Book Review: Fifty Shades of Grey

I'm sure you've all been wondering why on earth I haven't updated that "What I'm Reading" link over there on the right side of my page.  For months now, the cover of Fifty Shades of Grey has been featured.  And folks, it's taken me that long to get through it.

It's true that I don't have the time to read like I used to.  Having a youngin' in the house eats up most of my free quiet time, and by the time I get into bed at night, I just want to sleep.  That being said, reading a really good or fun book will force me to make time to read.  Clearly, I did not find myself making time for this book.

I picked it up because I keep hearing about it, everywhere I turn.  It seems like every woman in the world has read this.  So I thought I'd see what all the hype was about.

I am sad to say that I was so disappointed.

I'm not sure what everyone is seeing in this book.  Yes, it has some very spicy sex scenes.  I've heard this series referred to as Mommy Porn, and it's definitely on the erotic side.  Maybe that's the appeal?  It's dangerous?  But the rest of the story is so lacking.

The writing is bad.  The premise is blah.  And the character development is seriously lacking.  Oh, right...did I mention there isn't really a plot?

The main characters are Anastasia Steele, a recent college grad (and virgin) who finds herself in a kinky relationship with hot billionaire S&M enthusiast Christian Grey.  He wants to tie her up and spank her, and she wants more.  If I had to read about this chick's inner goddess or saw the fifty shades reference one more time, I was seriously going to barf.  And really, I've been doing that enough on my own these days without the help of bad literature.

This weekend, I forced myself to sit down and finish the darn thing, so that I could move on.  I realize that this is only the first book in a trilogy, and I have been told that the character development and plot really get going in the second and third books, but I will be passing on the remainder.  To me, even taking the story (or lack thereof) out of the equation, the writing was just so bad that it was painful to get through.

I tried, I really did.  But alas, I found this one to be fifty shades of crap.