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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Still terribly written but better than the others. Ana is finally standing up to Christian and running the show. The ending though was awkward and rushed.
Like I did with Twilight, I'll just summarize my thoughts on the series here in the last book.
A mix of reading a few articles on book shaming, agreeing that book shaming is bad, and curiosity made me read these books. I think I'm glad I did because now I know and I feel better about saying "This is crap" because I *KNOW* this is crap.
They're really poorly written, the dialog is cringe-worthy and suuuuper repetitive (and not just the romance novel sexy bits, I would expect that even though I'm not much of a romance novel reader.) There's all the abuse stuff people bring up, and I really didn't like that, though the controlling/possessive scenes were actually the hardest for me. That foreboding feeling that you are In Trouble because you've talked to a male friend? That's familiar and horrible and really made me uncomfortable.
All in all, the "omg hardcore sexy kinky" didn't seem that hardcore sexy kinky to me? I mean, they alluded to more stuff than happened, and I found myself skimming some of the long sex bits to get back to the "plot". I am not the target audience and I am fully aware I was Doing It Wrong. :/ It just got old.
Anyway, I read these books, all of them, and really quickly. I would not recommend them unless you too succumb to the media storm of peer pressure that I did, justifying it by saying, "well, I shouldn't judge until I know myself". :P If Twilight was literary Cheetos, Fifty Shades of Grey is literary ...baby food? IV fluids? See, now I feel bad, I'm judging, but damn, I have rarely been embarrassed for an author while reading. Not that she should give two shits what I have to say, she's beloved by many and can cry about opinions like mine all the way to the bank. Do you, E.L.! ;)
A mix of reading a few articles on book shaming, agreeing that book shaming is bad, and curiosity made me read these books. I think I'm glad I did because now I know and I feel better about saying "This is crap" because I *KNOW* this is crap.
They're really poorly written, the dialog is cringe-worthy and suuuuper repetitive (and not just the romance novel sexy bits, I would expect that even though I'm not much of a romance novel reader.) There's all the abuse stuff people bring up, and I really didn't like that, though the controlling/possessive scenes were actually the hardest for me. That foreboding feeling that you are In Trouble because you've talked to a male friend? That's familiar and horrible and really made me uncomfortable.
All in all, the "omg hardcore sexy kinky" didn't seem that hardcore sexy kinky to me? I mean, they alluded to more stuff than happened, and I found myself skimming some of the long sex bits to get back to the "plot". I am not the target audience and I am fully aware I was Doing It Wrong. :/ It just got old.
Anyway, I read these books, all of them, and really quickly. I would not recommend them unless you too succumb to the media storm of peer pressure that I did, justifying it by saying, "well, I shouldn't judge until I know myself". :P If Twilight was literary Cheetos, Fifty Shades of Grey is literary ...baby food? IV fluids? See, now I feel bad, I'm judging, but damn, I have rarely been embarrassed for an author while reading. Not that she should give two shits what I have to say, she's beloved by many and can cry about opinions like mine all the way to the bank. Do you, E.L.! ;)
I enjoyed the book up until the ending. It seemed like the author rushed the ending.
can i rate this lower than 1?
these books are so bad, it’s like a car wreck, you can’t look away but it’s horrible.
these books are so bad, it’s like a car wreck, you can’t look away but it’s horrible.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My thoughts and review: https://www.valeehill.net/2012/04/book-review-fifty-shades-trilogy-by-el.html
1st reading 03/26/2012
2nd reading 03/31/2012
3rd reading 05/01/2012
4th reading 05/17/2012
5th reading 06/04/2012
6th reading 07/05/2012
7th reading 09/06/2012
8th reading 01/09/2013
9th reading 06/09/2013
1st reading 03/26/2012
2nd reading 03/31/2012
3rd reading 05/01/2012
4th reading 05/17/2012
5th reading 06/04/2012
6th reading 07/05/2012
7th reading 09/06/2012
8th reading 01/09/2013
9th reading 06/09/2013
(First reading of the movie tie-in trade paperback. Eleventh reading total including one listen of the audiobook.)
2.5 stars
At times when reading this book it felt like the author had gotten bored writing this series which made it a struggle to get through. Also too much of the book was just lackluster, mechanical sex scenes in lieu of any story, the book would have benefitted from less sex scenes but more time spent on the ones that were in there so that it wasn't just 50 shades of wham bam thank you mam.
There were some wonderful moments in the book that really redeem it and if they had of been the main focus then the book would have been much more enjoyable, these moment are the sole reason that the book gets 2.5 stars from me. For example, everything with Ray is great and allows the development of Christian to be shown and the brief moments with his parents sprinkled through are beautiful treats where you can see how far he has come. I also enjoyed the pregnancy and children part and would like to have seen more of Ana and Christian navigating the early days of parenthood and balancing being newly married.
Finally my last bug bear with this book is the timeline! No, I don't mean how quickly they met, fall in love and change their entire lives - I do believe that some of the most wonderful relationships can happen quickly and all at once and they are just as strong as those that have taken years to develop (when you know, you know!). The timeline that bugs the life out of me is Ana's career progression, she is there a week before getting interim editor and then they hire her as the editor, jumping the many stages between being a PA and being an editor! No matter how wonderful or full of potential she is, she isn't that good, especially when you look at the amount of time that she takes off straight away, there hasn't been any time for her to show her potential. I am aware that James does try to explain this by saying that they didn't want to hire a new editor whilst in the middle of a corporate take over, but you can't honestly tell me that there were no other staff members at SIP that had worked hard, paid their dues and had potential who deserved that shot more than someone who had been there a week. Sorry rant over on that.
Ultimately, if have read the other Fifty shades books then read this to finish of the story but prepare to be mildly disappointed and left yearning for the better story that this could have been.
At times when reading this book it felt like the author had gotten bored writing this series which made it a struggle to get through. Also too much of the book was just lackluster, mechanical sex scenes in lieu of any story, the book would have benefitted from less sex scenes but more time spent on the ones that were in there so that it wasn't just 50 shades of wham bam thank you mam.
There were some wonderful moments in the book that really redeem it and if they had of been the main focus then the book would have been much more enjoyable, these moment are the sole reason that the book gets 2.5 stars from me. For example, everything with Ray is great and allows the development of Christian to be shown and the brief moments with his parents sprinkled through are beautiful treats where you can see how far he has come. I also enjoyed the pregnancy and children part and would like to have seen more of Ana and Christian navigating the early days of parenthood and balancing being newly married.
Finally my last bug bear with this book is the timeline! No, I don't mean how quickly they met, fall in love and change their entire lives - I do believe that some of the most wonderful relationships can happen quickly and all at once and they are just as strong as those that have taken years to develop (when you know, you know!). The timeline that bugs the life out of me is Ana's career progression, she is there a week before getting interim editor and then they hire her as the editor, jumping the many stages between being a PA and being an editor! No matter how wonderful or full of potential she is, she isn't that good, especially when you look at the amount of time that she takes off straight away, there hasn't been any time for her to show her potential. I am aware that James does try to explain this by saying that they didn't want to hire a new editor whilst in the middle of a corporate take over, but you can't honestly tell me that there were no other staff members at SIP that had worked hard, paid their dues and had potential who deserved that shot more than someone who had been there a week. Sorry rant over on that.
Ultimately, if have read the other Fifty shades books then read this to finish of the story but prepare to be mildly disappointed and left yearning for the better story that this could have been.