Fifty Shades of Grey / Fifty Shades Darker / Fifty Shades Freed

Spoiler Alert!!!!!

This book has gotten a lot of negative publicity. Yes, it's incredibly graphic and incredibly strange. Ana (Anastasia Steele) is this doe-eyed innocent virgin who meets the man of her dreams, who happens to be a very damaged and broken individual. I stayed angry through all 3 books because I (personally) felt his behavior was somewhat abusive and she was....just the perfect innocent victim, afraid to speak up and (honestly) defend herself to his face. It's definitely a fantasy story: where an innocent girl is able to "change" the bad boy she's fallen for.

On a personal note:

Unfortunately I am concerned about young adult female readers, who may not see this AS fantasy and really, truly believe that "stumbling" show more (literally) into a controlling, somewhat abusive relationship is okay because if Ana could change Christian Grey, any girl could change any guy.

And while Christian comes a long way (emotionally) throughout the trilogy, at the end he is still very controlling and (in my opinion) somewhat abusive. At the end of the trilogy he is still (in my sexually conservative opinion) very deviant, and he has pulled her into his world. He hits her, he flogs her, he ties her up, and does all sorts of things that would ordinarily be considered abusive, but since she has a "safe word" it's portrayed as "okay" since she can stop it at any time.

Overall it is a strange look into the world of Dominant/Submissive behavior and lives, with a fairly predictable look into the past for the answer to the question "why?" (or, to my question which was mostly: "wtf?").

However, for an erotic novel, the storyline was good and questions were answered.

As far as lit review goes, it is written very poorly. There are a lot of grammatical errors that irritates the eye of some readers. However, in the authors defense it is written in first person and the lazy grammar makes for an easy page-turner.

Personally, I found myself skimming pages while they were "getting it on". I felt a little uncomfortable with being a fly on their wall. Between being uncomfortable with the graphic sexual descriptions, and being (generally) irritated and downright pissed off at both Christian (for being abusive) and Ana (for being such a victim), I spent most of the trilogy hoping it would get better. Now that I'm finished reading it, I'm glad it's over and I don't see myself reading these again.

What's really odd is I am not a "conservative" person, I am very liberal! I guess something about this just rubbed me wrong, and I didn't enjoy the books as much as I thought I would. show less

Yes, I read them. Yes, I read all of three of them. I'm not proud, but as truly horrible as they were - poorly written with a heroine, Ana, that is as bland as a saltine cracker and a hero, Christian, that is as boringly broken as a cheap clock - I still read them all. Why? I can't even tell you. No, it wasn't the sex. I have a women's erotica collection that will blow the socks off of Christian and Ana's exploits. I read them for the same reason some people watch reality TV - because you once you start you just can't turn away.

I avoided this series as long as I could but it went on super sale on Black Friday and I couldn't resist. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I'm still waiting to see what the fuss was about and I finished the books 3 days ago. Terrible writing, repetitive use of a lot of words (goddess stands out as one that would have gotten me drunk if I was playing a drinking game), and overall just silly. When you look past the nonsense (which is hard to do), there is a decent story in there but I so don't get the big deal. I also really don't understand how this is about to be a movie and I really don't want to see the movie. Some things are better left to the imagination and I think I'll just call this trilogy the one that kept me amused show more while I was commuting an hour each way for training. show less

Read Twilight? Love it ? Before you judge these books or my review, think about those first two questions I pose to you. This was a piece of fan fiction, later self-published, then major best seller - read about its origin here first http://goo.gl/t9YGYP. I decided it was long overdue for me to write this review. And I owe it to those who may read my other reviews to be candid. In conversing with a friend today,I realized that I too may have become jaded in the hype, forgetting how it started and what it was really about. Is this my most favorite book? No, but it is what got me out of the Harlequin/Nora Roberts soft romance circles I was in. FSOG introduced me to contemporary romance/erotica. Some new and recent authors I thoroughly show more love and a community readers I respect. But honestly, can I give this book any less than 5? Nope, I honestly cannot. I have read ALOT of self published stuff. Overlooked bad spelling, grammar and content flow. I read heavy duty violence,drug and physical abuse. And gave that 4 stars. These novels deserves more from me.

