LN Cronan

 If I had to guess, Eva's undergrad degree is in marketing or communications, and the grad degree is an MBA (that stands for Masters of Business Administration, FYI, our international fans -- it's perhaps the most common of the master's degree and the one that people who go into the corporate realm usually get.)  Plus, I can see Monica insisting Eva live at home when she'd started attending college. Oh God, the dormitories would be far too unsafe for the non-existent comfort level of over-the-top neurotic Monica. No wonder Eva moved to California!

 Well Corrine does have a history of chasing Gideon, and increasingly had pulled desperate moves, such as showing up unannounced at the Crossfire the morning after the fundraiser, trying (unsuccessfully) to see him. And Corrine does live around the corner from Gideon's apartment.  What if she gets uneasy because Gideon stops spending free time with her -- maybe all-but-stops spending any time with her. Maybe out of desperation, or having a sneaking suspicion about Eva, Corrine shows up at Gideon's? Gideon keeps her out in the hall, talking to her but refusing to let her in -- meanwhile, inside his place in his own bed is Eva.  Karma is a b****

How about Corrine catches them in one another's arms? Which actually could be a scary plot twist, depending upon how badly she reacts -- would it be bad enough to endanger Gideon/Eva's secrecy? Â Wouldn't it be ironic if Gideon literally ran after Corrine immediately in order to try to stop her from doing something rash upon catching him and Eva making love? Â I can see Mr. Control Freak trying to control the situation. Thus Corrine would finally manage to get Gideon to chase her -- but the result being the opposite of what she hoped for. She'd be told he doesn't love her and she cannot be any part of his life anymore, not even as a friend.Â

 This is true -- once the script is done is when the actors/actresses and their agents start considering the roles -- and people eager to play those roles start approaching the producers/director. Meanwhile, the producers/director start considering the possibilities out there, because often they already have people in mind to approach themselves.  It's a kind of mating dance that ends with offers made by the director and/or producers and offers accepted by the actors/actresses. It's competitive on both sides -- actors/actresses hungry for particular parts, producers/directors hungry for the biggest stars they can land.

Re-reading the part of Reflected Chapter 2 when Magdalene talks on the phone to Eva made me connect some new dots - that maybe Eva is the only woman Gideon ever pursued, both figuratively and literally. Â Magdalene had known Gideon a long time, and she'd never seen him literally chase after a woman before - like he had when Eva walked out on him the night before. And Magdalene had witnessed other women walking away from Gideon - he'd never chased any of them. Magdalene observed Eva has made Gideon work for her (Eva) -- something Magdalene never did (and now thinks was a mistake on her part.) Add onto this the knowledge that years ago, Corrine had done the initial chasing (probably literally following Gideon around campus). He didn't go after her figuratively after she broke the engagement. Â One more thing to add is something Gideon said to Eva back in Bared - that before Eva, work and the gym generally kept consumed most of his energy, so sex was something he could take or leave. Once in a while he got an offer he couldn't refuse -- that implies that he never pursued someone when he wanted to get laid, rather, he'd accept a woman's advances. Â Throw that all together with how Gideon told Eva in Chapter 1 how he'd been driven insane the moment he first laid eyes on her as she stood out on the sidewalk in front of the Crossfire -- how he ended up following her into the building. Plus the relentless chasing of her he did that first week when she'd been rebuffing his advances ..... Â .... all of that makes me think that before Eva, which had been love at first sight for him, Gideon never even had fallen into l**t with another woman. Never pursued anyone else. He didn't need to pursue - women threw themselves at him all the time, and if he was feeling h**** he could just pick one for a one-night stand. Â Anne Lucas had been meant to be a one-night stand, but Gideon decided to let her keep coming back for more, because it made even more vicious the revenge Gideon was taking on Dr. Lucas. Â Even Eva herself originally had been destined for just an "extended one night stand" per something Sylvia said in the interview the other night (she used that exact phrase too.) The lovemaking in the limo is what changed everything for Gideon (and for Eva too) -- changed it into something they both were willing to fight for.

In the States, we also have a form of college degree known as "associate's" which take only two years to complete. However, when a person is said to have "gone to college" or "is college educated" generally, that indicates the person has a four-year degree, a "bachelor's"Â Â A student who is an "undergrad" is one studying for a bachelor's degree. "Graduate school - or grad school" means studying for a master's or higher.

