Christian Grey , a mega rich
How is the life of the man?
So we all know there is major hype with this book.  And like all curious minds, I caved figuring it had to be at least halfway good considering all the mad crazy eyed people singing its praise.  Unfortunately, about midway into the book I kept questioning if I was reading the same thing.  From all the craze, I expected great writing, engaging characters, an interesting plot, and namely all the ingredients for a good novel. What I received in reality was a subpar erotic romance with one dimensional characters, and an iffy plot.Fifty Shades of Grey starts with the main character, Anastasia, or Ana as she likes to be called, who is on the cusp of graduating college.  She's a clumsy, nave, young female, who never wears makeup, tries to hide in a crowd, and doesn't see her own beauty.  And, because she is so utterly sweet, is cajoled into interviewing Christian Grey, a mega rich, surprisingly young man with a million dollar company, for her best friend's school paper.  From that moment forward, it seems Christian just can't keep his eyes off little Miss Ana, and manipulates a few non-chanced meetings. Things seem to get hot and heavy between them, but Christian tends to frighten Ana, especially with his needs and intense nature.  As an adopted orphan, he went through his own living hell, and has the emotional and physical issues to prove it. But Ana is slowly losing her heart to him, and can only hope that she has the stamina and strength needed to not only help Christian, but to see if he can learn to care for her as well.**Slight Spoilers**With the synopsis, such as it is, out of the way, let me start by saying I still don't understand the hype.  If people are reading this for the erotica alone, then I pity them as there are tons of authors who actually know how to write to keep a reader engaged, and the love scenes are way hotter.  If you don't believe me, just check Amazons kindle section in fiction. They have enough variations in erotica for all kinks of life.  Now if you are going into this for the romance/plot...I still hold by my "there are way better authors out there" mentality. The plot isn't new or unique by any standard, and the writing was subpar at best.  It all boils down to Christian having major issues from being abused as a child, and because of this he uses BDSM as a form of management for his internal struggle.  It's like he has to have control over everything as an adult as he couldn't control anything as a child.  (think Sleeping with the Enemy without the husband being totally psychotic)  Ana is totally innocent in all things sexual, and Christians kink causes such a big shock that she doesn't know whether she likes it or not.  So nearly the whole book is a revolving "yes, no, yes, no" with her.  And speaking of the characters: I found that Christian had more personality than Ana, and that's saying something as this is told in first person from Ana's point of view.  Christian is definitely an alpha male (which I do love alpha males), but his personal demons cause him to be slightly cruel in my opinion. Ana is a complete spindly individual who was written so nave that it held me in shock.  She doesn't understand some of the innuendo or "devices" Christian wants to use that even if you aren't in the world of BDSM you've at least heard of.  If I could, I would give this book two and a half stars, as it wasn't horrible, but it could've been written a lot better.  It did cause me to want to know what happens at the end, so I'll give it that, but all in all Fifty Shades of Grey just didn't do it for me, and I feel slightly duped for giving in to my curiosity. 