Book Review: Fifty Shades Freed

Title: Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades #3)

Author: E.L. James

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Blurb: When unworldly student Ana Steele first encountered the driven, damaged young entrepreneur Christian Grey, it sparked a sensual affair that changed both their lives irrevocably. Shocked, intrigued, and ultimately repelled by Christian’s singular sexual tastes, Ana demanded a deeper commitment; determined to keep her, Christian agreed. Now, together, they have more-love, passion, intimacy, wealth, and a world of infinite possibilities. But Ana always knew that loving her Fifty Shades would not be easy and being together poses challenges neither of them ever anticipated. Ana must somehow learn to share Christian’s opulent lifestyle without sacrificing her own integrity, identity, or independence; Christian must somehow overcome his compulsion to control and lay to rest the horrors that blighted his past and haunt his present. Just when it seems that together their love can conquer any obstacle, tragedy, malice and fate combine to make Ana’s worst nightmares come true.

My Review: It’s no secret that I am in that crowd that has enjoyed the Fifty Shades trilogy. Well Fifty Shades Freed is no different. I had plenty of ups and downs but at the end of the day I think it was a good closure to the series. It was still steamy, romantic, dramatic and funny. And much like the previous book in the series, Fifty Shades Darker, there is more of a storyline and we see more character development.

Fifty Shades Freed starts off with Ana and Christian on their honeymoon. There are flashbacks throughout the first chapters of the events that led them to that point. These flashbacks are mostly revealing, of their wedding day and such, but it is done in a not-so-smooth way that appears awkward and takes away from the pace of the book. But once James is done with her flashbacks the reader is presented with a great story. There is so much drama and action that comes about from yet another madman wishing to do them harm. Their “kinky fuckery” reaches new highs. Whether you will read those scenes and be disgusted or impressed I’m not sure.

There’s a lot that happens in this book. Like previously mentioned, there is someone looking to spill some blood but the biggest problem in this book is their relationship. Christian and Ana still getting to know each other and learning how to be together. I honestly always enjoyed their relationship. From the first book I was enamored. In this book, like in Fifty Shades Darker I enjoyed that there is more of a storyline and was truly loving the progression of the book. Yet I then reached a point in the book that left me frustrated and disappointed. Cristian is controlling and overbearing and it’s now to a new high. Ana who I’ve always respected for speaking up and having a mind of her own is now the epitome of the abused wife syndrome. In my own words, “as upset as I am with him for treating me this way it’s my fault…. I want him to be happy and must therefore figure out away to apologize and make him happy.” I am truthfully disgusted by it. I would have never expected it from a character I considered to be strong like Ana. If I were not one who finishes reading a book once I’ve started. I would quit here. One chapter and I felt the book was ruined for me.

But after more drama, suspense, action and a great plot twist I was once again hooked. It has a fairytale ending that gives it’s readers closure. James even gave readers a teaser of her version of Midnight Sun. It seems she is planning on rewriting Fifty Shades of Grey from Cristian’s POV. I feel that I am done with this series. With this book I feel the closure that would allow me to leave this series behind. Yes, I know many of you are breathing out sighs of relief and for some odd reason, I am too.

Book Review: Fifty Shades Darker

Title: Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades #2)

Author: E.L. James

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Synopsis: Daunted by the singular tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house.

But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades.

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life.

My Review: I recently reviewed Fifty Shades of Grey and described it as Literary Porn. To say the least, I really enjoyed it. So I embarked to read its sequel. So here is what I think of Fifty Shades Darker. As for the story line, this book is considerably better. Yes it still contains steamy sex scenes but this book is more romantic, allows for more character development and is not only defined by its sex scenes.

I truly and without a doubt loved the romance. A lot of people don’t understand the obsession with Twilight. But because I was within that crowd I will explain. Yes it is not well written, and there might be an issue with ideas the book may present. Like stalking a girl will be found to be romantic- listen guys: that’s never romantic. Seriously. You’ll be lucky to only walk away with a restraining order. Back to my point, Twilight was a big deal because it allowed for the reader to get completely caught up in its emotion. I quite literally fell in love with the book- and Edward for that matter. Fifty Shades has the same bit of magic Twilight possesses in allowing the reader to get swept up in the emotion of the book. And boy was it romantic. Yep, I totally fell in love.

