Fifty Shades Freed

Sweet baby Jesus it's over. I finished the damned trilogy. Many people assured me that this was their favorite one because it had the most action. Hell, the most action was still the sex scenes! There is a "minor" kidnapping drama that is solved in about ten pages, but other than that it's ALL BONING! Rubbing uglies. Naked dancing. Bam-bam in the ham. Knocking boots. Making whoopee. Riding the Bony Express. Hanky panky. You get the picture. Gobs and gobs of sex. Luckily for Ana married sex is still just as great and they're still finding ways to spice it up. That's right folks, after two books we finally get to ass play!! We learn that Ana has no idea how to clean a butt plug and that Christian expects the cleaning lady to clean his show more dirty toys.... barf. Ana has also accidentally forgotten to take her monthly birth control shot. Oopsie daisy. Too bad they didn't just stick to butt sex because now she's knocked up. And oh no, Christian is gonna flip, they've only been married for like a minute! Just as she suspects he freaks the fuck out, gets drunk sees his old dominatrix and friendly neighborhood child molester and gives Ana the cold shoulder. Then she gets kidnapped, Christian feels terrible, Ana gets saved, their relationship returns to perfect and they end up happily ever after with a bundle of kids. Psh, yeah right. I can't wait to see how this one plays out in the movies. I'm just glad I finished this trilogy and can finally move on with my life. show less

This series is a hot mess and my eye-rolling hit new levels with this one. So the big question: why did I find them to be SO ENTERTAINING? Ugh, I hate myself a little. It's definitely not the poorly-written sex or disfunctional relationship. It must be that I'm sucker enough to enjoy the escapist fiction of a hot billionaire having the absolute hots for a complete twit. Sign me up.

For the bad, I think I've covered most of the craziest stuff, so for book three:

>There is nothing hot about that epilogue. I might not root for an abortion in real life, but way to ruin the appeal of having a hot billionaire all to yourself. This demonstrated to me that I do NOT have a family-man fantasy.
>I think I hate A's half-moon-spectacled conscience even show more more than her hand-springing inner goddess, if that's possible.
>Please stop using the word "envisaged!" Cue Inigo Montoya: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
>Every section that C narrated either made me cringe or want to BARF. Gross, gross, gross.
>Surprise! She fixes him! Just like everybody's favorite fantasy about how men with problems can be fixed with unconditional love! Yeah!

I really don't even know what to say. What a load of unreal crap.

Side note: I think it's hilarious that since these books came out, the holds have been building up on my library's copy of The Story of O. Ah, fads! show less

Ugh. So...before I read this series, I assumed the trilogy would go like this: Fifty Shades of Grey - Anastasia dates fucked up sociopath. Fifty Shades Darker - Christian gets even more abusive and psychologically controlling. Fifty Shades Freed - Anastasia finally finds the inner strength she needs to walk away from this shitty human being. But no. Because Anastasia (and apparently the author) have the same delusion that sociopaths and people with pathological personalities just need the right woman to "fix them" it doesn't work out that way. I've seen enough women in my family and life get destroyed by this delusion. People like Christian only change if *they* want to change and work their ass off to do it themself. Despite the perky show more epilogue, Christian will continue controlling, domineering, and abusing Anastasia until the day one of them dies. I'd really love to read a psychologist's companion piece to this - like "The Annotated Fifty Shades" annotated by a psychology doctorate. show less

Now that I’ve finished the Fifty Shades Trilogy I’m feeling both happy and sad. I’m so happy that I finally got around to reading the series, because it’s been one of the most amazing literary experiences of my life. I’ve loved each of the books in turn, as I followed Christian and Anastasia through their tumultuous, emotional, roller-coaster relationship that has seen them both grow and change in unexpected but welcome ways. I’ve come to love the characters so much, I almost feel like they’re real. I just can’t get enough of them. At the same time, I’m now sad, because I can’t go back and become a Fifty Shades virgin again.:-( Don’t you wish you could flip a switch in your brain and forget your favorite stories, show more so you can read them all over again like it’s the first time? But alas, their story is finished (more or less). I know that the author is rewriting it from Christian's perspective, and I welcome the chance to read it again from a different point of view, but I probably won’t until Ms. James has all of them completed. I could barely stand to wait between these books, and I don’t think I’ll want to wait between the new POV books either. We’ll see, though, if I can hold out that long.:-) At least I have the Fifty Shades Darker movie to console me in the immediate, but then I’ll probably have to wait another year for the movie version of this book. No matter what, though, these are books that I won’t soon forget and will definitely revisit in the years to come.

