25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, sexy, moving, September 15, 2011
Christian Grey is the classic tortured soul that every girl would love to heal - but EL James doesn't make it easy for her heroine, or us. Her hero Christian Grey has plenty of redeeming qualities on the surface, but his secrets are truly terrifying and challenging. Ana's a great heroine, young and inexperienced, but not naive, and we sense she has a core of steel. We really believe she might succeed in humanising this intimidating, masterful man where all the women who went before her have failed. An addictive, engrossing, steamy romantic yarn.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
41 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
50 Shades of Grey... 50 shades of magic!!!, August 4, 2011
This review is from: Fifty Shades of Grey (Kindle Edition)
This story is magical! It may not be perfect by literary standards, but as far as pure enjoyment and joy, it's my favorite romantic story. Over the last two years ago, I have read well over a hundred books as well as many fanfiction stories and have a TBR pile that could bury me, but I have returned to this story for re-reads all the time!! I have never reviewed a book either, but for 50 Shades, I'm happily writing a five-star review. While it was still on the author's blog, I'd been known to re-visit this story for specific chapters, special scenes, or to hunt down one of a hundred favorite lines. Now as an e-book, it would be my desert isle keeper because it just never gets old for me. One small complaint: I was hoping after the professional edit, the opening chapters would be stronger, but they are still not a good indication of just how compelling this story becomes. After that though, so much unfolds between the two leads at such fast pace that my re-reads have been even more enjoyable than my initial one (which I did one chapter at a time as the author was writing it) I won't go over the storyline as other reviewers have done that, but I do agree with the reviews that describe this story as addicting and entertaining. Ana's "inner characters" are riotously amusing (and a new one shows up that wasn't in the fanfic version). Other favorite elements include, the music in the story that runs the gamut from Kings of Leon's, Sex on Fire to The Flower Duet by Delibes; the RRoP jeans (What it is about those jeans?); the email/texting dialogue which is pure brilliance. I liked all the "firsts" and the theme of "more". I also like the honesty between Ana and Christian (misunderstandings are my least favorite device) and the twisty/turny evolution of their relationship, which surprised and delighted me all the way to the end. Speaking of which, the ending of this first book is quite the cliffhanger. A *screaming while hanging off the edge* kind of cliffy, so be warned! I know how the next part gets started and its some of my favorite dialogue in this story, so I look forward to the edited version of the next book.
I won't say that I haven't rolled my eyes (which is a dangerous thing to in this story, ha!) at a few plot devices in 50SoG or haven't noticed all the British-isms that show up in this American setting. There is also a lack of sophistication in some parts of the story, but its the author's first work and, well, its mostly amazing so those things don't disturb me at all. The brilliant "bits" (see what I did there?) are so good that it's worth suspending my belief at certain points and forgiving the author's incorrect use of a term or two. You can tell the author was writing for the pure enjoyment of her unfolding story and she added a lot of fun or interesting elements for me to love. I am ready for the next one!
The sensuality factor is very high and yet tasteful in spite of pushing the envelope. I still get stunned by some of the steamy scenes and find I can't breathe until its over. Then I just mutter something like, "that s*** is hot"!
For those who loved Beautiful Disaster, I highly recommend this story because of the possessive Alpha lead and the intensity that builds up around the relationship. This is also written in the First person perspective, which I tend to like as long as there is a lot of action in the story, and boy is there. The description on amazon for 50SoG is oh so correct in stating it, "will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever".
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
38 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hard to put down., June 4, 2011
This review is from: Fifty Shades of Grey (Kindle Edition)
It was really hard for me to put this book down. After I started reading it I realized that I had read this story before when it was on fanfic. I was glad to see that someone on fanfic actually had their story published. This story kept me intrigued from start to finish and I cannot wait for part 2 to come out. However, I do have to say that there were a couple of things that I noticed in the book that I did not like. I was not impressed that a book with so many grammatical errors was not edited (or appeared to not have been edited) before being published. I think getting a book published is a "big deal" and so before getting the book out to readers the book should be as close to perfect as possible. On fanfic I do not mind the errors because it is expected but in a published book there is no excuse for so many errors. Now, about Jose, I did not like that the use of the spanish language in this book. My native language is spanish (I was boen in Puerto Rico). I noticed a part where Jose calls Ana "carina" and I am sure that the correct word is "carino" which is a term of endearment like "sweetheart" and "carina" actually means nothing in the spanish language. Also, it was annoying how much Jose says "Dios mio" or something like that (I can't remember). I honestly felt like Jose was gay and it was hard to imagine him as a straight handsome Hispanic-American man. Anyway, aside from the grammatical errors I loved and enjoyed this book. I wish I could say more about the parts that I liked but I do not want to spoil it for those who have not read this story yet. If you have not read this story buy it, you'll enjoy it. It will definately keep you reading for hours trying to figure out the deep that secrets of Christian Grey. The author did an amazing job with this character.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
