All of my friends who read 50 Shades of Grey loved it, but many of my writer friends thought it was terrible, so I had some serious reservations about this book. I didn't even pick it up until my sister lent me the trilogy and even then it took me several months to open it. With that said, I don't think the story was as amazing as I was led to believe. The story line was mediocre, but that's not to say it wasn't good because it was! And although it is an erotica, I've read steamier love scenes in normal romance novels. Also, the writing wasn't as horrible as I was led to believe either. Sure, there were cliches, redundancies, and repetition, but that doesn't make it bad in my eyes. I personally thought it was well written.

Now that that's out of the way . . . onto the good stuff! I loved Ana and Christian's first meeting. I found myself smirking at nearly everything they said. There were moments in the beginning though when I wanted to smack Ana. Twenty-one-year-old virgins aren't nearly as clueless as EL James made Ana. But I did see a little of myself in her, which helped me to identify with her. Certainly not her situation though. haha And I do love Christian Grey as a character. He's mysterious, strange, and yes, sexy.

Halfway through, I was actually anxious over Ana's decision. I even enjoyed all of their email exchanges, and the funny insights into Ana's subconscious and inner goddess, which I thought was pretty clever.

The ending was a shock too. I will definitely be reading 50 Shades Darker because I want to know more about Christian Grey. ;)