Unwrapping FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, the movie...

When FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by E.L. James was first released, I paid my ten dollars for the privilege of reading one of the most poorly written romance novels ever. After finishing book one of what I then discovered was to be a trilogy, I swore I would never read another word written by this author.  I can say I have kept that promise.

Now the movie was announced. I immediately thought…holy crap, really? Someone was going to sink a boatload of money into making a terrible book into a movie. Well, I thought…I suppose it can’t be any worse than the book. In fact, it was even possible that it might be better than the book. Wouldn’t that be a first? We all know a book is most certainly always better than any movie created based on that book.

When the movie was setting to release, I watched the trailers. I listened to the hype and some of my friends’ excitement over the coming attractions but couldn’t get excited over the movie having read the book. I decided that after sinking ten dollars into an ebook that I will never ever read again I would never ever pay good money to see the movie, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. I can say that I never did, and never will.

Okay, anyone who has HBO knows that the movie, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY is playing on that movie network right now. One evening last month, I happened to notice it was on so I clicked on it and, out of pure curiosity, started watching it. I turned it off literally two minutes into the movie. I don’t think I got through the credits.

About two weeks ago, my curiosity got the better of me and I once more started up the movie. I freely admit that I watched the movie, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. All I can say is…that’s two hours and nine minutes of my life, I will never get back. To say that the book was horrible is an understatement in reference to the movie. The movie was worse!

It was incredibly horrible! It was boring, mundane, and so ridiculous in that it was missing every part of the book that made Christian Grey the creepy, insecure, arrogant, and misogynistic character that he was in the book. The actor playing Grey was unattractive, boring, and weak. The actor portraying Ana Steele couldn’t act her way out of a cardboard box but then again, it really didn’t take much to portray such a weak, inane character as Anastasia Steele anyway.

I cannot understand how anyone can rave over this movie…unless they never read the book, which would lead them to believe that this was a dom/sub relationship at its best. Oh well, at least I didn’t have to hear about Ana’s inner goddess…I also got a lot of work done because it was so boring that I had to do something to keep me awake.

If you saw the movie, I’d love to hear what you thought of it.

Happy Reading (Good Books) Everyone!

Unwrapping: Talking About FIFTY SHADES OF GREY Again...Not Only!

This past Wednesday, I reviewed TAKE THE KEY AND LOCK HER UP, a Deadly Games Thriller by Lena Diaz as part of a blog tour. Btw, the Giveaway is still happening so if you'd like a shot at winning a copy of this fabulous thriller romance, please click HERE to go there.

 I can’t describe how much I enjoyed this book. The story was action-packed, the characters are fully evolved, and the mystery was one which kept me guessing even after I figured out who the killer was – although I had the motive wrong. It got me to thinking about FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by E. L. James being made into a movie. Yes, I'm back there again. I’m old school in that I very seldom have ever said a movie was better than the book. I have my favorites based on books, which I watch repeatedly – such as most of the Austen adaptations.

As many of you already know, I am not a fan of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. Most likely I will never watch this movie unless there happens to be absolutely nothing else on the boob tube. Although I’m more likely to watch a documentary on oil rigs in the Gulf rather than succumb to the hoopla surrounding a movie based on a book so poorly written it made me roll my eyes on nearly every page. I never could move on to the second or third book because the thought of paying ten bucks more each was just ludicrous. It’s bad enough when I succumbed to my curiosity about the book that I paid out ten bucks I’ll never see again.

But back to TAKE THE KEY AND LOCK HER UP by Lena Diaz. This is a book I would love to see made into a movie. In fact, the entire series could make a wonderful film series. I happen to be a huge fan of suspense whether in print or on the big screen, but this book has everything it needs to translate well to the silver screen. I’d much rather see it transformed into film, even though much would probably be lost along the way, than to see entirely too much money spent to bring such a simpering, weak, unimaginative creation as FIFTY SHADES OF GREY to the big screen. But then, that’s just one person’s opinion – mine!

So, I’m curious, if you could nominate a favorite romance novel to be made into a big production film, which would it be?

Happy Reading Everyone!

Btw, if you’re looking for some end-of-summer good reading, do check out TAKE THE KEY AND LOCK HER UP by Lena Diaz, and another good one is GODS AND GLADIATORS by Jaye Shields. I highly recommend both!

TAKE THE KEY AND LOCK HER UP, a Deadly Games Thriller by Lena Diaz, Avon Impulse, available in print (soon) and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

GODS AND GLADIATORS by Jaye Shields, indie pub, available in ebook format at Amazon.

