Lighthouse

One thing to take Gideon to task for in Chapter 7 is his telling Corrine, "You and I will never be together again, Corrine. I don't know how many times or in how many ways I can say it." The way for Gideon to start having his words match is actions by STOP letting her manipulate him into action. The bad pattern started in BTY when he dropped everything to take Corrine's in-crisis phone call from France. Early in EWY Eva found out from Gideon and Maggie both he'd basically told Corrine no more in-person contact. Yeah, right. Except going down to the Crossfire lobby to see her, going to her apartment to see her, rushing to the hospital, now privately meeting with her in his office ... this from the guy who criticized Megumi for dumping her boyfriend then taking him back. "He might not realize she's serious this time." As Eva likes to say, "Ya think." It's another example of how Gideon still has a learning curve when it comes to women. He'll get there, eventually.

What I disliked about Chapter 7: Before I go criticizing Gideon about his under-reaction to Megumi getting raped and how badly what happened to her friend triggered Eva, first let me say that 1. Gideon still is wrapped in his self-protective shell as a victim himself and 2. he still sometimes does not understand women. Eva in his life is changing him for the better, but he's still got work ahead of him.  That said, Gideon telling Eva that Megumi's situation " ... isn't like yours" made me go AGGH!!!! Because in some very important ways, what Megumi's boyfriend did was very much like what Nathan had done, which was  1. rendered his victim physically helpless through use of force 2. took sadistic pleasure in the victim's physical pain 3. took pictures 4. mentally terrorized his victim post-rape and 5. stalked her 6. is displaying signs of being mentally dangerous. Yes, there are some big differences between that and Eva's situation: she was a child and had been assaulted on multiple occasions, whereas Megumi was a woman and raped one night. It still was violent rape, and even one time is one time too many.

 The irony is Christopher has no clue Gideon has a sex tape of him using Magdalene. For her own protection, Gideon showed her that tape. She now knows the type of guy Christopher is, and by the end of EWY she apparently is not having anymore more to do with him. She's got a boyfriend of her own now and she's become a friend to Gideva. How's this for a revenge fantasy: Christopher tells Elizabeth a sex tape exists of Eva. Elizabeth turns nasty and somehow it gets back to Magdalene (her mother is Elizabeth's best friend and Magdalene does go to Vidal family get-togethers.) Magdalene tells off Christopher and tells his mother what a jerk he is.

The part I loved best in Chapter 5 was Arash finally meeting Eva. He's the first friend unabashedly pro-Gideva as a couple. A breath of fresh air considering Arnoldo's reaction to the "engagement" and Cary's reaction to the truth they got married. This Arash joke made me laugh out loud, when he told Gideon "Your back looks like you got into a brawl with a mountain lion." Â There was something very subtle at the very end of Chapter 5 that makes me think Gideon never told Arash about Nathan's killing, that he used other lawyers to deal with the police. When Arash joked "What have you got to hide" and Gideon joked back "Your corpse." I can't see Gideon joking with his friend about that if poor Arash knew he had to worry about homicide detectives. It makes sense, too, that Gideon would quietly hire criminal defense lawyers. Arash's specialty is in civil law: contracts, finance and such.

   Definitely, Purpleu, some people think the medication making Corrine's depression worse came from Dr. Anne Lucas. I especially think that now because of what Anne said when Gideon fought with her, that Eva is the weakness in his armor - that she bleeds. It was a big hint Anne plans to hurt her to hurt him. The timing was interesting: Anne started messing with Eva the night she appeared in public reunited with Gideon and people started talking about the engagement. I suspect Anne first latched onto his former fiancee Corrine during that time when people thought she and Gideon were a reunited couple. Anne could still be manipulating Corrine. sscrph -- wouldn't it be great if Eva figures it out just like she figured out what Terry Lucas did wrong.

Part I liked about Chapter 4: Dr. Travis. He nailed it about some of the confusion Eva has about Gideon. The part of her that still has self esteem issues feels she's not worthy of him. The healthy independent part of her worries she might secretly be the opposite, has a tendency to be dependent on rich men like her mother. So her Mommy issues are a factor. Also, the good doctor nailed it with Brett. The part of Eva with self esteem issues sometimes feels she doesn't deserve respect, and so for a time she put up with being used by Brett. No wonder she's confused that now Brett is acting the way she wished he would have years ago when she hit rock bottom with men who didn't respect her. She wanted love and all she got was sex.

