LN Cronan

One LOL and then I've got to head out into a series of conference calls ..... Â With so many of these prior snapshots, we've been debating the literal images themselves. Perfect example on Tuesday -- was that a pair of stockings or pantyhose? Â Today's snapshot is literally the correct prop - that's an actual picture of an NYPD detective shield.

 Perhaps Victor is part of the serious plot twist in which the murder case ends for good. That's a distinct possibility. We know he's coming back.  Victor's own badge would be silver (he's a street level cop) for City of Oceanside, the community immediately outside San Diego where he works as a police officer.  A gold badge ("shield" is what cops call those instead of "badge") is what a detective carries. This one in an NYPD gold shield, so it's gotta be Graves.

His defense lawyer would NOT be a new friend. He/she would be in the same category as Dr. Travis and Dr. Petersen, a professional doing something that changes life for the better. Â Big difference from someone like Dr. Lucas.

 Right smack dab somewhere in the middle of the novel. So the "real" big corner to be turned comes at the very end. Like:  Bared - Gideon picks Eva over Corrine. Happy ending (for now) Reflected - Eva knows for certain Gideon never picked Corrine over her. Happy ending (for now.) Entwined - for all the world to see, Gideon picks Eva forever? Engagement? Elopement? ??????

New character(s) we'll meet in Entwined ... Gideon's kick a$$ defense lawyer(s) who manage to get the case tossed. Â Wouldn't it be great is his lead defense lawyer is a woman -- and a gorgeous brunette at that? Because secure in Gideon's love at last, Eva won't care at all who the lawyer is, man or woman. And for the first, some stunning brunette actually will do some serious good in Gideon's life, unlike a long line of past ones making life miserable, starting with his mother and continuing right on up to present-day Corrine.

Mrs. C for the win again -- always the first fan in line here to snag the snippet! You rock!!! Â That's not a regular cop badge either, because regular badges are silver. It's gold "shield", which means it's a detective. Â Ah hah!!!!!! Â OK, repeating my you-read-it-here-first big theory, which I believe will make the murder case go buh-bye forever: Detective Graves seriously effed up the case for good. She questioned Eva without Eva's lawyer present after Eva explicitly invoked that right. Graves' mistake poisons key evidence Gideon had the motive to kill Nathan. Permanently poisons the evidence. Â The answer Graves tricked out of Eva -- who dumped who and when -- cannot ever be admitted as evidence now. And even if Graves gets more dirt now, by catching Gideon and Eva together, that newer evidence also is poison. There's even a legal phrase used by defense lawyers (and judges ruling on defense motions to toss illegally-gained evidence.) It's known as "fruit of the poisoned tree." If illegal evidence is the root, then everything else springing from that root also is inadmissible. Â So, Chapter 14 -- murder case is OH-VER and our lovers can at last be safe to come out from hiding.

