Christian Grey vs Gideon Cross

2stepscloser

For those of you that have read the fifty shades of Grey trilogy and the Crossfire novels (bared to you and reflected in you, not sure if 3rd book is out yet) :
So I read the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy and I had a love/hate relationship with Christian Grey. I loved how hes described in the book. He sounds so sexy. I love how he began to change for Anastasia. However, I hated how possessive he was. I hated that he felt he had rights over Ana and how he felt she was obligated to do everything he told her to do. I got introduced to Gideon Cross a couple days ago when I read Bared to you. I'm now reading Reflected in you and I must say he reminds me a lot of Christian Grey but in a less possessive way.
So who do you guys like more, Christian Grey or Gideon Cross. I am Christian Grey's wife however I think i'm slowly starting to like Gideon Cross better. Who knows, soon I might be Mrs. Cross. (lmao)

I think Gideon shows his sweet side more but both are F?$&ed up. I liked both series but I'd have to say, I think I like the Crossfire Series better.

HannahJDiaz25

I'm going to weigh in here depite my Y chromosome.
I work in a team of 15 in my office and I'm the only guy, so there was obviously a lot of chat regarding the Grey books. I forced myself through the 1st book, simply because it was such a cultural phenomenon that I felt duty bound to bring myself up to speed if I wanted to appreciate comedic references, join conversations etc.
I did the same with Harry Potter, The Davinci Code etc.
The book was awful. Just awful.

1. I had read about the background of the book and it's " evolution " from Twilight FanFic. It might be plagiarism, but it's also marketing genius. It had a ready made fanbase. That said, it still reads like bad FanFic.

2. I could forgive the author a lack of knowledge of the BDSM scene. She's obviously never been involved in that kind of relationship herself and her target market clearly wasn't those involved in the scene. It was frustrated repressed women with nothing remotely lively in their sex life to speak of.
Now, please understand, I'm not saying

"EVERYONE WHO LIKES THESE BOOKS IS A BORED HOUSEWIFE "

but that's pretty much the niche she was aiming for before the book exploded. So lack of knowledge about the scene wouldn't actually be that much of a hindrance. That said, a tiny amount of research probably wouldn't have killed her. We all have broadband these days.

3. Pesonally, I kind of resented the implication that to be a dominant man or Dom, you must have some sort of deep mental or emotional issue that drives you to such proclivities. Clealy no NORMAL person would indulge in S&M etc. While I'm the first to admit that we al have our baggage, I'm annoyed at the notion that being into BDSM would sugest that you somehow need fixed.

4. Grey himself, was an *kitten*. He wasn't an *kitten* because he was a Dom. He wasn't an *kitten* because of any childhood trauma. He was just an *kitten*. And one of the best pieces of advice my Dad ever gave me before he died was

" REMEMBER SON, AN ARSEHOLE WITH MONEY AND A NICE SUIT IS STILL AN ARSEHOLE "

However, he's run quite closely in the *kitten* stakes by Anastasia Steele. I'm not sure if she's related to Remington Steele, but I refuse to believe Pierce Brosnan would raise a child so annoying. Also, he'd smack Gey square in the nose - because he's an *kitten*.

5. How bad is the writing? I had gotten 30 pages into the book and I had already noticed that several words were just wrongly used. As Inigo Montoya say's in the Princess Bride

" YOU KEEP USING THAT WORD. I DO NOT THINK IT MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS "

Now, I can forgive bad spelling, grammar and English fom the Author, her job is to tell the story. However, I'd cetainly question the editors and proof readers who looked at it, scrutinised and examined it and thought

" PERFECT "

To answer the original question, I prefer the Crossfire series. I've never read them, but I feel like I can make the infomed judgement that they're better in comparison to the Grey books.

Thanks you!!!! These were the exact issues I had with this series! I'm glad I am not the only one...

rml_16

I'm going to weigh in here depite my Y chromosome.
I work in a team of 15 in my office and I'm the only guy, so there was obviously a lot of chat regarding the Grey books. I forced myself through the 1st book, simply because it was such a cultural phenomenon that I felt duty bound to bring myself up to speed if I wanted to appreciate comedic references, join conversations etc.
I did the same with Harry Potter, The Davinci Code etc.
The book was awful. Just awful.

1. I had read about the background of the book and it's " evolution " from Twilight FanFic. It might be plagiarism, but it's also marketing genius. It had a ready made fanbase. That said, it still reads like bad FanFic.

2. I could forgive the author a lack of knowledge of the BDSM scene. She's obviously never been involved in that kind of relationship herself and her target market clearly wasn't those involved in the scene. It was frustrated repressed women with nothing remotely lively in their sex life to speak of.
Now, please understand, I'm not saying

"EVERYONE WHO LIKES THESE BOOKS IS A BORED HOUSEWIFE "

but that's pretty much the niche she was aiming for before the book exploded. So lack of knowledge about the scene wouldn't actually be that much of a hindrance. That said, a tiny amount of research probably wouldn't have killed her. We all have broadband these days.

3. Pesonally, I kind of resented the implication that to be a dominant man or Dom, you must have some sort of deep mental or emotional issue that drives you to such proclivities. Clealy no NORMAL person would indulge in S&M etc. While I'm the first to admit that we al have our baggage, I'm annoyed at the notion that being into BDSM would sugest that you somehow need fixed.

4. Grey himself, was an *kitten*. He wasn't an *kitten* because he was a Dom. He wasn't an *kitten* because of any childhood trauma. He was just an *kitten*. And one of the best pieces of advice my Dad ever gave me before he died was

" REMEMBER SON, AN ARSEHOLE WITH MONEY AND A NICE SUIT IS STILL AN ARSEHOLE "

However, he's run quite closely in the *kitten* stakes by Anastasia Steele. I'm not sure if she's related to Remington Steele, but I refuse to believe Pierce Brosnan would raise a child so annoying. Also, he'd smack Gey square in the nose - because he's an *kitten*.

5. How bad is the writing? I had gotten 30 pages into the book and I had already noticed that several words were just wrongly used. As Inigo Montoya say's in the Princess Bride

" YOU KEEP USING THAT WORD. I DO NOT THINK IT MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS "

Now, I can forgive bad spelling, grammar and English fom the Author, her job is to tell the story. However, I'd cetainly question the editors and proof readers who looked at it, scrutinised and examined it and thought

" PERFECT "

To answer the original question, I prefer the Crossfire series. I've never read them, but I feel like I can make the infomed judgement that they're better in comparison to the Grey books.

Thanks you!!!! These were the exact issues I had with this series! I'm glad I am not the only one...

You all are definitely not alone in this. I posted a link earlier in the thread to a blog you both should read. She goes chapter by chapter tearing these books apart and there are a lot of people commenting and pretty much everyone on there agrees with this (and more!). Many of them are in the actual BDSM community, too. Some very hard-core.

Apparently, the woman put in charge of "editing" these books was told specifically not to do much to them. She's kind of washed her hands of the whole thing and isn't thrilled about it at all. It was already popular online, which is why it got picked up in the first place. No agent or publisher would have touched it if she'd submitted the old-fashioned way (because of the awful writing and COMPLETE lack of plot).

You mentioned Harry Potter and I caught a whole lot of grammatical errors in those books, but the story-telling was so incredible that even I could forgive the less-than-perfect writing (but, again, where were the editors???). These books don't even have a good story to overcome the horrid use of language.

HannahJDiaz25

You all are definitely not alone in this. I posted a link earlier in the thread to a blog you both should read. She goes chapter by chapter tearing these books apart and there are a lot of people commenting and pretty much everyone on there agrees with this (and more!). Many of them are in the actual BDSM community, too. Some very hard-core.

Apparently, the woman put in charge of "editing" these books was told specifically not to do much to them. She's kind of washed her hands of the whole thing and isn't thrilled about it at all. It was already popular online, which is why it got picked up in the first place. No agent or publisher would have touched it if she'd submitted the old-fashioned way (because of the awful writing and COMPLETE lack of plot).

You mentioned Harry Potter and I caught a whole lot of grammatical errors in those books, but the story-telling was so incredible that even I could forgive the less-than-perfect writing (but, again, where were the editors???). These books don't even have a good story to overcome the horrid use of language.

Thanks :-) I'll read it when I am not at work! lol

bessbla

I actually prefer Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard. But then again, I've always loved the Divine Comedy and Dante.

OOOooooh I really enjoyed Gabriel!!!!

I do like Gideon better than Christian. They are both f-ed up in the head, but I like the back and forth in the relationship better in the Crossfire series.