Christian is one of the most unforgettable romance heroes I’ve ever read. He’s a brilliant businessman, but his intelligence surpasses the business world and can be found in his personal life, too, in the form of his interests, hobbies, and general knowledge. He begins the series as a broken man, who doesn’t think he has much to offer from a genuine relationship standpoint. All he’s ever know is his Dominant lifestyle, but Anastasia becomes the one woman he can’t resist on an emotional level and who tempts him to want more. All of his love, affection, desire, and passion becomes solely focused on her alone, which makes for a heady romantic brew. Christian has grown from a Dom who wanted to tame Ana and bend her to his will, to a husband and lover who’s intrigued and challenged by her smart mouth and unwillingness to be cowed by him. He’s also grown to regret any pain or discomfort he brings her even if she found enjoyment in it, which I feel shows just how much he truly cares for her and is willing to change for her. Of course, he’s still eager to engage in sex play, so that hasn’t changed.;-) He just doesn’t want to mark or hurt her anymore. Christian’s vulnerabilities and how he still sometimes needs reassurance continue to melt my heart. As always, he can be a bit overbearing and overprotective, but most of the time, he's open to listening to Ana's concerns and taking her feelings into consideration. However, he isn’t perfect. When unexpected circumstances arise, putting his carefully ordered world into disarray, it can be difficult for him to cope. But he eventually comes around. In the end, I felt like he’d made great strides from an emotional perspective. Hence the “freed” in the title. In some ways, he’d changed, and in other ways, he didn’t. But in every way, he’d become a better version of himself.

I like that Ana is still the ordinary girl from day one, who's out of her element in Christian's world of wealth and splendor. She's totally content with the simple things in life even though he wants to place the world at her feet. On their honeymoon, when he bought her a bracelet that cost thousands, she later went out and brought herself a five dollar anklet at a low-end tourist shop, which I thought perfectly showcased the kind of girl she is. For her, it’s never been about the money; it’s only about her love for Christian. Although Ana has always been willing to take a stand when she needed to, she began as a shy girl who lacked confidence in her abilities. Being with Christian has helped her to grow into a more confident woman who doesn’t hesitate to speak out to both her beloved husband and others. I love how she stood up to their new architect who was being sexually predatory toward Christian, and let her know in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t going to put up with it. Ana is every bit as protective of Christian as he is of her, and she worries every bit as much about his safety as he worries about hers. Christian may have begun their love story with plans to tame Ana, but in fact, it was she who tamed him. She's incredibly deft at handling Christian's mercurial moods and keeping him from losing control most of the time. It’s like she’s become the Christian whisperer.:-) And just because she doesn’t like the hard-core BDSM stuff that he used to engage in doesn’t mean that she doesn’t like to play too. In fact, she’s begun to crave his kinks and is actually disappointed when they can’t have playtime.

Christian and Ana’s relationship is a thing of rare beauty. They’re both very giving and loving toward each other, showing a willingness to compromise until they find that happy medium that’s acceptable to both of them. It's really cute how they can't seem to get enough of each other. They love one another with their whole beings and from the moment they met, all others ceased to exist. They each believe in the other in ways they often don’t believe in themselves, but in doing so they help the other to gain confidence in their own capabilities. Their relationship is one of warm, sweet, emotional moments interspersed with lots and lots of blazing passion. By the time I reached the end of the book, I was more than convinced that Christian and Ana were going to have a long and happy future together, till death do they part.

The one and only thing about this book that I found ever so slightly disappointing is that I really wanted more of a comeuppance for Elena aka Mrs. Robinson. Like Ana, I never felt like what she did to Christian at such a young age was right, even if he did feel it helped him in some ways. I loved what happened in the last book with Ana and Christian’s mother taking the woman to task, but I was almost expecting more in this book. Without giving too much away, I’ll say that I was at least glad that Christian came to a place of accepting that his relationship with her hadn’t entirely been as a good thing as he’d originally thought and he permanently cut ties with her once and for all. It’s just that I always agreed with Ana that she wasn’t the true “friend” that Christian thought her to be and in fact, had behaved in a sexually predatory manner toward him. However, I guess this is one of those things where there unfortunately isn’t equality between the sexes. And it wasn’t in any way a deal-breaker for me, nor did it mar my reading of this otherwise exceptional love story. Christian and Ana’s extraordinary love more than made up for it.

