'Fifty Shades' series by E.L. James

From the BLURB:

When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.

The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.

Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

It’s a chance meeting that will irrevocably change their lives . . . when Anastasia Steele’s roommate succumbs to the flu, Anastasia ‘Ana’ agrees to fill in for her and interview a famously reclusive entrepreneur for the school newspaper. When Ana and CEO Christian Grey meet, sparks fly. Christian is a young success story, but famously tight-lipped about his private life, having never even been photographed with a female date at the many charity galas and award ceremonies he attends.

Ana is intimidated and intrigued – even more so when Christian continues to take an interest in her after the interview goes to print. Ana is quickly smitten – as well as ridiculously nervous and baffled by his flattery. Christian is rich, suave and damaged. He was adopted by an affluent family, but was born into a rough life before his rescue at four years of age . . . as a result of childhood trauma; Christian has demons that Ana cannot even begin to fathom.

Still, Christian and Ana find that they cannot resist each other. Even when Christian’s strict rules for their relationship threaten to destroy them . . .

‘Fifty Shades’ is the debut contemporary romance trilogy from E.L. James. The first book is ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, the second is ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ and a third book is rumoured to have a January 2012 release.

This book has gone great guns on Goodreads, Twitter and Amazon. For the last couple of weeks I was bombarded by images of these dark blue covers and raising my eyebrows at the many proclamations of love for a mysterious Christian Grey. Well, I had to know what all the fuss was about . . . and now that I have read (/consumed/devoured) the first two books, I've just got to say I get it. Oh, I totally get it!

Christian Grey is a dark and enigmatic leading man. He is a self-professed sexual sadist, suffering from haphophobia (fear of touch) and terrible night terrors. Furthermore, Christian has never had a proper romantic relationship. He has only ever had ‘subs’, and he has been their Dominant. But when he meets Anastasia Steele, he wants more – he wants her and he’ll do anything, give up his ideas of normalcy, to have her.

Anastasia meanwhile, has never had a relationship either. She’s just never met the right man, though she has had plenty of interest. Christian Grey is the only man who has ever caught her eye – she just didn’t count on him having so many strings attached.

“Don’t,” he murmurs, then kisses me lightly.
“Why don’t you like to be touched?” I whisper, staring up into soft gray eyes.
“Because I’m fifty shades of fucked up, Anastasia.”

- Book 1, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

E.L. James’s ‘Fifty Shades’ is an erotic contemporary romance, focusing on a Dominant who falls in love with a woman who is anything but submissive. I absolutely loved the first two books of this trilogy – they’re packed full of addictive romance, angst, erotica and drama.

James takes a pretty common romance/erotica exploration of the BDSM lifestyle, but she doesn’t normalise it as many other authors do. For plenty of romance fans, reading BDSM Dom/sub stories is a bit of titillating fun – like exploring a foreign country that’s exotic and interesting, but not anywhere you’d like to build a home. For the space of a book readers are willing to suspend disbelief and pretend like they’d be okay delving into this extreme lifestyle . . . in reality, we’d probably have a similar reaction to Ana Steele – horror, confusion and feelings of inadequacy. It’s a fascinating spin on erotica, infusing it with a healthy dose of realism as Ana reads (with horror) Christian’s ‘rules’ for being his submissive – among them a clause that says she’s not allowed to look him in the eye, and must exercise four days a week with a personal trainer.

But Ana doesn’t want an ‘arrangement’ with Christian that’s devoid of romance, and she lets him know it. Christian has never been turned down – he has never been interested in a woman as combative and downright head-strong as Anastasia. And he likes it. He likes her, and will do anything, change his entire thinking, to be with her. Thus, the darkly damaged Christian promises to try and embark on a ‘vanilla’ relationship with the sweet and innocent Ana.

“But I’m a selfish man. I've wanted you since you fell into my office. You are exquisite, honest, warm, strong, witty, beguilingly innocent; the list is endless. I am in awe of you. I want you, and the thought of anyone else having you is like a knife twisting in my dark soul.”

- Book 2, ‘Fifty Shades Darker’

I love, love, loved this book! I was completely and utterly suckered into the story of damaged Christian and naive Ana embarking on a burning relationship. E.L. James has written a real heart-stopper of a novel, both for the many twists and turns in the plot (including one of Christian’s ex-submissives going rogue) and the heartbreaking personal history of the leading man. Christian’s history with BDSM is tragic and creepy, as he explains to Ana that he was introduced into the lifestyle at the age of 15 by one of his mother’s (much older) friends.

There was only one small aspect of the book that I didn’t like, and that was Ana’s constant references to her ‘inner goddess’. Both books are told from Ana’s first-person perspective, and her inner goddess (recently emerged since meeting Christian) is like her conscience that she refers to whenever she’s ashamed by her lusty goings-on with Christian, or elated with the progress of their more romantic relationship. This was cute in the beginning, but started to drag when it was constantly revisited.

Both ‘Fifty Shades’ books are thoroughly sexy and romantic. The sex scenes are smouldering, even more so when readers realize how out-of-character Christian’s tender ministrations are, and how much he struggles with romance. Christian Grey is an amazing and enigmatic leading man, he’s swoon-worthy yet dark and broken, and the best aspects of the romance come from reading his gradual acceptance of a mature and loving relationship, minus any power games. 'Fifty Shades' is my favourite contemporary erotica romance series of 2011 and E.L. James is a new and welcome addition to the romance scene. I can’t wait for the third ‘Fifty Shades’ book, but I have a feeling this series is just the beginning for James . . . she is certainly a romance author to watch, and I can’t wait to read whatever else she has up her sleeve.

4.5/5