Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Avg rating: 3.70

Goodreads Summary:
When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.
 
Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

This book is intended for mature audiences.

Actual Rating: 3.9

Wow! I'm gonna start by saying THAT ENDING!! I can't even...

This was another one of those books that I put off and put off for ever even though I kept hearing sooooo much about it. I finally decided it was time to give in and try it out.

At first, I hated it. I found Ana very BLAH and as we learned more and more about Christian I realized I thought to myself why would anyone ever give this man the time of day. I felt that the writing style was structured to remind us on every turn of the page how wonderful, hot, & handsome Christina was and how boring and non-dimensional Anastasia was.

That was for about the first 200 pages. After that I was HOOKED. Couldn't stop. Read so much in one sitting because I just couldn't get enough. I thought "Oh!!! This is what all the hype is about" I've never really be into reading "sexual fantasy books" but there was so much more to this story. Once you really got to know the characters and see them develop, I fell in love with them and their romance.

I LOVE the playful emails sent between them and the sarcastic tone of some of their conversations.

I have heard a lot of rumors about this being made into a movie and I really don't think I like that idea. In my experience all movies made into books lose a lot of their power and I am sure that this one will follow in that direction.

Anyways, after THAT ending (yes I cried) there was no question in my mind that I must start reading the next one right away. So I shall start today.

Excited for the next two!

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Insurgent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Avg rating: 4.15

Goodreads Summary:
Insurgent is a 2012 science fiction young adult novel by American novelist Veronica Roth, the second book in the Divergent trilogy. As the sequel to the 2011 bestseller Divergent, it continues the story of Tris Prior and the dystopian post-apocalyptic version of Chicago. Following the events of the previous novel, a war now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. While trying to save the people that she loves, Tris faces questions of grief, forgiveness, identity, loyalty, politics, and love.

The book was first published on May 1, 2012 by the HarperCollins imprints Katherine Tegen Books in the U.S. and HarperCollins Children's Books in the U.K, a "Collector's Edition" was published on October 30 in the United States. Insurgent received mostly positive reviews from critics, with reviewers praising Roth's writing.

My Rating: 5.0

Originally read: May 01, 2012
Re-read: October 01, 2013

Original rating: 4 stars

I'm re-reading this to prepare for Allegiant (book 3) and have decided this book deserves no less than 5 stars. I'm such a huge fan of the Divergent series and after taking a year off, watching to production of the movie, the cast, the author, the fandom, I realized just how good this series is to me. I've read a lot of books between then and now and I totally understand why this series has taken off like it has. The attachment to the characters is out of this world. The strength in the main character, the plot twists, the depth of the characters relationships to each other, it's all just too good for words.

I am counting down the hours till the third and final book comes out and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Thank you Veronica Roth for creating this story for us to live in vicariously.

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