gabri

As for the baton-thing, who's standing behind Eva and gets her in his arms in almost a wrestling-move? Who's collecting the shawl when Eva decides to leave the dinner? Cary

Hi Gabri it means oh my God or oh my gosh whatever works for you!!!

THANK YOU!!!  I'm having quite a hard time with acronyms in the book, and now I can tick this one off.

OMG Gabri I luv these labels BFF and BFE so entertaining and yes passing the baton-you nailed it!!

 

HI sscrph!

what does OMG stand for?

There's such an emotional rollercoaster in Chap. 7 that by the end of it I felt dizzy.

They are obviously turning to their old habits in order to protect themselves against the 'learning curve' they are both facing. And Eva has the plus of having to confront Magdalene. Something Gedeon has to make up for as well!!!!

Hi everybody, these speech lines are what I liked most in Chap.7:

 

1) You gave a wanderful speech, Gedeon. It was the highlight of my evening.

 

2) I wanted the reassurance that he valued what we'd shared, that it meant something to him as it had to me.

 

3) The whole exchange with Magdalene on pg 105.

Are we all on the same page, that the redhead who speaks to Eva, after Gideons speech is indeed Anne Lucas. I think it was mentioned in a previous post. This is the only time she pops up personally, but a later mentioned in NC.

Hi July! 

I think you're right. The only red-heads I can remember are Steve his sister, the bartender, who are not likely to show up to such a high profile-venue.

I really love the way Sylvia connects Cary and Gedeon in Chap. 6. First, there's Eva linking them for their good looks: 'In his own way, Cary could give Gedeon a run for his money... er, looks. Cary was more finely featured, almost pretty, compared to Gedeon's savage beauty, but both were striking men who made you look twice...' Then Eva tells us about Cary's troublesome attitude towards sex: 'He'd finally propositioned me crudely, having come to believe the only reason people associated with him was because they wanted to f**k him. It was when I declined, firmly and irrevocably, that we finally connected and became best friends.' This reminds me of Gedeon so much!! It also shows us the only course of action Eva will have to take if she wants to win Gedeon's heart. Lastly, we see Gedeon taking Eva's black shawl from Cary's hands, like Cary's passing on the baton of Eva's well-being to someone who's important in her life. The BFF and the BFE (Best F**ker Ever) are two different people right now. Let's hope Eva will succede in finding them both in Gedeon. I'd like to know whether Sylvia intended it so, or if it's my imagination running wild.

Hello Julie, I know the feeling quite well. Picking up favourites is a difficult job indeed because the book is so rich in great lines and situations!!!!! CIAO.

HI GIGI!! I'm not trying to find excuses for Monica's behaviour. I totally agree with you because, although I don't have children myself, I have 3 small-age nephews I would die or kill for. My line of reasoning was simply based on the scant known facts so far... I'm still not able to pinpoint chapters as you ladies do so well, but I'm trying my best. Whether Monica wasn't aware of or didn't care to know what Eva was going through seems of small consequence compared to her handling of the matter. Once she knew, she should have known better than cover everything up and flee into another marriage...no wonder flight is Eva's answer to her own issues with men!! At the very least I would have told Victor and have that lousy brat locked up. Forever.

 Ciao Gabri,

I stated in an earlier posting that I thought Dr. Lucas is despicable for many reasons.  If he treated Gideon, then he violated Doctor -Patient Privilege and as such would be disreputable in my and many people's eyes.

 

The second point is that Dr. Lucas is a mean spiteful little man, who doesn't have the b***s to confront Gideon about sleeping with his wife, so instead Dr. Lucas picks on the emotionally weakest people in Gideon's life (by filling their heads with self doubt etc.), which is a punk a** thing to do in my book.

