Is there such a thing as YA erotica?

Fifty Shades of Grey  - E.L. James

Opening Line: “I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror.”

So, I realize the last thing this book needs is another review and I’m way late to the bandwagon but since I finally succumbed to all the hype I figured I might as well give my fifty cents worth. And my hard line is; I liked it but it was weird.

Maybe I’ll start be describing why this was weird; is there such a thing as YA erotica because that’s what Fifty Shades reads like. The writing style is very simple and our main character Anastasia acts more like a high school heroine caught up in the big bad world of BDSM then a college grad. Yup she’s way out of her depth here. This kinda makes sense when you’re aware that this started out as Twilight fan fiction. I just wish I hadn’t known that and I wish James had edited a bit more before going to press because all the similarities distracted me. I’ve heard others mention that they didn’t notice but I couldn’t stop noticing and it removed me from the story as I pictured José as Jacob and every other character as their alter ego while stumbling around after clumsy Bella/Ana who all the boys seem to love despite her unremarkableness.

Ana, sigh, she really is TSTL and I had a hard time believing that a gorgeous billionaire would fall for her; she’s just been written a bit too immature, virginal and well, too much of a loser to be believable as Christian’s “It” girl -the moth to his flame. How the hell do you manage to graduate college without a computer anyway? (This relates to nothing but just bothered me)

Speaking of Christian you can’t help but fall for him, I mean who doesn’t love a bad boy especially a gorgeous one with a disposable income and just enough issues to keep you interested. He and his Robert Pattinson-ish hair were very intriguing, hot and scary in a controlling stalker sort of way and I did like how his character and “fifty shades of fucked-upness” was slowly revealed throughout the book. Truthfully he is the sole reason I`ll be continuing on with this series, I have to find out why he is the way he is, what happened to him?

I am curious to see what if anything EL James will write next, I would love to see where she goes on her own without the aid of the Twilight universe because she did have some great stuff here. Personally I think she would do really well with chick-lit, Ana’s triple axel, back flipping, hiding behind the couch “Inner Goddess” really made me laugh but hopefully she’ll set her next book in England because the Briticisms coming from Seattleite's were weird. I`ve never heard an American say pride of place. Anyways.

I did enjoy all the emails; as well as being fun they allowed the characters to show pieces of their true selves while still hiding behind the “mean machine” and a Blackberry. The 10 pages of contract rules and appendixes got to be a bit much, mostly because we kept referring back to them but it was interesting seeing it laid out in full because it allowed you to think would I sign this? What would I amend? Cough, cough fisting.

Despite all of my misgivings and issues in the end I liked this; I’m still not sure what all the fuss is about? I mean there is way better erotica out there but it was a fun read that I`ll be continuing with. 334jb4.5

“I’m no longer angry with him, I feel suddenly, unbearably shy. I don’t want him to go. For the first time, I’m wishing he was normal—wanting a normal relationship that doesn’t need a ten-page agreement, a flogger, and carabineers in his playroom ceiling.”