Fifty Shades of Grey tops NYT Bestsellers - mainly from ebook sales

[Prestidigitweeze]

[Deleted due to delayed discretion]

[Blossom]

Whoa I'm almost through the first book. The relationship in this book is serious unhealthy. I can't believe this is the most popular book at the moment.

Spoiler:

Forget the How To BSDM guide in the novel This Christian guy has every red warning light a girl or women should stay away from. He is a stalker psycho. Serious unhealthy. She leaves to get some space and he follows her. There is nothing romantic or erotic about this. Anna needs to seriously get away from this guy. She's like plenty of young girls with low self esteem and she can't see this guy for what he really is.

I'm waiting for this to turn into a thriller lifetime movie.

[Blossom]

I finished the book this morning. It was a really long emotional drama but the ending was good even if it's only temporary.

One thing I can tell you is the author writes play by play type of words. I can only think of two places in the entire novel where she does do a fade out scene. I've grown use to fade out type writing so it took alot of patience at first to get use to her style.

I realize this was written as a fanfic without publishing rules on content and the usually word length constraints. It gives me new appreciation for publishers and their rules. I do read alot of first person perspective fiction but they have all been edited which is a very good thing.

The book is overpriced and there really isn't anything special in the book that I could tell other than a serious unhealthy relationship. This is not a romance novel. I've heard the media several times refer to it as romantic which will mislead alot of people to read this.

This reminded me of a Lifetime Movie more than anything.

[abookreader]

If you finished it you made it much further than I did.

I started it and stopped. I hated it. ... My versions are the self-published novels, but from what I understand Random House did no editing or changes beyond that.

But it does read a lot like a fan fic to me. I'm pretty generous with my understanding when reading fan fiction because I often feel it is written more for the author than the reader. They explore their feelings or desire to see a story go in a certain direction, and they can pretty much do whatever the heck they want as far as I'm concerned. When a fan fiction ends up before my eyes I always try to find something positive to say about it because I feel like encouragement is important, even if I really hated it.

But I feel books should be written for the readers and as you said, you have some standards applied to them. Beyond problems with the characters and the story, which I could barely stomach - I had major problems with the writing.

But if that's what people want to read, hey go for it. I just chomp at the bit to scream at them to put that trash down and go find some good erotic fiction if that is what they are searching for. I hate for ~that book~ to represent the genre to the mainstream public because I just feel like it is a crappy book.

Obviously popular opinion isn't agreeing with me in this case though.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by abookreader

If you finished it you made it much further than I did.

I started it and stopped. I hated it. ... My versions are the self-published novels, but from what I understand Random House did no editing or changes beyond that.

But it does read a lot like a fan fic to me. I'm pretty generous with my understanding when reading fan fiction because I often feel it is written more for the author than the reader. They explore their feelings or desire to see a story go in a certain direction, and they can pretty much do whatever the heck they want as far as I'm concerned. When a fan fiction ends up before my eyes I always try to find something positive to say about it because I feel like encouragement is important, even if I really hated it.

But I feel books should be written for the readers and as you said, you have some standards applied to them. Beyond problems with the characters and the story, which I could barely stomach - I had major problems with the writing.

But if that's what people want to read, hey go for it. I just chomp at the bit to scream at them to put that trash down and go find some good erotic fiction if that is what they are searching for. I hate for ~that book~ to represent the genre to the mainstream public because I just feel like it is a crappy book.

Obviously popular opinion isn't agreeing with me in this case though.

Well said! I totally agree with you on this. It's been forever since I have read fanfiction but there is no way I would pay money to read this luckily my library has them so I don't have to.

[Nahgem]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Whoa I'm almost through the first book. The relationship in this book is serious unhealthy. I can't believe this is the most popular book at the moment.

I may get myself shot for saying this, but it was originally an Edward/Bella fanfic so, that's pretty much par for the course. At least she kept them in-character?

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Nahgem

I may get myself shot for saying this, but it was originally an Edward/Bella fanfic so, that's pretty much par for the course. At least she kept them in-character?

