Helpful Score: 2
Awakenings......and Liberation....
Poor, poor broken Christian. Part 2 is full of revelations, both from Christian and Ana. They really grow into their courtship. Lots of issues come to the surface, they have to face his past head on, and Ana has to come to terms with the Christian he was and the Christian he wants to be. To me this is not a series, but a novel broken out into 3 parts because of the sheer depth of the story and the amount of detail that we get from James' story telling. The sexual component to this story is not what captures me, its the dialogue. Ana's internal dialogue with her "inner goddess" is absolutely hilarious, I want to be best friends with her. The emails between Christian and Ana put the 5th star into this wonderful story. Their dialogue gives us a complete understanding as to who they are in their soul. Full of doubts and insecurities, wants and needs, and above all their capacity to find love. Ana learns to fight for what she wants and Christian learns to completely trust someone for once. The only downside is that I have to wait a month for the 3rd part! Ugh! If you haven't started this series yet, wait till the 3rd part is out, you will want to read each one back to back
www.texasreader-stacy.blogspot.com
www.goodreads.com/whatstacy
Poor, poor broken Christian. Part 2 is full of revelations, both from Christian and Ana. They really grow into their courtship. Lots of issues come to the surface, they have to face his past head on, and Ana has to come to terms with the Christian he was and the Christian he wants to be. To me this is not a series, but a novel broken out into 3 parts because of the sheer depth of the story and the amount of detail that we get from James' story telling. The sexual component to this story is not what captures me, its the dialogue. Ana's internal dialogue with her "inner goddess" is absolutely hilarious, I want to be best friends with her. The emails between Christian and Ana put the 5th star into this wonderful story. Their dialogue gives us a complete understanding as to who they are in their soul. Full of doubts and insecurities, wants and needs, and above all their capacity to find love. Ana learns to fight for what she wants and Christian learns to completely trust someone for once. The only downside is that I have to wait a month for the 3rd part! Ugh! If you haven't started this series yet, wait till the 3rd part is out, you will want to read each one back to back
www.texasreader-stacy.blogspot.com
www.goodreads.com/whatstacy
Helpful Score: 1
WOW... just... WOW!!!
I just finished all three "Fifty Shades" books and I really cannot write a review about the books individually, so my review applies to entire series, which I consider to be one story.
I had heard so much about this series that I was almost afraid to start reading it. It seems like people either really love it or hate it. I, for one, really loved it!
I was expecting something much darker and, while there are certainly elements of BDSM in the story, the focus is on the growing relationship between Christian Grey - a very rich businessman with LOTS of baggage - and Ana Steele - a college student turned recent graduate with a surprising inner strength, who refuses to lose herself to his will.
There were a couple of scenes in the entire series where I almost hated Christian for reacting in certain ways, but overall, I really liked both characters throughout the books. Both were flawed to various degrees and had to work and compromise with each other around those flaws to grow as individuals and as a couple.
I certainly wasn't expecting the humor I found in the books. Some of my favorite parts were Ana's internal dialog with her "subconscious" and her "inner goddess" throughout the story. I also really liked the emails exchanged between the two main characters.
You absolutely have to read all three books to get the entire story and I HIGHLY recommend having "Fifty Shades Darker" on-hand before you finish "Fifty Shades of Grey". Trust me - you will want to go straight from the first one into the second one.
In addition, at the end of the last book ("Fifty Shades Freed"), there is an extra short story that re-tells the incidents of their first couple of meetings from Christian's point of view. (They were told from Ana's point of view in the first book.)
All in all, I am very glad that I read these books and that I had all three on-hand before I started reading the first one. I rarely give books 5 stars, but these books get a perfect rating from me because they drew me into the story to the extent that when I finished the last book, I felt a sense of loss because I will miss these characters. In my opinion, that is the mark of a great story-teller and a great story. I look forward to future works by Ms. James.
I just finished all three "Fifty Shades" books and I really cannot write a review about the books individually, so my review applies to entire series, which I consider to be one story.
I had heard so much about this series that I was almost afraid to start reading it. It seems like people either really love it or hate it. I, for one, really loved it!
I was expecting something much darker and, while there are certainly elements of BDSM in the story, the focus is on the growing relationship between Christian Grey - a very rich businessman with LOTS of baggage - and Ana Steele - a college student turned recent graduate with a surprising inner strength, who refuses to lose herself to his will.
