Review for Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James

When unworldly student Anastasia Steele first encountered the driven and dazzling young entrepreneur Christian Grey it sparked a sensual affair that changed both of their lives irrevocably. Shocked, intrigued, and, ultimately, repelled by Christian’s singular erotic tastes, Ana demands a deeper commitment. Determined to keep her, Christian agrees.

Now, Ana and Christian have it all—love, passion, intimacy, wealth, and a world of possibilities for their future. But Ana knows that loving her Fifty Shades will not be easy, and that being together will pose challenges that neither of them would anticipate. Ana must somehow learn to share Christian’s opulent lifestyle without sacrificing her own identity. And Christian must overcome his compulsion to control as he wrestles with the demons of a tormented past.

Just when it seems that their strength together will eclipse any obstacle, misfortune, malice, and fate conspire to make Ana’s deepest fears turn to reality.

********************

The literary hysteria comes to an end with Fifty Shades Freed, which shows us a married Ana and Christian and though they're more or less happy I found this story the weakest of the series.  A happy Christian is a rather bland Christian and considering he's the reason I stuck with this series, I was left underwhelmed.  He's still possessive and controlling but is also sickeningly romantic and dare I say sweet at times.  Married life has left him slightly neutered which caused Ana to have more of a presence in this final story.  Ana has never been a character I've liked as her inner thoughts and pet names for herself and Christian grate on my nerves with their redundant use.  I've waited for her to grow up and have more of a backbone and she finally succeeds on some level.  When Christian angers her she lets him know it and puts herself in danger when an enemy goes after them and their family, but she's still naive when it comes to sex.  After every act she and Christian have done you'd think she'd stop blushing and acting shocked!  When all is said and done though Christian still gets his way through guilt and emotional manipulation.

Though the sexual interludes between he and Ana are still numerous and super steamy there's a sense that he's been tamed as we don't see quite as much BDSM action this time around.  A lengthy honeymoon at exotic locations full of shopping makes for a very boring middle section of the story though.  We already know he's rich so these repetitive examples are unnecessary and boring.  The only time the story got exciting was when a vengeful enemy went after the happy couple. These scenes were actually exciting and the identity of the accomplice was kept cleverly concealed.  The fallout from this brought Christian and Ana back from the brink of a surprising announcement that threw Christian for a loop.

I'm glad I read this series and enjoyed Christian immensely until he became a married man.  I loved his rough edges and am sad those edges have now been rubbed down.  Fans of erotica will still find the sexual encounters satisfying though the edge there too has been diminished a bit.  For now, readers will have to find another series to go crazy over and I hope they'll look towards authors who have written in this genre, long before E.L. James came on the scene, where they'll be introduced to much better written stories!

My rating for this is a C+

*I borrowed this from our local library to form my own opinion.