I had heard a lot about this book before I read it. I was curious about it, so I read a bunch of reviews before I bought and read the book. The conciseness of the reviews was that this is a story about a BDSM relationship; which was was the big reason I wanted to read the book.

I was highly disappointed in this book. The beginning is very slow and the book is uninteresting until you are about halfway through it. For erotica, I'm not interested in reading about a college student falling through office doors, her job at a hardware store, or even her graduation. As for the expectation of BDSM sex, it's also lacking, there are a few scenes in the book but most of the book is about the psychological shortcomings of the main male protagonist, Christian Gray. Most of the sex is actually vanilla which is not what I expected. For a large portion of the book while I was still under the impression that it was going to be about BDSM sex, the focus was on the contract (which would be important if that was the focus of their sex, but it is not) and as such you get to read about what sex toys actually are. Because I want to read about what a flogger is and how other toys are used in BDSM sex. It is more about how to use the toys than them actually being used.

If you are going to read this book, the only way it will make much sense is if you also read books 2 and 3. The first book in a series should make sense without finishing the series but that is not the case here, because of this all three books should have been 1 book not 3. If you are looking for good erotica this book is not what you want. I've read better written fanfiction erotica online.

This is a very poorly written book and falls short of erotica. This is more about psychological issues than sex.

Just do yourself a favor and don't read this book. I was sorry I did, it was a big waste of my time. After all of the recent hype about this book, I was curious as to what it was all about. Don't give into temptation.