Yes, yes... I did it. I spent another 10 bucks for the last Fifty Shades book in the series....
I know that I've been mentioning that I bet I can guess how the third book was going to go. Well, I just lost my own bet! Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James actually exceeded my expectations and I hang my head in shame that I didn't give the writer a benefit of the doubt.
The third and final series writing-wise was a little choppy and just didn't feel that finished and refined to me like the other two books did. But then, my opinion doesn't really matter. I'm just another nobody that spent my hard earned money on a new genre of stories that I just found out are called "mommy porn", which after hearing that, makes me feel quite different about this book.
Like I started saying, the beginning of the book was one of those current day, then flash back, then back to current day type of writing. I'm usually not that crazy about this type of story telling because to tell you the truth, it just confuses the hell out of me sometimes. I didn't really get lost while reading this story, but it still got on my nerves. I was just glad that the whole book didn't go like that.
Two of my favorite characters, Ana's subconscious and inner goddess are not as visible as they were in the second book and I kind of missed them. I found these two additions to Ana's personality a bit annoying at first, but by the end of the first book, I was really enjoying them. They made the sex parts kind of funny and helped me tolerate the fact that Ana's Mr. Grey was mentally unstable - and anyone who knows me even a little bit will know how I feel about that.
So Ana and her Mr. Grey continue their adventures together and do what they do best - have lots and lots of sex. What made this book popular, what Ana calls "kinky fuckery", makes it's appearance, but I don't think it's as much part of the story as it was in the first book. Ana continues to put pieces of her puzzled Mr. Grey back together and he is almost like a normal guy at this point.
I was expecting a little more with Ana's former boss but that last chapter in the second book just inflated my expectations for such a tiny balloon in the third book! :-) The story went completely different (with the exception of the sappy ending) to what I was guessing. I knew that Ana was going to end up getting hurt or something to that extent and that it was going to be Mr. Grey's turning point to finally fully accepting Ana's love.
The story was sweet and I guess it was nice to finally have Christian open up to his Ana. I was totally expecting that, but the flow of the story just didn't go like I was expecting. It wasn't bad, it was different. Just like I mentioned after reading the first book, Ana was her Mr. Grey's salvation. I expected him to change - and he did like every romance novel male (not real life at all) - but it took so much longer than I thought! I really give credit to the writer to being able to pull that off without making the story sound too repetitive. Even the sex parts didn't seem as repetitive as so many romance writers tend to do... ie, Christine Feehan and her Carpathian series. *shuttering* You want to talk about boring and repetitive? Almost as repetitive as I've used the word "repetitive" in the paragraph! :-) Ha ha!
*clears throat noisily* Okay... back to the book.
So, now that the story of Ana and her Mr. Grey is done and over with, the writer did give us two tid bits extra at the end and one that I really enjoyed. The first was a short story written from Christian's perspective as a four year old experiencing his first Christmas. It was written pretty good and I think she makes a pretty good attempt at making it sound like it was coming from the a four year old's mind. My favorite part was how he described his New Mommy's teeth being so white and small. :-) Yeah, kids have a funny way of looking at things. My son is 8 so these kinds of observations were not that long ago for me. I'm so glad that my son opened up to me and let me into his head whenever I asked him to describe what he saw to me. I wonder who's head the writer had to get into to be able to write this short story so well?
The second tid bit was the beginning of the first book from Mr. Grey's perspective. It was as dirty and full of cursing as I expected. It was interesting but crude. I'm glad that the book didn't share his perspective because I really wouldn't have liked this character at all. I'm not crazy about Christian Grey (which is why I call him "Mr. Grey" through my writings instead of his first name) and I think it was really selfish of him to prey on young Ana. Sure, she was old enough to make her own decisions, but come on! Really? How the heck could she really fall in love with a domineering, controlling ass like Christian Grey? Sure, she had a little bit of a back bone, but not that much. But then, I guess these characters kind of rub me the wrong way anyway because they are so unlike me! I am what some may say as having a strong personality, but I'm not rude or mean about it! Now, I can get mean if someone tries to push me or my family around or take advantage of us, but I would never be able to do what Grey did with a few of the characters in the book. I believe that there are people that actually exist that can ruin a person's life without thinking twice about it. Oh, I don't know. These characters are just so fucked up beyond their fifty shades - yes, both of them! - that I guess they deserve each other. I just feel really bad for their kids...
