Fifty Shades Darker (original 2011; edition 2012)

Book 2 of the erotica trilogy -- Christian and Ana are back together...as if they could stay apart haha. Ok, the whole book takes place over a few weeks. The drama that is Christian seems a bit over the top, to which Ana reciprocates. It reminds me a lot of old high school drama. They both don't have much experience in the relationship department, but their journey is sweet. Christian's demons rear their ugly heads, and Ana discovers just how messed up her boyfriend really is. But despite all that, their love blossoms into something special.

Lots of things happen ***spoiler alert*** Ana moves in with Christian, which results in lots of sex, an ex-sub stalks Ana, Ana's boss Jack tries to assault her, Christian goes missing while on a business trip, and Ana accepts Christian's marriage proposal. ( )

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'Holy cow... This beautiful man wants me back and deep down inside my sweet joy slowly unfurls like a morning glory in the early dawn.'

Ana's naivety really grated on me this time around. Well OF COURSE he wants you back. YOU broke up with him. HE never wanted you to leave. So how is it such a shocker that he wants you back? Dumb woman. And then there's the whole 'I forgot the safe word, I just thought I'd deal with the pain instead' and then 'oh god! I've made him mad!'. Ana just comes across as an extremely weak willed woman who cowers in fear of upsetting Christian, this man she barely knows. I had a really hard time with Ana this time around.

And was it just me or did Anna's inner goddess make her seem like some schizophrenic with multiple personalities?

'My inner goddess nods frantically in agreement. And as I stand in line, we come up with a plan.'

I'm thinking that it's maybe just the way it's written, but it really made Anna sound nuts.

I was really looking forward to the second installation in this series as I really enjoyed the first one. Unfortunately I find myself in the minority on this one… It was still hot and steamy but I felt the story line was a bit too forced and was so extreme that it didn't seem real or plausible. Plus, with Ana's constant irritating behavior it took me forever to get through it because I kept putting it down. If I find myself irritated with a book, I owe it enough to put it aside till I can hopefully get over it. But if I'm picking up a book on almost a dozen occasions and find myself with the same constant irritation then it's not for me. Really wanted to like this one more than I did, but I don't even have the urge to pick up the final book in the trilogy.

*sigh* ( )

I blew through this one. Just had to see where the story went. It is very complementary to the first book, and makes for a very satisfying ending to the romance novel formula. Overall a very nice romance novel.

This one started the downward spiral continued in the third in regard to the anti-kink sentiment. I don't like the emphasis that anyone who's into kinky sex has to have a horrid past or have some sort of problem. ( )

Turns out Ana couldn’t handle Christian’s “singular sexual tastes” and has broken off their relationship. That lasts all of three days, and then the two are back together, with Christian promising to try a “vanilla” lifestyle. As Ana helps Christian deal with the inner-demons that have made him into such a screwed up human being (allegedly), she must also deal with the fact that she’s irrationally angry over his past sexcapades.

Readers, I don’t know what’s left to say. All of the problems of the first book are out in full force in this follow-up. The problematic writing, flat characters, horrifically stilted (British) dialogue, and lack of an actual plot are all present and accounted for. This novel tries to incite some more action by creating conflicts in the form of Ana’s lecherous boss Jack and Christian’s former dominatrix Elena, but both characters are so cartoonish that it hardly matters. Besides which, their stories are so buried under the sex and angst that is the Christian and Ana Show that one can almost forget there’s supposed to be a conflict.

There’s no improvement in the writing, probably because James wrote all three novels as one long (seriously, SUPER LONG) fic. She makes ample use of Ana’s inner goddess and subconscious (which is still not the right word for what she’s attempting) to the point where it set my teeth on edge. Ana is still completely clueless, incapable of remembering things that happened a mere page before, and totally spineless when it comes to Christian. Christian is still a controlling asshat, despite his promises to be a real boyfriend.

The book continues to reinforce the idea that damaged people incapable of real relationships are the only ones who engage in BDSM. Christian maintains that the only reason he likes the sorts of sexplay that he does is because of his damaged childhood. Ana continues to wonder about the darkness inside Christian while alternately sniping at anyone else who has the audacity to question whether or not Christian is a good guy. The characters continue to contradict themselves. It’s still a huge mess of a book, and it’s way, way, way, too long.

The jury’s still out on whether or not I’ll have the stomach to finish the series. Part of me is screaming that life is too short–and another part of me wants to see it through to its logical end. We’ll see.

Fifty Shades Darker by E L James. The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House: 2011. Borrowed copy. ( )

I enjoyed parts of this book, it's better written than people give it credit for. But it was a bit long... I was bored for a couple stretches. And the plot was very close to the Twilight series, and a bit over emotional which gave me a couple eye rolls of my own. ( )