Fifty Shades of Grey

There is so much I could say about this book but won't.
Am I glad I gave this a second go and read past the first few chapters?
Yes.

i can see the attraction.
Christian Grey's character arc is strangely compelling and addictive.

No stars ever!

Objectively pretty awful but I somehow couldn't stop reading it.

I'm really not a romance or chic lit fan, but every woman I know was raving about 50 Shades of Grey, so I had to check to see what all the hype is about.

Okay, I've read the darn thing, and I all I can say is that this book has made me a harsher literary critic than I ever was. This book was poorly written. Scratch that: poorly EDITED! Does anyone know how to use spell-check?

Now the story: I get this story is really a fantasy, but I am surprised women think this is AWESOME, INCREDIBLE, and that every woman should read it. Aside from the very naughty bits, to be attracted to someone who openly wants to inflict pain on a woman, and then have a woman allow it openly- I got tired baring witness to those antics. I didn't feel there was enough suspense or plot between the sex, and the cliches were repetitive (he cocked his head to one's side x50...). I am glad I can get on with my life now. ;^)

finally got around to reading this book. it was pretty good. definitely not a book to be reading in public :)

Not my cup of tea in genre, but not terrible! I apparently like it enough to want to read the next one. I personally would not recommend it, as i believe the subject matter really is one for people to make their own mind! I have not read Twilight, so do not make that connection to it either.

I didn't intend to read this book, as I'd largely heard snark about it. A dear friend recommended it, though, so I finally gave it a read.

The writing definitely needs polish and a good editor–I couldn't possibly give it more than 3 stars due to that alone. The sexy is there, though, and that's the whole purpose of the book. It does follow most of the traditional romance tropes, which explains most of its acceptance, but the addition of spicier sex seems to be what has everyone talking. (I'd call it spicy more than truly kinky.)

The entire plot takes place in just three weeks, which isn't bad in the romance world. That doesn't leave much time for character growth, but there is a little. That brings the book up a star from where I'd put most romance novels.

If you want some light, sexy summer reading and don't mind the fact that this is so very obviously a self-published first novel, go for it. Some people will want to read it just because of all the uproar, I imagine. If you're looking for literature or true erotica, pass this one up.

the entire time i was reading it my face was like 0.0 ....definitely not used to reading adult erotica...because I don't read it ever.

The writing itself is crap, like I expected, but it was entertaining enough that I will continue the series. I truly believe if you're not 18 you have no business reading this. However, the connection to the Twilight series is too similar, it is without a doubt everyone will read this.

You'll never catch me reading this in public though! lol.

Oh dear. Okay.Let me preface this review by stating that I went into it with low expectations. Perhaps that is why my frustrations exist so strongly, but it was nigh impossible to avoid the discussion and the excerpts that flooded the internet upon its release. I read them, I discussed them, and when I obtained a copy of [b:Fifty Shades of Grey 10818853 Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1) E.L. James https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385207843s/10818853.jpg 15732562]. I took a deep breath and dived in. The Good:As we all know, this novel originated as Twilight fanfiction. As its written, it can certainly stand alone. The concept is great and, barring what I will soon discuss, the character development has promise. I was appreciative that there weren't info dumps, and that information (mainly about Grey) was slowly revealed. Relationships and the world had depth. (I'm trying, guys.)The Bad:This novel originated as Twilight fanfiction. Throughout the 75% I progressed through, I briefly saw who were which characters (Jos?? = Jacob, Mia = Alice). The writing also reads like fanfiction gone published. This is glaringly evident within the first chapter of [b:Fifty Shades of Grey 10818853 Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1) E.L. James https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385207843s/10818853.jpg 15732562].The character parallels brings me to Jos?? Rodriguez. I had an issue with how he was handled. Towards the middle of this novel, he and Ana are drunk. He starts pushing himself onto Ana, and then our dear savior Christian Grey swoops in to save the girl. Okay. Whatever. However, Jose is illustrated as Hispanic, and James even goes so far to point this out by his usage of token expressions such as ???Dios Mio!???. It bothered me how the only other minority in this book was the one who attempted to assault Ana. As fantastic as Christian Grey may be as a lover, Ana's constant vaginal orgasms (with only two mentions of her clitoris in what I read.) were wholly unrealistic. In reality, 25% of women have orgasms during intercourse. That isn't counting the disrepancy between vaginal and clitoral ??? that's overall. Not only is Ana a magical unicorn that possesses the physical ability to come from penetration alone, but so can her roommate, Kate! I know that women like this exist, but for the rest of us who physically cannot, its frustrating to read a novel that sold faster than Harry Potter further portray women in an unrealistic sexual light. Women need clitorial stimulation, and there are people out there who don't even know the clitoris exists. The sex scenes, after the first initial ones, began to drag. For the most part, they consisted of the same verbage, and towards the end of the book I started skimming them. Ana's constant physical reactions to everything Christian did - ???My breath hitched.??? ???I flushed and held my breath.??? ???I gasped.??? ???My breath stuttered.??? It is honestly a miracle to me how she was alive at the end of this book. Every time Christian had to remind her to breathe, I cringed. Which brings me to...The Ugly:Anastasia Steele. Innocent, virginal, shy, sarcastic Ana, flying too close to the Sun like Icarus. James portrayal of her naively and innocent nature is excellent. However, what puzzled me the entire time ??? Why Ana? Why is she an exception to Grey's every single rule? What about her categorizes her from previous subs he's been with? Was it the balance between her submissive and defiant traits? How she came out with a few witty one-liners? What was it? Ana was wholly flat and one-dimensional, possessing unicorn-like traits and zero flaws. (BTW skinniness is not a flaw.)The Annoying:If I hear ???THERE??? or ???foil packet??? or ???oh... jeez??? or ???groaned??? or ???Mr. Grey??? or ???Ms. Steele??? one more goddamn time I will hurl something. Would I recommend this book to someone else? No. Do I condemn those who do read it? No. One should never feel guilty about guilty pleasures, and that is what this trilogy encompasses. I feel that, with a bit more character building (especially with Ana) and a couple more rounds with editors, that this book (and the others following) would have been receieved far better.This is, however, not my type of guilty pleasure, and as such I won't be completing nor moving on to [b:Fifty Shades Darker 11857408 Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades, #2) E.L. James https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358266080s/11857408.jpg 16813814] and [b:Fifty Shades Freed 12881778 Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades, #3) E.L. James https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320316311s/12881778.jpg 18034963]. YMMV

