Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James

Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades #3) by E.L. James ☆☆☆☆☆

Just finished reading and sad to see the series come to a close. I have to say that overall the second book was my favorite, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed this one any less. I love that as the series progressed it became more about mystery, intrigue, and the troubles of building a solid relationship than about the erotica that fueled a lot of the first book.

One of the things that got to me in this book though was how much it skipped around. It skipped months from the second book to the third and ended up having to do flashbacks through dream sequences. This wouldn't have been such an issue except that it happened often.

This book also felt too short. I am extremely sad to see the series end and I didn't feel like I really got my fill of the story and the characters. It did end well, but I'd love this series like a TV series that goes on for a long time. In fact, it'd make an excellent TV series and I'd be eagerly anticipating watching it each week. I did enjoy the bonus short stories at the end, but I'd love to see more of them. Finally seeing things from Christian's point-of-view was eye opening and should not be overlooked for other things. This series was well worth my time!

Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James

Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades #2) by E.L. James ☆☆☆☆☆

This book blew me away in so many ways. First to mention is that some of the things revealed in this book explain things in the first book that suddenly make the plot of the first book not as contrived, forced, and cliche.

This book doesn't have as much erotica as the first and that is entirely okay with me. Because this book isn't about the erotica, it's about the characters, and I have completely and totally fallen in love with the characters, especially Christian. He's the embodiment of all my literary loves, the arrogant bad boy that's trying to be the good guy.

I fell for Christian so much that I dream about him at night. Well, make that I dream about him at day as I have been going to bed well past sunrise since I started the series because I can't bear to put it down every night. And I sleep incredibly well. Instead of my usual fitful 10 hours of sleep a night (thanks to a carefree summer), I've been waking up after 6 hours fully rested, relaxed, and ready to read more. I'm actually a little sad that the next book is the last because I don't want to leave the characters behind. This book in the series definitely warrants the five stars. Off to the next....

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades #1) by E. L. James ☆☆☆☆

This isn't necessarily a young adult book, but then there are a few times I read outside YA. I know that everyone picked up this book for the erotica, and I had to pick up the book to see what all the fuss was about. Overall the writing wasn't that great and the plot seemed simple, contrived, and cliche. The erotica was definitely worth the read, but that isn't why I ended up loving the book in the end.

The characters grew on me. And with everything they did and went through, it reminded me of all the good and bad things in my past relationships, things I hadn't thought about in a long time. Surprisingly, it helped me cope with a lot of the bad and think about it in a new way. And the good....it reminded me that I actually don't want to be single forever and I need to start opening myself up to people again.

So despite the bad writing that greeted me, and the erotica that pulled everyone else in, this book did more for me than any of that. And on top of all of that, it ended with a cliff-hanger so big I immediately started the next book even though it was already sunrise because I had stayed up all night finishing the first. That's always a sign of a great book.