If you have read my review of the first book Fifty Shades of Grey you know that I was mostly not happy with the book. To sum up how I felt I thought it was a poor representation of a BDSM relationship, failed to include important safety information for a BDSM relationship, lacked much of a plot, and featured a main character (Ana) who had no self esteem or sense of self falling for the tall dark abusive stalker (Christian). However, some of the sex scenes were hot, it made for good conversation with the other women at my office who have read the books, and piqued my curiosity to see if the second book was better or worse.

So I went ahead and read the second book. The book begins with Ana trying to work and forget about Christian, unsuccessfully I might add. The two of them end of getting back together and move away from the BDSM contract and try to have more of a "vanilla" sex life. However, many of the control issues and red flags of an abusive relationship are still there. Since reading the first book I did some research on the author and discovered that she is formerly a writer of Twilight fan fiction. I have never read Twilight or seen the movies. I read one of the book and behold there is a young innocent girl who is attracted to the dark controlling man. It clicked with me that the author designed these characters as more sexually explicit versions of Twilight characters, minus all that vampire and werewolf backstory.

If you were to make a drinking game where you took a drink every time that Ana flushes or bites her lip you would be passed out drunk by page 50 in the book. The author stays true to her characters and keeps Christian as dark and brooding as ever and Ana as insecure and unsure of herself as before. This book features ex-lovers of Christians coming after Ana and trying to break them up. As expected, Ana and Christian have sex anywhere they can including the piano, the desk, and taking a break from a party as his parents to fit in a quickie in his childhood bedroom. The dialogue is a little too repetitive for my liking and I am puzzled that more of that was not changed in the editing process for the book. I certainly was not able to predict all of the plot twists that were thrown into the book and do find some of the dialogue to be incredibly comedic (but I'm not sure it was supposed to be). I do really enjoy that this series has led to me discussing healthy boundaries, healthy relationships, self-esteem, and bdsm with co-workers, friends, and acquaintances. I'm not sure that I would have had so many interesting conversations without this book as the catalyst.

The book is comparable to watching reality television. It's mindless, but erotic and at times inappropriately funny. This one was a little more boring than the first one and I found myself skipping ahead a few pages to the next sex scene. You just have to take it at face value and keep a vibrator close by to get maximum pleasure out of it. Overall, it was not a waste of my time, but it's not a book that I will keep on my bookshelf either. It got my mind off of stress at my job and has been wonderful with starting dialogue with other readers of the book about what they hated and loved about the book. I also appreciate that this was written by a woman who has a passion for writing. I may not love everything about the book, but the author put herself out there and is getting published. After reading the second book I am interested in writing some short erotic stories that feature things that I would enjoy more. I find it hard to find too much fault in a book that can be a mindless read, spark intense debate, and inspire me to start working on my own erotica.

I'll be honest: certain scenes in the book were hot. My vibrator and I had a damn good time with parts of the book. Other parts were comedic and I either read them out loud to my roommate or discussed with my co-workers about how unrealistic parts of the book were. But whether you love, hate, or are just ambivalent about the book it's a conversation starter and I love that aspect of it.

I had a sick day from work and stayed home and read this while drugged up on medication. I actually did not mind the book as much the second time around. It made for good mindless reading and helped spark some intelligent debate in my office when I returned to work.