REVIEW: Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Description: 

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.

This book is intended for mature audiences.

★ Updated Review 2/16/15 ★

(This time around)

I've never actually gone back and re-written a review, much less re-read a book that I didn't enjoy. I guess there's a first time for everything though, because three years later and here I am doing just that. Had I felt the same way about the story now as I did back then, well... Let's just say that I wouldn't even be wasting my time writing this. Turns out though, that I ended up loving this story and questioning what the hell was wrong with me so long ago.

To be fair, before I initially ever gave this series a try I had just finished reading the Crossfire series by Sylvia Day- It was similar in a lot of ways and I think my biggest issue at the time was that I had constantly compared the books to each other and Fifty Shades of Grey easily paled in comparison. Now, I will still stick to my initial feelings and go ahead and admit that the Crossfire series is still better in my opinion, but with that being said this book ended up blowing me away the second time around. It could have been all the time that went by or my taste changing in the years that followed after I first read this book, but I think I'm going to have to give credit where credit is due and say that seeing the movie that was finally released is what really made an impact in not only my decision to re-read the book again, but to really give this book a chance.

For once, I was able to have a clear picture of what the real Anastasia and Christian look like...

...And holy fuck, Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan nailed Anastasia and Christian's character spot-on. I'd also like to take a moment and say that Jamie Dornan is everything and I'd love to have his babies.

With that being said, I'm not here to write a review on the movie but it was necessary to mention it because I really felt that seeing the trailer for the movie made me want to give the book a try again, and then after seeing the movie and falling head-over-heels in love with it, as well as who was cast for both characters and being able to get a clearer picture of what they looked like while reading... Well, let's just say it really helped to hype me up about giving this book another go.

This review is going to be a bit different than my normal reviews- Instead of elaborating on the plot of the story and going into detail on what this story is all about and all that it entails, I thought it would be fun to skip all of that in my new review and instead look back on my old thoughts and compare them to how I feel about the book now... Here goes nothing...

★ For the record: In bold/italics were my original thoughts that I stated in my first review.

"...Their were a few things to this story that were a bit annoying... And disturbingly gross. (If you've read this book before, you know that disgusting scene that I'm referring to.) ...Ana's constant reference to her "inner goddess" became a bit too repetitive for my taste, as well as her constant habit of biting her lip. I was also a little scared when I first started this book because of how the first person point of view was written, but the story has such an intriguing way of drawing you in, that eventually I hardly even noticed. I found myself looking forward to every e-mail between Christian and Ana- They were quite humorous at times, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it put a constant smile on my face while reading them."

My thoughts on that now: There were a few things that I still found to be annoying, but surprisingly it wasn't all of the references to Ana's "inner goddess". I actually found that aspect to be quite funny at times and something that I enjoyed. If anything, I think what annoyed me most was repetitively going over the Dominant/Submissive contract- Once was more than enough, thank you very much. As for Ana's constant lip biting habit... Ehh... It was a bit over-done I suppose, but not enough to effect how I was feeling about the story. And as for the POV the book was written in... Hell, I didn't even notice this time around. Nothing about the writing bothered me, thank God for that. I did enjoy the e-mails between both Ana and Christian still, of course. That certain aspect of the story was definitely a favorite of mine. Oh, and as for the classic tampon scene that was incorporated into this story- Yeah, I still could have dealt without that.

"...As for the secondary characters involved in this story... I'll just say that this book is definitely main character driven, so not a lot of time is spent on additional characters- But to be fair, you probably aren't reading the book for its supporting cast. I should also warn all of you grammar Nazi's out there, that their's quite a bit of typos and grammar mistakes, but for the most part, I was able to look past them."

My thoughts on that now: Agreed. This story is definitely main character driven, but I didn't much care to read about the supporting cast anyhow. And as for the grammatical errors... Either I read an entirely different copy, or I was just so immersed in the story that I didn't notice any this time around.

