Fifty Shades...
Jumping on the literary bandwagon has never been my thing. Generally, I find books because people gift or recommend them to me. This is how I got into Harry Potter (admittedly, though, that was before the first movie ever came out, so I was in it for the long haul with that wonderful, magical, heart-breaking, life-investing series/story/lifestyle), Chronicles of Narnia -- though I'll be upfront and say that I loved the story of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe long before I ever read that book or any of its brothers. It's how I started reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Mortal Instruments series, and, naturally, Twilight (but this is one series I simply refuse to finish because the writing and premise had just become far too absurd to read on).
Now, I hear about the Fifty Shades trilogy once all the books had been published. Everyone was buzzing with how amazing this erotic series was, how much they loved it, how taboo and brilliant it was.
And I immediately resolved to not read it because I don't like reading things that are worldwide phenomenons (everyone has read it, completely understands and relates to it, blah, blah, blah -- it makes reading it feel not as special as having found it on my own). Also, I wasn't sure what to expect. Basically, every review I read said the same thing: "Sex, sex, lots of sex, a little love story, oh, and more sex."
Now, I love some good erotic fiction like the next girl (sorry, family, if any of you happen to read this), but an entire book devoted to sex? And then another and even a third? No thank you.
It wasn't until I found an orphaned copy of Fifty Shades Darker that I even toyed with the idea of reading it. If you know me at all, you'll know that I love books. I buy up almost the entire 25 cent bin whenever my bestie and I hit up a Goodwill, and my taste ranges from romance to drama to comedy to fantasy to period novels. I've gone on vacations with purposefully sparse luggage because I know that I'm going to fill it up by the end of my trip with books that I simply cannot live without.
US Customs adores me, I swear. I bet my suitcases have broken a few toes in my travels. ;)
Anyway, point is, I found this book on a bus, snapped it up once I was sure its owner was no longer a passenger, and cracked it open on a flight to Pennsylvania.
I didn't stop reading until I was finished.
And yes, there was a lot of sex. A lot of sex. But there was also a fairly compelling (and mildly realistic, even, at times) story. Now, this was the second book in the series, and I still haven't read the first book, so parts of the story were unclear -- characters and their plots and backstories established in the first book were foreign to me, so it felt like I was missing quite a few inside jokes -- not to mention the entirety of Ana and Christian's relationship prior to...well, their romantic relationship, when he was her Dom and she his Sub.
Darker got me hooked on the series, and I resolved to buy the first and third books whenever I could find them, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to buy them at retail price. As luck would have it, I found the third book recently and devoured this one just as eagerly as I had its predecessor.
My only complaint with the third book was that it was terribly redundant.
They fight. Christian gets mad. Ana resolves to hold her ground but takes a look at his face and remembers that he's mentally unstable -- and I'd like to stress the fact that Christian is mentally unstable -- and decides to seduce him in order to stop him from being upset anymore, and it works. They solve their problems with their "kinky fuckery."
This theme is repeated throughout the entire book.
Fight. Mad. Fuck. Fight. Mad. Fuck. Even Ana mentions once over the course of the book that this behavioral pattern can't persist because it's unhealthy. And then she dismisses the thought because he's conditioned her to be a sexual being and she needs release at all times now. Strange. Strange, strange, strange.
Anyway, my point is that if you took the sex out of the book, I wouldn't miss it. It would be a perfectly functional book without the sex. That's not to say I don't like the erotic aspects of the book -- believe me, they're titillating -- but the author, after three books of solving problems with sex, probably could've dialled it back a bit once the couple was married.
Then again, the point of the books wasn't a step-by-step to the perfect relationship. Far from it, in fact. It was simply a very frank and open insight into a modern-day romance (the flirty emails were by far my favorite romantic gesture in the series) with a kinky fantasy twist that, I guarantee you, every woman has probably toyed around with at least once in her life.
Because who doesn't like the occasional bondage moment?
Laters, baby!
-- Cassy
Now, I hear about the Fifty Shades trilogy once all the books had been published. Everyone was buzzing with how amazing this erotic series was, how much they loved it, how taboo and brilliant it was.
And I immediately resolved to not read it because I don't like reading things that are worldwide phenomenons (everyone has read it, completely understands and relates to it, blah, blah, blah -- it makes reading it feel not as special as having found it on my own). Also, I wasn't sure what to expect. Basically, every review I read said the same thing: "Sex, sex, lots of sex, a little love story, oh, and more sex."
Now, I love some good erotic fiction like the next girl (sorry, family, if any of you happen to read this), but an entire book devoted to sex? And then another and even a third? No thank you.
It wasn't until I found an orphaned copy of Fifty Shades Darker that I even toyed with the idea of reading it. If you know me at all, you'll know that I love books. I buy up almost the entire 25 cent bin whenever my bestie and I hit up a Goodwill, and my taste ranges from romance to drama to comedy to fantasy to period novels. I've gone on vacations with purposefully sparse luggage because I know that I'm going to fill it up by the end of my trip with books that I simply cannot live without.
US Customs adores me, I swear. I bet my suitcases have broken a few toes in my travels. ;)
Anyway, point is, I found this book on a bus, snapped it up once I was sure its owner was no longer a passenger, and cracked it open on a flight to Pennsylvania.
I didn't stop reading until I was finished.
And yes, there was a lot of sex. A lot of sex. But there was also a fairly compelling (and mildly realistic, even, at times) story. Now, this was the second book in the series, and I still haven't read the first book, so parts of the story were unclear -- characters and their plots and backstories established in the first book were foreign to me, so it felt like I was missing quite a few inside jokes -- not to mention the entirety of Ana and Christian's relationship prior to...well, their romantic relationship, when he was her Dom and she his Sub.
Darker got me hooked on the series, and I resolved to buy the first and third books whenever I could find them, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to buy them at retail price. As luck would have it, I found the third book recently and devoured this one just as eagerly as I had its predecessor.
My only complaint with the third book was that it was terribly redundant.
They fight. Christian gets mad. Ana resolves to hold her ground but takes a look at his face and remembers that he's mentally unstable -- and I'd like to stress the fact that Christian is mentally unstable -- and decides to seduce him in order to stop him from being upset anymore, and it works. They solve their problems with their "kinky fuckery."
This theme is repeated throughout the entire book.
Fight. Mad. Fuck. Fight. Mad. Fuck. Even Ana mentions once over the course of the book that this behavioral pattern can't persist because it's unhealthy. And then she dismisses the thought because he's conditioned her to be a sexual being and she needs release at all times now. Strange. Strange, strange, strange.
Anyway, my point is that if you took the sex out of the book, I wouldn't miss it. It would be a perfectly functional book without the sex. That's not to say I don't like the erotic aspects of the book -- believe me, they're titillating -- but the author, after three books of solving problems with sex, probably could've dialled it back a bit once the couple was married.
Then again, the point of the books wasn't a step-by-step to the perfect relationship. Far from it, in fact. It was simply a very frank and open insight into a modern-day romance (the flirty emails were by far my favorite romantic gesture in the series) with a kinky fantasy twist that, I guarantee you, every woman has probably toyed around with at least once in her life.
Because who doesn't like the occasional bondage moment?
Laters, baby!
-- Cassy
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