I also enjoyed all the little side romances that have been brewing in the background over the course of the trilogy. Christian’s brother, Elliot, and Ana’s best friend, Kate, move forward in their relationship. Exactly what’s going on between Christian’s sister, Mia, and Kate’s brother, Ethan, remains somewhat ambiguous, but it seems like they may have something romantic in the works too. Then there’s a slightly unexpected pairing that we first learn of in this book, which leads to more for this couple. Of course, Christian’s parents who are still happily married after many years shine as a beacon of love and hope.

Even though I’ve tried, I don’t think I can begin to express exactly how much I love these books and how much of an impact they’ve had on me. Christian is the kind of hero I’d love to wrap up in my arms and give all the love he deserves, while Ana is someone I could definitely see myself being friends with, because we’re so much alike. I enjoyed the way Ms. James bookended this volume of the story with two little vignettes from Christian’s childhood. The opening one nearly had be in tears as this little boy struggles for life in the days following his birth mother’s death. The ending one was happier with little Christian celebrating his first Christmas as the Grey’s newly adopted son, but at the same time, we can still see the sadness and self-loathing present in that tiny head. The author finishes the book off with two scenes from Christian’s perspective, the first being where he meets Ana in his office, and the second being his visit to her at Clayton’s hardware store. I’m guessing that these scenes are giving a glimpse of the opening chapters of Grey, and I can’t wait to read more. But alas, I suppose I’ll have to be patient. In any case, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this ride and will definitely take any opportunity I can get to revisit Christian and Ana’s world in the future.

Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual situations, including bondage, spanking, use of sex toys, and anal play, which some readers may find offensive. show less

It's about 90% garbage and 100% repetitive.

Anastasia is a doormat (as previously established in book 1, chapter 1), she fancies herself insightful, and she's a moron. Her inner dialogue is at all times some variation of "oh my" or "oh crap" or "oh f---" or "oh sh--" though she's supposed to be a literary intellectual. Actaully, at this point she's supposed to be an actual editor! I'd bet that even real life EL James has never, ever, ever actually met an editor.

Here's the plot of all the books combined because they were simply repeated in each book:
They argue. She gives in, every time. Not 'cause he's right. Nope. Just 'cause he's pretty. And you never get the chance to forget that. They screw, multiple times a day, and it's old and show more predictable and exhausting. Crap happens - un-compelling crap without any sense of reality - just to give them a reason to argue and then screw. And.......(drum roll)....they end up happily ever after with kids. That's right guys! These deplorable people have reproduced and are growing daily so they can terrorize your children in the future!!

And then there's Mr. Grey who is always angry because of a 1 dimensional backstory that the writer (can we call her a writer at this point?) grabbed from the back of some napkin from a trash can. The only difference in this book is that half of it is experienced through flashbacks that felt more like a bad drug trip from what I hear. show less

Una storia alquanto improbabile, assurda e del tutto inattendibile, per di più dilatata all’inverosimile in tre volumi con l’unico scopo, per me, di moltiplicare i guadagni.
Personaggi inverosimili, del tutto illogici e irrazionali che risultano, alla fine, irritanti e paradossali. Una lettura talmente ridicola da sfociare nel comico e strampalato tanto da farmi continuare nella lettura solo per capire a quali vette di assurdità si possa arrivare.
Nel complesso meriterebbe un n.c. (non classificabile), darò invece due stelle per le risate che mi ha strappato.

*sigh* I made a mistake with this book. You know what I did? I went exploring the genre wanting something similar before reading Fifty Shades Freed. I found Tiffany Reisz, and her writing on BDSM completely ruined Fifty for me. After highs and lows and amazing twists in her books, Fifty Shades Freed felt bland and uninspiring. I could not get into this book and found Christian and Ana's dialogues laughable.

You can see that I've previously rated the other two books in trilogy really high... I loved them like a teenager who just discovered paranormal romance through Twilight (and then she/he started reading other PNR YAs and found out there was more to vamps than sparkling in sunlight).

Christian in book three is even more wishy-washy than show more he was before. He is magically cured by Ana's hooha and his dark urges stop being dark and turn him into an uncontrollable immature jerk.

Sorry, guys. I know the majority of you loved this book. I did love the previous two as well. But when you discover something much better you can see clearly that this is just as fake for BDSM as Twilight vampires for vamps in general.

DNF for me. With respect to the admirers of Fifty: I understand how you feel, I truly do. I was the same, but I don't find it that good anymore. Shit happens. :D Please, don't throw rotten tomatoes at me. show less