AKA
I’m not quite sure how to go about this review since it’s my first, so bear with me. There are a few things I liked about the series – firstly, the style of writing makes it somehow more personal and engaging (even if it’s not very good). I also like the story and how James reveals little bits and pieces of Christian’s charachter and his past. I like the fact that she wrote 2 books, taking her time and letting her characters get to know each other. Everything is evolving in a normal pace, not the usual hasty kiss-bang-oh,i love you-you cured me-marry me storyline we witness in most books that sometimes leaves you thinking “What did just happen?” And I liked Christian. Bless him, he’s so fucked up, it warms my heart. Fifty shades indeed.
Now, moving on to the things that irritated me in the book. And they are plenty. So many, in fact, that they outbalanced the good and made me give up on the series. Let’s take a moment and talk about how ridiculously slow and dense Ana can be. I mean c’mon! some things are so obvious yet it takes her 200 pages to make the connection.
If you don’t agree with me, here are a few examples:
1. The fact that she was oblivious to Christian’s kinky fuckery tendencies for so long. He gave so many hints, surely it wasn’t just my dirty-minded self that got it? I understand she’s a virgin and innocent and bla bla but we do live in the 21st century and I sincerely doubt there are many people left so naive. Especially when he told her he can’t f*ck her before she signed the “paperwork”. DUH! Who would ask you to sign paperwork for having sex if he didn’t want you to keep quiet for something? Ok, maybe she wouldn’t have jumped to the dom/sub conclusion but there are so many other options…she didn’t even speculate. Tut tut.
2. Another thing that got on my nerves was the whole food issue. She knew he had a problem with wasted food and she knew that he was adopted. Yet it took 100 pages for Christian to say in his speech on her graduation that food was important to him because of that. And she was so shocked she tuned out for the rest of the speech. Seriously? She could have at least guessed it was related to that period of his life.
3. His scars. The first time she sees them she thinks they’re from chicken-pox. But then on the family dinner Grace says Christian had a really light case of the disease. Now, a normal person would make the connection instantly but it takes her another 50 pages to remember that conversation and to come to the revelation that they’re cigarette burns. Although I’m willing to give her some credit here – she at least thought of it herself. And she did have a lot on her mind at the time to realise it right away.
4. SPOILER ALERT!
Mrs. Robinson. Damn but I hate her. Anyway, remember that part where she was being blackmailed for 5000 dollars? And they thought it was a funny sum because she’s rich? And they mentioned Isaac, her sub? And then, the NEXT day he gets a call and he says that he understands it was a joke and it was a really ridiculous sum and that Isaac is in trouble. What does our silly heroine do? She asks him who was on the phone. SERIOUSLY? And he is like “Do you really wanna know?” WTF? Hmmmm let’s think. Who could it be? And Ana actually thinks “And I knew.” Honey, did you actually need his question to get it was Elena?
5. SPOILER ALERT!
Their new house. He proposed, she almost agreed, they’re living together and he took her to see a gorgeous house that just happened to be on the market. And she asks if he just wanted to show her the view. Grrrr by this point I wanted nothing more than to just slap some sense into her. He obviously meant it to be your new house where you’d live together, you stupid! And again, she was surprised when he said it. Fine, maybe she didn’t believe he’d do it but surely the thought would have crossed her mind? At least as an option? Why else would he take her there? Sightseeing? I don’t think so.
6. Her new job. If you get the job of your dreams you do NOT spend all of your time e-mailing your dreamy boyfriend, you work your a*s off and do your damn best. It bugged me how much she resembles Bella. They both have nothing else going on in their lives but their “perfect” sweethearts. And if they do, they ignore the sh*t out of it. Women are not defined by the men they’re with. It just sends the wrong message. We are our own person and we are entitled to our privacy.
That leads me to the problem that is Christian’s possessiveness. It’s just too much. At one point it was more like an obsession than love. Like how he bought the firm she was working for so he became her boss. If it were me, there’d be hell on earth for him. Interfering in my work?
Anyway, I don’t really understand what all the fuss is about. The book is more silly and annoying than anything else. I guess Twilight and Gabriel’s Inferno fans (the two books that made me want to shoot myself only so I’d forget about their sheer stupidity) will like this series too. For the rest of us, I can recommend the book only in case you need paper to start a fire.
Reviewed by Krissy
Dirty Little Books 