Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. JamesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Book Description:
Daunted by the singular sexual 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 her anger and envy of the women who came before her and make the most important decision of her life.
Erotic, sparkling and suspenseful, Fifty Shades Darker is the irresistibly addictive second part of the Fifty Shades trilogy.
As I've said in my review for the first installment to this series, Fifty Shades of Grey I've never actually gone back and re-written a review, much less re-read a book that I didn't enjoy. Yet, three years later and here I am doing just that for not only one book, but two. Turns out that I ended up not only loving the first book in this series, but loving this one even more and questioning why the hell I didn't enjoy these books as much the first time around.
This review is going to be a bit different from my normal reviews- Just as I did in my review of Fifty Shades of Grey, 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... So, here goes nothing!
★ FYI: In bold/italics were my original thoughts that I stated in my first review.
First things first... I seriously loved this book. Absolutely LOVED it. I didn't think Christian and Ana could get any better but alas, they definitely did. Ana really starts to come out of her comfort zone and it's so awesome to watch her blossom into such an independent woman. That's not something that I've ever really cared for in my heroines, but it works for me with Ana's character- She's so patient with Christian, despite all of his Fifty Shades.
Christian on the other hand, is more of the same... Only more brooding, intense, demanding and protective... And dare I say, much darker. He's everything I love in a hero, and I only loved him more with each turn of the page. So much happened in this story that continuously kept my heart in my throat and had me begging for more from start to finish. Now with all of that being said, here's a comparison with how far my feelings have developed for this story and it's characters in the few years since I initially first read this book:
"I'm not going to go into too much detail with this review- Reading it was headache enough. These two books had to be some of the most exasperating books I've ever read, and not in a good way. The first book in the series was just okay... I'll admit that it did keep me intrigued enough to want to read this one. ...And while I'll admit that I enjoyed this book much better than the first, that's honestly not saying much."
I completely disagree with everything about what I said here. Nothing about the book was a headache- In fact, I couldn't get enough of either one of these books... Especially this one. Looking back at my old thoughts honest to God has me questioning my sanity. I mean, what the fuck was wrong with me back then?
"This book was just entirely too long and tedious."
Wrong! My God, everything about that sentence is just so fucking wrong. This book was the perfect length, although if it never ended I would have been a happy girl- I literally devoured this story from start to finish and just couldn't get enough. As for the tedious part... Ehh, there may have been a few things here and there that were a bit repetitive, but nothing that I even remotely considered to be annoying or felt like too much.
"Unfortunately, the 'inner goddess' crap continued throughout the entire novel, which was completely unnecessary and repetitive. I'd have to say the same thing about all the "smirks" as well- I mean, does Christian have any other facial expressions? Ana of course continues to be needy and self-doubting. And the sex... We freaking get it. This is an "erotic" novel, therefore sex comes with the territory- But does it need to be on every page? There was just entirely too much of it- It ended up being nothing but a constant filler from the first page to the last..."
Just reading my old thoughts hurts my heart. Once again I STRONGLY disagree with everything that paragraph says. For starters, everything that revolved around Ana's "inner goddess" was hilarious to read- In fact, it was one of the things that I felt like kept the story unique. That part of her psyche just portrayed exactly how I was feeling at the time so in all actuality, I could have been Ana's inner goddess for as much as we thought alike.
As for Christian's smirks... I didn't even notice. Hell, he could smirk the day away for as much as I gave a fuck. The man could do no wrong, smirking included.
In regards to Ana's neediness and self-doubting... Gah! She was with a gorgeous man with a lot of baggage- Hell, every woman who came into contact with him wanted a piece so was there any doubt that the girl would be a bit insecure? You can bet your ass that I would be- I'd be wondering what made me so special that THE fucking Christian Grey wanted to be with me. It was completely endearing, not to mention realistic. It wouldn't have made any sense had she just accepted the fact that he loved and cared for her, without any second thoughts. Shit like that just doesn't happen in the real world... We are women, after-all.
...And as for the sex feeling like a constant filler... Again, I have to completely disagree. There may have been way more sex than your typical romance novel includes, but the sex was a necessary factor when it comes to this series. Never once did I feel like it was just there to fill the pages with unnecessary bullshit- It was there for a reason and something that I wouldn't have changed for the world.
"I really don't get what all the hype is about when it comes to this series- It honestly blows my mind. I guess these two books just fall under the "Everyone loved but me" category. I think it's safe to say, that I won't be reading the next installment to this trilogy. (Fifty Shades Freed) ...I just can't possibly imagine it being any different than the first two. Needless to say, my "inner goddess" just isn't impressed."
God, how pathetic I was.
What I really should have said is that I can totally see what all the hype was about when it comes to this series. I can officially say that these first two books no longer fall under the "Everyone loved but me" category, and it's definitely safe to say that I'll be reading the next installment to this trilogy... I'd like to see somebody just try to fucking stop me.
★PS: I'm not sure what happened in regards to my status updates the second time I re-read this story, but in case you're curious to how I was feeling while reading the book again, here's my feedback:
02/23 -1.0% "So excited to start this one!"
02/26 -27.0% "'Mrs. Grey to the rescue...'" HA! I adore Ana!"
03/02 -100.0% "Noooo! I hate that this series is over... I could cry. What the hell am I supposed to read now?"
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(Original Review)
To sum it up: Daunted by the singular sexual 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 can't 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 her anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life...
This is the second installment to the Fifty Shades Trilogy, and I would highly suggest reading the first book before starting this one, as it's not recommended as a stand-alone.
With that being said, I'm not going to go into too much detail with this review- Reading it was headache enough. These two books had to be some of the most exasperating books I've ever read, and not in a good way. The first book in the series was just okay... I'll admit that it did keep me intrigued enough to want to read this one. ...And while I'll admit that I enjoyed this book much better than the first, that's honestly not saying much.
This book was just entirely too long and tedious. For example:
"...I could watch you sleep forever Ana."
"...You're biting your lip again Ana."
"...You're so bad Mr. Grey- I want you... But you have too much baggage... But I can't live without you... But you're so clingy."
Lord, I can't even count the number of times I rolled my eyes and was tempted to throw my kindle against a brick wall while reading this book. Unfortunately, the "inner goddess" crap continued throughout the entire novel, which was completely unnecessary and repetitive. I'd have to say the same thing about all the "smirks" as well- I mean, does Christian have any other facial expressions? Ana of course continues to be needy and self-doubting. And the sex... We freaking get it. This is an "erotic" novel, therefore sex comes with the territory- But does it need to be on every page? There was just entirely too much of it- It ended up being nothing but a constant filler from the first page to the last- Just when I'm finally able to move on from one sex scene- BOOM! Christian smirks... They start getting it on again... And then they argue.
Rinse.
Lather.
Repeat.
I really don't get what all the hype is about when it comes to this series- It honestly blows my mind. I guess these two books just fall under the "Everyone loved but me" category. I think it's safe to say, that I won't be reading the next installment to this trilogy. (Fifty Shades Freed) ...I just can't possibly imagine it being any different than the first two. Needless to say, my "inner goddess" just isn't impressed.
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