Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1) in DC Public Library

Jun 10, 2012 Jessica rated it did not like it

Shelves: owned, washington, romance, terrible, wtf, seattle, so-long, get-an-editor

If you enjoy controlling and jealous boyfriends who aren't very forthcoming and enjoy smacking you around, I'm sure you'll enjoy this. If you enjoy date-rapey male friends, you'll enjoy this. If you like basic bitch "heroines" whose only defining characteristic is that she says she likes British lit but can't name any beyond Austen, Bronte, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles, you'll like this. Somehow Anastasia manages to be an honor roll student at a major university without learning how to use a la ...more

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May 02, 2012 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, romance, erotica

So any time a book comes along that everyone is buzzing about, I have to see what's up with it. I have to see why everyone is talking about the book. My curiosity has gotten me sucked into to books that are well outside of my usual foray in to the literary world.

Full disclosure: while I've started reading Romance, I read very little to no erotica.

One of my friends lent me all three of these books so I really had no excuse not to read them. What did I think? First off, the story is okay. There ...more

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May 27, 2012 Tracy rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-it-and-was-okay, read-at-your-own-risk

I have never been to England. Hence, I would never write about England. I would not write a book that takes place in England using American phrases because that's kinda offensive and in my opinion just lazy. Now, let's dig in...

I dig it...this book was originally fan fiction with Bella and Edward and Twilight as an influence, but let's just talk about a few of the bad things here. I'm sorry if I'm all over the place but, wow, this book just made me angry (a wee bit)...

1. Even though the author c I have never been to England. Hence, I would never write about England. I would not write a book that takes place in England using American phrases because that's kinda offensive and in my opinion just lazy. Now, let's dig in...

I dig it...this book was originally fan fiction with Bella and Edward and Twilight as an influence, but let's just talk about a few of the bad things here. I'm sorry if I'm all over the place but, wow, this book just made me angry (a wee bit)...

1. Even though the author creates great scenes, I get the feeling when she wrote this, she had not been to the States. It's like she looked up some popular places and streets and filled in the rest. The South was just depicted as hot and flat. Not much else to it. Oh and a golf course.

2. The " turn a phrase dilemma "...Her writing is not bad. It's just very British. I don't see my friends telling me not to "wind their boyfriend up" because I don't know what that means. If you are writing a book that takes place in a country different than where you are from, please, take a few minutes, find someone and work on the phrasing or something. I talked to another editor and she even said that the British phrasing was used so frequently that she need to go back to the beginning of chapter 1 to be sure she was reading the book properly and it took place in the States.

3. I understand how a writer finds a good phrase and likes to use it quite a bit, but come on the phrases, inner goddess, tilts head to the side, smirks and frowns appear way too many times in this book. Like once a page. I wanted to get a riding crop and find the author and slap her across the knuckles.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let's do a quick summary, Anastasia is a virgin. Her roommate gets sick, but she has an important interview with the elusive, Christian Grey, and she asks poor Ana to go and do the interview. Ana goes and it just begins from there between Ana and Grey. He takes her into the world of BDSM and, it seems sometimes,she was gung ho for it but afraid of her reaction. Her reactions ranged from "Why am I enjoying this?" to "You know, I just don't like this" and all the emotions between.

As their relationship intensifies, the author throws in a bunch of things that never get answered, like why does Grey surround himself with blondes and why does this bother Anastasia? How is he this incredibly wealthy at 27? He's what a ka-ja-billionaire? What's the deal with Jose and Ana's friends? (They are major in the beginning and just float away towards the end). What's up with her relationship with her mother? Why does Anastasia blush at anything ?! Literally, she farts, she blushes. Someone else touches her, she blushes.

In the end, the book takes this turn toward something that is never truly explained and ends. Anastasia and her inner goddess come to grips with what's going on and she realizes what's important to her. I guess this was to be expected. She does start as a virgin and is exposed to an entirely different world that she wants to like but is unsure of.

I'm starting the second book today, out of obligation to see what the heck happened.... ...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Maria rated it did not like it

Shelves: yuck

Reading things like this make me think anyone can become a bestselling, insanely rich author, which is probably the only uplifting thing I can say about this novel. I'm sure it was an amazing fanfic, but it really, really didn't need to be published. Then again, if other people truly are enjoying it... who am I to complain? ...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Jennifer rated it it was ok

This book is like candy - even though it's bad for you, you can't stop consuming it. The writing is quite bad (how many times can an author use the word "blush") and there are some moments where I laughed out loud when I knew I shouldn't. But I must say I read it in a very short amount of time, which means it's easy to devour. ...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Jess rated it did not like it

Shelves: abandoned-or-on-hiatus, series, contemporary, book-to-movie, paper-book

Just realized I hadn't reviewed this. I posted about it while reading it on FB, but I think the immediate shame of trying to read it held me back from posting on here.

I almost stopped reading the first time around page 10. Christian Grey said something about control that had the potential to be ridiculously sexy, and it was just disturbingly creepy. But I was going to give this book at least fifty pages, dammit.

Here's the thing. I have read countless Twilight fics, and Anastasia Steele is by fa ...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Claire rated it really liked it

Shelves: smutty-fun

So, I read it, OKAY? Actually I had read it before as fanfiction. And it's good. Decently steamy, fun to read, engaging characters. If you haven't read any erotica before it might seem terribly naughty....and maybe that's fun. I don't know that it's groundbreaking, but certainly a good time. ...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Christine added it

Shelves: gave-up, just-awful

Get a diaper for this one - it's a stinker. I couldn't make it past the 20 page mark. Life is too short to waste on poopy writing. ...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Arlene Caruso rated it did not like it

Reading for Science! Library related research!

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May 08, 2013 Abby rated it did not like it

The worst. I feel gross now.

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Apr 08, 2012 Jeanine rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, dark-romance

Call me crazy but I loved this book! Course I wasn't reading it in pursuit of reading great literature! Entertaining, to say the least, otherwise!!! ...more

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