So I mentioned last week that Ariel and I were interviewed by our school’s paper about Bad Books, Good Times and the eBook. We weren’t expecting the interview to be on, say, the front page.
I love how this is apparently all news of equal importance. Spring Concert Announced. Commencement Speaker Announced. Seniors Publish Book on Fifty Shades of Grey. I can’t stop laughing.
Chapter Sixteen
Man, it’s been kind of a while since we last read Bared To You. What’s even been happening?
“When you’re not with me, I feel—Don’t run anymore, Eva. I can’t take it.” He pulled me up to stand in front of him, keeping his cock in me until the soles of my heels touched the hardwood floor. “Come home with me now.”
“I can’t leave Cary.”
Right, Eva and Cary were invited to a party at Gideon’s family’s house even though Gideon and Eva broke up, and then Gideon literally dragged her away from the party and started banging her in the library while she told him not to, but she’s good with it. This is actually what happened and it is actually this terrible.
“There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s this place. I don’t—I can’t be here. You want to know what’s in my dreams? It’s this house.”
“Oh.” My stomach knotted with worry and confusion. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
So, naturally, they decide it’s time for round two.
Take Our PollCautiously, he began to pull out of me. I was shocked to feel how wet I was, how copiously he’d come. The final few inches of his cock slid out in a rush and semen slicked my inner thighs. A moment later, two audacious droplets fell to the hardwood floor between my spread legs.
“Oh, shit.” He groaned. “That’s so damn hot. I’m getting hard again.”
Well, it can’t get grosser than this.
Cupping my sex in his hand, he rubbed the slickness all over me, coating the outer lips and massaging it into the folds.
THAT’S GODDAMN DISGUSTING. There’s no way Eva – or anyone – actually finds this erotic.
Euphoria spread through me like the warmth of fine liquor
Dammit, Eva, start making sense!
“I’m an animal with you,” he murmured. “I want to mark you. I want to possess you so completely there’s no separation between us.”
I gathered the courage he inspired in me and whispered, “Touch me here with your fingers. Mark me there.”
He froze, his chest lifting and falling rapidly. “I don’t”—his voice strengthened—“I don’t do anal play, Eva.”
Dammit, Eva! I said start making sense!
But no, wait, it actually gets weirder.
With my heart breaking, I confessed, “I don’t either. At least not voluntarily.”
“Then . . . why?” The confusion in his voice moved me deeply.
I hugged him, pressing my cheek to his shoulder and listening to the slightly panicked beat of his heart. “Because I believe your touch can erase Nathan’s.”
So, here’s what’s going on. Eva, a rape victim, just had sex with Gideon, who is aware of this, although she didn’t want to and Gideon kept going anyway until she stopped saying no. After they had sex, they reflected on how much they missed each other, Gideon rubbed some of his semen all over her vagina, and Eva, in response to this, decided that she wanted him to do anal play with her. Not because she likes anal play, but because her rapist did this and she thinks that if Gideon does this then that will cure her.
Sylvia Day’s failure to accurately depict and get into the head of a victim of sexual abuse is so mindbogglingly awful that I’m pretty sure Honey Boo Boo could more realistically depict Gandhi.
Making things worse, it gets super graphic at this point. Like “puckering anus” that “flexed in a silent plea for more” graphic. I really cannot convey how horrible reading this book is.
Making things worse (because it is somehow still possible to make this worse), Gideon’s brother walks in on them, and, under the totally infallible logic that he won’t notice they’re banging because Eva’s skirt covers everything up, they keep going.
The door opened. There was a pause, then, “Is everything all right?” […]
“Of course,” Gideon said smoothly, coolly in control. “What do you want?”
To my horror, he resumed the push and withdrawal of his finger. […] The tension in my body from having Christopher in the room only ramped up the erotic sensations.
“Eva?” Christopher asked.
I swallowed hard. “Yes?”
“Are you okay?”
The nightmare finally ends after a few more harrowing details and they go back to the party. They say goodbye to Gideon’s mother and we get some hints at Gideon’s own horrible past.
I couldn’t help but wish I knew the story behind his coldness toward a mother who seemed to love him. Her adoring gaze slid over the face that had shades of her own, drinking in every feature hungrily. How long had it been since the last time she’d seen him in person?
Then I wondered if maybe she’d loved him too much . . .
Subtle…
They get Cary and get ready to leave, but Eva tells Gideon to say goodbye to his sister first.
I nodded. Cary rocked back on his heels and twirled one index finger around another in a sign meaning wrapped around your finger.
Only fair, I thought, since he was wrapped around my heart.
They go home and the reader learns that Gideon is a terrifying stalker who has a wall covered with photos of Eva. Eva only learns the latter part.
The focal point was the image in the center that had been taken while I slept in my own bed, lit only by the candle I’d left burning for him. It was an intimate voyeuristic shot, one that said more about the photographer than it did the subject.
I was deeply touched by the proof that he’d been falling along with me.
The chapter ends with Sylvia Day teasing that she’s actually going to start ripping off Fifty Shades of Grey now.
“You’re thinking of bondage and pain. I’m talking about a consensual power exchange.” Gideon studied me intently. […]
“It sounds like you’re telling me you’re a Dominant.”
“Angel, you knew that already.” His mouth curved in a soft, sexy smile. “What I’m telling you is that you’re submissive.”
Yay. I can’t wait.
But Is It Better Than Fifty Shades of Grey?
I’m seriously concerned by how often Fifty Shades is winning this.
The Winner This Round: Fifty Shades of Grey