Title: Fifty Shades of Grey
Series: Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy
Genre: Adult (18+) Romance, Erotica
Publisher: The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House
May 26, 2011
Blurb:
When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.
The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms.
Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.
Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?
Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.
I cannot stress this enough...these books are not written for teens or young adults who might be easily influenced.
Well, after skimming through other reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey on Goodreads, I admit to being a little nervous in writing this review. Quite honestly, outside of a full-on book report, book reviewing is a subjective matter, meaning that what appeals to me, might not appeal to you and vice versa...that being said, I, personally, enjoyed EL James' writing, often finding myself laughing out loud because of humor or the sheer absurdity of any given situation.
When you take time to stop and think, how many of the books you read are, or are destined to be, classic literary works of art? I understand that most of what I read is a type of pop-culture and serves, at best, as a lovely escape and form of immense entertainment. The same thing can be said about movies and television but rarely do these two cause as much heated debate and mud-slinging as books do. I wonder why that is?
So, what can I tell you about Fifty Shades of Grey that you don't already know. Very little, I'd guess. Yes, it was originally written as fan-fic based around the Twilight Series. A very adult piece of fan-fic, I'll give you, but fan-fic all the same. Christian, a control-freak, ego-maniac, falls for Anastasia, a plain looking, clumsy college student. Remind you of another love/hate couple?
Anastasia, quite literally, stumbles into Christian Grey's office on a mission for her school newspaper. Her roommate, the editor, is ill and Ana is forced to interview the illusive and powerful businessman in Kate's place. The first words out of Ana's mouth lead Mr. Grey to believe that Ana is a natural submissive. He stalks her, traces her cell phone, and becomes easily angered when other men come near Ana and this is all before his proposed relationship...if that's even what you could call such an arrangement. He couldn't be more wrong, and much to his surprise, he likes Ana's feistiness and smart mouth. He likes that she challenges him.
Unlike Bella, Anastasia doesn't go leaping into anything head first. She listens to Christian's proposal and does her research before deciding to give his "lifestyle" a chance. It doesn't take either of them long to figure out she's not cut out to be a submissive and could it be that Christian actually wants something other than what he's always had? Ana's realization and walk-of-shame out of his life may be the thing Christian needs to control his inner control-freak. What a conundrum!
Yes, this book is taking over the media. Yes, I gave into the hype and read it. Yes, I saw the similarities between this novel and Twilight. Yes, I am a Twilight fanatic and I'm not ashamed. Yes, I also enjoyed reading E.L. James' writing and Christian's and Ana's relationship. The book picked up pace significantly when the highly acclaimed e-mails began flying back and forth between the couple. I kind of loved that Ana could be so honest with Christian from behind a computer screen. Reminded me a little of myself and, before we judge, aren't we all a little braver when cloaked?
Would I recommend Fifty Shades of Grey to my friends? Only with a strong cautionary warning about the amount of, not only sexual content, but also of the BDSM content. Also, Christian is fervently screwed in the head...I haven't figured it all out yet, but I suspect his childhood sucked the normalness out of him, because while he's drop dead, smoldering sexy, he is also demented.
While I always love comments, and I do, please follow the Golden Rule and do as you would have done to you. I always encourage thoughtful and polite debate...our differences ARE what makes the world a more interesting place, so embrace them and respect them...ALWAYS. (This includes any comments posted to this review on Goodreads. I DON'T DO DRAMA! She says in *Yelly Caps*)