It's a story. It's not about the BDSM . It's character growth,the ability to change. It's got mystery and suspense. And yes, steamy scenes. What are my pros and cons? The first book started slow. I have stated dry. I couldn't seem to invest in the characters early on. I wasn't grasping what drove them. Ana perplexed me. How could a character be strong one moment then such low self esteem the next? However the ending of book one hit me in the solar plexus. I remember finishing it around midnight. I stayed up until 2am to get into book two because this had to not be the end of Christian's story. Yes, Christian. The person I wanted to know more about. I only had Ana's POV, his words to her not his thoughts. My utmost favorite part of the trilogy- the epilogues in the back of Christian's POV. Finally, what I craved to understand I got a glimpse of.

So, yes, you may pick this up and scoff "This is no Bella and Edward". Yes, you are right. There are not blood sucking, murdering vampires and werewolves. Just some scenes of alternative life style that happens every day. Come to LA and I'll show you Hollywood Blvd. It's real not wrong difference you think it to be. But give this STORY a chance. show less

Book I: I was late hopping aboard the Fifty Shades Of Grey train, but once I started, I couldn’t stop. I watched the movies first, but knew I had to be checking out the series from the library. I never used to read erotica, but since I’ve been blogging I like some spice in my romance…and Fifty Shades Of Grey is definitely spicy hot. I already loved the characters, so they didn’t need to win me over. Anastasia Steel may be young, but she’s no pushover. She can hold her own against Christian Grey. On to Book II, Fifty Shades Darker.

Book II: The more I read of the Fifty Shades series, the more I love it. I was already sold because I watched the movies. Now, I am reading straight through, beginning to end, devouring the words, show more getting lost in their world. I love the characters, sometimes fun and playful, other times wrestling with their demons. Their affair is sizzling hot and my ereader is smokin’.

Book III: Whew, I’m Fifty Shades Darker for sure. E L James has written a fabulous series that kept me reading cover to cover throughout the entire series. I laughed, I got teary eyed, I was furious, I was scared, and I was very satisfied when it was all over. LOL

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com show less

initially a hilarious read with an innovative take on the contemporary romance novel genre, but became increasingly repetitive in the second and third books. A bit of fluff, but hardly memorable. What El James lacks in writing acumen, she makes up for with wit and just the right touch of emotion. The story either works for you or it doesn't. Possibly the most controversial best- seller since the Da Vincie Code, and about in the same ballpark writing wise. Both writers are fairly lean on description and a bit repetitive. El James' dialogue has more punch and wit, while Dan brown's plot and characters are a shade more developed. But other than that much like Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series and Jackie Suzanne's Valley of the Dolls , show more there's not much to these books. They are like the cotton candy you buy at the fair or the funnel cakes - great to look at it, but lacking in substance. But hey, we all need a bit of cotton candy for the brain now and then. show less

This is a series that really should (and easily could) have been condensed down to one novel. I was prepared for the "kinky" aspects of their love life and for an education in the BDSM world. This actually was a lot tamer than I was expecting and frankly, got repetitive and boring. Okay, I get it. They like to have sex...a lot...and they are well matched in that area. I'm not sure how they do it, but some authors can be a lot less graphic and still cause your heart to race a little bit when reading, but this didn't really do it for me. I think it comes down to being able to create in words the physical yearning someone can make you feel. This just made me feel like I was watching a bad adult movie or something. Too clinical maybe??

Like show more others have said in their reviews, Christian comes off as abusive (no, he doesn't rape her or anything but he is extremely controlling) and Anastasia is his willing if disgruntled victim; however, their love story--not necessarily their sex life--was kind of interesting to follow, mainly because I was trying to figure them out emotionally.

One thing that annoyed me was the constant use of the opinions of "the inner goddess" and "my subconscious". Some of the visuals were amusing but this theme was way, way overused throughout. I actually would have liked to read the outsider viewpoints of Taylor and Mrs. Jones as they knew more about Christian's lifestyle than anyone else.

The author tried to add an edge of suspense by introducing characters from Christian's past who were mentally disturbed and who tried to destroy them, but the way that part of the story played out was agonizingly slow and uninspired. At points I was thinking to myself, "When is this going to END??" What kept me reading was wondering if Christian would ever find a sense of peace and overcome his past trauma, neglect and abuse as a 4 year old and then as a teen and ever feel worthy of receiving love. No pun intended, but I was waiting to see if there would be a happy ending.

At the end of the series the author does a replay of how they first met from Christian's viewpoint. If I had read this first, I truly would have hated Christian but I guess it does illuminate the changes made over time.

Good story, not great, and you could probably just ask someone who's read the second and third books to give you the full scoop on what happens and save yourself the time of reading them.

Now if this is the author's first attempt at writing a novel (not sure about that) I'd say "good job" but I would expect something a little better from an experienced writer. I think she may have lucked out on receiving all the good press for these books. show less