LN Cronan

 Go for it, Andie!

 I had mixed feelings about Reflected in You -- and I say that in a good way. The story went unexpected places and important characters did unexpected things, some of which upset me.  Which is the sign of a good book -- it's supposed to touch my emotions and challenge me. If I wanted simple and sweet, I'd stick to PG-rated Harlequin Romances.  So honestly, I'd be disappointed if I didn't have mixed feelings after reading Entwined -- mixed feelings about how the story changes the characters.

 Scale of one to ten -- just how hot is the sex-in-the-nightclub scene?

You know that thing Gideon does when he's frustrated -- runs a hand through his hair? When he's really frustrated, he runs both hands through his hair? Â Both my hands are running through my hair right now! Â

 This guy hasn't even let the author herself inside him (per that fascinating interview Sylvia gave, in which she explained her characters come to her imagination fully-formed, and the reason she doesn't plan -- at this time -- to write stuff from Gideon's point of view is that he has kept himself closed off even from her.)  Well, the man at least has some serious explaining to do to Eva. And no more keeping secrets from her -- she'll walk if he goes back to that. I think that he's at last figured that out though. Plus he knows he's lost her trust through his own fault, so moving forward his words have to match his actions.

 Part of me is admiring you for your restraint.  Part of me is saying -- now that's just mean!!! ;) !!!!

Daily Readers Guide will be late today, ladies - I slept in and am meeting some friends this morning. Â We're nearly there, though, in our re-read!

My pet theory about how the murder case will go away - because detectives Graves violated Eva's rights when she asked Eva to confirm Eva dumped Gideon after Nathan died. The evidence becomes inadmissible. I think the story about Eva and Brett kissing and then Gideon and Brett trying to kick one another's a***** is bound to get out -- too many witnesses. Brett outing Eva as "Golden". My biggest theory already played out in spoiler info from Sylvia - Gideon did do it. She's also indicated Corrine is getting kicked to the curb for hurting Eva -- does that mean Gideon is going t find out about Eva's side of the morning showdown outside Corrine's place? I'll bet Corrine tried to spin it as psycho Eva, because even Eva herself predicted Corrine would tell Gideon she (Eva) had shown up. Dr. Lucas and/or Christopher Jr. egging on Deanna? I think Eva's gut is right Gideon f***** Deanna -- this time it's not just Eva's brunette paranoia messing with her head. Those are the main ones.

OMG those pictures are killing me!!! Frisky Friday indeed!

SQUEEEEE!!!! Mrs. C is the first regular here to be able to read it .... so psyched because I know you'll be classy about it, unlike some people over on Goodreads (honestly, does Deanna Johnson ghostwrite over there, LOL)

I can't see Gideon being arrested in the last chapter -- because each of the prior novels has had Gideon and Eva together at the very end Bared -- she believed what he told her about Corrine, and the pair of them were fine that night (until that catty b**** pulled the stunt the following day.) Reflected ended with them holding one another on his doorstep. So I can't see the last chapter of Entwined having them physically parted, which an arrest would do. Still, though .... a camera does worry me for other reasons. So much bad in the prior two books came from photographs, from the ones Nathan had of Eva to the ones Gideon deliberately staged to make everyone think he and Corrine are back together.

Gabri is stalking her Italian Gideon. It must be frisky Friday!

Penguin Australia goes from posting (and having to take down) a picture with rings in it (even though Sylvia did say in an interview Gideon's going to want to put a ring on it.) Now they're alternating creepy picture (hand), hot picture (oh that male torso), and now another unsettling picture. Â Honestly, I'm starting to feel like Eva during That Week. Roller-coaster and mixed messages. Â LOL, I jest, I jest ....

Well Deanna came up as press in Chapter One. Is she still a problem at the end of the book? We do, after all, have more to come beyond Entwined. Enough with the beautiful brunettes chasing Gideon, already. Yeesh. Eva's insecurities have made her paranoid, but honestly, maybe she's right. The adage "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."

 Works for me -- let's start, though with Chapter 2. We've seen all of Chapter 1.  We could discuss a chapter a day, just like we re-read a chapter a day.  I won't be writing chapter summaries, though, like I had daily during the re-read project. that'd be handing out every single spoiler, too tempting.