But then, thinking back on it, it makes me really happy that this was a fiction book. Hearing that this new "mommy pron" is the whole new fad makes steam come out of my ears, but then what can I say? Sex sells. I'm just sad to see that good writers like E. L. James has to go to this trashy level to make her living. She's a good writer and I believe that she can still write a good story without all of the sex, bdsm (or whatever it's called) or even vanilla sex in it. I just found out that one of my other favorite writers, Laurell K. Hamilton, has a new book that just came out last month. A new Anita Blake book... but I don't want to read it. I know that it will be 'mommy porn' like the last 10 Blake books and I'm not sure I can handle another story like that right now. I need to look for a good fantasy fiction book to put my mind, nerves, brain or whatever at ease. I don't need to read about sex to be entertained. When I read I want to relax and escape. Fifty Shades was a well written book series, but it was not that relaxing for me. I hope that it relaxes someone out there though... :-)
Happy reading,
Pinka
Friday, July 27, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
My Hero
My hero does not have wings, does not come from another planet or have a gazillion dollars. He doesn't sparkle, doesn't have spidey senses or is considered a mutant. He's a romantic but not in the googly eyed romance book cheesy way. He's still a guy's guy, but will always be my knight in shining armor.
My hero is my hero because he thinks the way I do, likes the same kind of music, books and food. He likes to quote movies, books and comics and shares the hidden meanings of triple play and high five days with me. He understands my obscure references and knows when I need chocolate before I start craving it.
My hero saved me from being fifty shades of fucked up, thought that I was beautiful at 60-some odd pounds as well as now... just a few pounds heavier (like 100). I don't care that there are more people that would think I'm not pretty or kinda plain and ugly - it doesn't matter because my hero makes me feel like I'm much more than that. My hero is the most handsome man in the world in my eyes and I guess that is all that matters.
My hero knows I'm kinda messy and leave all of my yarn and bead projects scattered around the house. He knows that I can't stand cooking and get grossed out when I have to touch raw meat. He willingly gave up eating bacon for years because he knows that I can't handle the smell when it's cooking. What kind of guy will do that!
My hero takes care of me by doing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen and taking care of our son. He's a 'mini van' dad without the van, helps with homework and does bedtime stories. He picks up toys because one thing where my son and I are alike is that we love to scatter ourselves all over the house!
My hero is a writer but gave it up to take care of us when I couldn't work. He takes of me when I get sick or is just there to comfort me when the pain gets really bad. He goes downstairs to get me a drink of water when I wake up thirsty in the middle of the night, or kills the bugs that gross me out.
My hero has learned to sleep on a sliver of the bed because I hog the bed while he hogs the blankets and I look for him in my sleep to warm up (only because he loves to sleep with the fan on all year long). He has learned to cook Chinese food and do the laundry when I went back to work. He changed as many diapers as I did and would have gone through labor for me if it were possible.
My hero is a dad and has had just as many sleep deprived nights as I did when our son was an infant. He learned to feed and bath our baby at the same time I did. He walked the miles and miles from one of the the house to the other trying to get a colicky baby to sleep when I could no longer keep my eyes open.
My hero watches cartoons with our boy and picks him up from the bus stop. He makes his breakfast and packs his lunch. He would pack my lunch if he could get himself up early enough, but that's okay. I prefer to pack my own lunch anyway, so no complaints from me.
My hero endures my strange taste in paranormal or 'ghosty' TV shows and usually makes 'football food' worth the 6 months of NFL torture. My hero trusts me and supports me even though I can't write as well as he does, he still encourages my scattered ramblings.
My hero loves me and I love him. Even though I know he wishes he had all of those hero powers, he will always have something way better instead - and though it's cheesy and romance novel-like, there really isn't any other way to say... but he has the awesome power of love and 20 years of marriage today to prove it. :-)
My hero is my hero because he thinks the way I do, likes the same kind of music, books and food. He likes to quote movies, books and comics and shares the hidden meanings of triple play and high five days with me. He understands my obscure references and knows when I need chocolate before I start craving it.
My hero saved me from being fifty shades of fucked up, thought that I was beautiful at 60-some odd pounds as well as now... just a few pounds heavier (like 100). I don't care that there are more people that would think I'm not pretty or kinda plain and ugly - it doesn't matter because my hero makes me feel like I'm much more than that. My hero is the most handsome man in the world in my eyes and I guess that is all that matters.
My hero knows I'm kinda messy and leave all of my yarn and bead projects scattered around the house. He knows that I can't stand cooking and get grossed out when I have to touch raw meat. He willingly gave up eating bacon for years because he knows that I can't handle the smell when it's cooking. What kind of guy will do that!
My hero takes care of me by doing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen and taking care of our son. He's a 'mini van' dad without the van, helps with homework and does bedtime stories. He picks up toys because one thing where my son and I are alike is that we love to scatter ourselves all over the house!
My hero is a writer but gave it up to take care of us when I couldn't work. He takes of me when I get sick or is just there to comfort me when the pain gets really bad. He goes downstairs to get me a drink of water when I wake up thirsty in the middle of the night, or kills the bugs that gross me out.
My hero has learned to sleep on a sliver of the bed because I hog the bed while he hogs the blankets and I look for him in my sleep to warm up (only because he loves to sleep with the fan on all year long). He has learned to cook Chinese food and do the laundry when I went back to work. He changed as many diapers as I did and would have gone through labor for me if it were possible.
My hero is a dad and has had just as many sleep deprived nights as I did when our son was an infant. He learned to feed and bath our baby at the same time I did. He walked the miles and miles from one of the the house to the other trying to get a colicky baby to sleep when I could no longer keep my eyes open.
My hero watches cartoons with our boy and picks him up from the bus stop. He makes his breakfast and packs his lunch. He would pack my lunch if he could get himself up early enough, but that's okay. I prefer to pack my own lunch anyway, so no complaints from me.
My hero endures my strange taste in paranormal or 'ghosty' TV shows and usually makes 'football food' worth the 6 months of NFL torture. My hero trusts me and supports me even though I can't write as well as he does, he still encourages my scattered ramblings.
My hero loves me and I love him. Even though I know he wishes he had all of those hero powers, he will always have something way better instead - and though it's cheesy and romance novel-like, there really isn't any other way to say... but he has the awesome power of love and 20 years of marriage today to prove it. :-)
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Back to reading the classics....
Okay, so it's not a classic like so many of you would think. It's one of MY classics. Way back when I was still fairly new to reading fantasy fiction - and NO! it's not Tolkien! I'm talking about the good ole TSR novels from the world of Ravenloft. This was way back when Gen Con was still held in Milwaukee, WI (at least i think it was), and I was still considered a newlywed being married to my hubby at that time for a mere 3 years.
I just finished reading Death of a Darklord by Laurell K. Hamilton. Yes, it's the same Laurell K. that created one of my favorite characters - Anita Blake. :-) :-)
This is what I like about Revenloft - it's dark and it's scary. It has monsters that are truly monsters and they act like monsters. They don't sparkle and they don't get all googly eyed in love. This book didn't have a happy ending with rainbows, puppy dogs and lolly pops. The best way I can describe it is that it reminded me of the reason so many enjoy Shakespearean tragedies - they don't have happy endings either, but the stories are good. :-)
I'm sure that there are more people that will disagree with me than there are people that would agree. I really don't care, and here is why. I think the whole paranormal genre has gone too soft. You have Louie from Interview with a Vampire whining and crying over this dead wife, then over that little girl that acted more like a vampire than he ever did. Oh yeah, and he made himself seem like such a victim to that bully Lestat. Oh shut up Louie!
I mean, you have the true classic monster, Dracula, that is so heartbroken over his dead wife that he spends centuries looking for her - which came in the form of Mina. But have you ever read the book or really watch the movie? He's still a monster and even with his broken heart, you don't get any impression that he's anything else but that monster!
Laurell K. Hamilton starts her Anita Blake series with the monsters being monsters and her hunting them down to dispose of them as needed. But her later books in this series has her falling in love and getting all magical and stuff. I'm pretty sure that it sold way more books than the original books, but come on! Anita Blake was so awesome without all of that oogly-googly-heart-in-the-eyes romance. Yes, this is my personal opinion. I can imagine what the series could have become if the general public and their $$ didn't dictate which direction these books went in. You could have had an awesome series that is more comic book worth than what there is now. I've seen a few trade paperbacks of the Anita Blake books, but those were the clean ones - the ones before the romance - where the characters were exactly what I expected them to be. Those were comic book worthy and I'll be curious to see how far they get in that comic book series before they stop having enough story to be able to keep clean. :-)
Okay, so back to Death of a Darklord...
Let's go back a bit to talk about why I like or dislike certain writers. I love seeing characters come to life and Laurell K. Hamilton definitely does that in this book. The two main characters, twins, just pop out of the book. She adds little quirky things about these kids that shows what kind of personalities they have. How they learned to knit and all of the gifts that they made their family members... it's little things like this that make me fall in love with a book. This was a whole whopping page and a half of the total book, but it stayed with me for the rest of the story. It made their banters more real - especially when Blaine was trying to describe how a young horse that didn't like Elaine was just young and full of vinegar. Elaine replied by snapping that if the horse was so full of vinegar that it should be a pickle. :-) :-) Okay, okay... maybe you just have to read the book for that to be as amusing as I think it is. :-)
No, there are no happily ever afters in this book.... and it's so refreshing!!! :-) :-) One of my friends asked me why I haven't downloaded the final book of the Fifty Shades series and I'll tell you why. Because it's going to have a happily ever after ending! That's why! Sure, our two fucked up, neurotic, emotionally unstable... oh, pick a phrase - characters will surely have an adventure on their hands with Ana's former boss trying to hunt them down, but we all know that she and her Mr. Grey are going to be all happy and perfect with ice cream, fairies and everything that is good on their side. :-) :-) Yeah, can you tell that I'm getting tired of these kind of books? :-) :-)
So, if you want to read a good story without it being too happy and cheery at the end, just choose any of the Ravenloft books. :-) They all pretty much do the same thing. Or you can try reading Edgar Allen Poe and get the same thing. :-) :-) But there is just something about sinking my teeth and enjoying a good "trashy" fantasy novel that almost makes me feel guilty - like the kind of guilt where you eat those extra three pieces of cake. :-) :-) Yes, if you can imagine what I look like, I have as close to a Cheshire cat smile on my face right now. Yum! :-) :-)
Happy reading,
Pinka
I just finished reading Death of a Darklord by Laurell K. Hamilton. Yes, it's the same Laurell K. that created one of my favorite characters - Anita Blake. :-) :-)
This is what I like about Revenloft - it's dark and it's scary. It has monsters that are truly monsters and they act like monsters. They don't sparkle and they don't get all googly eyed in love. This book didn't have a happy ending with rainbows, puppy dogs and lolly pops. The best way I can describe it is that it reminded me of the reason so many enjoy Shakespearean tragedies - they don't have happy endings either, but the stories are good. :-)
I'm sure that there are more people that will disagree with me than there are people that would agree. I really don't care, and here is why. I think the whole paranormal genre has gone too soft. You have Louie from Interview with a Vampire whining and crying over this dead wife, then over that little girl that acted more like a vampire than he ever did. Oh yeah, and he made himself seem like such a victim to that bully Lestat. Oh shut up Louie!
I mean, you have the true classic monster, Dracula, that is so heartbroken over his dead wife that he spends centuries looking for her - which came in the form of Mina. But have you ever read the book or really watch the movie? He's still a monster and even with his broken heart, you don't get any impression that he's anything else but that monster!
Laurell K. Hamilton starts her Anita Blake series with the monsters being monsters and her hunting them down to dispose of them as needed. But her later books in this series has her falling in love and getting all magical and stuff. I'm pretty sure that it sold way more books than the original books, but come on! Anita Blake was so awesome without all of that oogly-googly-heart-in-the-eyes romance. Yes, this is my personal opinion. I can imagine what the series could have become if the general public and their $$ didn't dictate which direction these books went in. You could have had an awesome series that is more comic book worth than what there is now. I've seen a few trade paperbacks of the Anita Blake books, but those were the clean ones - the ones before the romance - where the characters were exactly what I expected them to be. Those were comic book worthy and I'll be curious to see how far they get in that comic book series before they stop having enough story to be able to keep clean. :-)
Okay, so back to Death of a Darklord...
Let's go back a bit to talk about why I like or dislike certain writers. I love seeing characters come to life and Laurell K. Hamilton definitely does that in this book. The two main characters, twins, just pop out of the book. She adds little quirky things about these kids that shows what kind of personalities they have. How they learned to knit and all of the gifts that they made their family members... it's little things like this that make me fall in love with a book. This was a whole whopping page and a half of the total book, but it stayed with me for the rest of the story. It made their banters more real - especially when Blaine was trying to describe how a young horse that didn't like Elaine was just young and full of vinegar. Elaine replied by snapping that if the horse was so full of vinegar that it should be a pickle. :-) :-) Okay, okay... maybe you just have to read the book for that to be as amusing as I think it is. :-)
No, there are no happily ever afters in this book.... and it's so refreshing!!! :-) :-) One of my friends asked me why I haven't downloaded the final book of the Fifty Shades series and I'll tell you why. Because it's going to have a happily ever after ending! That's why! Sure, our two fucked up, neurotic, emotionally unstable... oh, pick a phrase - characters will surely have an adventure on their hands with Ana's former boss trying to hunt them down, but we all know that she and her Mr. Grey are going to be all happy and perfect with ice cream, fairies and everything that is good on their side. :-) :-) Yeah, can you tell that I'm getting tired of these kind of books? :-) :-)
So, if you want to read a good story without it being too happy and cheery at the end, just choose any of the Ravenloft books. :-) They all pretty much do the same thing. Or you can try reading Edgar Allen Poe and get the same thing. :-) :-) But there is just something about sinking my teeth and enjoying a good "trashy" fantasy novel that almost makes me feel guilty - like the kind of guilt where you eat those extra three pieces of cake. :-) :-) Yes, if you can imagine what I look like, I have as close to a Cheshire cat smile on my face right now. Yum! :-) :-)
Happy reading,
Pinka
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