Grey (Fifty Shades as Told by Christian #1): Book Review

• Author: E.L. James
• First Published: 2015
• Genre: Erotica
• ★★★★

Have you ever wondered what makes the rich tick? What it is that guides their hands in their decisions and their conquests? What if they are lascivious conquests? Intrigued? Then Grey may be the book for you.

I'll be the first to admit that some of my book vices are ones that would make people roll their eyes: vampires, werewolves, cheesy romances, and -oh yeah!- Fifty Shades of Grey. I'm not one to read through a series quickly, I like to take my time and absorb the stories before moving on to the next in the series, but for some reason these book suck me in and drag me down with them. 

What I enjoyed the most about this book is it is an excellent companion to the original Fifty Shades of Grey novel. Many of the questions that I'd had reading it, mostly "What the Hell is his problem?" or "Why the Hell is he reacting that way?" got answered in this book. It actually makes you empathize more with his character, which is amazing because reading it from Ana's point of view was quite frustrating at times. That's not to say that reading it from his perspective wasn't also frustrating, but you could at least begin to understand where he was coming from.

I also enjoyed that it went a bit deeper into the Grey-Mrs. Robinson dynamic. This is something that I'd been morbidly curious about in the first book. I will not spoil it, but my views on Mrs. Robinson are far more closely aligned with Ana's than Christian's. Delving into their relationship helps to also put future events into a better light and give them more impact when they happen, which is something I actually thought some of the other books had lacked.

Finally, it wouldn't be a proper review without addressing the elephant in the room, the BDSM aspect of the book. Back when these books first came out this was quite the taboo breaker, something that people would quietly giggle to each other about but try not to draw any attention towards. I genuinely think that because of E.L. James' books, as well as other popular books in this genre, that people can be more open about these sorts of things with their partners and with professionals in the industry. Destigmatizing  sex and pleasure and allowing people to be more open and comfortable with themselves is a huge positive side effect of these books gaining traction, no matter what your personal views of them or BDSM are.

All-in-all, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys these sorts of books, or even people who are curious about it.

Do you think there have been positive outcomes of these books?

Cheers!