***click on links above or covers below for purchasing information, remember even pennies a sale using my links helps keep this blog alive. Thank you.

                                   

Unwrapping My Thoughts on FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, the Movie & BDSM in Romance Novels

With all of the excitement building over the upcoming release of the movie version of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by E.L. James, I got to thinking about the way BDSM (Bondage-Dominance-Submission-Masochism) is portrayed in romance novels today. I am not a fan of the FSofG series and do not expect to see the movie unless I hear some very good things about it – namely that it’s better than the book, but since a movie version of a book is so rarely better than the original, I doubt it will happen.

Have you seen the trailer? Some think it's really sexy, racy, or whatever. I think it's about as exciting as the book. Not.

There are many romance authors today who portray BDSM from mild to extreme so much more erotically, and genuinely that it got me thinking back to some older romance novels which were never labeled as BDSM but actually can be added to the list. One in particular is WARRIOR’S WOMAN by Johanna Lindsay.

Now, before fans of Johanna Lindsay jump on me and proclaim, NO WAY!, if you’ve read this particular book and its series, think about some of the sex portrayed. I loved this trilogy of sci-fi romance created by Johanna and wish she’d revisit this type of romance again.

In the year 2139, fearless Tedra De Arr sets out to rescue her beleaguered planet Kystran from the savage rule of the evil Crad Ce Moerr.

Experienced in combat but not in love, the beautiful, untouched Amazon flies with Martha, her wise-cracking, free-thinking computer, to a world where warriors reigns supreme - and into the arms of the one man she can never hope to vanquish: the bronzed barbarian Challen Ly-San-Ter.

A magnificent creature of raw yet disciplined desires, the muscle-bound primitive succeeds where no puny Kystran male had before - igniting a raging fire within Tedra that must be extinguished before she can even think of saving her enslaved world...

Many erotic romance novels today have a dominant male paired with a confident yet submissive female where mild to extreme BDSM is introduced between the couple but WARRIOR’S WOMAN was first released in 1990 by Avon Romance and for the time, it pushed the envelope further than most romance novels had ever gone before. There was a cultural traditionalism behind the behavior on the part of the hero, Challen, and the heroine, Tedra, was a self-sufficient, tough, warrior who challenged her hero every step of the way. Her refusal to submit to his dominant behavior resulted in a few punishment scenes, one of which even included an explicitly non-painful spanking scene, which left her hero with a very bad taste in his mouth. His punishment amounted to bringing her as close to orgasm as possible without allowing her the satisfaction desired by her. When she told him if he wanted to truly punish her, he should do it properly with a spanking. His means of punishment was never about pain but simply a means to make her understand he was in control of her, and her pleasure. 

Well, as women, we may not agree with that because we all know we are responsible for our own pleasure and it’s our willingness to share it with our men, which enhances it and makes our men feel triumphant. But along the lines of BDSM, Challen believed himself in charge, dominant if you will, but in truth, we know it was Tedra who led his heart and so led his desire to please her and keep her from pain.

So with this in mind, I’m drawn back to FIFTY SHADES OF GREY and its manner of pushing the envelope toward humiliation, Christian’s need to crush Ana, her heart, and make her feel as low as he feels. These are things which turned me off about this series. I’m all for reading erotic romance with BDSM themes, even when they don’t particularly make me comfortable. Voyeurism themes tend to make me uncomfortable but not necessarily because of the theme but it’s the idea of a man who loves his woman and yet still feels it’s okay for other men to watch her pleasure that turns me away. I believe there’s play and then there’s respect. Love needs respect to survive, just as it needs respect to exist in the first place.

True, in any games of BDSM, there is a level of mutual acceptance and the dynamic is supposed to be one of consensual play but again, I don’t feel that in FSofG the way I feel it in other erotic romance with BDSM elements. So my question to you is the same one I would ask a partner in real life, how far is too far when introducing elements of bondage, dominance, submission, and masochism into a romantic relationship?

Also, will you be seeing the movie? 

Feel free to comment, rant, blast me, or agree - I want to know your thoughts. Happy Reading Everyone! 

Unwrapping Romance: Review of IF I WERE YOU by Lisa Renee Jones

I've been reading paranormals written by Lisa Renee Jones for some time after discovering her quite by chance so when she first started talking about this new trilogy that she claims is FIFTY SHADES OF GREY meets BASIC INSTINCT, I knew I had to give it a try. I was fortunate enough to get an eARC of IF I WERE YOU, book one in the Inside Out trilogy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unscripted review. Boy, am I so glad!!

Blurb for IF I WERE YOU:

How it began….

