Captivated by You by Sylvia DaySeries: Crossfire #4
Published by: Berkley Trade on November 18, 2014Pages: 368
Book Details
Rating: ★★★
Gideon calls me his angel, but he's the miracle in my life. My gorgeous, wounded warrior, so determined to slay my demons while refusing to face his own.
The vows we'd exchanged should have bound us tighter than blood and flesh. Instead they opened old wounds, exposed pain and insecurities, and lured bitter enemies out of the shadows. I felt him slipping from my grasp, my greatest fears becoming my reality, my love tested in ways I wasn't sure I was strong enough to bear.
At the brightest time in our lives, the darkness of his past encroached and threatened everything we’d worked so hard for. We faced a terrible choice: the familiar safety of the lives we'd had before each other or the fight for a future that suddenly seemed an impossible and hopeless dream...
In a nutshell: I finished Captivated by You and was pleased. It was nice to be reunited with these characters and I enjoyed the book. It wasn’t until after some reflection that I realized nothing happened.
In the grand scheme of things, Captivated by You did nothing to further the plot of the Crossfire series. There were no new, major developments. It was just Gideon and Eva hashing out the same old problems. Eva wants to make her own choices, but Gideon makes them for her in order to “protect” her and “do what’s best” for her. Eva wants Gideon to open up and be honest about everything. Gideon doesn’t want to “burden” Eva with problems. Same ol’, same ol’.
The fights they have are nothing new. Nothing new happened plot-wise. All in all, Captivated by You was a very unnecessary book.
That being said…
I’m still giving this book 3 stars because I enjoyed it. I think I appreciated the familiarity. I’ve been in an annoying book slump and it was refreshing to be back with characters I know and love. Even though I kind of hate Gideon and Eva sometimes (their fighting gives me horrible whiplash) I still kind of enjoy them together.
Yeah the book had absolutely nothing new in it. But was I bored? No. I still enjoyed it a lot! Maybe towards the end all the fighting did wear me down a little.. It made me seriously think that Gideon and Eva really shouldn’t be married. But whatevs. I enjoyed the book despite its many flaws, and I think that’s all that matters.
The Verdict
I expected Crossfire to be a trilogy and when ‘Entwined with You’ didn’t end the story I felt disappointed. I expected some closure. I see book #5 is also scheduled so the fighting between Eva and Gideon is not going to end any time soon.
I am not sure if I will read ‘Captivated by You’, they just started to be too heavy for me. Always drama and angst and problems. I need some happiness in there.
I kind of had mixed feelings when I realized it wasn’t going to be a trilogy.
1. I was devastated for Gideon and Eva. More books = more fighting. Their problems drive me nuts. I just want them to have a happily ever after.
2. At the same time, I do love this story. So part of me was a bit glad that I’d get to read more about them!
I started this series but it just didn’t grab me and I never got past the first book. I’m glad you’re enjoying it though 🙂
Aw, bummer! Can’t win them all, I suppose.
Aww, that sucks. That’s why I give a book a couple days to settle in my head after reading it before reviewing it to see if I realize things after the fact. Still want to read this series though.
It is a really good series. It is kind of a complete copy of 50 Shades of Grey, but I personally think this series is done so much better. It’s the same concept but with a stronger, more independent MC, better writing, and slightly less of a creepy vibe, haha.
I know what you mean! There have been a lot of books that I read and really enjoy, but realize not much happened in them. I’m currently reading an ARC that’s giving me the same kind of feelings. I’ve enjoyed it so far, but there are only 30 pages left and something is JUST starting to really get going. For me, enjoyment is the #1 factor in my book ratings, though!
I haven’t read Sylvia Day yet, since Maya Banks got to me first. Having read this review, I doubt I’ll read this series. That being said, sometimes middle books in series need to get things done while nothing really happens. Voyager from the Outlander series is a really good example of this. But it sounds like Captivated by You doesn’t fit into that category. But it’s still pretty awesome that you enjoyed it anyway.
I really enjoyed the trilogy, unfortunately “Captivated by you” I found to be rather boring, the same repetitive thing, yes we know how much they love each other and want each other and were made for eachother but was it completely necessary to tell us on every page, I was hoping that as a carried in reading it would spice up and something new would develop but disappointingly not, I think I am done with the crossfire series.
I’m in love with the story line of both Eva and Gideon, but this book didn’t make me love them even more. It was the same drama just in slightly different scenarios, readers have an imagination we could have made this up ourselves. The story is just dragging. I got half way and concluded it’s just not worth the repetitive read.
Kept waiting for major events to occur in book but nothing happened. Disappointed and gideon got on my nerves for being constantly aroused. I liked only when eva took a break from him in end few pages but book ended? Dragged on heaps nothing new or furthering of other books.
After reading the first three books I was excited to read the 4th … that is where the excitement stopped. Whilst I loved the first 3 books, I found the 4th “Captivated by you ” boring, samey and repetitive. I found I was skipping pages, which were repetitive sex, falling out, with no depth of story. A real shame as I waited long enough for it to come out. Hope the 5th is less about the sex, with some depth.
I completely agree, Jules.