No puedo decir que sea un mal libro... pero definitivamente no es lo que esperaba, es un libro bastante suave para la temática en la se fue promocionando, no puedo decir que no me gusta, pero tampoco puedo decir que me agrado del todo. Es un libro regular.

I don't know why I decided to read to this. All I can think about while reading it is fanfiction or Twilight, especially with an ending like that. Oh goodness, what did I get myself into with this trilogy? I now feel like I'm obligated to read the other two books.

Short review: (This is a sexually explicit book, be forewarned.) I decided to read this after the sensation that it has become. And after having finished the trilogy I am glad I read it. Yes it is sexually explicit. Yes it is more than some people want to read and many should not read it. But the story is good. I read it along with my wife and we had some really good discussion. Sex is central to the plot, but I do not believe this is porn, but rather a sexually explicit romance novel. I actually am fairly impressed about the author's insight into men and women and relationships. I have some concerns about recommending this because I do not believe it is for everyone. But I think that if you are ok with the sexuality of the books, the series is worth reading.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/fifty-grey/

This was not the best book I ever read, but it sure was entertaining. Especially if you disregard all the britishisms and outdated vocabulary. I enjoyed the characters and story enough that I'll stick around and see how the story ends.

Badly, badly written, yet strangely compelling!

First things first, if you didn't already know, this story was originally a Twilight fanfiction story distributed for free. It's “slightly” reworked, meaning the character names are changed. But, if you're familiar with the Twilight characters, it should be pretty easy to spot who was supposed to be who. Since it's revised, the author gets to charge lots of money for her story, because now it's “real fiction” and has “no connection anymore to Twilight”. So, is it worth your money? Heck no.

Lazy author aside, this is just not a good story. There's certainly a lot of sex, especially of the “S&M” variety, so if that's what you're after, you won't be disappointed. However, if you want character development, a logical plot, or a well-paced story, you are out of luck. Hey, it's just like Twilight, minus the sex.

The story focuses on virgin Bella Ana, who falls forEdward Christian, a millionaire with a dark past who also happens to like BDSM. And .. that's about it. Not much really happens in this story. Once Ana and Christian meet and learn about one another, the rest of the story is a struggle between Ana deciding if she can handle the BDSM lifestyle and be with Christian. She can. Sex. No, she can't. More sex. But she really cares about Christian. Sex. Now she's really mad at him. Has sex anyway..... You get the picture.

The characters were a bit ridiculous at times. Ana seemed at first like she could be an independent, strong-willed female character who was NOT driven by her irrational lust for a boy. Oh wait, just kidding. She is supposed to be a virgin who never really had a serious boyfriend. All of the sudden she's having amazing sex and totally falling for Christian even though he stalks and controls her? This makes total sense. Just like Twilight ;)

I honestly only read this book because it has become a best-seller, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was. Maybe it was a good story and I was missing out.... Naaaaa. Little actually happens in this book, and we don't even find out that much about the character's back-stories, especially Christian's. The first book ends in such an obvious way to get you to buy the next one. The problem is, there's not enough here to keep me reading. I sense it'll just be more Ana/Christian should we/shouldn't we drama with a couple more scraps of back-story thrown in for good measure. No thanks.

There is literally nothing appealing about this book. The characters are flat, immature, and melodramatic; the prose is choppy and badly edited; and the sex is mechanical and full of porn star dialogue. More than that, Christian and Ana's dynamic squicked me out beyond recognition. This is not because I'm disgusted by TPE or opposed to BDSM in general - I've read books with a similar theme that were wonderful - but because of Ana's almost absurd naivete, Christian's frankly abusive behavior, and how both of these things were presented as totally okay! And totally loving! Despite how he stalked her, browbeat her, and ignored her attempts at honest conversation in favor of manipulating her to suit his wishes. Creepy as hell.

I stayed up til 2 am reading this one. Then I dreamed about it. It still lingers with me this morning. James writes the internal monologue of a sub very well.

If you have an interest in kink/BDSM, this one will rock your socks right off. If you don't, it will make you develop an interest in kink/BDSM... and then it will rock your socks right off.