One day I was a high school teacher on summer break, leading a relatively uneventful but happy life. Or so I told myself. Later, I’d question that, as I would question pretty much everything I knew about me, my relationships, and my desires. It all began when my neighbor thrust a key to a storage unit at me. She’d bought it to make extra money after watching some storage auction show. Now she was on her way to the airport to elope with a man she barely knew, and she needed me to clear out the unit before the lease expires.

Soon, I was standing inside a small room that held the intimate details of another woman’s life, feeling uncomfortable , as if I was invading her privacy. Why had she let these items so neatly packed, possessions that she clearly cared about deeply, be lost at an auction? Driven to find out by some unnamed force, I began to dig, to discover this woman’s life, and yes, read her journals—-dark, erotic journals that I had no business reading. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I read on obsessively, living out fantasies through her words that I’d never dare experience on my own, compelled by the three men in her life, none of whom had names. I read onward until the last terrifying dark entry left me certain that something had happened to this woman. I had to find her and be sure she was okay.

Before long, I was taking her job for the summer at the art gallery, living her life, and she was nowhere to be found. I was becoming someone I didn’t know. I was becoming her…

 

The dark, passion it becomes…

Now, I am working at a prestigious gallery, where I have always dreamed of being, and I’ve been delivered to the doorstep of several men, all of which I envision as one I’ve read about in the journal. But there is one man that will call to me, that will awaken me in ways I never believed possible. That man is the ruggedly sexy artist, Chris Merit, who wants to paint me. He is rich and famous, and dark in ways I shouldn’t find intriguing, but I do. I so do. I don’t understand why his dark side appeals to me, but the attraction between us is rich with velvety promises of satisfaction. Chris is dark, and so are his desires, but I cannot turn away. He is damaged beneath his confident good looks and need for control, and in some way, I feel he needs me. I need him.

All I know for certain is that he knows me like I don’t even know me, and he says I know him. Still, I keep asking myself — do I know him? Did he know her, the journal writer, and where is she? And why doesn’t it seem to matter anymore? There is just him and me, and the burn for more.

                         *                      *                    *                     *                   *

This is Sara McMillan's story and when you read IF I WERE YOU, you will walk in her shoes in a way that will entice you, entrance you and capture you like no other story.

Tempted by a mysterious journal left by her neighbor and friend, Ella, Sara opens it and begins to read. She soon finds herself caught up in the erotic writings of a woman named Rebecca who is a complete mystery to her except for what she experiences through the woman's words. After being given free reign over the contents of a storage locker filled with Rebecca's possessions and even more journals, Sara embarks on a mission to discover who Rebecca is, where she has gone and what caused her to leave everything she owned in storage locker that has now been auctioned off to strangers.

As Sara steps into the shoes of Rebecca by being hired to take over the woman's job at an art gallery, we step into this new, exciting world of art, wine, expensive things, wealthy people and something far darker and possibly much more sinister. Lisa Renee Jones has chosen to write this extraordinary and suspenseful erotic romance in first person present and it works so magnificently well that you soon feel as if what you're reading is actually happening to you or wishing it was anyway. 

IF I WERE YOU by Lisa Renee Jones is the first book in the Inside Out Trilogy. Lisa refers to it as FIFTY SHADES OF GREY meets BASIC INSTINCT and it's easy to see the connection to the first, although it's a hundred times better, but I began to wonder where the latter came in until I reached the last chapter. I'm not going to tell you anymore except to say that it is a cliffhanger. It's a cliffhanger that will have leaping from your chair and begging for more. It's one of the best cliffhangers I've ever read in a series.

Reading IF I WERE YOU by Lisa Renee Jones is not just a great read, it's a great experience. It's rich with sensation, emotion, and when Sara begins to fall in love with Chris, you begin to fall in love with Chris as well. By the way, Chris Merit makes Christian Grey look like a nobody when it comes to romancing with wealth. Grey may have an appeal to some but I think every woman who reads IF I WERE YOU will be wishing for a Chris Merit to sweep her off her feet. Don't get me wrong, he's a tortured broken hero but he's nowhere near as screwed up as Christian Grey and so much more believable and endearing. Sara has her demons to deal with also but she's so much more relatable that when she's hurt, angry, or confused - so are you. As the reader, you become Sara McMillan. IF I WERE YOU is a masterpiece of characterization, emotions, and most of all uses the magic of words to transport you into your own imagination so thoroughly that you feel you are living the book rather than just reading it.

I highly recommend to anyone who loves great story-telling, great romance, mystery, falling in love, and delighting in imaginative and intellectual sensuality that acts on the brain like foreplay - read IF I WERE YOU by Lisa Renee Jones. I can't wait to read book two - BEING ME.  Thank you Lisa!