 I suspect Corrine manipulated Arnoldo by putting on her best, sweet, soothing act when he saw her with Gideon a few nights after the horror show that happened outside the concert. I can see Arnoldo starting out relieved when he believed Gideon was done with Eva and was getting back with someone so sweet, someone he (supposedly) loved and years ago had wanted to marry. I get the impression that in Chapter 3, Arnoldo is seeing Gideon for the first time since he heard the news Gideon plans to marry Eva instead. Based on what he knew in Chapter 3 he was afraid Gideon was making a big mistake. There was so much Arnoldo doesn't know. But up to that point, the two times he saw Eva with his own eyes she was around Brett. So she gave him good reason to distrust her.

I have mixed feelings about Monica. Her redeeming qualities are she loves Eva with all her heart and when she had to decide between ending the unplanned pregnancy or getting financially shut off from her family she chose her baby. Also she believed Eva when she found out about the abuse, which is more than can be said for Gideon's mother. When Monica found out she left a financially secure situation, her marriage to a rich man, because she chose her child over social and financially security. Â However she is a gold-digger, she puts guilt trips on people to manipulate them and she cheated on her husband with her afternoon roll in the hay with Victor, opening Victor's old wounds and hurting Eva by getting caught. I really can't understand why Eva is willing to live a lie about not being married purely for Monica's sake so Monica can stage her own fantasy about a big wedding. I hope that in One With You the fact Eva eloped comes out. Best of all would be Eva sitting down with her mother and father both to tell them herself she and Gideon are married.

Chapter 2 is so short, only six pages.  I liked that for the first time in weeks, the celebrity gossip sites are saying positive things about the Gideva relationship. Though the baby bump comment was snarky. I think back to when they first started dating and Gideon made sure the media found out he had a significant other, Eva. Within days the tabloids started twisting things, like speculating Eva was juggling Cary and Gideon. Far worse, the publicity led to Nathan crawling out of the woodwork. I also I liked how Eva thought of her father, wanting to talk to him before he heard about the engagement elsewhere. I'm not sorry Monica did not get to hear from Eva first. That was karmic payback, because until Eva made her quit doing so, she'd been stalking her own daughter.  Raul has become an interesting character. I now get the impression he is the chief person who really has been in charge of Eva's safety. The first time he came up as a character was the day after Nathan's killings when Gideon sent him to drive Eva to the airport. Poor guy, I can only imagine him having to tell Gideon on a day when the man surely was a wreck that Eva refused the ride and asked him to tell his boss to go F himself.

 I don't think we ever did find out exactly what the email was about. My first guess is the beach house in North Carolina, which Gideon had been trying to buy. Later in the story, he succeeded. I suppose it's possible though that the email is about something entirely different we will find out about in the next book. Brett Kline started out as a one-sentence mention in passing in BTY, when Eva thought about her father's problems with past men (the musician and the tattoo artist.)

 I think it's a great idea about discussing favorite and least favorite parts of each chapter.  What I especially liked in Chapter 1 was how Gideon treats Arash, which reminds me of how he treats Angus. He trusts and likes both men enough to lower his guard, and to actually listen to what they say and to weigh it instead of just ordering them what to do. He treats Arash differently than Scott, even though both men are in his inner circle. He treats Angus differently than Raul, even though both men are bodyguards. That's not to say he mistreats Scott nor Raul: he values both men and pays them very well. But they are employees. Arash and Angus something more than employees. They're friends.  Disliked Gideon throwing Corrine in Eva's face. Even though I understand what triggered it, his insecurity about Brett. What he did is in the same category as how he punished Eva in the limo after catching her kissing Brett. Still, it me off, because I hate Corrine like Eva does.

 I'm game to dive in to the chapter by chapter discussion. Idea, maybe start today with Chapter 1? Even though we all got that chapter before the book's various release dates around the world, there is stuff in there that makes sense when it ties into events that happen later. One more idea, maybe not confine ourselves to one chapter per day. Instead, someone starts with a particular chapter and we all hash out our various ideas. Then when someone feels ready, she starts the ball rolling on the next chapter.  So, in Chapter 1, anyone interested in talking about Elizabeth showing up unannounced first thing in the workday at Gideon's office instead of having the gumption to approach him the night before, as soon as she saw that ring on Eva's hand and/or right after the argument the two women had? Did Elizabeth wait because she was afraid of causing a scene? Was afraid of Eva? Of Gideon?

