Fifty Shades Darker and 25 Shades Better

Second book in the Fifty Shades trilogy done and I’m happy to say the porn has a plot! No, seriously it does, I’m not just saying that. There is some new drama beyond the Ana/Christian constant fight-makeup-do it and repeat cycle. There is now an element of character depth and dynamic. I still feel as though its mostly…predictable is not the word, but not surprising. At every twist and turn I think- sure, that pretty much sounds right and is what I expected. Nothing that blew my socks off like Shutter Island did.

**Here’s a recommendation- read Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. The movie was great- the book is amazing. For me the twist at the end was phenomenal and I absolutely did not see it coming**

Back to Fifty Shades- the ending of this did have a twist to it that I think will take the third book in a slightly different direction. Or maybe not. It might pan out exactly the same as the second one. Although I hope not.

I enjoyed it. I didn’t want to put it down which says more about the book than I can say here I suppose. Overall the story has picked up and I don’t feel like I’m reading a smutty novel to be read only under the cover of darkness or shielded by a paper bag book cover. I can’t decide if the fun times happened less often in this one or if it’s the fact that I didn’t read any of them that makes them fade into the background while I was reading it. Probably the latter. I did seem to skip over an awful lot of pages….

I’m looking forward to finishing it up and seeing how it ends. I just checked the library waiting list and I’m #12 of 78 for the third book. While I’m waiting for that to be available, I’m reading a series that is so far really very good. I’m excited to share this nugget when I’m done!

Book Through the Ages

Growing up I had very age appropriate and reading habits. Until I hit the age of 10 or 12 and then I took a turn for the dark side.

One of my first loves was Little House on the Prairie, which, I recently found out is NOT available for an electronic reader. *Sigh* My heart died a little the day I found that out. How could you not love the quaintness and mystery of life in the Big Woods with Ma, Pa, Laura and Mary? It seemed like such a foreign world to me back then. On a side note, if you watched this most recent season of Dancing with the Stars your memories of little Laura Ingalls was probably tarnished as mine was. I had no idea that Melissa Gilbert became a wild one post Laura Ingalls- she rebelled from the prairie and I was displeased.


Ramona Quimby Age 8, Charlottes Web, James and the Giant Peach, A Light in the Attic (all of which are still currently on my bookshelf), Super Fudge. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Amelia Bedelia. 

Remember the Babysitters Club? I had all the books and I'm pretty sure somewhere at my mom's house I still do. Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey, Dawn and Mallory. They were so awesome.  I just looked up the titles to all of the books and had a nice little trip down memory lane. There were 131 different books and 15 Super Series in all. Holy cow! I never realized that. Looking through the titles there is not one that is not familiar to me...I am in the mood to read them again!  I remember I once wrote a letter to Ann M. Martin to tell her how amazing I thought she was. I earned my nerd badge that day- but elevated it several years later when I wrote a letter to Brenda and Dylan from 90210 to let them know what a great decision I thought they made to not sleep together. But I digress. She "wrote me back" in the form of a canned letter. I don't remember exactly what it said but that letter was a source of pride for me. Its probably stuck in the pages of one of those books still. 

R.L. Stein Fear Street Series, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Christopher Pike, Nancy Drew Files, Anne of Green Gables and Gone with the Wind (which clearly do not fit into the trend of the books I was reading during this age but to this day they are on my top 10 list). 

V.C. Andrews. I devoured those twisted books. I mean, they were TWISTED. Brothers and sisters hooking up, death, mayhem, craziness.  I think every book had an incest slant to it. I've read them all. I would probably read the all again. What bizarre things to put into books for a teenager....

And then I moved on to True Crime Novels. Thats right. Ted Bundy, The Green River Killer, Jeffery Dahmer....I loved them. It could have been RL Stein or Nancy Drew that lead me down the dark path, but I blame my Grandpa. He was and still is an avid true crime reader. For some reason those twisted personalities intrigued me. I remember in 7th grade I wrote a book review about a book called Cruel Sacrifice by Aphrodite Jones. Its a true novel about 3 teenage girls who torture, and burn and murder another teenage girl with a homosexual motive thrown in. Yup. Other kids were reading heaven knows what. I was reading that. I cannot for the life of me remember the teachers name, but I can see her face plain as day in the back classroom in South Beal as she asked me about the books I read and tried to judge my maturity level. I was a teenager who clearly was working out my issues by funneling my problems into books about murderers. She just let me be.


