Fifty Shades Darker Review

“Daunted by the singular sexual tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house.

But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades.

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life.”

Warning, this is a very adult book and one that is aimed at over 18’s. 
This review does contain adult material.

I. Cannot. Put. These. Books. Down.  For real.   Hands up who immediately downloaded this book THE MINUTE you finished Fifty Shades of Grey? Um, yeah.   That was me too.  I have to say that Fifty Shades Darker is my favourite of the trilogy so far as it is the most romantic (think Twilight New Moon but without the Volturi and impending suicide).  You may recall that at the end of book one, Ana broke things off with Christian as she didn’t think she could partake in THAT kind of relationship although it’s broken her heart to let him go.  She’s fallen for him and she wants and needs more but is Christian Grey capable of more? That is the question.   For me, the romance started when they thought they had lost each other.  Cue shitloads of angst, Ana stops eating (no change there then) and Christian is too far gone to let Ana walk away from him, at least not for the reasons she has given (leaving him unfulfilled etc) and so guess what?!   He’s going to try and compromise and WOAH that is a big step for him and something he has never considered before.  I never said it was going to be easy though as Christian has a battle on his hands and has to face his inner demons in order for him move forward. 

Fifty Shades Darker enables us to learn more about Christian’s fucked up past and basically how this has shaped the man he is today.  Mrs Robinson is still looming in the background (someone that Ana quite rightly does not take kindly to) and this is definitely a cause of tension between her and Christian. 

I’m pleased to see the character development in this book and I love how Ana stands her ground and isn’t going to be pushed into doing something she doesn’t want to do.  She’s a strong young woman and kudos to her for that.  Christian is sexy, there’s no doubt about it but it’s not just his power and success that make him attractive.  I actually think it’s his vulnerability that does it for me.  Admit it girls, we just want to fix him and be the one to make it all better for him.  Ana definitely helps him and Cyndi Tefft (a fellow author) commented that she loved the way Christian’s fear of being touched is used to portray the growth of trust in their relationship and I have to agree! 

I’m pleased to see the return of the flirty e mail exchanges and how Ana continues to challenge Christian on multiple levels.  Let’s face it, he NEEDS that and it’s the one thing that’s really got his attention.  Plus it’s sexy as hell ;)

Overall, this was a great sequel and just as highly entertaining as the first book.  Yes, one touch from Christian has Ana experiencing multiple orgasms and yes Christian has to be one of the most perfectly flawed yet sexy men EVER and Ana never eats despite having all this amazing sex (WTF Ana?!) but you know what? It’s FANTASY and I’m definitely OK with that.  Fifty Shades Darker brought Christian and Ana closer than I thought possible and I can’t wait to see them take the next step in Fifty Shades Freed.

Fifty Shades Darker was published in April, 2012.  To find out more about E.L. James and her books, please click here to visit her website.