So you mean to say that when he's increasingly jealous of her friend-zoned bff Jose and constantly states the obvious of "He wants to get in your pants, but he can't because you're mine." hasn't happened yet? Or how about how he doesn't like her seeing Kate's brother when he's in town, or how the guy at work is friendly to her. Or how about when she breaks up with him, not because of his lifestyle or his history, but because she was terrified of what he had done to her, he hit her (spanked, yes, but she constantly looks back on it as he 'hit' her) and that he could revert back and do it again if he was ever angry enough?
Maybe you'll remember whenever they have a discussion. Ana tries to open up to him, about her fears and insecurities of being hurt again, physically, and he literally dismisses it as "That's the way I am and you're going to have to learn to deal with it." Or maybe when he doesn't allow her to go anywhere without supervision, either his crones or himself... she can't leave her office building, she can't drive to work on her own, she literally can't do anything without someone holding her hand through it because he commands it.
That's all in the first two books, but maybe you glossed over all that when you were reading the repetitive sex scenes.
I find the last two posts in this thread rather sexist. I don't think either Katie or either ever passionately claimed to love this book anywhere. Nor that we read it for the sex scenes which..... when you accuse an erotic romance author of that... is pretty funny.
No I said "a lot of this stuff" hasn't come up yet.
Some of it on the other hand
has happened. The Joss stuff was a fraction too controlling and the stalking stuff where he tracks down that she's at the night club etc... is definitely wrong outside of fantasy.
However as I recall when he "hit" her she demanded repeatedly that he show her the worst of BD/SM that he could give to her. She demanded that he give it to her as hard as possible, and then she was horrified when he hit her too hard. So that's not the same as him randomly hitting her as abuse. She agreed to engage in a BD/SM scene with him and urged him to do his worst. (And yes I see how that offends some people in the BD/SM lifestyle but....it's a
story. )
I don't agree that he constantly dismisses her concerns about engaging in a BD/SM relationship. He repeatedly says to her she doesn't have to do it, and he doesn't want to force her into it, but if she wants to be his girlfriend that's how he is and what he does. He's very clear with her that she can walk away any time and as far as her being weak....you know she
does walk away. She gives back all his gifts and walks and she doesn't agree to be part of any kind of relationship again until he agrees to make some changes for her. So people constantly painting her as 100% weak is inaccurate.
Christian's refusing a relationship with a woman unless it's BDSM may not be a very admirable trait in a man, but stories need character conflict and character flaws, and that is his issue in the beginning, and in fact they both do change their mindsets and grow as characters.
As for my reading the book for the sex scenes LMAO. The first book doesn't even have any sex scene until the middle of the book.
Look at the book in my avatar. That's
my book published by Samhain Publishing and I suspect you'd think Fifty Shades of Grey istame in comparison. :-D
Also I didn't say I LOVED Fifty Shades of Grey. I just get tired of people constantly panning it beyond what it deserves. I think it does have some elements that many other romances lack, that I think explain its popular success.
I don't think the sex scenes are poorly written they are OK, if they were what I enjoyed about the book I would admit that but actually what I enjoyed about the book were the emails and the fun New Age aspects of the story.
I kind of play the Devil's advocate when people start slagging off FSOG, because it seems fashionable to dog this book even while everyone is throwing vast quantities of money at the author.
I do think a certain part of that is a combination of sexism, the same sexism that is thrown at the whole romance genre and jealousy of EL James outstanding popularity.
It's not like I don't see where Christian was an asshole, but I haven't finished the three books to see if he redeems himself and there are many places in the story where he checks to make sure she is OK with things and doesn't force things on her so implying that he doesn't is misreading. Also it's not like EL James failed to explain why he behaves the way he does. He has very signifigant issues in his past that cause him to be "50 shades of fucked up". So the author has not failed to give a reason for her protagonist's unpleasant side. And yet painting the character as being wholly controlling is inaccurate as he repeatedly gives Ana outs if she doesn't want to deal with his neuroses.
As for when he starts making it so she can't go out alone that is explained by the fact he's protecting her from his violent ex-girlfriend who wants to harm her. So it's not like it is is just in there and not explained and it's a common device in romance novels so the hero and heroine are forced into artificial close proximity to make the romance work.
Also when I broke down for people in this thread what I thought worked about 50 shades I did that to help us all reflect on what possibly made this romance a best seller, something I thought we'd all be interested in here. It was my analysis of aspects I thought contributed to its success.