 

As far as Monica is concerned, I saw the situation a little differently.  I think that Monica should carry around a HUGE TRUCK LOAD of GUILT!!!  She lived with that little girl for four years while  that little girl was being raped and tortured and Monica didn't notice anything.  I just want to vomit when  I sit and think about that.  Monica neglected her daughter in the most basic of ways.   I have to wonder whether Monica was ever emotionally connected to her daughter at all.  Who was bathing this kid, washing her underwear, tucking her in at night?  If Monica would have done any of those things than she would have seen at least some of  the signs that her daughter was being abused.  I believe that a mother has a moral and legal obligation to see to her child's well being and I think that Monica failed in many basic ways.  It wasn't as if Monica could rely  on her parents (Eva's grandparents) or Aunts/Uncles, sisters or brothers.  So the responsibility fell on Monica's shoulders and I get the feeling that she passed it off to her household staff to deal with.  In my eyes that is wrong.  What do you think?  What does everyone think?

 

HI EVERYBODY!! Here are my favourites in Chap. 6 1) I did what I'd wanted to do since I saw him in my living room... I àoved the way he kissed me. as if he HAD to, as if he'd go crazy if he didn't and had nearly waited too long. I sucked on hos tongue, having learned how much he loved it, having learned how much I liked it. 2) 'We can't do that here.' 'Why not?' Then a surprising thought struck me. 'Haven't you ever had s** in a limo?' 'No...... Have you?' 3) What are you doing to me?

Just one last post to say that I've tried Eva's chicken, cranberry, walnut, and feta salad today and it's really great! I'm on a diet and had to do without the walnuts, but it tasted really good nonetheless. Goodnight everybody, I'm going to start rereading Chap. 6 right now. Sweet dreams! (My deepest apologies for my funny English, always!!!!)

INDEED! Cary's ability in turning to both a protective and a supportive attitude towards Eva sums up the BFF's true calling.

 

Eva is very selfless when it comes to Cary. Many times she goes to functions with him, hoping to get some exposure, to further his career. Both rely on each other heavily, but Cary I think needs Eva more, through her mums social life. Where would Cary be without Eva. I reckon he would possibly be dead. Which means, he owes Eva big time.

 

Hello Julie,

I totally agree with you here. I would also say, though, that Cary has some good points too: he always makes Eva see the sunny side of the street and helps her to sort out her jumbled feelings about Gedeon, which is not a minor achievement!

Best lines in Chap. 5: 1) When I tried to think of what I wouldn't agree to do to have his hands on me again, I couldn't come up with much. 2) Pampering a woman never goes out of style. 3) You can feel how it'ii be between us. I think this last one shows how much Gedeon had to change in order to have his way with Eva. As his former one-bang approach doesn't apply anymore, Gedeon has to find a new way to break Eva's resistance to his demands. Already with his first 'Kiss me, give me that much.' in Chap. 3, Gedeon wants Eva to realize what she's giving up if she refuses to have s** with him.

The only schedule is which chapter is being re-read: one chapter per day. Today we're on Chapter Five of Bared To You. After each of us has finished reading a chapter, Sylvia would like to hear from fans which line or paragraph each of us liked best in that particular chapter.

 

There's no set schedule for which chapters to discuss. We've been going back and forth, as it turns out, because of connecting dots backward and forward.

 

I hope I didn't confuse you by my system of both posting the summary of Chapter Four this morning as well as the post about Chapter Five being the chapter of the day today.

 

Knowing that people read at different speeds and recognizing that there will be days in this fun project that many of us won't get to read at all, I've been creating a sort of daily cheat sheet -- a Reader's Guide. After asking for some members thoughts, I set a schedule for when I'll aim to post each of these guides: the day after each chapter was read. For example, we read Chapter Four yesterday, so I posted the summary today. We're reading Five today, so I'll post that summary tomorrow.

 

If it causes confusion, I'll change the schedule. More thoughts, friends? Should I post the summary guide on the same day that particular chapter is on schedule, instead of waiting until the morning after?

thanks a lot!!!!!

I'm sorry, sorry, super-sorry, but which chapter should we be discussing today?

