Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades #3)
EL James
Romance, Erotica
When unworldly student Anastasia Steele first encountered the driven and dazzling young entrepreneur Christian Grey it sparked a sensual affair that changed both of their lives irrevocably. Shocked, intrigued, and, ultimately, repelled by Christian’s singular erotic tastes, Ana demands a deeper commitment. Determined to keep her, Christian agrees.
Now, Ana and Christian have it all—love, passion, intimacy, wealth, and a world of possibilities for their future. But Ana knows that loving her Fifty Shades will not be easy, and that being together will pose challenges that neither of them would anticipate. Ana must somehow learn to share Christian’s opulent lifestyle without sacrificing her own identity. And Christian must overcome his compulsion to control as he wrestles with the demons of a tormented past.
Just when it seems that their strength together will eclipse any obstacle, misfortune, malice, and fate conspire to make Ana’s deepest fears turn to reality.
You can read my reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker here.
*Commence intense end-of-series feels*
I'll start with what I didn't like:
-The writing. As usual. In Fifty Shades Freed the author reached a new height of ridiculousness with the repeated "hmmmmm" and "woah" in Ana's thoughts. Not in the dialogue!! "HMMM" IS A SOUND WE MAKE WHILE THINKING. WE DON'T ACTUALLY THINK IT.
-The flashbacks. This is a method that works for lots of different books but somehow fell flat here. One of the fun things in the 50 Shades series is the second-by-second cover of the events (as opposed to, "the next morning") so I did not appreciate skipping the wedding (and wedding night ;-) ) I was promised in book two, and then later telling it in flashbacks. (Also, hello? Wasn't this a Twilight fanfiction? I expected the wedding to take up half the book) It broke the fast storytelling that made these books so addicting in the first place. Luckily, after the first quarter of the book we catch up to the present and the time-lapses stop.
What I liked:
Everything else, pretty much. The characters are hard to truly figure out, but instead of being a flaw it ended up enhancing them - people are complex at their core. The witty banter and emails were hysterical as usual (though I still think book 1 takes the crown for that).
Somehow, despite all the writing complaints, I managed to fall in love with Christian, Ana, and their story. I fully stand by the reason I picked up Fifty Shades of Grey originally- a fad so big and popular must have something that rings true and no, it's not because it's sexy. No other erotica book ever stood out so much.
The epilogue almost reduced me to happy tears, and the chapters from Christian's POV left me waiting for more (is she writing this or will another Midnight Sun episode happen?).
Rating: Believe it or not, 5 stars.
Love,
Esty
Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades of Grey #2)
E.L. James
Erotica, adult (!!)
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.
You can read my review of Fifty Shades of Grey here.
After the last book's ending with Anna getting some dignity and walking out, I was really excited to get my hands on this installment. Finally, we get Anna and Christian together in a relationship based on mutual respect and love, as opposed to the insanity they exhibited in book 1.
I have to say, there were some really great romantic scenes in this novel... and they weren't the sex! Christian undergoes some serious character development, so that was fun to read.
As for Ana, well. She uses A LITTLE more sense in Fifty Shades Darker.
The writing- not much better than the first. Lots of repeated words and phrases.
For those looking for R rated Twilight, there's more. The similarities in scenes and character traits made me giggle. Christian is Edward on steroids.
I was disappointed with the emails! In Fifty Shades of Grey I was rolling with laughter, whereas here they were funny but not as much nor as frequent. However, I enjoyed it enough to eventually read book 3. Rating:
Happy New Years to all! Hope everyone enjoyed the festivities :-)
Esty
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James
Erotica, adult(!!)
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.
Well, it wasn't a literary masterpiece. It wasn't what I expected either.
Fifty Shades has a reputation of basically being a badly disguised form of pornography. I picked it up on my usual assumption that something this big and popular must have something to it. I found it- there's so much potential in the personalities of Christian and Ana. I raced through the entire novel hungry to understand WHY they were the way they were.
I was satisfied on one of the fronts. I figured out the cause of Christian's BDSM thing right off the bat, but there's still more to know and that kept me going. I will note, however, that Ana didn't really get it (Christian's history) until the end which I thought was rather stupid of her.
Speaking of Ana, her personality is either going to make or break the rest of the trilogy for me. The one thing I couldn't grasp throughout the whole book was WHY THE HELL WOULD SHE AGREE TO THIS STUFF. She had a normative childhood and currently has a good thing going (apartment with her best friend, university degree, a job) and any sane girl of her upbringing would go running for the hills the second Christian showed her those contracts. No matter how charming he is or how good he looks. It was the one aspect I didn't buy- I mean, it's not like she loved him yet (in the beginning). If that isn't explained or explored in book 2 I'll probably abandon the series.
Quite honestly? What with what I mentioned above and the fact the Christian truly is a fascinating character, the sex was the least interesting part. (It did get a little tedious and at times even laughable). I will warn you though, the BDSM really freaked me out. I wasn't familiar with the concept before reading the book and it is so gigantically WRONG. The sheltered (like me) have to be prepared to be appalled.
The romance? I don't know. It seems nice and real but so unhealthy and incorrect. Christian loves her for being brave and independent yet seeks to control her entirely. On the bright side, it seems this starts to get better in Fifty Shades Darker (despite the ominous title).
Rating:
