The second book in the "50 Shades of Grey" trilogy, this book picks up immediately after the mini-cliffhanger that the first book ends on, with Ana leaving Christian telling him that they cannot be together because of their sexual differences. Since this is a trilogy I'm sure you'll surmise that they reconcile and try a new approach to the relationship that is different from the contract they had argued about in the first book.

This book still has some steamy sex scenes, and the kink factor is increased over the first book, where BDSM play is more talked about than acted upon, but this book had a feel that the plot took over from the sex scenes in this book. As my wife said when she finished the second one "The second one is about moving the story along, more than the sex," While there still is a healthy dose of sex scenes interspersed throughout the book, the plot is moving forward throughout. The end of the book brings another surprise and another large step in Christian and Ana's relationship. There also is an ominous tone set forth at the end of the book where one character is brought back into play, in a different way than one would have thought earlier in the books.

I found the book to be strong, probably a little stronger than the first book. The characters are now established and we delved deeper into the demons that seemingly plague Christian and gain more of an insight into his past. Again, many people will think that only people who have had a rough past will be interested in BDSM and I think that is sad and unfortunate that that will happen with some people. Hopefully people will see that all types of personalities engage in BDSM play who have not had traumatic events in their lives. (Myself and my wife included in this.)

The biggest problem that I have with this book is how fast the relationship moves. I know that this is necessary to show how intense their passion and bond is, but the two move so fast into deeper stages of the relationship that this did not seem realistic to me. I bought the multimillionaire with a massive company at twenty-seven, and the quick entry into their relationship, but how fast they move and where their relationship is at at the end of the second book is a little much for me. It is only a small quibble however.

I skimmed this book again as part of a book group I'm in and found that I still enjoyed the book a lot. This seemed to have less sex in it than the other two volumes to me, and the plot moves along rapidly. Something that did bother me was how fast everything moved between the two characters, not just in terms of the sex, but in their relationship overall. But it did seem that the sex scenes fit within the plot better in this volume. I still like it, even with everyone and their brother having read it now.