Fifty Shades Darker

In the middle book of the Fifty Shades trilogy that has launched in popularity all over the word, Ana finds herself broken up with her Fifty Shades, Christian,  and mourning the loss of her libido.  She was scared of whom Christian became in the Red Room of Pain and thought at that moment that there was no way it was going to work; he was too damaged for anything to work out between them. At least she thought.  Circumstances arise that lead her and Christian to attend her friend Jose’s gallery opening and bringing all of those feelings she doesn’t want to feel to the surface.  But this time she is ready – at least more than before.  She knows what she wants and will fight to have him and the man she knows he is. She is also less afraid to tell him (notice how I said less and not fully).  This starts Ana’s journey into the darker side of her Fifty Shades.

At first I was hesitant to read the second book.  I didn’t want every other page to be kinky sex and Christian using his coping mechanism on Ana.  But I am glad I did.  There was a story line that developed which was shocking and unexpected.  I was intrigued and I couldn’t stop reading it.  There was also more character development and less Red Room of Pain.  Don’t worry ladies (and men) there is enough of the kinky stuff to keep you occupied and happy but to me that isn’t what interested me.

What did interest me was throughout the book the reader got a deeper understanding of who Ana and Christian really are. Christian becomes more human.  He starts to unravel because he has had so much control in his life and Ana is something that he is finding out he can’t control. He begins to succumb to many of the things Ana wants – vanilla relationship, communicating, and dates.  But the question surfaces, is this really him or is this just a version of him to make Ana happy? I have to side with Ana on this one and have to wonder if he really is happy or if he is pretending because he is afraid - afraid of feeling anything for anyone.

Is Ana obnoxious? Perhaps but it depends on how you look at her.  She is a very young 22-year old who is not experienced in this world of adult relationships and, being blunt, sex.  She doesn’t know what to do with these feelings of her first love and all of the baggage that comes with it.  And this is just the regular emotional baggage, not the baggage that comes with being with Christina Grey and his mental, emotional and physical state.  When you look at her that way she is dealing with a lot – especially when she starts to unravel pieces of who Christian is and why he is the way that he is.

Christian comes undone and we see a much different side of him but he isn’t the only one.  Ana is growing up, becoming her own person, becoming vocal.  With Christian you start to see a vulnerable side while at the same time with Ana we start to see a confident side that she hadn’t shown before because she was afraid of losing him.  But she did lose him and it was her decision.  And now that she has him back she knows that the feelings are not lust – they are real.  And with that realization she can focus on the most pressing matter of their relationship – who is Christian Grey?

Only Book 3 – Fifty Shades Freed – will tell.