 Similar, Julie -- here in the States, young people graduate high school around age 17-18. A bachelor's degree, the most widespread college degree, takes four years to complete if a student attends college full time, so most students finish around age 21-22. "Graduate school" involves at a bare minimum two more years full time to finish - for a master's degree. Doctorate degrees take even longer than that, and the amount of time getting one of those advanced degrees depends upon the subject being studied (medicine, law, science, etc.)  Eva is 24 and she mentioned to Gideon that one of the reasons she hadn't gotten laid in a while was she had been busy working on a "thesis." A thesis is something that is part of nearly all master's degree program. Doing the math, it would appear Eva attended college for six years total.  However, she lived with her father and went to school in San Diego for only four years. My guess is that she started out in college living near her mother, but after two years decided to transfer to San Diego State, to finish her bachelor's there and then get her master's.

I think Angus is the only person Gideon trusts absolutely. Period. Gideon cannot even trust Eva fully (mostly his bad - it's because he has issues.) But there's something momentous Angus did to earn Gideon's trust. Â So if there is one person, and one person only, Gideon would turn to in order to make 100% he (Gideon) could get at Nathan, kill him, and then get away clean, it would be Angus. Â Too, Angus had to have been in the loop from day one of Nathan's reappearance that Eva needed protection. Then when Cary's beating increased the danger to an unbearable level, Angus was the person Gideon put in charge of driving Eva -- but in actuality made Angus Eva's bodyguard. Monday - Eva stayed safe inside the hospital around the clock Tuesday - Gideon found out she left the hospital unexpectedly that morning, and Angus tracked her down while she was trying to walk to work, getting her off the street. Tailed her to the restaurant she took Brett to. Presumably, he took Eva back to the hospital, where she spent a second night in Cary's room. Gideon ordered Eva to wait for Angus every morning moving forward. Wednesday - Angus drove Eva from the hospital to work and then from work home (Cary got home from the hospital that day). Thursday: Presumably Angus drove Eva to work. Â Thursday night - when the killing happened: Angus was part of the alibi Gideon engineered for Eva. Angus drove Eva from work to Dr. Petersen's and then from Dr. Petersen's to home, where she remained in for the night with her injured roommate and visiting nurses. Gideon arranged things so that there always was at least one eyewitness (Angus, Dr. Petersen, Cary, home nurses) who could account for her every move from when she left work to when she got home that night. Â I think that as soon as Angus dropped Eva off at home, he let Gideon know she was safe, and then he met Gideon near the party to help Gideon take care of Nathan.

No necessarily. There are actors/actresses who regularly appear in both films and in premium television series too. Â Glenn Close is an example - she appears in major motion pictures and she currently stars in the legal-thriller TV series Damages. Â Peter Facinelli is an actor who currently appears in a Lionsgate produced award winning TV series, Nurse Jackie, and he's had a big role in the Twilight movie franchise (as Dr. Carlisle Cullen). Â Coincidentally, Lionsgate produced the Twilight series -- Sylvia mentioned Twilight by name earlier this week during that big interview (see the interview thread). She was talking about how excited she is that the Lionsgate producers currently working on developing Crossfire want to stay true to the novels. The Twilight films stayed quite faithful to the novels (well, except for part of the final film).

 Personally, I think no way in h*** would Gideon quickly walk to and from Nathan's hotel. Gideon is a major celebrity, and he would have been recognized on the street.  I think when Graves said she timed the walk on foot -- 15 minutes each way -- she wasn't implying she thought Gideon walked. The point she was making related to her having successfully broken Gideon's alibi wide open.  Gideon had more than enough time, during that hour-long evacuation of the party hotel, to pull off the killing. Gideon clearly had "opportunity" in other words -- the crucial legal element that along with motive is what the prosecution needed to prove to a jury. Even on foot, Gideon could have pulled it off in little over a half hour. Driving to and from the crime scene, Gideon probably had it done in ten minutes or so.