Happy Reading Everyone!

IF I WERE YOU by Lisa Renee Jones, self-published and available now in print and ebook formats.

                                                                    

Btw - be sure to stopy by on Wednesday when Lisa will join me to talk about herself and her books plus I do believe she's got a Giveaway. See you then.  : )

Unwrapping: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by E. L. James

A few weeks ago, I saw and read more than one interview/article talking about E.L. James and her book FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. My interest, sparked by all of the controversy, led me to download a preview of the book to my Kobo. After reading the preview, I admit I was hooked. I wasn't hooked by the fact that the story centered around a relationship between a so-called older wealthier man and a so-called younger virginal girl or even that the story concerned BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Sadism and Masochism), I was hooked because for some reason I just had to know what happened. It was like watching a train wreck - I knew it was going to happen, I knew someone was going to get hurt yet I couldn't look away.

This is NOT an actual review but more of a RANT about all of the hoopla surrounding this book so I hope you'll stick with me on this. I can't give you a review as I will not have read the whole story unless I read all three books.

I'm still confused about what exactly IS the controversy regarding this book. I heard some experts say that it was damaging to women. That a story such as this where an older wealthier man of power taking advantage of a younger innocent girl gives women of all ages a warped sense of romance. That a woman fantasizing about such relationships is dangerous to her sense of self-worth.

EXCUSE ME - did they read the book? Because I did and that's NOT what I read.

First of all, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY is NOT a romance novel - not in the true sense anyway. It's been said that this trilogy is a spin-off of sorts of the Twilight series. Although, this author makes it a contemporary minus the paranormal aspects, it's said she drew her original inspiration from the romance that existed between a hundred year old vampire and an innocent young teenager. Of course, I've also heard comparisons to the movie PRETTY WOMAN which I actually see more readily than any comparison to Twilight.
Quite often when I read Ana Steele begging for more from the relationship (she means emotional connection not beatings), I was actually reminded of Vivian, the prostitute, telling her millionaire client, Edward that she wanted more - she wanted the fairy tale.

Whereas with both the Twilight series and PRETTY WOMAN, I felt the emotional attraction as well as the physical and felt the romance surrounding the characters but in FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, you experience only angst, humiliation, anger, resentment and intimidation. There is no happy ending here. In fact, it ended with angry tears and a line that read END OF PART ONE. Imagine my disgust when after reading the entire book on my Kobo, I reached the last page and saw that. If I want to see if Christian ever gets his head out of his ass or if Ana ever grows a pair and tells him where to shove his so that they can possibly fall in love, I have to read two more books. SO EXPERTS - don't compare this book to Romance Novels. It is NOT one and never will be.

Secondly, everything I've read or seen in regards to this book talked about this OLDER wealthier man taking advantage of a YOUNGER VIRGINAL GIRL. 

Okay, Christian Grey is wealthy, very wealthy but OLDER? Read the book. He's supposed to be some kind of business genius who has made his millions and yet is only around 30 years old. Oh my, that's ancient, isn't it?

As for Ana Steele ... oh my, well, she is younger - a whole 8 years maybe, she IS innocent and a virgin, mainly because she's never ever been on a real date. She's a graduating senior from university and she's never really been kissed or much of anything else. That doesn't really make her innocent, it just makes her strange by today's social standards. She has extremely low self esteem and envies her roommate and best friend who has no problems getting action whenever and with whomever she pleases. You'd think after living together for four years, that some of Kate would have rubbed off on Ana, but it didn't.

Christian Grey is a controlling, self-absorbed, emotionally unavailable man who knows immediately that Anastasia Steele is a shy young woman with absolutely no self-confidence who is completely enamoured of him. Whether he is truly attracted to her or to her flaws which make her a perfect target for his dominating ways, I'm still not sure. Whether Ana is truly in love with Christian which is the only reason she submits to his rules and perversions, I'm still not sure. Frankly, I see a young woman with intelligence but lacking in social skills who finds herself intimidated yet completely infatuated with this handsome, intelligent, well versed and very wealthy man who shows her the first real sexually desirable attention that she's ever known. Is she in love with him? I don't think so. I don't feel it. I feel her lust, her need to win him, her need to convince herself that she is truly able to attract such a man. I feel Ana's need to be with Christian as a purely sexual one much the same way that Christian's only need to be with Ana is to satisfy his need to be totally in control of another human being.