I hated most of Chapter 16, and I think I'm done ever re-reading the break-up phone call part. Â But depending upon how things pan out, it might be important to go back in hindsight and re-read the part in which Monica blurts out stuff about Nathan and/or the one time Eva sees her parents in immediate proximity to one another.

I'm going to amuse myself by going back and seeing how many, if any, theories I actually got right. Or even half right. Â I'll bet most of mine were wrong. Sylvia's far too clever of a writer. Especially during the dark parts of Reflected, we thought we knew where the story was going and -- bam! Â The only thing I know I'd gotten right, back this past winter when I first joined the forum, was the certainty Gideon killed Nathan. Â I'll probably have to eat crow, though, on some of my other biggest theories. Â I really hope I get an answer to the "brunette" thing, though. We know that prior to Eva, the rule when it came to dating Gideon was "brunettes only need apply." Did the same rule apply (pun intended) to the f*** pad.

Still sneaking around and Gideon have to keep disguising himself (he is a celebrity after all)? Or does it mean it's safe for them to be seen together again? Perhaps the end of the lying for the cameras (i.e. posing with Corrine like they're reunited)?

4 p.m. Eastern U.S. time is 10 p.m. in the U.K. It'd be practically Saturday by that point. Â I'm going to break radio silence Friday morning U.S. Eastern, which will be pushing lunchtime in London. Â I figure the hardcore Ladies in and around London will have already read Entwined Thursday night and will be raring to go. Â Those who haven't finished will at least be well into it, and I figure they can resist peeking at spoilers here. Why rush to partial spoilers here when they hold the ultimate spoiler -- the novel itself -- in their hands?

Favorite part of Chapter 17 -- the turning point for Eva. She'd spent eight days emotionally buried alive, her heart broken and feeling in a way like her life was over.  Now she was about to rise from the dead -- in part because Nathan being dead, she realized, meant she could now embrace life in a way that hadn't been possible before. She no longer needed to hide herself, lest she lure him out of the shadows. No more looking over her shoulder.  So now she was going to start to learn how to quit being Old Eva. Starting on the outside to work her way in. From page 292:  "I want everything done. I want a new haircut. Something short and flirty and chic. I want my nails painted fire engine red -- fingers and toes. I want to be a new Eva."

Re-Read a Chapter a Day -- Today is Chapter 17 of Reflected in You  This chapter starts Saturday morning (day 33: sixth day of their estrangement and the day on which Eva actually ended things.) It continues through the weekend. Then, because the story timeline revolves around Gideon and Eva being together, this chapter quickly moves through more than a week of utter estrangement. It ends on a Monday (day 42 of the story and two weeks to the day since Gideon began cutting Eva out of his life.)  Key plot developments After she ended things with Gideon, Eva spent the remainder of the weekend distracting herself by showing her Dad around New York. Talking with him, she learned some more about her parents' history. Gideon did not contact her in any way whatsoever after she finished saying her piece on the phone -- not later that day, not that weekend, not the week that followed. But the following weekend, she ran into Gideon's family -- and confronted his mother for her role in Gideon being so damaged he couldn't handle being loved.   Favorite quote or paragraph needed from each of us, for Sylvia, after we've re-read the chapter.  The worst of the worst is over -- Chapters 15 and 16. I think we can find something bright.

