Monday, June 24, 2019

Is the Fifty Shades Trilogy Worth Reading?


This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% mine.

Has anyone ever read the Fifty Shades Trilogy by E. L. James?

Way back in 2012, I had worked with the startup eBook gift card company (which sadly no longer exists) and in exchange for a post about the the company, I received an eBook gift card of my choosing and I ended up getting Fifty Shades of Grey as there was big buzz around the romance series at the time. A little bit later, I worked with an adult toy website on a few blog posts and was compensated with a few promo codes which I used to buy Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. I had planned on reading the trilogy, but I didn't get around to it due to other obligations.

After the first feature film adaptation was announced, I started hearing a lot of negative things about the books, especially with how the BDSM was represented in the relationship between Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. Despite a lot controversy, the first novel sold over 125 million copies and has been printed in 52 languages. Two other additional books, Grey and Darker, were later published, which just retold Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker from the point-of-view of Christian Grey.

Eventually, I did attempt to read Fifty Shades of Grey but I had major issues with the quality of the writing by E. L. James. Plus, I just couldn't connect with the character Anastasia. I ended up removing the book from my Kindle. As for the sequels, I donated them to a thrift store along with some other books.

Earlier this month, I had watched the 2018 thriller Bad Times at the El Royale on HBO which co-stars Dakota Johnson, the same actress who played Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades film series. It was the first film I had seen Dakota in and I liked her performance. Now I'm kinda interested in watching the Fifty Shades film series.

Should I read the books before watching the movies?

I have a bad habit of promising myself that I'm going to read the book before watching the film or television adaptation, but that rarely happens. It's a habit that I would like to break. Therefore, I want to read the Fifty Shades trilogy before ever watching the films. I believe I still have the Fifty Shades of Grey eBook archived. If I like it, then I'll just check the sequels out at the local library. If I don't like it, then I'll probably won't even bother reading the sequels.

I'm well aware of the fact that I never review erotic titles on this blog, though I have featured a few books in the genre as book spotlights. However, I do like reading Harlequin titles and sometimes the plots of those books involves bdsm dating. These types of books don't represent my personal thoughts on relationships, so you're never hear about "My BDSM Hookups" as I've never experienced any. As a reader, I enjoy being enchanted by fantasies, which is exactly what erotic romances are all about.