I've been friends for a long time with a guy who is bisexual. The only way he differs from me sexually (I'm a straight woman) is that he's got a larger pool of people to choose from.  When it comes to sexual attraction, none of us deliberately and consciously decides "oh there's a good candidate -- I'll start desiring him/her now." It just happens, naturally. A wonderful thing if the object of our affection wants us back. Heartbreaking if that person does not want us back.  Just like me, this friend has over the years developed sexual attraction to other people, starting in his teens and continuing throughout adulthood. When a person wanted him in return, he entered a relationship. Sometimes, his new partner would be a gay or bisexual man. Other times, his new partner would be a straight or bisexual woman. That's the only way my friend and I differ - specifics of our sexually histories.  As a straight female, each person I've gotten hot for over the years has been male, and all of my sexual relationships involved guys who were mutually attracted to me in return. Most of them were straight too, but there was one instance in college where the guy turned out to be bisexual. After that relationship ended (one of those short-term college flings freshman year) he'd go on to have other relationships with partners of both genders. And of course, I've developed attractions to men who were gay. I'd go on to become friends with some after I gave up on any hope we'd ever be more than that, and I let my desire burn itself out with time.  In one case that I know of, a woman developed an unrequited serious attraction to me. I had to cut off contact with that woman just like I would with any guy who was trying to pressure me into a relationship I never was going to start, because I didn't desire the person back. NOTE: I didn't cut her out of my life because of her sexual orientation. I've got friends of all sexual orientations. I cut that woman out because she made it impossible for us to be just friends (stop pressuring me and let her attraction to me die down with time. She wasn't taking "I'm not interested" as a final answer.)  With all that personal history to draw on, I view the character of Cary as like me deep down inside -- he develops attraction to people who sometimes want him back, sometimes don't. The fact he's bisexual simply widens the potential pool of possible lovers, because he's got both genders to pick from, where I stick to just one gender.  I don't view his situation with Tatianna as meaning he's "mostly straight." I see that set up as "friends with benefits" -- they have sex for their own mutual enjoyment, but are not placing any additional demands on one another. It's a kinder, gentler version of what Gideon used to do when choosing "strangers with benefits." (Gideon refused to get friendly with his sex partners.)  Trey, I think, misinterprets the Tatianna situation as Cary being a mostly straight guy experimenting with men. The truth of the matter is, the real root of the tumult is Cary has got commitment issues and Trey apparently has got co-dependency issues. Trey is, thus far, another one in a series of dysfunctional relationships. We read in Chapter One of Bared that Cary's got a long history of that.  Turns out, so does Eva. And her relationship with Gideon starts off dysfunctional for the very same reason -- Gideon's got commitment issues and Eva's got co-dependency issues. Their love for one another (including a willingness to go through couples' therapy) will ultimately make their relationship work.  We can hope for the same happily ever after for Cary, a relationship that works. The only question is, with who? Trey? Tatianna? Someone else in his future? Who will turn out to be the great love of Cary's life?

 The way Corrine twisted that downplayed the obvious fact Corrine would have been following Gideon and Eva as a couple online. It almost makes it seem like Corrine was surprised that night to see what Eva looked like -- when we all know d*** well Corrine certainly saw numerous pictures of Eva online since Eva became celebrity Gideon Cross' girlfriend.  And ..... Corrine's little manipulative remark in passing about how she'd called up Gideon for help one night, and interrupted the "poor guy" at some event where he was there to give a speech? There were red carpet shots of Gideon with Eva as his date. Between the fact those shots were the earliest pictures of Gideon and Eva as a couple -- along with timeline info Corrine would have gathered during her frequent phone conversations with Gideon -- would prove it was Gideon's first date with Eva. One Corrine succeeded in ending early.  That was Corrine's knockdown punch when she immediately made use of the weapons Gideon unknowingly handed to Corrine just moments before - Eva is very insecure and jealous -- and had been 100% in the dark about Corrine's relationship with Gideon, including their recently re-established "friendship." Corrine had gotten Gideon to drop everything for her (Corrine) in the middle of his first date with Eva.  AGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 Hard to say, because chapter lengths have varied throughout the Crossfire series. Those that contain some drawn-out scenes have been longer than some others. Examples include what happened between Gideon and Eva in the Vidal's library, the night Eva met Corrine, the sex-fueled fight Gideon and Eva have over Brett, Detective Graves revealing details of the murder investigation to Eva.

Friday!!! Twice-weekly snapshot will come this morning (likely around 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time based on when all the other ones thus far have hit the Internet.) Â Today will be a glimpse into Chapter 14. Recap of the snapshots of chapters 1-13: 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. An elevator lobby 13. Pieces of women's clothing scattered at the foot of a bed. Â Note: Up until now, new snapshots have come on Tuesdays and Fridays. But the first one next week (#15) will hit the Internet this coming Monday instead of Tuesday .... because instead of a snapshot next Tuesday, we're getting the final pre-book-release glimpse of some text of Entwined. It will be the ultimate "snippet." (Drum roll please ....) the entire first chapter of Entwined!!!Â

 And for Gideon's sake, I hope Corrine has told the cops she and Gideon are a couple again (of course, neglecting to mention things haven't yet moved beyond the early platonic stage.)  It's very important for Gideon to have Corrine as a possible defense cover story the pair of them got back together again four days before Nathan died -- especially now because the lead detective tricked Eva into confirming the truth.  The detective knows the truth Eva and Gideon broke up after Nathan's body was found, Eva ended the relationship, and that judging from the look on Gideon's face when he got dumped, he was still very much in love with Eva (and thus he had the motive to kill to protect her.)

