26 April 2012

50 Shades of Grey by EL James

{YES, I've listened to all three books on audio and YES this post contains spoilers, as I am reviewing a book!! LOL! may contain questionable language, discretion is advised! Excerpt below from Good Reads.}

Well, it's been a while since I've posted to this book blog, but I've FiNALLY finished the 50 Shades Trilogy! Last night, actually. The later part of the book 3, 50 Shades Free'd was grueling... I think it quite possibly contained THE longest epilogue known to man... or it just felt that way. What in god's name am I talking about? Well... here are the run down of the books via GoodReads.com


Fifty Shades Trilogy Bundle: Fifty Shades of Grey; Fifty Shades Darker; Fifty Shades Freed

Fifty Shades Trilogy Bundle: Fifty Shades of Grey; Fifty Shades Darker; Fifty Shades Freed(Fifty Shades #1-3)

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4.46 of 5 stars 4.46  ·   rating details  ·  1,546 ratings  ·  281 reviews
Now available in a single volume, E L James’s New York Times #1 bestselling trilogy has been hailed by Entertainment Weekly as being “in a class by itself.” Beginning with the GoodReads Choice Award Romance Finalist Fifty Shades of Grey, the Fifty Shades Trilogy will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

This bundle includes the following novels:

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY: When college student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating.  The unworldly Ana realizes she wants this man, and Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian’s secrets and explores her own desires.

FIFTY SHADES DARKER: Daunted by Christian’s dark secrets and singular tastes, Ana has broken off their relationship to start a new career. But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and while Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Ana is forced to make the most important decision of her life.

FIFTY SHADES FREED: Now, Ana and Christian have it all—love, passion, intimacy, wealth, and a world of possibilities for their future. But Ana knows that loving her Fifty Shades will not be easy, and that being together will pose challenges that neither of them would anticipate. Just when it seems that their strength together will eclipse any obstacle, misfortune, malice, and fate conspire to turn Ana’s deepest fears into reality.















































Book 1 was interesting. It was painful at the start... the writing seriously lacks any sort of maturity or, rather, experience. Surely, this was James's first book? I heard through the grapevine it was Twilight fan fiction and although there ARE similarities, I'm pleased that she removed the whole Bella + Edward aspect of the plot and created stand alone characters with back story and such... One thing about audiobook is (in my opinion) MOST of the book that stands out in your mind is the narration. You simply HAVE to have a good narrator or the book is a complete flop- YES, even if the story and plot are amazingly awesome. Happened to me with a book I attempted to read about something-or-other magic... she was a witch, with a vampire roommate and a fairy or PIXIE, yeah it was a pixie- guardian... it was wretched. Although the plot sounded completely wonderful and I've heard praise of the book, the narrator did the voice of the pixie in such a way that I completely wanted to cringe and throw up at the same time when listening- couldn't finish it! *sigh* It's like the voice that Holter Graham takes on when he does the voice of Simi in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter Series... it's awful as well, but Holter can sing me to sleep any day! I adore him as a narrator!
So with that aside, narration is extremely important and Becca Battoe did a decent job reading the 50 Shades trilogy. I enjoyed the fact that they used the same reader for all three books- makes it easier to really connect with the characters. I think the characters were solid, with their own quirks and everything else that makes someone interesting. The extreme sex factor was interesting. Not the kinky fuckery, that didn't bother me at all- it was the CONSTANT sex. There was WAY too much sex in these books. WHAT?! *gasp* How could someone say that?!? Surely I didn't just type that out?? *slow nod* Yes, yes I did... a shame, but true. Especially with Ana being a virgin... I can understand her complete attachment to Christian, but the constant boinking every five minutes RIGHT after her first time was unrealistic at best. I recall (not so fondly *ehem*) my first time. Of course it was new and neat and omg omg omg. BUT... we attempted it the very next day because it was new and neat *cough* and it hurt like the seven gates of hell was going on downstairs. I didn't bleed at all, actually, but boy howdy was I ever SORE! Hurt to walk, and we didn't even really "go to pound town" like Ana wanted of Christian... it was just teenage, silly sex. So... down vote for the extreme sex going on with the virgin! LOL!
The plots were interesting in each book. You could clearly see how obvs, Christian is screwed up and Ana is a bit shocked at the whole BDSM thing in book 1... but she comes around in book 2, accepts it all in her own way (even comes to like it) and there's a bit of a power struggle with Christian's controlling nature... book 3 threw me off because I was just barely accepting the fact that they were married (really didn't want that happening) and then she gets pregnant!? WTF? Everything just happened too fast for me. It's like a ball went rolling downhill and by book 3, the middle and end, the ball was literally flying down the hill, rushing, hurrying and it seems like James kind of didn't know how to end everything. Almost like she sort of struggled with finding an ending and rushed things so quickly, my head was left spinning a bit. Overall, I enjoyed the emotional rollercoaster, but did find myself rolling my eyes a lot and I won't even GO there in regards to kinky fuckery while 6, 7, 8, 9... HELL 1, month pregnant! Has EL James ever EVEN been pregnant?? Oh my. It was kind of a train wreck for me at that point. I felt like I HAD to finish the book (3) at that point because I'd gone on this long long long journey which found me laughing, feeling weepy and more, but once the riding crop was moving along her SWOLLEN BELLY, it was over for me, I was checking out! Luckily that was towards the end of the third book and it was time to call it quits anyway! What I did find surprisingly interesting is that in the epilogue of the third book, it's written for a short moment, through Christian's point of view... that was a fun and interesting little twist! I really enjoyed it!


So, I'm onto my next book... I've just loaded these onto my mp3 player, so we'll see:




Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12)





The Wolf Gift








I give Book 1 & 2 ★★★★

...and I give Book 3 ★★★


See you all soon!

 

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