Fifty Shades Darker

Can't explain what is so addictive about Christian Grey.

But he is.

Again, not good, but I couldn't stop reading.

This one was DEFINITELY way better than book one. It actually had some action. It wasn't all sex and romantic evenings.
Ana is still an idiot but Christian became a human being at least.
A lot of parts were really repetitive, and I skipped the sex parts but at least better and WORTH IT.

Let us see what happens in book three. Apparently, Jack wants revenge

I have enjoyed these books so much more the second time around its a little surprising even to me. granted the writing is simple. the story line after seeing the movie with a girlfriend is very much so more enjoyable.

“Santa Madre Jodida” ajajjaja es muy gracioso, se supone que debe producirme pena, pero es ridículo.
Mejor hubiera sido: “Santos Traumas Batman” jajjajaja

Not bad but not great either. The second book in the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a slight improvement from the first one but it still fails to deliver anything more than a slightly cheesy rendition of two people addicted to each other in rather odd circumstances.

The second book, while a tad better than the first one, lacked any real conflicts and events. It actually took a while for me to even get through it because I did not feel like I had to keep reading to find out what happens next. And on top of that, nothing of great importance happened until about half-way through the book. The first half consisted of the two main characters, Anna and Christian, trying to figure out their rather obsessive relationship with each other. It rarely happens that I don't feel jealous of the main heroine's romantic relationship with her significant other in the book and that's what happened here. Christian actually rubbed me the wrong way, his possessiveness and rather overly emotional nature repelled me.

On that note, the book became a little bit better once we started finding out why Christian is the way that he is. However, in my opinion, I found that this took a little too long to happen and everything before that wasn't that exciting. And I am the epitome of hopeless romantic, but all the relationship stuff was too much, even for me. I would have liked to see a better balance of both romance and action because the romance was trying a bit too hard for me and it completely overwhelmed any of the action that occurred.

Moving on, the dialogue was also on the cheesy side and for this reason hard to read at times. I mean, who talks like that? I get that these two people are madly in love with each other but in reality, people who are romantically involved don't talk like that to each other. However, at least the writing style was okay because it made for a smooth and quick read.

In addition, the smut was mediocre at best. The variety of the sexual scenes was good but that didn't make up for the lack of variety in the word usage. It would have been nice to see a broader range of appropriate vocabulary, which would have made for a more exciting read.

One thing that saved this book for me, was the character development. While the characters might not have talked realistically to one another, they were three dimensional and I could picture them being a real person as I was reading. Even though Anastasia Steele really didn't capture my interest as a person and I couldn't relate to her whatsoever, I can't deny that there were many layers to her and we got to see more and more as the book progressed. There wasn't just one side to her. Christian as well, we were able to see the depths of him and get a glimpse into his soul.

All in all, Fifty Shades Darker delivers a rather mediocre portrayal of two people obsessively in love with each other. And although the plot drags and disappoints, the characters manage to stand out as individual personas. With all the media attention this book has gotten over the last few years, it still leaves a lot to be desired. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick read and doesn't care about a lack of a real plot or the amount of cheesiness that can be packed into 500 pages.

This continues where the first book left off.
I'll start by saying while some aspects where better than the first this book was not a major improvement. The same things that bothered me in the first book still apply here. There was a huge portion of the middle that basically followed what happened a chapter ago. For example Christian would get mad then not even two minutes later they would be having sex. I liked the ending and I'm looking forward to completing the series.

3/5

I used to have no plans or whatsoever to read the sequel(s) of Fifty Shades of Grey since I wasn't really a fan of this trilogy, and I only managed to get through the first book just because I feel ‘obligated' to read it before viewing the film approximately 2 years ago. Well, guess what? I'm back on that same situation with this one.

But I must admit, this sequel's a slight improvement over the first book, though it's not as compelling or impactful as FSoG. E.L. James is not the strongest writer, that's for sure. I can't seem to stand her choice of words/ repetitive expressions as I progress in this book. The story is becoming more and more like an adult version of Twilight, only with BDSM themes.. uhm wow? The writing is just awful in this book, but at least the story's quite entertaining (I wanna give it a 2/5 stars, but I bumped it with an extra star solely for that reason).

Overall, it's a so-so book that I may not give a shit about in the future. Now let me watch the probably shitty mess that is the 2017 film version. And I apologize in advance if I end up snoozing on that film. I mean, just look at the IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes/Metacritic ratings. Ghastly!