Strangely enough, I found Christian Grey attractive except when he was knee-deep into his strange proclivities then my stomach turned as I read the passages. I found some of the BDSM scenes surprisingly sensuous but most of them made me tense and highly disturbed. In particular, the scene when Christian arrives at Ana's apartment after she sends him a sarcastic email. The author can call it what she wants but I read a rape scene that left Ana feeling used, humiliated, and emotionally crushed. Just because a woman is sexually aroused by a man, any man, doesn't mean that she wants the sex. Christian Grey doesn't make love, he doesn't even f--k as he refers to it - he TAKES!! He takes it when ever and where ever he wants. He may say that he is all about giving his Submissive pleasure through which he gains his own but I think he's full of bull and so is the author of this book. This is no romance but rather a study in emotional avoidance and sadistic control.

The author has set up Christian as a tormented, emotionally devoid man even incapable of accepting a gentle touch or any sign of affection. He hates to be touched. He's a man who claims he doesn't date or sleep in the same bed with a woman because he has no need to do so. We see Christian go against these rules with Ana which leads us to believe he might actually be developing human emotions in regard to her but at the same time, he treats her as an object. He approaches her with his offer to let her into his life, into his secrets yet when she informs him that she is a virgin, he's annoyed by this news. Instead of turning her away, he merely shrugs it off and proceeds to remedy the situation. Ana's first experience with sex is one where she is told she cannot touch him, she cannot do anything but lie there, her hands tied with his necktie, and allow him to do his thing. He keeps telling her that everything he does is for HER pleasure which, of course, she believes because she knows nothing else. She has nothing to compare his lovemaking to and so accepts it.

Christian wants desperately for Ana to enter into an agreement whereas whenever they are together or in his red room of pain, as she calls it, Ana is to submit to him in every way but only according to her own stipulations in the agreement. The only problem is that she never actually signs this agreement yet Christian begins to treat her not just as his Submissive when they are together but all of the time. I've researched BDSM enough over the years and seen enough programs referencing it to know this is not the norm. What Christian really wants from Ana is TPE - Total Power Exchange. This is a relationship where he is the Dominant and she the Submissive all of the time, 24/7 and it's not just a temporary, in the bedroom thing, it's all of the time. Christian monitors her every move, who she sees, where she goes, what she drives, what she eats and even what she wears. If she does anything at all that he doesn't like, he threatens her with punishment. Rarely, does he reward her when she does what he wants without his asking. Geez, Ana even mentally refers to him as a stalker. HELLO!

The most romantic, tender, caring thing he ever does is to take her for a ride in a glider which she later refers to as the most special moment of their time together. That certainly doesn't say a whole lot about the time they've spent together, does it? I kept hoping that Ana's enthusiasm for a normal relationship, her influence on him that made him actually want to sleep at her side and to date her, and to actually take her home to meet his family would result in Christian's defenses breaking down. I kept hoping he would curl up in Ana's arms and weep like the unloved child he feels he was. Christian is tormented. Tormented by the meager memories of the first four years of life which I can only assume held a lot of abuse which has left him incapable of showing affection or accepting affection. He sees a psychiatrist but frankly, I think he needs a better one. As for Ana, I think she needs to spend the night in the arms of another man, any man, who will treat her like a woman and not a whipping post.

You're probably thinking, 'geez, she really hated this book' - well, the truth of it is, that I honestly don't know yet. You see, I will admit that once I started reading it, it was seriously difficult to put down. It's been touted as highly erotic and explicit but frankly, I've read much more explicit sex scenes in some of our Happily Ever After Romance Novels than I read in this one. The BDSM scenes were not horrific just unlikable because of the way that Christian was presented in them. He gets aroused by stifling others, controlling others, and giving pain to others. He's not about truly giving pleasure to anyone, not even his family. I can't say if I like or dislike this story because I haven't finished reading it. I have to read two more books to know what actually happens and whether or not I will be satisfied with the end result. Will I read the other two books? I don't honestly know that either. I have not purchased them but I have read the preview for the second one, FIFTY SHADES DARKER and I have the preview for the third, FIFTY SHADES FREED available on my Kobo. At ten dollars a pop, I'll have to wait and decide at a later date if I'll read them - perhaps when I honestly have nothing else to read. But I will say this, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY did nothing for my thoughts of fantasizing and it certainly didn't lower my sense of self-worth. So experts, look for damage elsewhere because you WON'T find it here.

So what do you think of all the hoopla over this book? Will you read it? Have you read it? If you have, I'd love to hear what you thought of it. Please tell me if I'm way off base.

Happy Reading Everyone!!

I'd also like to welcome all my new followers to UNWRAPPING ROMANCE! I love meeting new folks and getting you into our conversations. Feel free to express yourself, we're all friends here.  : )