is great writing … just like the first three books in this series. What this installment lacks is a decent story. Yes, Gideon and Eva encounter a few new problems – lots of them, but very little is ever resolved. The abuse storyline faltered, the Golden video storyline faded, and the overall love story fizzled. I did like hearing from Gideon’s POV. That added a bit to the overall feel of the writing.
Second, the characters (except for Eva) have lost a lot of personality along the way. Gideon seems weak. While I want the hero to show a little vulnerability, I don’t need or want him a big hot mess. Not in a romance novel! Carey (who is my favorite character in the series) typically adds a bit of humor to each story. In this one, he also seems weak and indecisive, and doesn’t offer much to his MUCH NEEDED supportive role. There are too many other characters floating around the story at given times. Unfortunately, I don’t understand why many of them are needed. Therefore, I don’t care about any of them.
I’m definitely sad, as there was so much promise when this series first began. I’ve made a decision, not to finish Crossfire. Dragging this to five books with no clear direction as to where we are heading lost me along the way. I’m saying CROSSFIRE.