 If he did use one it would have been at the hotel because before Eva that is the only place he had sex with women. Maybe he had a separate room for it? Had it built years ago when he sank tons of money into refurbishing the property. Arash complained about the fact he was just breaking even after all that investment when he decided to sell the property. He didn't use one with Deanna. In Ch. 7 of ETW Deanna complained to Eva about how he treated her during their one-night-stand. About how he took a phone call before he was done, looked at her just laying there waiting for him, and told her she could leave. I can't see him using it with Anne because with her he was depraved and for him the swing was a positive fantasy not darkness. I think Corrine is out too. He didn't own the hotel way back then.

 The film likely will rocket the FSOG books back up onto top positions on the best-seller lists. Would Sylvia's publisher want to ride the wave of interest in erotic fiction or shy away from going head-to-head competing for new readers of FSOG? Hard to say. The marketing executives at her publisher have the final say on what happens. I'm just thrilled that as-of this week, Captivated By You is number one on the New York Times best seller list for paperback and for combined e-book/paperback sales. Yes!

I remember reading somewhere this summer or early fall that the plan was to release books 4 and 5 within around six months of one another -- and that she has already delivered the final manuscripts for both to her publisher. If that is still the plan, then it's possible One With You would come out in the late spring in order to be on the best-seller lists for summer reading. I'd be psyched if we got it earlier than that, but I'll wait for however long it takes. Â It's important to remember that Sylvia herself does NOT control release dates. It's the publisher, and ONLY the publisher, who controls that. She used to remind her fans about this again and again on social media, especially her Facebook page. Still, she faced some awful and unfair backlash by people who just didn't get it, who were blaming her that the book wasn't out yet, and who were swearing they were going to give up on the series. Fortunately, other fans who understood the publisher made the rules kept jumping to her defense and continued to profess loyalty, and at times told off the people giving her a hard time. Â I'm sure that just like with Captivated By You, the instant she gets the firm date from her publisher about One With You, she will announce it to the fandom.

 P.S. Agree with you Corrine and Elizabeth are a tag team. Which proves just how little his mother and his ex really know about him.  I think she is capable of deliberately hurting him, because she's crazy and it is possible Anne is feeding the crazy, so she is now capable of anything. Proof: the suicide attempt, which hurt him terribly. I feel she is still off the deep end. Yet how is she out of the hospital so soon? Maybe her doctor signed her out?Â

 You could be right the kink came after she left him. I think it came near the end of the engagement and that is what scared her. Hopefully we'll both find out more in the final book.  Keep in mind the person she said the things about "possessive" and "scared" to was Eva the first time they met and she was subtly manipulating Eva by twisting things around. Like saying she and Gideon spoke on the phone nearly every day when that no longer was true and had not been true for weeks, since he met Eva. She tried to hide the fact the fact they used to be engaged: Magdalene made sure that came out. She acted like she had no clue he had someone with him the night he bailed out of the advocacy center dinner to rush off to take her phone call for help from France. She knew Eva has a bad jealousy problem and so she was feeding her half-truths and was lying by omission. Same deal as when they had their argument weeks later when Eva went to her apartment. But that first time they met, Corrine acted nervous too, and I think she let some things slip. Like the "scared"

 I think the sex with Corrine started out vanilla, but it's my theory that he started getting kinky after they got engaged. He felt panicked the whole year of the engagement. I can see him feeling like his rigid in-control started spinning out of control when she essentially backed him into an emotional corner. He responded by acting out in bed. I think it was that realization their sex life was not normal that was the real reason she broke off the engagement. Maybe even he unconsciously figured out scaring her was working. He was relieved she ended things.  This makes me wonder about the tell-all book, what will be in there about him sexually if she does publish it. Gideon's worried Eva is going to react to it the same way he reacted to the sex tape. So this makes me wonder what sexual secrets might be there. He's also figured out Corrine is no longer the woman he knew years ago. That she's willing to give up her privacy and violate his shows she's continuing to act crazy. How's this for a theory: She thinks his relationship with Eva is all about fighting and f...... The only hold Eva has on him is sexual because she's willing to do what he wants in bed. So Corrine has this crazy idea about reminding him their old relationship was all about comfort with hot f...... too. She is now willing to give him whatever he wants in bed so long as she can have him. So the book serves two purposes: driving Eva away in jealous rage and reminding Gideon the way he was with her in bed years ago.  Who knows whether I'm right or it's a crazy guess. We'll see when the last Crossfire book comes out: does she go through with the tell-all and if so what is in there. Or at least we readers get a look into Gideon's memories of Corrine in the hotel room like we did get a look into some of his memories of Anne in the hotel room.

