Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Fifty Shades of Wow

Well, I finally did it. I read "Fifty Shades of Grey" because I wanted to see what all the fuss and buzz were about. Now I get it. It's a hell of a book.

However, once I got over the initial shock of it, about 50 pages in, I have to say, it read much like a typical romance novel. Girl loves boy. Boy has commitment issues. Girl cries a lot. They break up and boy breaks girl's heart. Unfortunately, no happy ending in this one.

However, being a person who has read dozens of romance novels, I fully expected that typical happy ending. But once I learned that the book was the first in a trilogy, then I understood why the first book could not have a happy ending. Of course it had to leave me hanging. Or else, why would I pick up the second book?

Another interesting observation: very early on, I started to see strong similarities between the lead female character Anastasia and Bella, the lead female character in the Twilight series. They are both women who fell so toxically in love with their man that they would give up everything -- do anything -- to be with them. In both stories, the female lead characters fall in love with 'bad boys' and cross over to the dark side. The only real difference between Bella and Anastasia is that Bella wasn't afraid and she had no regrets. Anastasia was very afraid and, of course, in the end she had many regrets.

Now being fully committed to the characters and the plot, I am willing to read the second and third books because I have to find out what happens to them. Will they work out their differences? Will Christian ever tell Anastasia the deep dark secrets he's keeping hidden inside? And will telling those secrets free him from their burden forever?

The bottom line is, even with the hefty sexual overtones, it's still a romance novel. I want my romantic night-in-shining-armor happy ending, so I will be expecting it in the third book. Ideally, I anticipate Christian will fix all his problems and, in "An Officer and a Gentleman"-like style, sweep Anastasia off her feet and give her everything she wants (and nothing she doesn't want). Only time -- and a lot of reading -- will tell.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.