Page Princess: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by E.L. James

Title: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY

Series: Fifty Shades #1

Author: E.L. James

Publish Date: 05.25.11

Publisher: Vintage

Category /Genre: Erotica, Romance

Recommended for: 18+

Received from: Amazon purchase

Date completed: 03.14.14

Goodreads link: Fifty Shades of Grey

Description from the publisher:

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

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.

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I almost feel like I don’t need to do a review for this book. I’m probably one of the last women in America who hadn’t read the first book in this series (and yes, I will be reading and reviewing the other two during this week). Of course, I’ve heard tons about the series. I wanted to read it before the first movie comes out in 11 months. One person I know who hasn’t read a book since the last time he was forced to in grammar school has read the series and loved it (yep, I did say “he”). Next Friday, I will be attending a production of SPANKED at one of our local theatres with a couple of my girlfriends. We were told it was based on the books, so the two of us who hadn’t yet read agreed that we would read before the play. So here I am. I have finally read the first book in the series.

First my usual series disclaimer: this is the first book in a trilogy and they do need to be read in order.

Now, what did I think? As I posted on Facebook last night, when I was about a third of the way into the book, this book made me laugh and laugh and laugh! There were three reasons for my laughter. One, parts are just plain funny, especially the e-mail signatures from Christian and when Ana was being a brat. Two, parts are funny to me even though they weren’t meant to be funny. Those would be the parts that I didn’t think truly represented the BDSM community as I know it. I advise all of my friends in the lifestyles, if they want a good laugh, they only need to read that “contract.” There were parts of it that I agree may be in someone’s written contract if they choose to have a written one, but there were also parts that were just plain ridiculous. Three, Ana’s Sybil-like thought processes were extremely entertaining, though also a bit disturbing.

On the other hand, I developed strong feelings for our two main characters. Christian Grey feels unlovable and is depicted as a man who cannot commit to give love. That brings out the mother bear in me, and I just want to cuddle him until he feels the love pouring in and fills him up. Ana is young, feisty, and emotionally strong. She may be naïve in the beginning, but she walks in and takes every step along the way with her eyes wide open (though half a day of research on Wikipedia wouldn’t even scratch the surface of what a submissive truly needs to know – and seriously that site! Nope!! If anyone is truly interested, I’ll hook you up with some blogs/people I know).

In the end, I cried as much as anyone else who has read this story and I want to start book 2, just to see what will happen next. I’m hoping, as I always do, for a happy ending.

Grammar/editing: A – near perfect

The series: