The second book in the Fifty Shades trilogy drew me in and kept me captivated just as well as the first. James is such a great storyteller; she weaves a tale that sucks you in and leaves you wanting more.

The story picks up right where the first book left off. Christian and Ana have been apart for a few days, and both are miserable. I hated (and loved) watching them struggle so much to be together and stay together. There are so many layers to their relationship, it was heart wrenching to watch them try to pick through them all. Where the first book focused on the more playful side of their relationship, Fifty Shades Darker focused more on them getting to know each other and struggling to work out their differences, mainly Christian's overwhelming need to control and Ana's struggle to keep her independence.

I love Christian and Ana so much. They are my new favorite couple. Their relationship is undoubtably flawed, but maybe that's why it's so irresistible. In Fifty Shades Darker, Ana struggles to handle her overwhelming feelings for Christian while trying to learn more about his past and why he is the way he is, helping him as he struggles to come to term with emotions and feelings he's always been able to control by simply burying before.

There is so much going on between Ana and Christian. There is so much more than just their steamy, hot sex. The romance weaved through the story is amazing. You can see how much Christian loves Ana even through his completely messed up mind. I loved in this book we got to see so much more of Christian than just his controlling, overbearing self. We got to see more of his romantic, boyish side, and I absolutely fell in love with him (all over again). Just like the first book, I loved the witty back and forth batter between Ana and Christian. Their conversations and emails flow so easily and are fun to read.

My only real complaint (as with the first book) was that I did get tired of hearing how not good enough Ana thought she was. Christian had problems and was understandably messed up, but Ana was just annoying with her repetitive thoughts of self-worthlessness and doubt.

These books are very well written. The whole story flows easily and is easy to read. There is so much emotion to the story, you feel like you're on a rollercoaster, and the author does a great job bringing that to the pages through the description of the character's facial expressions and body language.