Chapter Eleven gave us our first real taste of just how much a celebrity Gideon is -- and that the tabloids/gossip sites are especially interested in his relationship status.  More importantly, when it suits his needs, he will deliberately manipulate the media. It's something that will be a hidden but key plot development in Reflected, and judging by Snapshot One of Entwined -- which has something to do with "press" -- will continue to be important to how the story continues to unfold.  Gideon, when he put Eva into the spotlight, unknowingly set in motion Nathan tracking down and then stalking Eva, putting her life in danger. As part of Gideon killing Nathan to save Eva, Gideon would brutally manipulate the media into thinking he dumped Eva for Corrine -- a lie that even Eva would believe was the truth.  His media history thus far -- and it's consequences to his relationship with Eva:  His past dating relationships (every one of the platonic after Corrine) had various girlfriends being on his arm in high-profile social settings, including being photographed by the media. This is how he got his reputation of being a ladies man and of having a fetish for brunettes -- a history that would eat away at Eva's insecurities, most especially once Corrine returned to New York with the obvious intentions of getting Gideon back. Early in their own relationship, Gideon and Eva got photographed several times. The times we know about, because they are important, are the candids of Gideon kissing Eva plus photos of them fighting (and making up) out in public a couple of days into their new relationship. Plus there are red carpet shots of their first date and red carpet shots of them at a second fundraiser weeks later. All of these photos were part of the Bared To You novel. In the middle of Reflected, Gideon used the media to get photos of him and Corrine being a couple again, starting with him taking her out to dinner. He obviously made sure the media knew Corrine was his former fiancee, judging by screaming speculative captions and stories that immediately hit the Internet. This was done for the benefit of the stalking-Eva-Nathan, to try to defuse Nathan's escalation and buy more time to protect Eva. An unintended consequence would come the next day. To immediately get even, Eva took Brett out to a restaurant too (including temporarily harboring a nasty impulse to get herself photographed with her own ex-lover). Fortunately, no photographers caught them, given the extreme danger Nathan posed at the time. However, the lunch cemented Brett's belief he can get Eva back. Gideon used the media the night he killed Nathan to establish his alibi and further bolster his Corrine cover story (to protect him from motive.) He threw a PR party to which he brought Corrine as a date, and he staged a photograph with her where his body language (and Corrine's too) would lead anyone to suspect he and Corrine were lovers again. The accompanying story, whose dryness showed it obviously was a press release, identified the party location as the hotel where Gideon f****** Corrine throughout their past three-year relationship and where Gideon f****** every woman since then up to when he and Eva became involved. However, yet again he'd underestimate the consequences of that photo opp to his relationship with Eva. She took it as proof he'd been cheating on her -- and he was back with Corrine because the r*** photos Nathan showed Gideon forever ended his sexual desire for Eva. Her heart broken, she'd end the relationship with a phone call that would traumatize Gideon -- and land him right at the top of the list of suspects in Nathan's murder. Very early in Entwined, it's possible we'll hear more about his fake relationship with Corrine, and what it's made Corrine believe. Eva quit following Gideon online any more after that party photo. Because she deliberately kept herself in the dark about him going out with Corrine again, we readers also have been in the dark. However, Chapter One will involve the media somehow. And the fact Gideon is in the public eye will force him and Eva to hide their love as a secret relationship

Chapter A Day Re-Read Project - Today is Chapter Eleven of Bared  This chapter starts lunchtime Tuesday (day nine). It ends somewhere in the middle of the night Tuesday into Wednesday (day ten).   Key plot developments: Eva found out Gideon deliberately leaked the news about them being a couple to the media. Cary's attitude toward Gideon shifted from negative (his stance because of how Gideon had treated Eva badly on Saturday) to positive (in light of Monday's developments, where Gideon made Eva his girlfriend.) Eva sexually took the lead in another encounter with Gideon, this time in his office during the afternoon. Eva started to get to know Gideon's driver, Angus.  Once each of us has read Chapter Eleven, our fun homework assignment from Sylvia herself is for each of us to pick our favorite quote or paragraph.  The chapter re-reads also have been the springboard here for lots of discussion. We're continuing to touch upon the chapter of the day, but even more, discussion has been jumping backward into the earlier chapters and forward in the story (even into Reflected and the Entwined snippets) as the re-reading leads us to analyze how different parts of the Crossfire saga have been connecting.

Chapter Ten of Bared To You - The Readers Guide  This chapter continued where Chapter Nine left off, Monday evening (day eight of the story). It went through late morning on Tuesday (day nine).  Key plot developments: Eva pulled her first runner of the brand new relationship by fleeing the hotel. Gideon tracked her down and they made up. Gideon took her home with him, the first woman he'd ever taken there. The next morning, Eva got thrilling news - Cary had just landed a major modeling job. Then she discovered she's made the news - as Gideon Cross' new girlfriend.  New characters None in this chapter.  The rest of their second date night Chapter Nine ended with Eva fleeing Gideon's hotel room. Chapter Ten opens with exiting the hotel lobby, paranoid she's being watched doing the "... walk of shame." (page 141) She wandered the streets for a while, her anger and embarrassment eventually fading into regret she'd been spiteful to Gideon. It dawned on her she'd just resorted to an old pattern years of therapy had tried to break. She should have known better than " .... to wound and run when I was hurting." (page 142) She eventually sat down in a restaurant, deciding to leave a message for her former therapist (Dr. Travis in San Diego). That's when she noticed Gideon had called 21 times. And by text, begged her " ... Don't break up with me. Talk to me ...." (page 142) He was frantic on the phone when they did talk. He soon tracked her down, and he asked her to go home with him. He promised her home wouldn't be like the hotel. He'd never taken any other women home - no sex partners, no women he dated socially, not even his female friends. His mother was the only woman he'd ever allowed there. In the middle of the night, Eva was woken up by the sound of Gideon having a nightmare, one in which he'd been telling someone to get their hands off of him, a nightmare in which he groaned "It hurts." She gently woke him up, and she chased away the nightmare by making love to him. The next morning, on impulse she gave him a whimsical framed picture of herself, touching him more deeply than she could have known.  Eva gets news - and makes news At her office late Tuesday morning, Cary called her with thrilling news. He'd just landed an important modeling job on a jeans advertising campaign. They made plans to go out to lunch together to celebrate. Immediately after, while browsing the Internet, Eva came across something that freaked her out - she herself was news. Numerous celebrity gossip sites that avidly covered Gideon Cross were reporting he had a serious new girlfriend. The reports named her and noted her socialite status,  identifying her as the daughter of Richard and Monica Stanton. There even were pictures, candid shots of Gideon passionately kissing her on the sidewalk near his gym the evening before.Â

 Well, Gideon has by his own standards already given Corrine "exaggerated expectations" that he and Corrine most certainly ARE dating.  Page 64 of Bared, when Gideon discusses the subject of "exaggerated expectations" (his words) with Eva, she asks him "What's your definition of dating?" His exact answer: "Lengthy social time spent with a woman when we're not actively F(&^***."  Um, he's spending lengthy social time with Corrine lately.  Fast forward to page 327 of Bared, when Gideon is disclosing to Eva some early history of his relationship with Corrine.  "I guess you could say we dated. We were exclusive sexually and we often ended up in the same place as a couple."  Um, these days he and Corrine are going places as a couple.  So according to Gideon's own definitions, Gideon most certainly IS dating her. And if Corrine didn't already know these boundary definitions, well, Magdalene certainly does, so Corrine could find out that way.  I'll bet Corrine's confidently thinking he just hasn't started sleeping with her -- yet. But I'm sure she's being patient, because it's only been a couple of weeks since Gideon started dating her again. Trying to rush things would involve "exaggerated expectations" after all.  Gideon, Gideon, Gideon ..... I suppose the good thing here is that if Detective Graves already has made a run at Corrine, Corrine could tell Graves that she and Gideon started dating again the night he took her out to dinner at Tableau One, the restaurant owned by one of Gideon's good friends. Corrine would believe it to be true -- because Gideon has lied to her by omission.  He's got that safety net. He needs it too, if it is actually true Graves is attacking the cover. Perhaps Graves already has interviewed Corrine when she (Graves) was picking apart every minute of the party timeline. In fact, I wonder if Corrine did answer questions both about the party and about her relationship status already. Corrine's got no reason NOT to answer any police questions. In fact, it would look very bad for Gideon if Corrine did refuse to talk -- it would look like she's trying to cover for Gideon.  So .... what happens if Corrine was approached out of the blue by the cops? Wouldn't she get curious about why the cops are interested in Gideon? Hmmmmmmm ....... that could be problematic down the road.