   Gideon and his "thousand ways" to make a woman come. Hands, mouth, toys, and very occasionally his tool (that four-letter word should get by the naughty filter.) Eva found a draw containing toys that one and only time she was in his hotel room.  My theory about the reason he didn't often engage in intercourse is he didn't want to feel compelled to have to come. His abuser forced him to do so every time as part of the mental/emotional manipulation. Fast forward to him as an adult desperately needing control: he controlled every aspect of sex, including whether or not there would be penetration and whether or not he would come with whatever one-night-stand he had with him in the hotel room. For example, he did have intercourse with Deanna but he took a phone call before he was through and then told her to leave instead of finishing.  Something else that struck me was how before Eva entered his life, he relieved the pressure of his high libido by stroking off in the shower. The symbolism of the water washing him clean. He once told Eva that after he'd been with Anne he would shower but couldn't feel clean no matter how long he stood under the water.

   I could have sworn it was Gideon who was the first one to say she was a shrink when he does so in the last chapter of EWY but I stand corrected. Thanks ladies. Makes it scarier that it was Cary who first mentioned it earlier in the book. The part where Eva starts checking up on the Lucases for the first time and sees the photo of the couple is in RIY chapter 2. It is in the last chapter of EWY when Anne starts trying to mess with her mind that something clicks and Eva thinks she might have recognized her. We can hope that at some point Cary has seen a picture, but I can't recall any specific mention.

 To add to this: As far as I can tell, nowhere does it say for sure Cary has seen a photo of Anne Lucas, has had her name mentioned to him. Certainly, he hasn't been warned she is a threat.  It was Eva on her own at her office the morning after the run-in with Terry Lucas at the fundraiser who Googled him. she guessed correctly there must have been a woman involved for the two men to hate each other so much. Eva was worried about brunettes (yah think!) and was relieved to find Terry was married and his wife has red hair. That's early in RIY. Later toward the end of RIY when Eva decided to go after Terry, she asked Cary to look him up as a pediatrician. Just Terry. There's barely any mention in that chapter of what Cary found about Terry and no mention of Anne. It was Gideon who told Eva in EWT that Anne is a shrink. Toward the end of CBY Gideon warned Eva about her, but I can't find any evidence anyone has warned Cary yet.Â

I don't think Cary is the father and a paternity test will prove that. Cary said he always used a condom. Condoms are not 100% foolproof, but it looks like Tat was sleeping with other guys too and she wasn't on birth control. I hope Trey will still be around when the test results come, or at least he'll give Cary a second shot once he knows he's not irrevocably tied to Tat for life. I can see Cary staying involved in the child's life as an uncle figure much like he is a brother figure to Eva. My theory is Tat does not know yet who the father is, but because Cary is on the list of guys she slept with, she picked him as a future meal ticket. Cary gets direct financial support from the wealthy Stantons and possibly will get more future support from the insanely rich Crosses. Plus he seems to be the only guy who tolerates her obnoxious behavior.

 I hope the fact that Chris. Sr. believing it the minute he found out finally breaks the wall of denial Elizabeth built around herself. It will help Gideon to continue healing if his mother finally does come to believe him and to seek his forgiveness.

I took a peek at Goodreads today. Something that struck me positively is overall, the book is rated 4.04 stars out of five. That's with nearly 11,000 folks on Goodreads rating the book. So high a good rating from that many people proves that the overwhelming number of people who ranked it on Goodreads loved it. Their positive ratings cancel out the one-star ratings by trolls trashing the book in attention-seeking reviews. Â Some of these negative reviewers make a sport out of trashing multiple authors, and not all of them have actually read the books they review. Fortunately, wildly successful authors have thick skins. Â Speaking of wildly-successful, this week's New York Times Best Seller shows Captivated By You as number one in paperback and even more remarkable, number one in combined e-book and print fiction. Here's the list: http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/

 I hope its true we've that CBY is the last we see of Brett. But I had also hoped EWY was the last we were going to see of Corrine. Didn't happen. I do think the showdown in the park is the last Eva will see of Brett. He killed any lingering friendship feelings she had, and I doubt she'll ever speak to him again, much less meet with him again. I can only hope Gideon's showdown with Corrine at the restaurant is the same deal, that she killed any lingering feelings of friendship and guilt he had over her. When he walked out of the restaurant, it was the final direct contact between the pair. No more meetings and even no more phone calls. I'm crossing my fingers.  How about Eva breaking out her Krav Maga for a cat fight with Anne? Catching Anne red-handed hurting Cary, or even Anne stalking her and cornering her?