I wonder how Angus felt those last couple of weeks in Reflected: Knowing Gideon had deliberately mistreated Eva Seeing Eva in pain every day (as Angus tailed her and she steadfastly refused rides) Understanding Gideon calculatedly was using Corrine (who had been Gideon's fiancee the first year Angus worked for Gideon -- so Angus would have known Corrine well years ago.)  Mind you, I'm convinced Angus knew the whole reason why. In fact, I'm convinced Angus was Gideon's accomplice, and helped Gideon in ways that included getting rid of the murder weapon while Gideon rushed back to the party.  My theory about how Angus felt about the way Gideon decided to manipulate both Eva and Corrine in a manner that immediately damaged Eva and down the road was going to damage Corrine? Angus probably wished he could dopeslap some sense into young Gideon. Angus would have seen eight years of Gideon being clueless about women -- including Angus making sure that when Gideon did throw some date onto the reject pile, the reject got driven home for the final time. (Remember what Magdalene told Eva in Chapter 2 about Gideon making sure drama queens who pulled ultimatum stunts on him were driven home by Angus.) Angus would have spent about a year seeing the interactions between Gideon and Corrine -- seen enough to know something was missing in Gideon and Corrine (probably still a nice girl back then, not yet the catty b**** she became) increasingly desperately trying to break through Gideon's shell. Angus started out very professionally polite to Eva, but as the days progressed he began displaying genuine warmth. He would have seen that Eva was the first, and only, person who ever made Gideon happy in all the years Angus had known Gideon (which stretched back to Gideon's childhood.) Eva was the best thing that ever happened to Gideon -- and in Reflected, he threw that away with both hands.

Henry Cavill is playing Superman, a quintessentially American character, in Man of Steel, the major motion picture being released next month. Check out the movie trailer, which shows the British Cavill most certainly can do an American accent: Â http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DaPBBOHfsA

My theory is Angus, in his capacity as driver, was already told Gideon would not be going to that off-site lunch meeting -- but -- Angus as Gideon's main bodyguard (and thus a key member of Gideon's security staff) knew Nathan had re-appeared. Angus, expecting that Gideon would want to speak to him soon, decided to hang out in case Gideon wanted to cancel his afternoon schedule. Â Seeing Corrine, I think Angus decided on his own to give her a ride - if Gideon called him, he could head right back. Â Angus would have known Corrine well -- probably far better than Angus knew Eva. Certainly much longer than Angus knew Eva -- at that point, Angus had been driving Eva less than two weeks. Angus would have known Corrine when she was Gideon's fiancee. Â Doing the math: Angus started working for Gideon himself (instead of the Vidals) eight years ago -- which means Gideon was 20 years old when he hired Angus away from his stepfather. Gideon met Corrine when he was a college freshman, around age 18, and they were together for three years, the final year of that engaged - so he would have been around age 21 when Corrine walked away. Upstairs when Eva confronted Gideon, Gideon claimed to be running late for a meeting. I doubt Gideon was going to the lunch meeting. He'd probably scheduled some sort of emergency security meeting. Or perhaps he was rushing to meet with Stanton. Either way, he had something much more urgent on his mind than business, as so he had no time for Eva's "over-reactions"

 Waving hello to a new poster!!!  Thanks for letting us know the questions are key -- I did not know about that part. Now I'm going to run back and look at every one of them

Andie, here's a link to something you might like on Pinterest, a graphic of some of the ways plots unfold in good fiction. I happened to come across this on Facebook the day after you perceived the plot pattern in Bared to You. Coincidence? Maybe not. The part labeled "Swain's Plotting Method" hit me right away, because when I read it, I instantly recognized Sylvia's genius for how she continues to drive the plot tension time and time and time again. Â http://pinterest.com/pin/279293614363996920/

 And they are twin demons - insecurity and jealousy.  The jealousy causes Eva and Gideon both to fear other people. Not just the specific jealousy of Corrine (Eva) and Brett (Gideon). It extends to overall generalized anxiety about other women and men, period. Eva goes a little nuts inside over every brunette she even suspects Gideon might have known, and Gideon over-reacts in his behavior to practically every man who goes near Eva. It's very dysfunctional what both of them do.  The insecurity causes Eva and Gideon to doubt themselves. Eva believes (wrongly) it's really simply about the sex, period, with Gideon -- because sex is the only way she knew how to try to reach out to guys. Sooner or later, Gideon's going to tire of her and throw her onto the reject pile, Eva's insecurities tell her. Gideon believes (wrongly) he's unworthy of love, because he was shattered by parental abandonment. Sooner or later, Eva's going to abandon him, Gideon's insecurities tell him.

 Maybe when Gideon and Eva dance alone together after dinner in one of their apartments (probably hers) she wears that red gown for him?  Though I am careful about not taking the pictures too literally. These are teaser photos Penguin is releasing to build excitement for the coming release of Entwined with You. They could just as easily represent parts of the past books -- this could be Gideon and Eva on their first date.  The snapshot pictures Sylvia has posted on her site twice weekly are specifically meant to give us a peek into specific chapters of the new book. I'm not assuming these teaser photos by the publisher are doing the exact same thing.

