FIFTY SHADES FREED by E.L. James

Title:  FIFTY SHADES FREED

Series:  Fifty Shades #3

Author:  E.L. James

Publish Date:   01.17.12

Publisher:  Vintage

Category /Genre:  Erotica, Romance

Recommended for:  18 + due to sexual content and violence

Received from:  Amazon purchase

Date completed: 03.19.14

Goodreads link: Fifty Shades Freed

Description from the publisher:

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

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.

This book is intended for mature audiences.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is book three of the trilogy and they do need to be read in order.

I had promised friends that I would read these books in anticipation of going to the play SPANKED this coming Friday. 

The only thing good I can say about this book is that I finished it.  I just wish I could bleach my brain and remove all memory.  I was warned that if I didn’t like book two, then I would have to push myself to finish book three.  I must say my friend was right.

The nauseating repetition of certain points made me want to throw my Tablet.  Her blue eyes looking into his grey eyes – gag me!  Then there was the Mr. Grey-Mrs. Grey drivel.  Anyone who has been married, will do the Mr.-Mrs. thing; I know we did, but if these characters did it once, they must have done it a hundred times and they were still doing it three years later.  It was maddening!  This wasn’t romantic, it was page filler.

My advice – if you haven’t read this loudly, boisterously, vociferously touted book – DON’T!  If you have any sense of the literary mind, save yourself.  The next time someone says “if you loved FSOG, you’ll love ____,” run screaming from the room!  This person is not your friend and has the literary acumen of a goldfish.

Somebody, please, send me something DECENT to read!

Grammar/editing:  A – near perfect

The FSOG series:

1. Fifty Shades of Grey
2. Fifty Shades Darker
3. Fifty Shades Freed

 

AMAZON-US

originally posted 03.16.2014 on my previous website

WordPress.com closed that site because I promoted authors and their books. 

FIFTY SHADES DARKER by E.L. James

Title:  FIFTY SHADES DARKER

Series:  Fifty Shades #2

Author:  E.L. James

Publish Date:   09.13.11

Publisher:  Vintage

Category /Genre:  Erotica, Romance

Recommended for:  18+ due to sexual content and child abuse scenarios.

Received from:  Amazon purchase

Date completed: 03.15.14

Goodreads link: Fifty Shades Darker

Description from the publisher:

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

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.

This book is intended for mature audiences. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is book two of a trilogy and they do need to be read in order.

I have continued reading the trilogy and I will finish book three, just because of that play I am going to next week.  (SPANKS)

 

This is a sweet romance between Ana and Christian.  I love that they are breaking down the barriers that they see between them and I have enjoyed their discovery of their love for one another.

We still have the weird comments about Ana’s subconscious and her “inner goddess,” but mostly those were just funny or eye-roll funny.  We also have the sophomoric vocabulary crossed with a word-of-the-day calendar that is enough to make anyone with a literary sense want to scream.

Finally, I must tell you that I believe that Ms. James has failed in the first tenant of writing and that is to write about what you know.  It is obvious that she is not well acquainted with members of the BDSM community and she most definitely is not a member of the community.  I am beyond livid at her implication that we are broken people.  People in the lifestyle do not need psychiatric help.  Dominants and submissives (of all flavors) are not the result of improper introduction into their sexual selves.  We are people.  That’s it – people.  Those in the scene just happen to like other flavors, sprinkles, nuts, cherries, and chocolate sauce on our ice cream.

If you want to read books that more accurately depict the scene, I suggest (with links to purchase):

THE ADVENTURES OF SIR AND BABY GIRL by Kayla Lords.

BABY GIRL series by Scott Hildreth  

Others that have been suggested to me (with links to purchase):

STRINGS by Kendall Grey  

THE ALPHA-BET by S.D. Hildreth

DOM WARS by Lucian Bane  

INTERVIEW WITH A MASTER by Jason Luke

BONDAGE ANNIVERSARY by Tori Carson  

See you soon with the review for book three, but at this point, I’m just reading to say I did finish it.  My apologies to the vanilla crowd who think this is what BDSM is really like and/or really liked this series.

Grammar/editing:  B – a few small errors

The series:

1. Fifty Shades of Grey
2. Fifty Shades Darker
3. Fifty Shades Freed

 

AMAZON-US

originally posted 03.15.2014 on my previous website

WordPress.com closed that site because I promoted authors and their books.  

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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:

1. Fifty Shades of Grey
2. Fifty Shades Darker
3. Fifty Shades Freed

 

AMAZON-US

originally posted 03.14.2014 on my previous website

WordPress.com closed that site because I promoted authors and their books.