I wonder what Sylvia thinks about our reactions to Corrine as a character. Certainly amused. Maybe shaking her head. Â Are we all over-reacting, like Eva often did, because Corrine never ever was a rival and we need to quit getting so worked up? Or have those of us posters who have been cutting poor Corrine some slack as a sad character been under-reacting like Gideon -- and will see the "real" Corrine unmasked in Entwined? Â Is it June 4 yet? Is it even May 4 yet? Â Sigh .... we're getting there. At least it's not November 4.

I think an important reason Gideon took Eva to the f*** pad was out of performance anxiety (What, Gideon having trouble performing?!! Surely, you jest!!!) Â By performance anxiety, I mean how he would perform post-coital. He was scared of going on another head trip again, just like he had the first time he and Eva had sex. So he took her to the one place he felt in control sexually -- the only place he'd ever been in control sexually. And this time, he most certainly was the dom. Â Eva topping him that first time is really what had freaked him out. And probably buried deeper inside was fears he couldn't even perceive -- he'd been made love to, not f****** by, Eva that first time. Â So Gideon took her to the one place he'd always performed sexually and banged her in the style that in the past always got him off. And had been so relieved and happy right afterward. It was good for Eva too -- very good for Eva. He'd done something that would make her "stay" this time. Â And then .......

 Mr. Sometimes Clueless Cross. Carefully re-read that first conversation Corrine had with Eva, out of Gideon's earshot, on pages 312 to 314 of Bared. This was immediately after Gideon had taken Corrine aside and tried to convince her to keep quiet about their (his and Corrine's) history for now, given Eva's insecurities. Already, Corrine was using the weapons Gideon just handed to her.  In order, this is what Corrine fed to Eva, acting oh so sweet as she did, the two-faced little ......  Said she and Gideon had been friends for a long time Suggests Gideon had always stayed in contact with her over the years  Admitted she was still in love with him Throws down the gauntlet - she wants him back  Told Eva she (Corrine) was grateful to her for getting Gideon to open up Lands first punch by making Eva fear that maybe her own purpose had been to prepare Gideon for Corrine  Gave her reason for leaving Gideon being afraid at the time he was possessive -- yet she later realized his being possessive had been a good thing Suggests Gideon is possessive of her still -which is exactly why Gideon had latched right onto Corrine the instant he saw her there, and walked around for some time with Corrine on his arm  Explained that when she found out how serious Gideon was about Eva, she (Corrine) at first was afraid to see them together as a couple Suggests that something changed so that now Corrine has no reason to fear Eva as a real rival anymore  Oh so casually threw in a mention that when she reached out to him for help to come back to New York, she called him in the middle of some charity event Corrine knew d*** well she interrupted Gideon on a date with Eva. Corrine scored a knockdown punch here - Gideon had ditched her (Eva) that night to drop everything for Corrine's needs  "He told me he'd met someone. That he wanted you and me to meet when I got into town." Implication - he never told Corrine he was in love with Eva. Implied that he wasn't even going to tell Eva about Corrine until Corrine got back to town. Made it clear Gideon wants Corrine a part of his social life again.Â