Here's my favourite lines in Chap 4:

 

1) I do have some friendly advice.....

 

2) B.O.B. and I have a longtime understanding - when we're done with each other, we know exactly which one of us has been used, and it isn't me.

 

3) Can't you think of YOU using ME for sex?

Ciao Gabri,

You make a very good point about Eva and her wanting to be a dutiful daughter.  I wonder whether her entire experience of having been raped and brutalized for so many years affected her outlook on life in that she may have felt that somewhere deep down she got what she deserved.  Victims often feel like they must have done something to deserve being raped.  Eva was at such an impressionable age and I think that there must have been a lot psychological torture that Eva endured while being raped.

 

I also wonder whether Eva feels guilt for her mother's decision to keep her.  Had Monica not gotten pregnant, she never would have been disowned by her family.  Therefore if Eva had never been born, all things in Monica's life would have gone more smoothly. 

 

I think that Eva also feels guilty for being raped in that her mother left the marriage when she found out about the abuse.  Eva stated in the book that her mother left a happy marriage, so I think that must have coloured how Eva dealt with her mother.  It seems that Eva's origination was the source of many problems for Monica.  I think that Eva may have connected the two thoughts together, so she strived to be the good daughter and tries not to cause her mother too many problems.  What do you think?  What does everyone think? 

I think Doctor Travis has made a of a job with Eva, while Monica has come up as a litte more of a challenge for him.. Eva' attitude towards casual sex is so much the right one that she sounds like 'Lecture Nr. One' to me, and sure to Gideon himself as well!!

 

 Eva seems to me to be more regretful about Monica's refusal to marry Victor for all the wrong reasons.. . and as for Monica, she has carved a life to her own liking and seems pretty happy with it. The only thing that Monica feels guilty about is her having been unable to protect her own child, and rightly so! 

Monica's leaving Barker was the only right move to do, so there sholud be no regrets on anyone's side.

 

As an abused child, Eva can't help feeling guilty for the havoc she thinks she has wreaked on her foster family and Doctor Travis has still a long way to go with treating Eva and Monica's relational issues!!!

After re-reading chapters one through three, something fell into place for me that makes sense to me that Eva herself is partly to blame for everyone (Stanton, Monica and even Gideon) having kept her in the dark about Nathan.

 

Eva has a bad habit of simply caving into the wishes of others when it comes to her personal safety. Other people unilaterally decide how to handle a situation, and Eva let them, consciously or unconsciously. She started out this story too passive too often. Fortunately, by the end of Reflected, she grew a pair and began practicing assertiveness.

 

1. Bared to You Chapter One revealed why Eva lives in such an opulent apartment in Manhattan, even though the job she's about to start is just entry-level professional. Her rich mother and stepfather, Monica and Stanton, have insisted on it (and are paying for it) because it's safe environment (i.e. doorman guarding the entrance, etc.)
2. Then in Chapter Three, Stanton had decided how to balance Eva's desire to take Krav Maga classes in Brooklyn and Monica's distress about it. He has ordered his bodyguard-driver to drive Eva to and from her classes. Eva gave in.

So is it any wonder then, when Nathan tried blackmailing them, that Stanton and Monica decided on their own what to do -- including not even telling Eva about the situation (and thus warning her Nathan was in town).

 

As far as Gideon goes, Eva also established a pattern of often bending to his wishes. He's a control freak, and Eva unconsciously enabled him -- so she enabled his treating her badly in Reflected.

 

Gideon also had decided (just like Stanton and Monica) how he handled the Nathan situation, which also included keeping Eva ignorant of everything. Gideon took his solution to the extreme, killing Nathan, and as part of that, he took to the extreme keeping Eva in the dark the entire time. He distanced himself from her, because he decided this would protect her from the police, if he got caught. But he created the distance by being cruel to her. 