There were a couple of scenes in the entire series where I almost hated Christian for reacting in certain ways, but overall, I really liked both characters throughout the books. Both were flawed to various degrees and had to work and compromise with each other around those flaws to grow as individuals and as a couple.
I certainly wasn't expecting the humor I found in the books. Some of my favorite parts were Ana's internal dialog with her "subconscious" and her "inner goddess" throughout the story. I also really liked the emails exchanged between the two main characters.
You absolutely have to read all three books to get the entire story and I HIGHLY recommend having "Fifty Shades Darker" on-hand before you finish "Fifty Shades of Grey". Trust me - you will want to go straight from the first one into the second one.
In addition, at the end of the last book ("Fifty Shades Freed"), there is an extra short story that re-tells the incidents of their first couple of meetings from Christian's point of view. (They were told from Ana's point of view in the first book.)
All in all, I am very glad that I read these books and that I had all three on-hand before I started reading the first one. I rarely give books 5 stars, but these books get a perfect rating from me because they drew me into the story to the extent that when I finished the last book, I felt a sense of loss because I will miss these characters. In my opinion, that is the mark of a great story-teller and a great story. I look forward to future works by Ms. James.
Helpful Score: 1
What a bunch of crap. This book was worse than the first one Fifty Shades of Grey. It was all about Christian and Ana and how they fall in love, blah blah blah. It was filled with so much sap and sugary dribble, one could get cavities from this book. UGH!!!
Well, there was plenty of sex in this book for sure, but it was all the same, over and over again. This author really needs a thesaurus.
We do find out why Christian Grey is the way he is but at what cost. We have to listen to Ana go on and on about how sad it is, and how fucked up it is, but.....how she'll NEVER leave him no matter what. Ana is suppose to be this beautiful, smart girl who just graduated from college with this literary degree, who reads great literature, but you know what....she is just an insecure little girl who has no life experience whatsoever and has fallen in lust with another beautiful, insecure person who has no life experience. One has money, one doesn't. This is the most unbelievable story ever written. This would NEVER happen!!!
This actually reminds me of a dysfunctional relationship I had in high school(except without all the money and expensive toys, of course.) The boyfriend is uber jealous about every person she come in contact with and possessive as hell, the girlfriend is insecure and doesn't feel worthy of his love or any love at all for that matter. And then she grows up and realizes this relationship is unhealthy and has to go into hiding to get away from the creep.
I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to read the last one or not. I can't stand reading and re-reading the same dribble over and over again. I find myself rolling my eyes and putting this book down and walking away many, many times while reading this crap. I will read a REAL book in between this one and the next though just to cleanse the pallet. I don't want to keep reading "Holy crap and Holy shit" "My fifty shades" blah blah blah over and over again. If you like that type of stuff than this book is for you. Otherwise, walk away!!!
Well, there was plenty of sex in this book for sure, but it was all the same, over and over again. This author really needs a thesaurus.
We do find out why Christian Grey is the way he is but at what cost. We have to listen to Ana go on and on about how sad it is, and how fucked up it is, but.....how she'll NEVER leave him no matter what. Ana is suppose to be this beautiful, smart girl who just graduated from college with this literary degree, who reads great literature, but you know what....she is just an insecure little girl who has no life experience whatsoever and has fallen in lust with another beautiful, insecure person who has no life experience. One has money, one doesn't. This is the most unbelievable story ever written. This would NEVER happen!!!
This actually reminds me of a dysfunctional relationship I had in high school(except without all the money and expensive toys, of course.) The boyfriend is uber jealous about every person she come in contact with and possessive as hell, the girlfriend is insecure and doesn't feel worthy of his love or any love at all for that matter. And then she grows up and realizes this relationship is unhealthy and has to go into hiding to get away from the creep.
I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to read the last one or not. I can't stand reading and re-reading the same dribble over and over again. I find myself rolling my eyes and putting this book down and walking away many, many times while reading this crap. I will read a REAL book in between this one and the next though just to cleanse the pallet. I don't want to keep reading "Holy crap and Holy shit" "My fifty shades" blah blah blah over and over again. If you like that type of stuff than this book is for you. Otherwise, walk away!!!