I enjoyed how well we got to know Christian and Ana in this book. In Fifty Shades Darker, Christian reveals that there is more to his Dominant, jealous, overbearing, overprotective and stalker ways. The reader is exposed to his boyish charm. We are shown a side of him that is sweet and endearing and I think will make just about any girl swoon. He is playful, thoughtful, funny, charming… In this book, Ana is trying to find out why Christian is the way he is and by the end of it, all of his secrets are out in the open. Call me crazy but seeing how vulnerable he is made him realistic- as in nobody is perfect and I can’t think of anything that could of made him sexier.

This book was also suspenseful and action packed. I give credit to James for all of the conflicts and issues she provides us with. Truly I have never seen so many hurdles for characters to overcome in ONE book. I also, once again, loved the emails and the laughs that accompanied them.

On a negative note, something that seemed to annoy me to no end was Ana’s alter egos? I honestly don’t know what to call them. In the first book I found it odd but seeing as it actually didn’t take away from the novel, I didn’t mention it. But in this one, it was boring and tended to take away from the book itself and from Ana as a character. At times it truly makes her sound like she has a multiple personality disorder.

With Fifty Shades Darker, I actually took my time reading and can say that this book is amateurish at best. Just like the Twilight novels for which Stephanie Meyer has been criticized to no end for, this book was not well written. Because I tend to be so anal about grammar, this is usually a big pet peeve for me. With Miss James, the issue is not only with the grammar but with the writing itself. I really think that she could have invested in a better editor. By the way, I say this in the nicest way possible.

So all in all, I enjoyed the book and yes, I will also be reading the sequel. But as you know, my library and it’s ridiculously long waiting list for popular books has me at 200 in its queue and I’ve already been waiting two weeks. So don’t expect to see it anytime soon.

Book Review: Fifty Shades of Grey

Title: Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades #1)

Author: E.L. James

Rating: 4 of  5 Stars

Synopsis: When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—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 family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

My Review: The Fifty Shades trilogy was developed from a Twilight fan fiction originally titled Master of the Universe and published episodically on fan-fiction websites under the pen name “Snowqueen’s Icedragon”. The piece featured characters named after Stephenie Meyer’s characters in Twilight, Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. After comments concerning the sexual nature of the material, James removed the story from the fan-fiction websites and published it on her own website, FiftyShades.com. Later she rewrote Master of the Universe as an original piece, with the principal characters renamed Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele and removed it from her website prior to publication. Yes that was stolen directly from Wikipedia. But I think a little background information is good for those of you who don’t know it- regardless of how boring it may be.

So as you already know this was originally written with Twilight in mind. However, I was surprised to see how many similarities it has with Twilight. Especially when it comes to the characters. At times I feel as if all she did was change their names. The girl who ‘doesn’t see her self clearly’, has two left feet, has her piece of crap car replaced for her, has problems accepting gifts from her rich boyfriend, has an eccentric harebrained mother, loves classic novels… Who am I kidding this list is endless. And for those of you who read Twilight (or saw the movie) and think I’m describing Bella, you are wrong. That in a nutshell is Anastasia Steele.

I know many of you have heard of Fifty Shades of Grey before, for those who haven’t read it yet, I will clear the air. Yes this is fully and completely Literary Porn. The story line was ok, and especially at the end I was curious as to what would happen next. But who am I kidding? Sometimes the story drags and you’re just waiting for the excitement of the next sex scene…. Um, maybe I should have suggested an age limit for this post… Matter of fact there should be an age limit on this book. In all honesty I would have a heart attack if I ever saw my teenage daughter reading this. (Yes I do have a daughter, but she’s only a toddler.) Yes it was good and I enjoyed it but can porn be described as literature? (According to dictionary.com’s definition of literature this novel is indeed literature.) Ok, sorry, I know I got a little sidetracked. Let me be honest: I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed its erotic nature and yes it was very steamy but don’t judge me because of that. Also, while reading this book I couldn’t stop thinking of a picture a fellow blogger posted not too long ago. I just had to share it:

As for something I disliked, somewhere in there is a copy of a contract. I don’t know, I guess it all comes down to me finding it boring. Was it really necessary to fill 10+ pages with it? Also, about halfway through the book, it gets a little tedious. The storyline itself got a bit boring . But since I was rushing to get to the next sex scene I didn’t mark it and can in no way say or explain why it bored me. As for something good, I really enjoyed the emails Ana and Grey sent to each other. I found it be mostly hilarious, usually romantic and rarely boring. I found myself looking forward to their correspondences.

All in all, I am hoping to not be judged for the rating I am giving this book. I will not recommend or warn off people from this book. I enjoyed it but am sure that not everyone will enjoy this cup of tea. So, proceed at your own risk.