 When the pair of them had long talks over the weekend, Gideon had come to understand his portion of the blame for the Brett incident. He recognized that he had underestimated just how intolerable the Corrine situation was to Eva. He admitted that he used to think Eva was over-reacting to Corrine, but when he himself had been hit with jealousy and insecurity over Brett, Gideon "got" that the Corrine situation was tearing Eva apart.  So on one level, the post-concert kiss/fight turned out to be a good thing for their relationship. Yes, on some levels, Eva had been over-reacting to Corrine -- but -- Gideon finally realized he'd been under-reacting to the same situation.  Which is why I want to scream in his face "You idiot!!!!" for turning around and using Corrine as a cover story. What, did he think that Eva was going to settle down, now that they'd fought about the whole issue Friday and over the weekend? Duh!!!! Um, no. He took Corrine out, and she immediately got even by taking Brett out. Then Gideon painted himself into a corner where he couldn't even talk to Eva while Brett's out there on the road talking about having reconnected with Eva and wanting another shot at a relationship.  If Gideon absolutely had to use another woman as a cover to make it look like he'd left Eva for the other woman, why didn't he pick Magdalene? Magdalene probably would not have had "exaggerated expectations" -- and Gideon had been socially dating Magdalene long enough in the past that she could have been sufficient cover.

 She did, however, hint he might be a bigger character in the fourth novel. There's hope yet that slimeball will get put in his place. He's had a thing for going after Gideon's women, but he'll have picked the wrong one to mess with - New Eva!

 I don't know either, but I guess it depends upon underlying causes. Parasomnia takes many different forms. For example, sleepwalking is a variety of parasomnia.  Gideon's parasomnia has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, as a contributing factor, and unfortunately, there's no "cure" for PTSD. Therapy can bring about remarkable improvements, but cannot completely erase all the scars, all the damage left by very serious trauma. At best, therapy can be a kind of reconstructive surgery of the psyche -- but that's not the same thing as restoring something to a pre-damage condition.

 I think Dr. Petersen can handle most of that, including their mother issues. But he'd probably stop short of banging his patients' heads together.Â

 Krav Maga can help, too. Quit giggling, ladies, I'm serious A popular theory her has been Eva's going to use her skills to kick some jerk's @ss, with the most likely candidate being Gideon's half-brother, Christopher.  However ....  The one time Gideon attacked Eva while in a parasomnia state (it's a kind of sleepwalking) she was able to fend him off by using the defensive skills she learned in her training.  What if the real purpose of the Krav Maga is Eva's ability to fend him off if she has to can  help him be less afraid of sharing a bed with her?  Sure, he's always going to be scared on some level, but combine medication/therapy to treat the problem along with the back-up safety assurance she's not helpless .... then maybe Gideon will finally dare to share a bed, a bedroom, a home with Eva. And the very fact he can do that could, in turn, help with the underlying problem itself.

 I think Corrine lost most, if not all, of her guilt power over Gideon when she deliberately hurt Eva. Just one day after he'd worked so hard to convince Corrine to not hurt insecure Eva, Corrine pulled that stunt. Gideon saw the picture Eva took with her (Eva's) cell phone camera.  My guess: between that day and the day weeks later that Gideon started using Corrine as part of his desperate plot to stop Nathan, Gideon had little if any contact with Corrine. Certainly, all his free time was with Eva, so he had no time to see her and little time to talk on the phone.  The night Eva found out about Corrine, she told Gideon to stow the guilt, warned him Corrine was stalking him, and told Gideon to start weaning Corrine off. Maybe that's what turned out happening the very next day through Corrine's own fault for playing dirty in her pursuit of him.

 Oh it'd be excellent if a reader of these forums would attend and then jump in to the discussion as a newly-signed-up-poster.  Especially because there's an excellent chance Sylvia might answer more questions about Gideon killing Nathan.  That recent radio interview some of us here listened to live via online streaming, the interview where Sylvia said Gideon did kill Nathan, the radio station itself was in Kansas. So local listeners would have heard it too. I'll bet she gets fan questions about it at the KC event.