Book Tuesday: Bared to You

I received a pitch letter for Sylvia Day's book that described it as erotic fiction along the lines of Fifty Shades of Grey. The plus on this being that Day has been a finalist for the RITA award, the top writing prize for the Romance Writers of America.  So presumably Bared to You would be pretty well written, as that is one of the common criticisms of Fifty Shades--intense, compelling but not the best written.

With those things in mind, I sat down and read Bared to You.  The book is an easy read and moves well enough to keep you from setting it down for long stretches.  It follows the romance of Eva Tramell, a young wanna-be ad exec in New York and the fabulously rich Gideon Cross.

Like all good romances, Eva and Gideon cross paths and feel an instant attraction, but do nothing about it. Gideon propositions Eva on their next meeting, which she finds sexy, yet offensive at the same time. The two eventually become lovers and endure and up and down relationship that would rival even the best yo-yoist (I'm hoping that's a real word; if not, what do you call a yo yo operator?).   There are a host of other characters that pop up in the book-- Eva's neurotic, mother; Eva's filthy rich step father; Eva's working class father; Eva's best friend Cary; and Gideons ex girlfriend; and Gideon's odd family.

Overall, I'd say the book is an easy breezy summer read. But, having the book compared to Fifty Shades in the sales literature made me compare it to the book, and I must say the characters are not as well drawn or memorable as those in Fifty Shades. Also, because of this, it's a bit hard to understand why the characters are acting the way they do. They seem flighty and fickle. The writing is well done, comparatively, but I don't think Bared has the same intensity or pull as Fifty.

Bottom Line: If you're looking for a quick read that's enjoyable, but not particularly memorable, check it out.

That's it for today.

-Hyattsville Mom