E.L. James is an amateur author; this is her first publication and the books originally started out as "Twilight" Fan Fiction.

"Fifty Shades of Grey" is the first book of the Shades of Grey trilogy.

What starts off as a simple favor for her best friend quickly turns into a life-changing experience for young and innocent Anastasia. She gets a chance to interview the enigmatic and very charming, Christian Grey. He becomes fixated with her and wants to pursue a BSDM relationship with her. Ana is thrust into the world of BSDM and is quickly introduced to her "inner goddess."

It takes at least a few chapters for the story to start going and there isn't much adult content until you get closer to the end of the book. The main character, Ana, is very insecure about herself and it gets frustrating.

The writing style is mediocre, at best. The author repeats the same phrases/adjectives over and over again; and some of the story is pretty far-fetched. With that being said, there is potential for a good love story here. The characters are endearing and perplexing, and quite frankly, the sex scenes are really hot! If you can look past the technical flaws, you are in for a treat. This book will make you tingle.

"Fifty Shades of Grey" does not exactly live up to all of the hype it has been receiving; a lot of the attention is pure curiosity because there hasn't been a popular erotic book... until now. It is making erotica more accepted and has paved the way for other aspiring authors.