Fifty Shades Freed

Title: Fifty Shades Freed
Author: E. L. James
Series: Fifty Shades of Grey (Book 3)
Genre: Erotica




By the time I got to this book I was in love with Christian and Ana and couldn't wait to finish!

Christian and Ana are going to get married (they've known each other how long?).  This time they experience the growing pains of a couple in the public eye.

I was disappointed in this book.  It seemed to fall flat where the others were done so well.  There was a lot of flash backs so that certain things were never covered, the drama seemed to be unexciting and the story telling was lacking.  "And then this happened, and then this happened and then this happened."  Whatever finesse had been around for the first two left during the third book.  I felt like it was a little kid telling the story without any real knowledge how to make it flow.

On top of it all I felt like it was too wrapped up in the end.  Perfect everything.

Fifty Shades Darker

Title: Fifty Shades Darker
Author: E. L. James
Series: Fifty Shades (Book 2)
Genre: Erotica




On to book 2 of the series that everyone seems to be talking about.

Christian and Ana have broken up at the end of Fifty Shades of Grey, but cannot seem to be kept apart.  They get back together when they go on a previously arranged "date" for an event.  The two have to learn to grow both as individuals and together to make it work.  This is a story about growth.

I was surprised at the growth of the two characters in this novel, and although unrealistic (who needs realistic?) in the amount of time, I still enjoyed laughing my way through the book.  Another simple and enjoyable read as long as you're not looking for the next winning piece of literature.

Fifty Shades of Grey

Title: Fifty Shades of Grey
Author: E.L. James
Series: Fifty Shades (Book 1)
Genre: Erotica




Shy, lip biting, insecure, blushing Anastasia Steele goes to interview the confident, wealthy, controlling Christian Grey.  She embarrasses herself (so she thinks) but get's the interview finished.  Christian, however can't get her out of his mind and seeks her out to start a relationship.


There is so much more to the story, yet not at all.  I had low expectations when I picked up this famous book.  With all the waves it's been making lately, I felt like I had to read it.  I didn't expect to think they were so funny.  

The books have been getting a lot of slack for not being that great.  Sure, the writings not fantastic - but what does one expect from Erotica?  I went in looking for a light hearted read that would hopefully get me out of this reading slump I've been in.  This definitely fit the bill.


The sex is less than I imagined, not much different than some of the romance novels I like to read.  That also was a surprise to me.  I would never go as far as to call it porn, that's for sure.  


And the "cliffhanger" type ending I keep hearing about?  I didn't feel it was that much so.  I mean I definitely picked up the next book right away, but I've been left with worse.


So they're also making this into a movie.  The sex is such an integral part of the story, I have no idea how they're going to make this anything less than essentially a porn.  So many important things revolve around the sex, I don't think it can be glossed over.


There are lists all over the internet for who should play Christian and Ana.  I would love to see some Ian Somerhalder - hot.

Three Little Secrets

 

Title: Three Little Secrets
Author: Liz Carlyle
Series: None
Genre: Historical Romance

I love when romance novels are slightly different.  When there is something about the story that takes it out of the norm.  In this case, the main couple had been irrationally married at Gretna Green when they were young.  Due to a misunderstanding, Maddie thought her father had paid of Merrick and that their marriage had been annulled, while Merrick believed that Maddie had run away from him and didn't want to be married to him anymore.

Both have lived a lot in the pats 12/13 years since that happened.  But when they see each other again, they have the same reactions to each other.  It's as if neither one of them has gotten over the other.  But since they both believe that the other had betrayed them, it's a long road to getting back to together.

I haven't read a straight romance novel in a while and I forgot 2 things.  One, how much of a simple pleasure they are.  Easy reads that make me feel happy and doe-eyed.  The second thing is how predictable they are and overall not that entertaining.  I guess going from A Game of Thrones to a "trashy" romance novel wasn't the best choice.

A Game of Thrones

Title: A Game of Thrones
Author: George R.R. Martin
Series: A Song of Ice & Fire (Book 1)
Genre: Fiction; Fantasy

So, until I can figure out how to choose a custom size for my book photos, things are probably going to look a little odd.  That's what I get for waiting so long to finish another book.

I have just not felt the reading bug for a long time.  I bought this book brand new and have carried it around in my purse for months.  It looks well loved and beat up and until recently hadn't even been read.

I can't even give a description of the book - there are SO MANY characters and lots of plot lines to go along with it.  I'd been told by many friends to read this book, that it was slow in the beginning (try the first 300-400 pages) but that if I stuck with it it would get better.  I did and it did.  What started off as a chore to read, where I had to constantly re-figure out who I was reading about and what was going on, turned into a page turner in the end.

So what did I think?  I didn't think it was amazing but I did think it was pretty decent - maybe a B or B+ kind of story.  I was confused for a majority of the book.  As mentioned, there were so many characters, all with unique names and land holdings, that I couldn't keep track of anyone.  That in combination with each chapter being told from a different characters point of view was just horrific in my opinion.

But once I started to know the characters it got a lot better and I actually enjoyed the last several hundred pages.  I bought the books as a boxed set, so I'll continue to read the series.  But first, I plan on watching the first season on the TV series.  I'm hoping it solidifies these characters a little more for me and gets me ready for Book 2.

I Dream of Genies

Title: I Dream of Genies

Author: Judi Fennell

Series: None

Genre: Romance

Holy major reading slump! I just haven't had the urge to pick up a book in over 2 months. The only reason I even read this one is I was extremely slow at work and I had been carrying this book around in my backseat for months. I probably wouldn't have read anything otherwise.

Eden is a genie who is currently fulfilling a 2,000 year punishment of being confined to her bottle. She killed a previous master who wanted her to kill his children. She watches from the store front that her bottle is displayed in and sees her crush every day.

Then the day comes where the shop owner decides to close up and throws her bottle in the trash. Somehow the pressure of being in the garbage truck plus some help from her car friend Obo, she is thrown out of her bottle, landing right on Matt's lap.

Matt Ewing, Eden's crush, seems to have a thing for taking in strays and when Eden lands on his lap, he does just that. A bit hard to believe when she wakes up in his arms and the two of them start making out right away - really?

Eden is on the run trying to find all the things that make her a genie: her bottle, her bottle stopper and her bracelets so that she can be her own master and not have to answer to the keeper of the genies. She tells Matt the truth and the two start the journey together.

This was a lighthearted story that at times was hard to believe. While I'm okay with putting my beliefs of magic and what not on hold, I still want a believable relationship or story between the two characters.

I really enjoyed their journey to the djinn's eggs and the riddles they had to encounter, as well as learning about the genie world. This book seemed to get decent ratings on Amazon (4.5/5) but just left me feeling lukewarm.r