I really wish I could manually add a 6th star to Goodreads for this book. I never would have believed it was possible, but Fifty Shades Darker is even better than Fifty Shades of Grey. Hard to believe, but true. Reading this book reminded me of a quote that I love by Alan Cohen, “Scared and sacred are spelled with the same letters. Awful proceeds from the same root word as awesome. Terrify and terrific. Every negative experience holds the seed of transformation.” Reading Fifty Shades Darker is like witnessing metamorphosis in action.

What I love the most about this book is the way the events and characters change and develop. I love that Christian Grey transforms from utterly immovable to flexible. Every negative emotion he feels eventually becomes something positive, or at least something he can learn and grow from. He learns the delicate balance between give and take. He learns to open his heart and to accept love—and he learns to give it as well. Everything cold becomes warm, and everything hot—well that’s about the only thing that stays the same, still hot.

Ana and Christian are so contradictory and conflicting, and yet complement each other so well. Each trial, every obstacle, every hardship the two experiences are overcome and ultimately strengthen the relationship. This is truly one of the most amazing love stories I’ve read.

I would like to add one more thing regarding a popular misconception about this book. I’ve read a lot of comments from readers saying it is too far out of their comfort zone because of the BDSM elements. I would like to address this because I don’t think readers should shy away from it for that reason. EL James has a way of writing that brings out the heat in a love scene (I literally get butterflies sometimes while reading), but in my opinion she does it in a very tasteful way. I’ve read other BDSM novels and I think these books should really be classified as mild erotica, which contain some MILD elements of BDSM.

This story has a well defined plot with well developed, in depth characters. The romance is both sweet (I love the emails between the characters) and steamy, and to me the sex scenes do not feel gratuitous. It really is just an amazing and beautiful love story, and I think the BDSM elements are an integral element the plot in this novel.