Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James Review

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From Goodreads: 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.

Rating: 2/5

Plot: 3/5

Characters: 2/5

Ending: 4/5

Underdeveloped characters led to cliche writing. The plot was clearly the main focus. I gave the ending a better rating because I was glad it was over. Maybe it's because the world of modern BDSM is new to me, but it all seemed so fake and unreal. The plot was interesting to me because it was new (the only reason I read the other 2 books in the series). Like I said, though, because the plot was the focus, everything else suffered: Anastasia was too dumb and unrealistically inexperienced for my taste; her character was developed based on what fit the inane story. Christian's back story seemed convenient and over-dramatized at the wrong times, and not talked about at the appropriate times.

No sane woman would stay with this man, especially Anastasia who is portrayed as strong and independent, her only "flaw" being her inexperience. And I don't think alone would cause her to fall in the arms of Christian Grey. She may see something in him she trusts and wants to believe in but the way her thought process works doesn't mesh with the way her character is written.

This is basically just a book if you want a thrill and you can easily skip to the good, naughty parts.