Fifty Shades or Less

I read this because of all the hype over it, but was a little disappointed. Its really wasn't all that great. If you're looking for a quick and easy read, try it out. If you're looking for insight on the BDSM world, keep looking.
Published:
Pros
Easy Read
Interesting
Lots of Dialogue
There is a "back story"
Cons
Typo's
Very few BDSM scenes
Not up to my standards
Rating by reviewer:
2
extremely useful review

Content / Style / Audience

This book starts out with a young woman at the end of her college career, Anastasia Steele. When her close friend and college roommate, Katherine Kavanaugh, falls sick with the flu Ana is then given the responsibility to interview the renown businessman, Christian Grey, for their college newspaper. Mr. Grey is fairly young, only a few years older than the two ladies mentioned. From the first time they come into contact there is an attraction. After a few encounters they begin to see each other which entices Mr. Grey to introduce young, innocent Ana into the world of BDSM. Mr. Grey has every intention to make Ms. Steele his submissive, but uncertainty comes into play because of Ms. Steele's inexperience. As Mr. Grey begins to show Anastasia what it's like to be a submissive, she has to first examine herself to figure out if she can handle this overwhelming "relationship".

Fifty Shades of Grey has been marketed towards the general public to give a point of view about the BDSM world. I first heard about it when everyone seemed to be raving about the so called "mommy porn." Just like it's suggested name many mothers and bloggers have been raving about this series and talking about how fantastic it is. I have also seen a lot of critical reviews from those who are more familiar with both this book style and the subject in general. I, however, am not professional by any means but this book was definitely not up to its expected rating.

The writing is head on. There are quite a few phrases that are repeated and, though this might not matter to some, there were quite a few 'typo' errors which really bothered me. To be on the New York Best Seller's list there sure were a lot of mistakes with the typing. There isn't much variety through out the book and I was highly disappointed with the limited number of sex scenes. Yes, the few that were mentioned were quite heated but I was highly disappointed that there were only TWO actual full-on BDSM scenes. This book features quite a lot of dialogue between Mr. Grey and Ms. Steele. It also contains email's between them as well as a lengthy "contract." It was a quick and easy read for me, I just couldn't put it down.
  • Who / How / What
    [ ? ]
    Who might this product be best for? How is it best used? What are the best circumstances or situations for using this product?
    • Dominant
    • Everyone
    • Submissive
  • Where
    [ ? ]
    Where / what types of places can this product be used?
    • Anywhere
  • General
    [ ? ]
    Other tags that are useful and descriptive for this product.
    • Bdsm
    • Fetish
    • Non-fiction

Design

The version of this book that I read was electronic so I can't really give you a detailing about the design. The cover photo was rather discreet though, but because the media has this in such a hype everyone knows what it is about.
    • Discreet cover

Personal comments

I read this book rather quickly, I finished in about 8 days. However because of the typo's and errors like that I was immediately annoyed. Once the emails came into play, that annoyed me more; they had so much unnecessary text! Other than that I like the book and will finish the series just because the back story is so intriguing.

Experience

This book didn't get into the BDSM themes quite the way I expected. Like I mentioned earlier, I only read 2 full-on, complete BDSM scenes; most of the sex scenes were simple "vanilla" sex scenes and he would occaisonally tie her hands with a tie. However, this is only the first book, so I have high hopes for the rest of this series. The writing style and descriptions were a little off, but the chemistry between Mr. Grey and Ana was incredibly intriguing, as well as the back story on Mr. Grey. The plot seemed weak for my taste, but the dialogue made it an interesting and easy read. I do plan on finishing the series, I have already started book 2, but I highly doubt this will be a series that I will want to re-read over and over again.

I would recommend this to someone who is interested in the series point blank. Hell, I read it because of all the hype. I wouldn't read it just for the sex scenes like my friend does, they aren't all that great to me; to each his own. If you are interested in BDSM, don't read into this and get scared away, it really doesn't portray it the way they should.
Follow-up commentary
I highly doubt I will be going back and completely re-read this book. The main thing I've done with it is go back for reference for the second book (for things I don't remember reading or might have missed.)
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Comments
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  • Contributor: Bex1331
    I wasn't a fan of this one either, It wasn't bad, it just wasn't at all what it's supposed to be. I just hate to think that people are reading this to learn what BDSM is and are being horribly misinformed!
  • Contributor: SMichelle
    Thanks for the review.
  • Contributor: Nora29714
    thanks
  • Contributor: AshMegYo
    You are very welcome!!
  • Contributor: ArmyWife4311
    great review, thanks for sharing
  • Contributor: HotMilk
    Thanks for the review.
  • Contributor: dsumrow1
    ty
  • Contributor: EdenUser
    Thanks for your review!
  • Contributor: Terri69
    Great review! Thanks!
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