Chapter 16 of Reflected in You - The Readers Guide  This chapter starts Friday evening (day 32) and ends Saturday morning (day 33, sixth day of their estrangement and the day Eva ends the relationship.)  Key plot developments This is the darkest chapter in the whole Crossfire story thus far, when within the course of under an hour, Eva got two devastating blows Saturday morning. Her mother told her Nathan had possessed photos/video of Eva as his rape victim years ago, and had been using them to try to extort money from her and Stanton. Eva guessed, correctly, Gideon had seen those photos too. Victor, who now believed Gideon was a cheater, showed Eva an online photo proving Gideon had been with Corrine on Thursday. The picture convinced Eva Gideon had indeed left her for Corrine but simply was too much of a coward to end things -- so Eva called him to end it herself.  New characters None in this chapter  The rest of the police visit on Friday night The previous chapter ended with the cliffhanger of the cops telling Eva that Nathan had been found dead that morning. As soon as Victor heard it was a death investigation, he told the cops the interview was over. He wasn't going to allow Eva to answer any more questions without a lawyer (he'd figured out they'd been trying to check whether she had an alibi). Immediately, the detectives turned on Gideon, wanting to know where he'd been Thursday. He offered to talk to them while walking them out of the building. He'd already danced around the question of knowing Nathan, and now he didn't want to talk in front of Eva about Thursday. And throughout the whole ordeal, he'd avoided looking at her. She picked up on this, as did her father - who eyed Gideon coldly as Gideon escorted the detectives out.  Dad tried to dig As soon as Gideon left to walk the detectives out, Victor tried to get Eva to explain why she'd practically fainted over what the police had told her. He wanted to know the history -- and he wanted to know what Gideon had to do with the matter. As for the history, Eva lied to her father, claiming Nathan was a bully who resented the fact his (Nathan's) widowed father had remarried (Monica). As for the Gideon connection, Eva honestly told her father she didn't have a clue. But underneath, her gut told her -- Nathan was what had come between Gideon and her. Eva decided to go straight to bed, leaving Ireland in the care of her Dad and Cary. As she approached her room, Gideon arrived back in the apartment. They looked at one another, but he said nothing and showed nothing. So wordlessly, she locked herself in her bedroom. While she was asleep, her father investigated Gideon's love life online. Victor found some promising pictures of Eva and Gideon earlier in the summer -- and he found out about Gideon and Corrine supposedly reuniting earlier that week.  First Saturday shocker Monica arrived unannounced at Eva's on Saturday morning, frantic about the fact she and Stanton had just had a visit from detectives - Nathan was dead. But Eva already knew that, Monica discovered. Then Monica blurted out stuff Eva hadn't known - Nathan had been trying to extort money from Monica and Stanton. He had photos and video of Eva as his rape victim from years ago. He'd shown up at Stanton's office the week before, demanding two and a half million dollars. Now Eva thought she understood why Gideon had cut her off, been so tormented the one time he did come to her bed that week. He might still want Eva, but he couldn't live with the images Nathan must have shown him, had to have been disgusted by them. "It has to be this way," words Gideon said to her in the dark on Wednesday, suddenly made horrifying sense. Eva asked her mother whether Stanton arranged to have Nathan murdered, something she denied. Then Eva wondered to herself whether Gideon hired a hitman. The cops had found out about the rape history -- all the old files had been unsealed to the investigators. Eva understood that Monica, Stanton and even she herself had motive for wanting Nathan dead. But Eva knew she had an alibi for Thursday, and she learned that Monica and Stanton did too.  Second Saturday shocker Victor had been out running when Monica showed up. He got back just as she was leaving. It was the only time Eva ever saw her parents together, and it was brief -- but brief enough for her to see the pair of them still were in love, despite all the years they kept away from one another. Once he got Eva alone, he asked her point blank whether she was in love with Gideon, and she admitted she was. Then he asked whether Gideon was in love with her. "I don't know. I know he wants me, and sometimes he needs me. I think he'd do anything he could for me if I asked, because I've gotten under his skin a bit," was the best she could offer her father. (page 283) By then, Victor had found out all about the sensational gossip concerning Gideon and Corrine. He'd also found proof that Gideon had been with Corrine on Thursday night. Victor didn't come out and call Gideon a cheater. He didn't need to. The picture he showed Eva of Gideon and Corrine together said it all. "He had his arm around her waist, and their body language was familiar and intimate. He was very close to her, his lips nearly touching her temple. She had a drink in her hand and was laughing." (page 284). The occasion was a work-related PR event Gideon hosted Thursday -- and the address given was the hotel where upstairs Gideon maintained his f*** pad, the hotel where he and Corrine carried on their three-year relationship and then where Gideon took every single sex partner since, up to Eva herself. It was the final straw.  Eva ends it Eva immediately dialed Gideon's cell phone. He answered -- and once again he tried to rush her off the phone like he had Monday night (while definitely out on a dinner date with Corrine) and Tuesday night (when Eva suspected he'd brought Corrine home to his penthouse.) This time, though, Eva wasn't going to let him avoid her call. Eva did all the talking. Other than to confirm he had seen the Nathan pictures (he confessed he had) Eva did not let him get another word in edgewise, not even when he tried to get her to stop. She started off furious about his deliberately standing her up in front of Dr. Petersen to take Corrine out instead. Anger rising, she then chewed him out for taking Corrine to a PR event involving the company (Kingsman Vodka) that held sentimental value to Eva (Eva's agency did some advertising work for the brand, and the account was how Gideon had first inserted himself into her life.) She told him he'd broken her heart into a million pieces and she had lost all respect for him. But then her shattered self esteem took over, and so she essentially forgave him for not wanting her anymore because of the pictures he'd seen, especially because they somehow triggered his own mysterious trauma history. Dissolving into tears, she tried to say she hoped he'd find happiness with Corrine, but she couldn't get past the word "find ...." "Never mind. Goodbye." (page 286) Only later would we learn he'd been at the police station when she called -- and the lead detective kept watching him even when he had gotten out of whatever chair he'd been sitting around waiting in and tried to quietly stop Eva from keeping going. By the time the call was over, he looked like he'd just been told someone he loved had died.Â

