Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

May 17, 2012 Stacy rated it liked it

i liked this book - the characters were interesting and the writing was decent. The story seemed to be secondary - well, i guess the story is these two characters and one of them is having a sexual awakening. The sex scenes got a little repetitive. At certain points i was thinkin, "enough alredy...more sex?" this book started as fan fiction for the Twilight series but i liked this book so much more than Twilight. There are similarities for sure - all in all, i liked this book and i enjoyed the c ...more

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Feb 20, 2015 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it liked it

Shelves: romance, erotic

Well, I finally did it. I finally read this. I have to say, after all the horrible things I heard, this really isn't the worst book I've read. I've read worse writing, and I've read more disturbing relationships. Not that that's a good thing. Especially the tendency in YA books to have highly unhealthy relationships. but that's a different conversation.) That isn't to say that this is high literature or a healthy relationship. It's not. Frankly, I find Anastasia as disturbing as Christian someti Well, I finally did it. I finally read this. I have to say, after all the horrible things I heard, this really isn't the worst book I've read. I've read worse writing, and I've read more disturbing relationships. Not that that's a good thing. Especially the tendency in YA books to have highly unhealthy relationships. but that's a different conversation.) That isn't to say that this is high literature or a healthy relationship. It's not. Frankly, I find Anastasia as disturbing as Christian sometimes. He is a bit creepy, but she, like so many humans, goes into the relationship, after his disclosure, knowing who he is and what he's like BUT INTENDING TO CHANGE HIM. aggh. that's a pet peeve of mine. She even says at one point that she feels about "being hit" or punished like he feels about being touched--if that's the case, why do you keep trying to do it to him? She's a hypocrite, and a bit self absorbed. Christian at least has the excuse of severe emotional trauma in his formative years for his issue. What's her problem? The whole split personality thing, with the "inner goddess" and the snarkier part of herself, is pretty weird too. I do not have such a definite self of different aspects of myself, and it was weird to read about it.
Those gripes aside, though, the book wasn't terrible. In some ways it's a sweet love story between two people with issues. No, it's not representative to good BDSM, from all I've heard and read. If you want that, read Cherise Sinclair. This is pretty much what it is--fan fiction (the Twilight connection was most especially obvious in the dinner with his family segment. Alice, anyone?). Not brilliant writing, a love story with disturbing elements that are at best partially addressed, and bad enough writing that I think the relationship sounds worse than it is (notice how EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER "snaps" at others on a frequent basis? Even her easy going mom. So I wondered if moments read more tense than they were, simply because the author didn't own a thesaurus.). Ruthless editing would have helped this story be a lot better.
But, hey, I finished this book. There's plenty of other books I can't say as much for. I actually enjoyed the movie version. and I will probably read the next book or two. Does this mean I've achieved the impossible and neither loved nor hated a love-it or hate-it book? Could be. ...more

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Jan 05, 2013 ette added it

Shelves: did-not-finish

OK, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. However, when someone is begging not to be hit it's abuse, and I had to stop reading. Besides being really, really badly written, and having no plot, it's about someone being hurt. It made me very sad. ...more

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Feb 13, 2015 Jennifer rated it did not like it

Shelves: do-not-own, book-club

Apologies to all my lovely friends that love these books, but I just can't. The "heroine" is darn near intolerable, the "hero" is completely inconsistent, and the writing is terrible. I promise to try to just listen when we meet for book club, though! ...more

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