Oh this book. Another crazy installment that I quite enjoyed.

I'm on record as saying 50 Shades of Grey is not as bad as I thought it would be, but this one was... pretty bad.

Here is a conversation I had about it at book club:

E: I read the 2nd 50 Shades book after K talked about it last time.Me: Me too! I'm so mad!E: Yeah...Me: Like, nothing happens in it. Every chapter is like, something ALMOST happens and Ana worries what will happen, and then... it doesn't happen.E: Well, and I thought... she was going to get kidnapped?Me: Yes, me too! I'm pretty sure K did say that. So I spent the whole time being like, okay but when's she getting kidnapped?E: I was at like 90% and she hadn't been kidnapped yet.Me: Maybe she gets kidnapped in the next one?E: There wasn't even that much sex in this one.Me: And it was boring sex!so... in conclusion... Ana does not get kidnapped in this book. Nothing happens in this book. Christian's therapist does not understand confidentiality. Or, possibly, psychology. Christian doesn't understand anything.I'm probably still gonna read the 3rd one eventuallybut if she doesn't get kidnapped in that one I will be PISSED.

Short review: This is the second book in the fifty shades trilogy. Assuming you have read the first, this book resolves the initial conflict at the end of the first book pretty quickly. This book is focused mostly on how Christian and Ana can be together if they are not together as Dom and Submissive. There is a hint of the thriller aspects that come up more in book three, but this is still mostly a romance book. I agree with most people that this is a better book than the first, but I liked the first.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/fifty-darker/

Not as good as the first, on to the third!!

Another 2.5 rating if half stars existed.

Ok so stuff actually happens in this book! Like there's kind of a plot! And there's tons of smut! So what's the problem? - this book is about 100-200 pages too long. It all just gets really repetitive, even the smut. And ya know, the plot is still not great. There's a lot of bits that feel really unbelievable or big conflicts that resolve 2 pages later - a lot of it feels unnecessary. Christian is also as insanely controlling as ever, which weirdly continues to be less scary to Ana then his penchant for pain.

I watched the movie right after finishing this. While it's no Oscar winner, they cut a lot of the unnecessary fat, rewrite some of the bigger leaps to make more sense and soften Christians wild control issues. I rarely say a movie is better than the book, but plotwise that definitely applies here.

Did I keep reading it though? Yes. Did I finish it? Yes. Am I going to read the 3rd book? Yes.

Was I meant to be hoping he would die in the helicopter crash? I mean I've seen the movies so I knew he wouldn't die but I still hoped.

I am currently having a love/hate relationship with these books because of the emotional reactions I have to them. The writing is absolutely fabulous, and the story continues to thrill me.

Christian and Ana are the perfect flawed couple. I adore reading about them and the dynamics of their relationship. What I would absolutely love is seeing inside Christian's head instead of only seeing him from Ana's perspective. But I'll take what I can get, and I look forward to the final installment.

I made it to the third chapter and decided to not torture myself with this any further. I can only imagine that people get through this series by skimming through to possibly only read the sex scenes. Which are admittedly not completely horrible. But everything in between is irrefutably painful to read. I found myself literally rolling my eyes, sighing, scoffing, groaning, cringing, and downright facepalming.

If Ana were a real person and I could talk to her I'd tell her to run her naive butt away from the abusive and domineering (not in the good way) relationship she was being trapped in. Because, guess what? THIS IS ABUSE. This isn't sexy. This is scary. Not the BDSM stuff, but everything else. Adults are fully capable of having a healthy relationship with some incredibly kinky sex. They're even fully capable of having a 24/7 Dom/sub relationship. This just happens to be none of that.

I could argue that Christian is possibly trying to get Ana into a 24/7 BDSM relationship. Except any decent Dom who's connected to a sub knows when to push, and when not to. Christian pretty much pushes all the time. He does what he wants, and he manages to wrap it in a barely pretty enough package to fool Ana. Hello mind games!

So, Ana, I don't care if the sex is mind blowing. The guy's a creep. He's scary. He treats his subordinates like chattel or with the bare minimum of respect. Oh, and you are so not on this planet to fix him. Run, don't walk, as far and as fast as you can. Pray that law enforcement will help you keep this guy at bay, because he'll for sure pull every string to keep owning you. That broken heart you think you have? It'll mend. And when it does you'll realize it was probably just your lady part hormones making you stupid lustful for the earth-shattering O's. Trust me; been there, done that.