Gideon is going to hurt himself further, too, by deliberately breaking Corrine's heart. That catty manipulative b**** had been playing his guilt like a fiddle. He ditched Eva the first night they'd made love because Corrine called crying. And the night Corrine crashed into Eva's world, Gideon stuck around that fundraiser instead of leaving, and let himself be manipulated into giving Corrine undivided attention at the dinner table, humiliating Eva in the process. Even Magdalene -- not the most partial of observers and someone with grounds to resent both Corrine and Eva -- felt the whole situation was just plain wrong.

The final snapshot, a clue about the final chapter of Entwined with You, is due to hit Sylvia's site today, probably at 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time based on when all the other ones thus far have hit the Internet. Â Recap of the snapshots of chapters 1-21: Â 1. The word "Press" over a fuzzy shot of a newspaper page, and a fancy pen in the foreground. 2. Unwrapped Christmas present boxes 3. The word "Business" next to a cup of coffee 4. A microphone on a stand 5. A pile of neatly-folded white terrycloth towels, wrapped in a red ribbon. 6. A bathtub in a modern-style bathroom 7. An open bottle of red wine, nearly full, and in front of it, one wine glass holding some wine. Near it is a small vase holding four red roses. 8. Two different types of pills in blister packs plus a bottle of some sort of liquid medication. The meds are on a glass coffee table in front of a white couch. 9. Fuzzy shot of a crowded dance floor. One woman in the center of the shot is in semi-focus. 10. A diamond and gold women's watch. 11. An Aston Martin sports car 12. A bank of elevators (this has gone back and forth between the elevator shot and a shot of flowers in a vase.) 13. Pieces of women's clothing scattered at the foot of a bed. 14. An NYPD detective shield (badge). 15. A man's hand grasping a bed sheet 16. A set of stairs or spectator seats (in Times Square?) 17. A man's hand holding a French passport 18. A private jet parked at an airport. 19. A single red rose on a beach 20. A cell phone in a man's hand, the screen indicating an incoming email or text message 21. Pills spilled out of a prescription bottle

The other thing this black heart can refer to is Gideon using Corrine, knowing the whole time he is going to ultimately break her heart every bit as much -- maybe even more -- that he broke Eva's heart.  He'd hoped Eva would trust him as he started acting so cold and cutting her off -- but he went too far, and he broke her heart.  He's got to know that the way he's been acting toward Corrine -- deliberately misleading her  -- will break her heart too. I seriously doubt he's been sticking to just-old-friends. Too much is riding on it -- especially now. He's let the whole world think they've reunited. He's got to have had her believing that too, even if he didn't resume a sexual relationship. "Yet" is probably what she has been led to believe.