[book-info]

I broke and finally read Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. I wish I could say it blew me away but I’d be lying. I’ve been spoiled by authors who actually know how to write erotica. Had Fifty been my first introduction to the genre I could see how it would be impressive. But it wasn’t and I wasn’t. Hype, my dears, is what killed this book for me.

Can we talk about the writing please? I am by no means a literary snob, but the way James wrote made this book difficult to get through. It struck me as weird that she used the word besieged in two sentences back to back. I’m paraphrasing but first Clayton’s was besieged and then the staff were besieged by customers. Perhaps if there were castle walls I could understand the enthusiasm for besieging but even then I’m thinking no. I’m here to tell you if I took a shot for every time Ana said or thought the word “Jeez”, I’d be dead. There would have been multiple bottles and alcohol poisoning. These are the things I notice when I read.

The other thing that really fell flat for me is the sex. You’d think with the amount of attention this received the sex was nothing short of miraculous. In fact it’s pretty damn vanilla. Remember that “authors who do it better” line? Sarah McCarty and Olivia Cunning are two ladies who have set some pretty high standards in this genre for me. I’ve really enjoyed their work and the sex is like the scorching of the sun compared to the light bondage and spanking in Fifty Shades of Grey.

I will say that I giggled more than I anticipated and I really did enjoy some of the story line. To be honest though the only reason I’m continuing with the series is because I’m curious about “the situation” and who needs to be found. I really couldn’t care overly much about Ana and Christian at this point. I have the next two books so I’ll finish the series out.