LN Cronan

         You did it, Julie, as I knew you would, beat me out to being the one to have to (graciously) pick up the tab for a dinner party at Tableau One.  And given that you're paying, you can take Clancy. If no one has asked him to the "prom" yet, I'd like Raul -- hopefully Gideon will loan him the DB9 for the evening.

 Morning coffee for those of us in the States, and coffee break for our Lovely Ladies in Europe.  Today is Chapter 3 of our day-by-day experiment: a spoiler thread where we try to not jump ahead, allowing fans still reading later chapters to jump in to talk strictly about early chapters. I'm crossing my fingers (hey -- Cross pun) that this can work.  Chapter 3 is up for analysis today and everything that came before it in Crossfire, including Entwined chapters 1 & 2 are game.

 Coffee coming right up -- ah, if only I had Gideon delivering it to me in bed

Good morning, everyone,  It's Chapter 3 Day -- I'll post the Chapter 3 snapshot in a minute to start off the discussion (and boy the coffee was clever).  But first, I want to apologize to everyone about the fight that erupted last night after I tried to bring the thread topic back to one chapter per day. Mrs. Crossfire got bullied by GiGi, innocent bystanders got hurt, and the fun got ruined.  Several of us, myself included, started to veer toward later subjects, and it took me a while to notice, given how wildly we all were posting yesterday, our first day out of the gate with a book we'd been waiting for for months. I tried to reign it in after I did notice, because I hope this chapter a day thread will work -- it's an experiment and it was only the first day. No one need apologize for veering off topic, but thank you to everyone who did (especially Julie) and I want to as well apologize for my own mentions of stuff that comes later in the story.  Second, I want to stand up for Mrs. Crossfire being bullied. She's right about the fact GiGi has complained about for going after other members of the forum.  Earlier this spring, GiGi turned on me and started attacking me as well. Below is one particularly nasty post in which she challenged my own right to post thoughts, told me to butt out, and made a claim that Sylvia was talking to her (GiGi) alone. I let it slide then, because I figured picking a fight wasn't worth it. "Never get into a p i s s i n g contest with a skunk" has been something I try to live by. That and I honestly wondered whether I had rubbed GiGi the wrong way.  But seeing someone else being seriously disrespected has made me want to take a stand against bullying. So that you can read for yourselves how GiGi went after me too -- how what happened last night wasn't an isolated incident, but rather, is an unfortunate pattern.   With that, I've said my piece, and I've reported GiGi to the site moderator.

 No worries, Julie   We have gents here? Where are they hiding? And how can I get me one? I'd loooove to go over some love scenes with one. If he's a  hottie

Hi, jumping in with a quick reminder that this one particular thread is designed specifically for one chapter per day, especially for readers who are still working on the early chapters but have not yet finished. Â The main "SPOILER" thread (and yes, I misspelled that word when I set up the other thread) is for any and everything everywhere in the book.

 I hope he hears from reporters trying to reach him for reaction to the news Gideon Cross is engaged to "Golden" and he decides to avoid seeing Eva in San Diego. Yes, they are going to need to talk about the existence of the sex tape, something that can hurt them both. But it would be better if they avoid going near one another for several reasons -- one of which is the existence of the tape. Eva herself pointed out to Gideon that Crisis Management 101 involves distancing one's self from the source of controversy. They can talk about the sex tape on the phone.

Eva needs to remember that a part of the promises made when getting married is to "forsake all others." Meaning she needs to forever slam shut the Brett door. She can't be "friends" with someone for whom she still feels real sexual attraction and who is actively wooing her.

 Seriously. At least Eva got offered a brandy in the back of Gideon's limo when he turned into an iceman on her.  With good reason, Eva felt bad for how Deanna had been treated -- and told Gideon as much, reminding Gideon he's been a total jerk even to her (Eva) when he'd had sex with Eva that first time.