"...I have to admit, the more romance novels I read, the more unnecessary it is for me to have a sex scene thrown on every ten or so pages. For me, it's the emotional aspect of the book that really draws me in- I would definitely classify this book as an erotic BDSM novel, so I can understand that there would be more sex than usual- But for me it just became a constant filler, and I found myself wanting to hurry through a lot of scenes, just to get back to the main story-line."

My thoughts on this now: Once again, I agree. Too much sex in my romance novels tends to bore me to tears. Did I still feel like there was too much sex? Ehh, I could have gone without a few scenes here and there. There were times when I did still find myself wanting to skim through some of the scenes just to get back to the main story-line but it definitely didn't seem over-the-top for an erotic BDSM novel or become too much.

"Nevertheless though, Fifty Shades of Grey is the first book in this trilogy that starts you off on an emotional journey. The sex scenes were smoldering, even more so when readers realize how out-of-character Christian's tender ministrations are, and how much he struggles with romance. Christian Grey is swoon-worthy, yet dark and broken... The best aspects of the romance come from reading his gradual acceptance of a mature and loving relationship, minus any power games. I'm hoping for a happily ever after from these two, so on to book two..."

My thoughts on this now: I still agree on all of the above. Why I gave this book two stars a few years back, I'll never know. It's interesting to compare how I felt about the book then to how I feel about it now and even more of a shocker to see that I seriously ended up enjoying this book way more than I expected. Needless to say, I can't wait to get my hands on the second installment so that I can see what awaits Christian and Ana's relationship next.

★ Review originally posted on 1/28/15 ★

(Originally)

I was a little hesitant to read this book, after hearing quite a bit of negative reviews. But I have to admit, I'm a little glad that I was able to look past them, and give this book a shot. (If only just to get my own personal opinion on it.) Christian Grey is a self-professed sexual sadist, suffering from the fear of touch. Furthermore, Christian has never had a proper romantic relationship. He has only ever had "subs", and he has been their Dominant. But when he meets Anastasia Steele he wants more, and he's willing to do absolutely anything, even give up his ideas of normalcy, to have her. Anastasia on the other hand, has never had a relationship either- She's just never met the right man. Christian Grey is the only man who has ever caught her eye... She just didn't count on him having so many... Well... Issues.

This is definitely an erotic romance, focusing on a Dominant who falls in love with a woman who is anything but Submissive. I have to admit, their were a few things to this story that were a bit annoying... And disturbingly gross. (If you've read this book before, you know that disgusting scene that I'm referring to.) ...Ana's constant reference to her "inner goddess" became a bit too repetitive for my taste, as well as her constant habit of biting her lip. I was also a little scared when I first started this book because of how the first person point of view was written, but the story has such an intriguing way of drawing you in, that eventually I hardly even noticed. I found myself looking forward to every e-mail between Christian and Ana- They were quite humorous at times, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it put a constant smile on my face while reading them.

...As for the secondary characters involved in this story... I'll just say that this book is definitely main character driven, so not a lot of time is spent on additional characters- But to be fair, you probably aren't reading the book for its supporting cast. I should also warn all of you grammar Nazi's out there, that their's quite a bit of typos and grammar mistakes, but for the most part, I was able to look past them.

I have to admit, the more romance novels I read, the more unnecessary it is for me to have a sex scene thrown on every ten or so pages. For me, it's the emotional aspect of the book that really draws me in- I would definitely classify this book as an erotic BDSM novel, so I can understand that there would be more sex than usual- But for me it just became a constant filler, and I found myself wanting to hurry through a lot of scenes, just to get back to the main story-line.

Nevertheless though, Fifty Shades of Grey is the first book in this trilogy that starts you off on an emotional journey. The sex scenes were smoldering, even more so when readers realize how out-of-character Christian's tender ministrations are, and how much he struggles with romance. Christian Grey is swoon-worthy, yet dark and broken... The best aspects of the romance come from reading his gradual acceptance of a mature and loving relationship, minus any power games. I'm hoping for a happily ever after from these two, so on to book two...

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