With this project, between re-reading the pages and listening to the audiobooks, things continue to leap out at me in a new way. Like this seemingly innocuous line at the bottom of page 29, Eva thinking she was simply in an off-kilter mood but what actually was a flash of psychic certainty: Â I had this sick feeling in my gut, like something awful was going to happen. Â Because it was. She was leaving the Crossfire to go out to lunch with a new friend. Something awful was about to happen to her and to Gideon too -- things that would send each of them spinning out of control. Â The awful for Gideon: during that lunch hour, Nathan would appear in Gideon's office, carrying with him pictures and video of him raping Eva as a girl. None of this is spelled out in Reflected itself -- Sylvia revealed Nathan's visit in spoiler details she later posted to this fan site. I imagine that in Entwined, we will find out more about Nathan's interactions with Gideon. But in the meantime, Nathan would rip open Gideon's deepest wounds: of being a childhood sexual abuse survivor and of fearing for the safety of the one thing that meant the world to him, Eva. The latter would drive Gideon to kill. Â The awful for Eva: as Eva returned from lunch, Corrine, in the lobby of the Crossfire, spotted Eva across the street. So Corrine would leap at the opportunity to wound her rival -- Corrine messed up her hair and make-up and then stroll out Crossfire looking like Gideon had just f******* her upstairs in his office. This vicious stunt would rip open parts of Eva, unleashing Eva's twin demons of insecurity and jealousy. These demons would drive Eva to leave Gideon.

My favorite part of Chapter 2 is this paragraph, bottom of page 22, that sums what has kept Eva and Gideon together -- what will keep them together in Entwined and beyond: Â We were together because we were addicted to each other. I was never as intoxicated as I was when we were happy together, and I knew it was the same for him. We were putting ourselves through the wringer for those moments of perfection between us, but they were so tenuous that only our stubbornness, determination and love kept us fighting for them.

Angus doesn't have to listen to them going at it in the back of the limo -- there's a privacy window shield that goes up, which seals off the back of the car. He does, however, know when they are going at it back there -- because Gideon orders him to keep driving until Gideon tells him to stop. Â The Bentley, however -- Angus is in a position to hear what's going on in back. Not that Gideon and Eva have ever had sex in that car, but they have had some very intense conversations, and sometimes Eva sits on Gideon's lap back there.

Chapter 1 of Reflected in You - The Readers Guide  This chapter opens up Thursday morning (day 18).  Key plot developments This opening chapter contains three major foreshadowing clues: In professing his love for Eva, Gideon claimed he'd even kill for her For the first time, Gideon discussed openly he'd become preoccupied with about Eva's physical safety because of all the public attention she's received. Meanwhile, Eva had become preoccupied with Gideon's brunette fixation, which Eva has come to believe is an unconscious preoccupation Gideon has always had with Corrine.On a related matter, Eva learned just how strongly Gideon had become attracted to her (Eva) the first time he laid eyes on her.  New characters Anne Lucas - mentioned in passing and not yet by name.  First foreshadow - how far Gideon would go for Eva "I'd kill for you, give up everything I own for you .... but I won't give you up," Gideon told (page 16). At the time, he said it in a figurative sense as he was reassuring Eva, in the face of Corrine's reappearance, that Gideon loves her (Eva). This would play itself out literally though - Gideon would kill to protect Eva from mortal danger. As part of what was to come, he would cruelly push Eva away from him for her own protection - but at the same time, he'd try to prevent her from giving him up.  Second foreshadow - how much Gideon wants to protect her "My plane, my hotel, and if you leave the premises, you take a security team with you," Gideon told her, and on a related matter, "You'll forgive me if I don't trust (Cary) with your physical security after last night." (both on page 11.) This would play itself out through Gideon taking security measures, in cooperation with Eva's mother and her stepfather, to protect her when Nathan reappeared in New York. However, unlike the weekend-trip matter, where Gideon openly discussed security measures, Eva would be kept completely in the dark about the danger Nathan posed -- and would find out about it after the fact under traumatic circumstances. At the time Gideon made the remark about the plane/hotel/security, they were arguing aver Eva's desire to stay in New York that coming weekend in order to spend time with Cary, obviously in self-destructive mode, as evidenced by the orgy Cary hosted the night before. Gideon had found out that morning that urgent business required him to travel to Arizona that weekend, the first time he'd be leaving New York since Eva had become his girlfriend. He demanded she come with him, because he didn't want to leave her in New York, given her sudden celebrity status as Gideon Cross' serious new girlfriend. The pair of them compromised: Eva and Cary could spend the weekend in Las Vegas, where Gideon owns several hotels.  Third foreshadow - about Gideon's brunette fixation In discussing Corrine, Gideon blurted out some things that, without him even knowing it, would convince Eva that throughout the years, Corrine has always held a tremendous power over Gideon. "About this (brunette) type thing .... Corrine was surprised by you. You weren't what she'd expected ... Because ... you don't look like her." Sensing that Eva freaked out about what he's just revealed, Gideon honestly added, "Eva ... I don't know if she's right ... If that's what it was, it wasn't conscious. I didn't know I was looking for anything until I saw you." This would play itself out by Eva convinced Corrine was right - Gideon had been always seeking out Corrine in subsequent women. This coupled with Corrine calculatedly playing to Eva's insecurities and jealousies would cause Eva to doubt Gideon loved her -- that for him, his feelings were only sexual attraction, Then when circumstances made her conclude his sexual attraction to her (Eva) had been destroyed and he'd resumed sleeping with Corrine, Eva would do what she felt Gideon hadn't the courage to do - end his relationship with Eva.  The initial attraction There was more to the story of their first meeting that Eva knew, something she ended up finding out about in Chapter 1. She had thought it was as simple as Gideon spotting her having just fallen over in the lobby of the Crossfire and coming to her aid to help her stand up. It turned out that Gideon had deliberately gone into the building after her. He'd spotted her outside moments before as she entered the building. He'd been sitting in the back of his Bentley as the curbside and she'd stopped next to the car in order to gaze up at the skyscraper. "You hit me the instant I saw you ... I couldn't look away. I wanted you immediately. Excessively. Almost violently .... You were looking up at the building and I pictured you on your knees, looking up at me that same way ... with excitement. A little awe ... a little intimidation," Gideon explained. (pages 12-13). Thus he followed Eva inside, and found her literally on her knees -- she'd dropped to the floor of the lobby to help pick up the spilled contents of some other woman's purse. Eva admitted that when she saw Gideon for the first time, all she could think about was sex - something he could see too. But more importantly: "And I knew you saw me, too. Saw what I am ... what I have inside me. You saw right through me," he explained, describing what for him had actually been love, not simply attraction, at first sight.

A Chapter A Day Re-Read Project - Today is Chapter 2 of Reflected in You   This chapter starts Thursday morning and goes through lunchtime (day 18).  Key plot developments Eva spotted Corrine walking out of the Crossfire looking like Gideon had just f******* her upstairs in his office during lunchtime. In one instant, Corrine managed to undo all the assurances Gideon made to Eva the night before -- and even undo some additional assurances Eva had received that morning from, of all people, Magdalene. Magdalene had called Eva at work to gossip about what really went on between Gideon and Corrine at the fundraiser the night before. The lunchtime incident ruined what had been up to then a good day for Eva: She'd made plans with Cary to spend quality BFF time together that coming weekend in Las Vegas. She'd gone to lunch with Megumi, the receptionist at her office, starting to build the first new friendship Eva would make in New York. Her boss, Mark, had given her new responsibility that would start to build her own career.  After each of us has read Chapter 2, Sylvia would like to know what each of us liked best - either a quote or a paragraph.

 Excellent point -- and ironic, because from the night Eva met her, she'd been firmly convinced Corrine had some sort of unbreakable hold on him, hence his brunette fixation.

 True, Eva did say that .... but that's before Eva figured out Gideon deliberately hurt her (Eva) by manipulating her love for him. When Eva faced Corrine, Eva probably thought Gideon was on another one of his head trips and that's why Gideon had pushed her away. He's done it before, from pushing her away the night they made love for the first time to pushing her away for four days over his nightmares. Now Eva knows the truth of what Gideon did was far darker, far worse than simply being confused. He was deliberate.

When I wrote "who Gideon's abuser had been" I wasn't indicating the guy must be dead. Oh God, I don't want to be the start of rumors!!! Â It was a grammar choice, past tense versus present tense. Writing "who Gideon's abuser is" wasn't quite right, because that could indicate he's still being abused. "Had been" indicates in the past, this person had abused Gideon. Â He's probably still very much alive --- but wishing he were dead. When Gideon first found out about Nathan, he swore he'd find Nathan and make Nathan feel he wished he were dead.