Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James started making waves on my Twitter feed and then after close inspection I saw that it had taken the nation by storm. This series of books has stirred up a great deal of controversy and also made women's libidos go up.
The book is about a literature student by the name of Anastasia Steele who has a chance meeting with a young entrepreneur named Christian Grey. Little does she know that meeting him will change her life. Mr. Grey has a unique erotic taste when it comes to his relationship with women. The question is will Ana be able to come to terms with it and accept it?
The "grey" area of this whole book and what brings out the controversy is the fact it is a BDSM novel. Yes, that's right there are sex toys, handcuffs (well a man's tie), and whips in this novel. And did I mention the SEX. I emphasis this because if you are a fluffy romance reader then this might not be the book for you. The erotic scenes will definitely make you want to keep reading but shock you at the same time. It's what makes this book so popular I think, because it makes you curious. I mean it's the whole reason I read it.
After saying that however I want to point out that it's not all about the sex. The book is also about a relationship. The relationship between Ana and Christian at times gets a little strained and strange for me but what I love about what James did with the novel is made us feel something for Christian Grey. She made us feel like Ana was feeling which was confused, giddy, and in times in love. The characters in this book, though people say are like Bella Swan and Edward Cullen and the whole Twilight family, are different. Yes there are similarities and I can see where people say that but at the end of the day I actually kind of like it BETTER than Twilight.
Am I madly in love with Christian Grey? No, but I do understand and see his character for who he is and I want to see him get better. I want to see him grow and understand what he is doing and how it makes Ana feel. And it was those ideas that made me pick up the second book and lead me to the third one.
The writing itself is not as strong as I would like it to be. The language is pretty simple and at times I do feel like it is juvenile. Yet the main characters, Ana and Christian in my eyes are what carry the book. It is what makes me want to read it.
So this is what I am going to say to you if you plan on picking up this book. You need to prepare yourself for some not so great writing, some juvenile moments, and a ton of sex scenes that might make you uncomfortable. However, I also want you to know that this book will pull on your heartstrings and make you think about how you would react to a similar situation.
This book for me gets a 3/5 stars.