 When she kissed Brett, her subconscious drive for doing so had been to hurt Gideon for making her feel insecure and jealous of Corrine -- his determination to stay on friendly terms with Corrine despite the fact Corrine obviously had an agenda.  Then Gideon cruelly gave Eva extreme reason to be insecure and jealous of Corrine -- in front of the whole world, he started dating Corrine again, and when Eva accused him (during the break-up phone call) of having already resumed sleeping with Corrine again, he didn't deny it.  Even though Eva now knows the real story behind what happened, and she has gotten stronger in her faith that Gideon truly does love her -- she is NOT past her hurt over Corrine. And so she's subconsciously hurting Gideon in return.  I think she's going to figure this out though when she finally wakes up and smells the coffee that she's hurting Brett and Gideon both.

 Monica cries her way out of trouble with Eva, and I think Monica screwed her way out of trouble with Victor.  Very, very, VERY disappointed in Monica.

 I did get some satisfaction out of the quasi face off in the lobby -- Corrine having effectively forced Gideon to see her at the Crossfire only to have his attention ripped away by lovely Eva standing there all pretty in a yellow dress, the sun shining behind her, Gideon staring straight at her. Corrine sees Eva there and attempts to pull a stunt by kissing Gideon hard -- only to have her (Corrine's) stunt forcibly stopped by Gideon himself. And judging by how quickly Gideon commandeered the elevators, he disentangled himself from Corrine's clutches immediately after her stunt.

 One of the things Eva has been doing now is something Dr. Petersen had recommended all those weeks earlier -- that she (and Gideon) spend more time with other people and less time alone with one another. Plus, the pair of them have spent some platonic quality time together (when she's had her period). They most definitely are sleeping in separate beds.  If Petersen really had his way, they'd still be abstinent and unmarried, but hey -- progress is being made.

Red sex swing -- definitely.

When I wrote Megumi storyline playing out badly, I meant the relationship was going badly in the figurative sense, not the storyline being bad. The storyline -- the plot -- was really good, I think. Â I actually enjoyed Megumi as a character being further developed -- Eva getting close with a new friend. There's been a small but wee bit vocal minority out there thinking Megumi got too much space in the story -- but not me. I saw as very important to the story that Megumi was in a bad relationship and was struggling very hard -- because that's pretty much what the case had been with Eva until very recently. As much as Eva loved Gideon and vice versa, their relationship had been seriously dysfunctional and Eva was suffering deeply.

  Gideon has managed to fry my brain -- just like Eva's

 Is it only brunettes she needs to be scared of -- that's my real question (which has yet to be answered). Was Gideon's brunette fixation full-blown major fetish? Or, when it came to the hotel room, any "pre-approved orifice" would do, regardless of hair color.  Does Eva need to watch her back with blonde and redheads too? (In addition to, of course, Anne Lucas, who is in a class by herself, a revenge f*** turning the tables, determined to break Gideon).

James Bond with the Astin Martin? Um, I'll take Gideon and some "bondage" -- Eva trussed up naked on the hood of the DB9, Gideon doing her nice and slow like he promised, giving those shocks a workout. That'd be a HAWT scene. Â (And yes, I am being silly -- bad puns are a sure sign.)

I think the Megumi storyline is playing itself out badly the way Gideon and Eva ought to have progressed badly but for the fact in their case, great love was involved. Â Here are some parallels: Â Michael took Megumi to his parents' place in the Hamptons for the weekend. This is treating Megumi with a great deal of society respect, just like Gideon did when he took Eva out in public. Â Things turned rocky soon though, with Michael running hot and cold. Similar to Gideon and his headtrips and that 4-day "break" from Eva over his nightmares. Â Michael pulls the commitment-phobe move of refusing to contact Megumi for days. Who, Gideon, cut off contact with Eva? Um, yeah. Â Megumi engages in a form of mercy sex and revenge by having a nooner with Michael and immediately dumping him. Parallels to Eva struggling with acting out to hurt Gideon, hating herself for acting out (like with Brett) but doing it anyway, because Gideon has her head spinning. Â Things go really bad at the end with Michael, and Megumi is so devastated she can't get out of bed. (Because I think that's what's really "wrong" -- she's so depressed she can't function.) This is a sharp contrast to Eva, who did manage to get out of bed every day and go to work -- go to work at the Crossfire no less, an extremely emotionally-charged place. A lesser woman would have immediately quit her job and stayed in bed around the clock for days, but not New Eva.