I can see she based characters off Twilight but the first book was just horrible and didn't remind me much of Twilight at all other than the characters and their characteristics. The second book which I'm a little over half way through is soo much better and more original. There are more fade out scenes and the story moves along much faster. It's just getting through the first book which builds the real story of book two which reads more like a Romantic Suspense novel despite the dark subject.

[Namekuseijin]

Desperate Housewives

[retro]

I just finished the 3rd book which IMHO was another cheesy romance novel with lots of kinky sex. Oh, yeah, and a touch of thriller/mystery.

Pretty predictable stuff and the waste of a great opportunity to end it with a bang instead of a whimper. She should consider a sequel when the 7 year itch or a mid-life crisis kicks in. If she went back to the original premise, it could be interesting.

It's rather shocking that they are all 3 on the best seller list.

Well, it was an interesting diversion, but time to go back to something more appealing, like Kris Longknife or Honor Harrington kicking ass across the universe!

[MrsJoseph]

I saw someone buying a copy at BJ's this weekend and I wanted to go "Stop!! You can get it for free online! And here's a list of better written books!" Instead I just walked away...

[ProfCrash]

I had to chuckle when I found out my MIL was reading this this weekend. At keast we have a good enough relationship that she is comfortable owning up to it with me. I told her I had my own collection of that genre.

Thanks for the suggestions folks. Several have panned out quite nicely.

[Blossom]

Okay I finished the 3rd book. I found the 3rd book had no real plot or structure. I think she had run out of steam by the time she got past the first couple of chapters and just wrote whatever came to mind without really planning the ending. I was seriously disappointed how much the third book lack characterization of the first two. Although there was a few moments in the 3rd book that had me applauding Anna finally acting like an adult if only briefly.

This trilogy is really fanfiction and it is written like fanfiction slowly and not at all planned out like real authors do. It was kind of fun reliving the way fanfiction works as it's been years since I read any. I do however prefer the structure and plotting of a novel.

Now that I wasted a week in this series back to more enjoyable reading.

[applesauce]

My first steps back to reading after a very long break. I decided on easy reading and thought a bit of spice would be fun. I am now half way though the last book. In all honesty I want to slap both main characters they are so needy and jealous they put teens to shame and I have 18 year old twins. There really is no juicy story to sink your teeth into some tame BDSM written from a woman's point of view, pages and pages of, to the point I was just skim reading it hoping for something to sink my teeth into. There just was nothing. I was hoping for a Harold robins or Sydney Sheldon. Lots of spice but with juicy characters and a real story. I mean this is girl meets boy have sex fight have sex fight repeat..
I think Game of Thrones next but I think I may get far more than I hope for with them

applesauce

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by applesauce

My first steps back to reading after a very long break. I decided on easy reading and thought a bit of spice would be fun. I am now half way though the last book. In all honesty I want to slap both main characters they are so needy and jealous they put teens to shame and I have 18 year old twins. There really is no juicy story to sink your teeth into some tame BDSM written from a woman's point of view, pages and pages of, to the point I was just skim reading it hoping for something to sink my teeth into. There just was nothing. I was hoping for a Harold robins or Sydney Sheldon. Lots of spice but with juicy characters and a real story. I mean this is girl meets boy have sex fight have sex fight repeat..
I think Game of Thrones next but I think I may get far more than I hope for with them

applesauce

I put my reply under spoiler even though there isn't any real details given away just the general of how I felt about the story.

Spoiler:

The funny thing is the issues are never resolved at all. The emotional level of the characters are adolescent. The dialog is unrealistic. The sex scenes are tame but long and boring. The hero is a socialpath and the heroine has no spine. She becomes his doormat There is no healthy love in the relationship. Just a serious derange man with mommy issues. I have read review after review and I can't believe people see this as a romance. It's appalling. I hung on to the end hoping for some kind of breakthrough but it was a stalemate.

I've just started reading Suzanne Brockmann's Unsung Hero. I need something with more intrigue and less emotional issues.

[BeccaPrice]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I've just started reading Suzanne Brockmann's Unsung Hero. I need something with more intrigue and less emotional issues.

Try Laura Griffin's romantic suspense books, particularly the ones in the Tracer series - excellent.