From the Bookshelf of Turning Pages At Midnight…

Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)

E.L. James

Start date: December 15, 2016

Finish date: December 23, 2016

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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What Members Thought

Apr 18, 2012 Selena Kitt rated it it was ok

Everything you heard about this series is true. Yes, it was originally Twilight fanfic - and it still reads like Twilight fanfic with the names changed. The sex, for a BDSM novel, is actually quite vanilla. The prose is lavender at best. (The protagonist can't even say "vagina" let alone "pussy" - she refers to her genitals as "down there.") Like Twilight, it could have used some good editing. You can get rid of every instance of "oh my" in this tome, for instance, and it would have saved me a l ...more

29 likes · Like · see review

Aug 23, 2012 Colleen Scidmore rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-romance, part-of-a-series, romance, erotica, not-a-happy-ending-kind-of-book, books-read-in-2015, now-a-movie

Update 9/30/22
Ok peeps, I forgot all about this book until I got a new like on my very old review. First of all I sucked at reviews..still learning tbh. So I reworded it a bit without changing it around for the most part. Also…did I fall on my head?! I truly must have gotten swept up in the hype. It was not a horrible book but not something I would continue to read at this chapter of my life.
But…and don’t hate me, my inner teenager will always have love for Twilight. That is the only part that Update 9/30/22
Ok peeps, I forgot all about this book until I got a new like on my very old review. First of all I sucked at reviews..still learning tbh. So I reworded it a bit without changing it around for the most part. Also…did I fall on my head?! I truly must have gotten swept up in the hype. It was not a horrible book but not something I would continue to read at this chapter of my life.
But…and don’t hate me, my inner teenager will always have love for Twilight. That is the only part that I still feel the same about..lamo. Also it’s not a master piece by any means…but that sparkly vampire and nerdy insecure Bella made my heart go pitter patter at their innocent yet stalker like love. 🤣🤣

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This is not normally a book I would read, I read romance, but from what I’ve heard about Fifty Shades is that Christian, a very messed up individual has a thing for S&M bondage and that is the main aspect of the story. My brain was like “No thanks I will pass.” I’m really not interested in reading about some freak who is into beating his lover (and I use lover very loosely). But after seeing the movie clip I thought I would give it a try, because it seems romantic. Also I found out E.L. James originally started it as Fan-Fiction to Twilight…and I love me some Twilight!! :)

I surprisingly really enjoyed this book! Yes Christian is a freak, but you realize there is a reason behind the whole big old freak persona, and you want to get to the bottom of it. Which I have not fully…yet. He also has a very romantic side, which he swears he does not, but I got glimpses of it every once in awhile in the tender moments he has with Anastasia. It is also heart wrenching the way Anastasia is so conflicted, because she comes to love this man but doesn’t know if she can give into his needs.

And the book is not all about Christian's extracurricular activities as I thought either. Yes there are a lot of sex scenes but it is not at all what I anticipated. I will not give away the ending but small clue..it is very emotional, I had tears streaming down my face the last 10 pages. I was surprised and not expecting how the ELJ left me hanging. My main complaint is that there are A LOT of similarities to Twilight, a bit much, but that is how the story came life.🤷‍♀️

I will definitely be reading the other 2 books in the Trilogy! ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jul 13, 2012 O'Death rated it did not like it

Shelves: erotica

The only reason why I started reading the first book in this series is because of all the hype and "steamy" BDSM parts. Unfortunately I haven't done my homework before hand and, boy, do I regret it.
First of all, the book started as a fan fiction of Twilight. That there should be a tale tale sign of the quality of this book.
Much like Twilight, this book is a total disappointment. The plot, the characters, the writing itself are painfully annoying most of the time. If you think the premises of The only reason why I started reading the first book in this series is because of all the hype and "steamy" BDSM parts. Unfortunately I haven't done my homework before hand and, boy, do I regret it.
First of all, the book started as a fan fiction of Twilight. That there should be a tale tale sign of the quality of this book.
Much like Twilight, this book is a total disappointment. The plot, the characters, the writing itself are painfully annoying most of the time. If you think the premises of this book is interesting and promises dark, hot BDSM scenes, characters that develope throughout the book and explore their sexuality (like I thought) think again. In fact, if that's what you're looking for go read Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty Chronicles and you will not be disappointed.
The only interesting character is, of course, Christian Grey. Unfortunately there isn't enough of him in this book to save it or even make it remotely good. The book is written from Ana's point of view and just like the "fascinating" Bella of Twilight she is self absorbed, obsessed with Grey's looks, bipolar, screaming for attention, childish and spoiled (NOT naive). If you've read Twilight you know what I'm talking about so no point on me elaborating to much on this.
When it comes to the writing itself, frankly I just wanna slap James and send her back to school. Either that or shake her hand, because never in my life have I read a book with such a limited vocabulary and so many annoying phrases. I cringed every time I read "oh my" and the extremely ridiculous "inner goddess" phrase. What the hell is that about anyway?! I can tolerate it a few times and find it somewhat funny, but for crying out loud, not when it's in every other paragraph.
I must say it took all my self discipline to continue reading the book after the first few chapters. The only reason why I did it was for the infamous BDSM parts. Which unfortunately fail to deliver. I'm sorry but I cannot approve of the way these were written. The idea behind these scenes is good and I appreciate it but the final outcome is a total disappointment (this seems to be the word that best describes the book). I for one don't understand how is this book famous for it's sexiness and kinkiness when the author can't even use proper terms: referring to your vagina as exclusively "there" or "down there" is anything but sexy or kinky. The same for the male parts.
All in all, this is the sexy version of Twilight with normal character (no sparkly, vegetarian vampires or horny werewolves). And just like Twilight, if you want quality reading of this sort go read Anne Rice. That woman knows how to write a good book, with strong characters, and a plot that will blow your mind. If you think Fifty Shades of Grey is sexy, kinky or BDSM think again. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2012 Claire Riley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kick-ass-female, damaged-characters, hot-male

Wow!!! This book is about so much more than the sex as everyone is saying. Its so much, much more than that. Its about love. Pain. Sadness. Finding yourself. Losing yourself. But yes, yes its about the sex too! ;0)

1 like · Like · see review