This review posted on Guilty Pleasures 
 Well, where to start with what has been one of the most controversial books that has been recently published. First, I think I want to put the "experts" opinions to rest.....this book is beautiful, erotic, heart-warming, loving. It's a beautifully written love story with a side of kink. The title and book cover are so apropos to the story. Ms. James wove a wonderful story about two people who are totally opposite; whose lives could not have been further apart. A chance meeting brings them together. Now, they have to find the middle ground where both of them could be happy and find the place where each could be satisfied, sexually and emotionally. The journey through their lives is intriguing, frustrating, and, I fell madly in love with both Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. My heart broke and I cried at the end of book one.....immediately started on Fifty Shades Darker. 
 Secondly, I really need to comment on the "Twilight" parallel that has also been the talk. Yes, there are similarities....you would only know them IF you read the Twilight Saga. Where are they? Anastasia leaves her newly-married mother to live with and take care of her father. Christian is dark to Anastasia's light. Christian is filthy rich and Anastasia is just getting buy. He buys her expensive gifts, she tries to refuse them. We could compare this to any number of books that are in bookstores now. Not only Twilight. The differences? Well, we'll start with the BDSM lifestyle (which, I guess, is supposed to be parallel to Edward being a Vampire) and end with Anastasia refusing the hard-core M/s relationship; wanting "more" (Bella, from the beginning, wanted the dark side). Where will everything lead? I guess you'll have to read the reviews for Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. Oh, by the way, I didn't know the parallel to Twilight until I was half-way through the book. A friend told me about how this came about. Yes, I laughed out loud. Similarities, yes, but every book has similarities, don't they? Two people meet, Two people fall in love.......it's the journey that makes them different. 
 Christian and Anastasia are no different than any couple. They meet; there is electricity between them; they try to fight it; they loose. Christian warns her away from him but he can't stay away. He's filthy-rich and she just graduated from college. He takes her to his home after she goes on a drunken stupor and the rest is, as they say, history. Oh, but what history these two are making with each other. Christian doesn't do "boyfriend" - until he meets her father and is introduced as such. Christian doesn't do "boyfriend" - until he takes her home for a family dinner. Christian has never been photographed with a woman - until Anastasia. Christian never sleeps with anyone - until Anastasia. Mr. Grey NEVER does "Vanilla Sex" - until Anastasia. My how the mighty fall when the right woman is involved. The e-mail banter between Mr. Grey and Ms. Steele is fun and the innuendo's are hysterical. I loved it when he signed his e-mails "Christian Grey, Two Palms Twitching CEO, Grey Enterprises, Holdings, Inc." Her reaction to the contract that he presents her are wonderful. You could feel her outrage when he puts in writing exactly what the M/s relationship will involve, right down to what food she will eat. There are two scenes in "The Red Room of Pain" that are wonderfully written and extremely erotic. It is so hard to review this book without spoilers. There is so much more going on between them and so much more than the M/s relationship that is coming between them. 
 I mention, in the beginning, how apt the title and cover are to this book. Christian will make your head spin with his moods. He's compelling, angry, amusing, loving, protective, mysterious, nasty, and oh so sexy, all in one paragraph. Yes, definitely 50 Shades. Now, anyone who has read any kind of BDSM will know how the Grey Tie that is on the cover of the book would TIE (pun intended) into this story. Yes, it's the first tie that he uses to bind Anastasia up the first time. And, it's the tie that he wears to her college graduation. Much to her horror. 
 I know that there has been a lot of controversy surrounding this book. I really don't understand why. I have been told that certain experts have called people who read this book "depraved" and have totally bashed the BDSM lifestyle. Well, that's just what it is - a lifestyle. No, I have never been in an M/s relationship, nor have I ever had a manage, or a f/f relationship. I am very Vanilla. But, just because I read books that include masters, slaves, submissives, gay relationships, menage's, doesn't mean that I am depraved. I have also read about Vampires, Werewolves, Mystical people and cowboys. I love romance and absolutely love erotic romance. And, that is just what this book is. Yes, I cried at the end of Book 1. It broke my heart when Anastasia walked out on Christian. I silently begged for them to give each other a chance. I immediately opened Fifty Shades Darker.......I needed to know.