 Christopher Jr. most definitely knows about the sex tape, I think. But I see Christopher trying to hold onto possession of the tape as a means attempt to control Gideon -- to counterbalance the fact Gideon holds control of Vidal Records. Christopher would hold control of Gideon's wife's reputation.  Very dangerous game to play, Christopher. You've no idea that Gideon is capable of anything to protect Eva. Not to say that Gideon would kill his brother -- but I definitely think Gideon would be willing to figuratively destroy Christopher if that's what it took to stop Christopher from harming Eva.

 Hi Barb, welcome!!!! It'd be so cool if other people waiting for registrations can get them quickly now and jump right in too!!!! Oh it's so much fun here now. Well, it always is fun -- but it's especially fun now that we've gotten Entwined and have oodles of brand new stuff to talk about!!!!

 How I interpreted what Gideon said to Eva in Chapter 2 was this:  To deal with his loneliness and the need to "get out of his own head" so to speak, he'd use women as a diversion. I think that in the hotel room itself, he focused all the attention on whatever woman was there as a way to shift the attention away from himself. Pleasuring them was a way to maintain constant control over the situation itself. It kept them "at his mercy" so to speak. Toys were a pretty surefire way to keep them at his mercy -- most of these women probably had B.O.B. at home, and so a threesome with a B.O.B. and Gideon was a surefire way to make them come. His definition of full-blown sex involved using his d***. But this also involved in his mind -- I think -- actual intimacy, something he very much tried to avoid. Perhaps he was still regretting his one failed attempt at true intimacy -- Corrine -- and so was determined to avoid any emotional entanglement ever again. I think that every so often he got so h**** in the heat of the moment that he did end up "going all the way." But those poor women ended up worse off than the women he simply toyed with (bad pun intended). Because if he did stick his d*** into them, he'd immediately go on a head trip. Look at how shut down and cold he turned on Eva when he went on that first-sex headtrip. Perhaps Magdalene really had it literally right when she said once Gideon stuck his d*** in a woman, he was done. At best, he probably maintained short-term fooling-around-with relationships with the women he'd take to the hotel, but any woman who he actually had intercourse with (like Deanna) got asked to leave immediately and then never got contacted again.

Reading between the lines, I'm hoping this means she's finished writing Crossfire #4 now. What she's waiting for to happen is for a publisher (Penguin or someone else) to agree to the production schedule AND KEEP THAT PROMISE. Go Sylvia!!!! You have earned the respect you now command in the publishing world, and those companies had better sit up and take notice!!! Â Penguin has some serious making up to do to the fan base (kinda like Gideon has some serious making up to do to Eva) -- and so honesty is what's needed. They best be making promises they actually will keep!!!

Here's a copy-and-paste of what she posted to Facebook: Â Â An update on the release of Book #4: To avoid what happened with the shuffling of REFLECTED IN YOU's release date, we're going to refrain from announcing a date until the book is in production and everything is Set. In. Stone. You've seen something like this recently with the release of Dan Brown's INFERNO. It was announced in mid-January and in readers hands mid-May. (I am to have the turnaround timeline a bit quicker than that!) As always, I'll keep you updated every step of the way. For now, I'm still working on addressing everything that went wrong previously and some things aren't yet finalized. THANK YOU for your patience (and impatience) and support!

Quit making me blush. Blush anymore than I already do by writing " .... talented fingers in, tongue in/on ..." Â Despite some degree of worldliness, I still do blush terribly, something that's quite a source of amusement for people close to me, especially guys. In trusted company, I will sometimes say risque stuff -- but I can't ever pull it off without blushing.