 

When Gideon first radically changed how he was treating Eva (i.e. began hurting her) she knew something was seriously wrong. She tried to demand explanations when it first started happening. But he wouldn't talk -- and so she backed off on pressing him for answers. That's Old Eva. New Eva would have refused to accept the brush-off, telling him "that won't cut it, Ace."

 

Near the very end of Reflected, Eva herself, by digging in deep and facing her insecurities, changed herself by dropping the passivity and becoming more assertive. She doesn't go so far yet as demanding answers out of Gideon, but she made progress by starting to demand explanations from other people: his mother (about the abuse) Dr. Lucas (about his probable role in the abuse cover-up) and Corrine (the truth that Gideon didn't f*** Corrine in his office that day and isn't sleeping with her, period.)

 

hello everybody from Italy!!!

 

Maybe it's all about being a 'dutiful daughter', isn't it? What she went through with Nathan must have deeply affected her self-esteem and she has adapted to doing what she's told. Monica and Stanton have good reason to be worried about her personal safety... but there must be a line somewhere that they cannot trespass. 

 

Eva's reaction at the discovery of being tracked by her own mother tells us that Eva is willing to cope with anyone's trouble but her own:

 

'I'm a grown woman. I make my own decisions. It's the goddam law!'

 

She tries to make a point here: she isn't going to trust her well-being to nobody but herself (and the law). Monica and Stanton will have to rely upon her judgement

 

It's not easy to kick old habits, though.

 

I'm going home now. ciao

Hi sscrph! Well, he could have asked her about the weather instead! So, there must be another reason why Gedeon poses Eva that question during the meeting with Kingsman vodka representatives. My guess is that Gedeon is aware of the sex related answer Eva has as an option. Therefore, Eva's professional advice both establishes her as a sex–linked person in Gedeon's eyes and turns out to be what he needs to make his decision about what his next move on her will be. I'm feeling dizzy after all this reasoning, and my English isn't up to the task any more... if ever. LOL and CIAO!!!

One last reflection about Gedeon's behaviour during the meeting with the Kingsman vodka directors. Wouldn't you say that, by asking Eva for her professional advice, Gedeon is showing great interest in her intelligence as well? Perhaps, in dealing with Eva, he is reconsidering his usual approach to women he wants to take to bed. It may be seen as a first step towards the establishment of new patterns for him. CIAO!!!!!!

THANK YOU for the insightful elaborations on Victor's trip to NY. I really really really appreciated them!

These are my favourite lines in Bared–Chap. 3: 1) 'Chocolate and you. Delicious.' 2) 'Kiss me,' he said hoarsely. 'Give me that much.' 3) 'Let it go, Cross.' 'I am. You are too much trouble.'

 

<p>

Thanks, peeps, who answered the question I threw out about when I should post the "Reader's Guide" to each daily chapter we're reading. The system I've settled on is the day after each chapter -- we were all scheduled to read Chapter Two of Bared yesterday, so I posted the summary of it this morning. I'm in the U.S. Eastern Time zone, so during workdays, it should go up around this time. Weekends will be a bit trickier.

&nbsp;

Don't forget your reading "homework" -- Sylvia is interested in hearing from fans which line or paragraph is our owns favorites in each chapter.

&nbsp;

Today we're on Chapter Three of Bared. There's two key plot developments there, both during the middle of the day on Friday, day five of the story.

• For the first time, Gideon and Eva engage in serious sexual contact, fully-clothed petting, in his office.
• Eva has lunch with her stepfather, Richard Stanton, and their conversation gives us numerous clues that Eva's mother, Monica, is obsessed with Eva's safety, obsessed to a level unhealthy enough she (Monica) is in therapy over it. We learn it has something to do with Eva's childhood -- but that's all we know yet.

Here are my favourite lines in Bared–Chapter 2:

1) Ha! If only!

2) Are you sleeping with anyone?

Because I want to f★★k you, Eva. I need to know what's standing in my way, if anything.

3) He said WHAT?

4) He's hot, rich, and wants to jumps your bones. What's the problem?

Looking forward to going through Chap. 3!!!