Thinking back about all of these books makes me want to read them again. For me its like visiting an old friend. I might have to pull out Claudia and the Phantom Phone Call or Flowers in the Attic sometime soon and catch up.

Fifty Shades...this book is about WHAT???

Confession time.


I've read Fifty Shades of Grey, or rather the first book and I kind of feel like I sold my sweet soul to the devil.


Funny side note. The first time I heard about this book, my husband and I were out to dinner with another married couple. One of them (I think she) asked if I/we had heard of this book. They mentioned it was on that show The Dr's and that the concept is how women really want men to take control and dominate them. I believe the bedroom was eluded to. What did I take from that description? That is was a SELF HELP book. Seriously. I mean, from the conversation we had about it and the fact that they saw it on the Dr's....it was not a giant leap of my imagination. For the record. Its most certainly not a self help book. Unless of course you prefer to be tied up and whipped in which case it could serve as an instruction manual.


Its much rauncher than anything I would normally allow myself to fall into, but curiosity got the better of me considering every housewife in America seems to be lusting over the likes of Christan Grey. I was so weirded out by the mere concept that I checked it out of the library on my Nook. No way was I walking around carrying the hard copy of that book. I feel like there is a club for those reading it. Like if I walked around with it, women would blush and cast their eyes down and men would wink at my husband knowing what he would be "in for" while I read it. Loins are waking up far and wide my friends.


What do I have to say about it? It is not the best written book. Then again, it is erotica, so its not like I expected the writing to jump into my soul. While it was intriguing to read of the concept of this submissive/dominate relationship and the contract and all it entails, it was also horrifying. So much so for me, that I kept thinking and at times saying aloud "REALLY? Forget it. Not in a million years". The "relations" between these two took place so often it quickly became mundane and I found myself skipping through that "stuff" to get to the character relationship that I found interesting. The character dynamic is JUST intriguing enough for me to want to read the second and third to see how it ends. But then again, once I finish a book, no matter how terrible, I typically make myself finish it because I hate to quit on a book. I will say I want to know what happens to the two of them in the end and I suppose that is the key to a good book series when you boil it down, right?


Second confession.


I have requested the other two books from the library. Its a long waiting list by the way.


I don't want to sound judgemental for people who are super into this book. I don't judge a person by the books they read (well, not usually- haha). I know and love many many people who are obsessed with Christian Grey. This book could be the ticket to an awakening that many women are in desperate need of. If you are used to reading romance novels then this will probably not be that much of a shock to your system. I on the other hand, am pretty prudish so that lends itself to my horror. This book is flying off shelves so obviously the woman who wrote it knows what women want and need. In a book....I'm not sure she really has the ticket to what they need and want in the bedroom.


 I hear the book is being made into a movie, as most well selling books are. My husband says its going to be the first book to movie that is going to go straight to DVD. He might be right. Haha.

For the Love of Reading

As if I don't have enough going on....I wanted to write a blog. Something fun, something I could keep up with without feeling like it was a chore, something that wasn't just talking about my day or what my kids are doing. After all, I already do all of that on Facebook. I love to write, but other than Carepage updates, I don't have an outlet for writing. I wanted something I could tie into a passion of mine and I really only have one BIG passion.

I read. Wait, that's not accurate.  I don't just read books. I need books. I love books. I live for reading. I need reading like I need air to breathe. You may think I'm exaggerating, which by the view of many who know me well, I do (by a factor 1/3 -according to my husband) but in this admission I am not. Books keep me up at night, give me something to look forward to each and every day. They are a sweet escape. They wiggle their wordy little way into my heart and soul and take root, making me mourn for them when I finally close the last page. Seriously. I go through a grieving process when I finish a good book (again, no exaggerating). I have an entire Pinterest board devoted to just reading. Pictures of books that make me happy, quotes about books, actual books. I get giddy just thinking about it.

I could go on forever. But I won't. Not now. There is plenty of time for my ramblings.

The point of this blog is for me to talk about my passion in a candid, silly, honest and strictly non-boring way and to most importantly, review the books I read. When I read a truly good book I want everyone to enjoy it. Conversely when I read a bad one, I want people to stay away and not waste their precious time. So...I will climb on my soapbox and (hopefully) people will listen and I can give back to the universe what a good book gives me.

So sit back and enjoy as I (attempt to) thrill you with thoughts and opinions on my most very favorite of subjects.

M