Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy

There are life's guilty pleasures, and then there is the guiltiest spectacle of them all: the Fifty Shades of Grey spectacle. It's time to review this precious pearl of literary genius, so I'm going to dive on in. Hold me.When we last left our romantic icons, Ana Steele and Christian Grey, they were newly engaged and facing (a) Ana's ex-boss, Jack Hyde, whom Christian fired in a fit of jealous pique when Jack made a pass at Ana and (b) Christian's "Mrs. Robinson," the woman who initiated him into his life of BDSM. Can these two crazy love birds find happiness and contentment? Thank goodness E. L. James doesn't keep us hanging and gives us the GIFT that is Fifty Shades Freed.The tale opens just after Christian and Ana's wedding, as the two bask on their European honeymoon. They bicker, rock the headboard, bicker some more, and have make-up rocking of the headboard. While enjoying their romantic interlude, Christian learns that someone apparently tried to sabotage part of his building. Enter the "plot" portion of the festivities. The threat to Grey Enterprises increases, and we are meant to be on the edge of our seats in anticipation of how this AWFUL THING will transpire. There also continues to be friction in the Grey marriage. These two argue about the same damn thing all the time, followed by furious headboard rockin'.So there's your story.While this one shares certain similarities with Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker, in Fifty Shades Freed, James actually attempts - gulp - style. There are flashbacks, seemingly set at even intervals, but then mysteriously dropped. Until, that is, the epilogue, where they show up again. Clearly E. L. James realized that we don't read these books for STYLE. I mean, really.Let's get to the good stuff, shall we? Because, let's face it: we also do not read these books for their plot. Please. There are more important things to anticipate.THE BUTT PLUG SHOWS UP!!!!!I know some of you have waited in breathless anticipation, and you will not be denied! We also meet the flogger AND the cross is used AND the grid. Insert jumpy claps here. Christian and Ana continue to Know Each Other in the Biblical Sense in different locales, including - but not limited to - an airplane, a yacht, a couch, a shower, a bathtub, a picnic blanket and - thank GOD - the red satin bed in the Red Room of Pain.But you know what is not used in any romantic situation whatsoever? The grey tie! I am bereft with grief. I got attached to that tie, and while it makes a brief appearance, it does not do so wrapped around anyone's appendages. It's a tease, and I am not amused.Also missing: any sign of a competent, coherent editor. What IS present is the same repetitious writing. It takes less than three pages for the first smirk to appear. And this time? Christian and Ana aren't the only two who smirk. Other characters get in on the action. I suspect that E. L. James is f-ing with me. We also get bitten lips, rolled eyes, lips pressed into a hard line, frowns and sighs.But a new play has entered the repertoire: Christian rubs his nose down the length of Ana's nose.Naturally, this being E. L. James, he does that A LOT. Almost as often as one of them says, "Hmmm." Clearly the message is that in the absence of the ability to write dialogue, insert a breathy moan.And now, an excerpt. Feel free to use this as an interpretive dialogue:Hmm ... my Fifty wants to tumble."Don't bite your lip," he warns.Compliantly, I release my lip. "I think you have me at a disadvantage, Mr. Grey." [They call each other Mr. and Mrs. Grey ALL THE TIME, as if they forgot their first names.] I bat my lashes and squirm provocatively beneath him. This could be fun."Disadvantage?""Surely you've already got me where you want me?" He smirks [!!!!! - of course he does] and presses his groin into mine once more.Ah, language. Its mellifluous use is a lost art, isn't it? Thank goodness E. L. James is here to reinvigorate writing.As I typed that, I mistakenly wrote "goddess," rather than "goodness." That brings me to another repetition: Ana's subconscious, complete with the half moon glasses and disdain, shows up again. The inner goddess is not as present, but that subconscious school marm sure is. Oh, lucky us.So is Fifty Shades Darker worth the read? OF COURSE IT IS. You can't stop at their engagement! You need to read about the wedding and the honeymoon and the corporate intrigue and the early months of their marriage and the in-laws and the Evil Ex-Employee and the Evil Ex-Dominatrix. You can't stop at the second one! You must read this!Oh, it's awful. Don't get me wrong about that. It is just as badly written and edited as its predecessors. But, as I have said before, it is literary crack. So bad for you, but so addicting.A plus: at the end, we get a brief glimpse of Christian's point of view. And then - AND THEN - E. L. James says, "That's all ... for now."OH MY GOD - THERE WILL BE MORE! Please let it be. For the love of Mark Twain, PLEASE LET THERE BE MORE.This review originally appeared on cupcake's book cupboard.

In general I am a huge fan of angst, but with my angst, I require a Happily Ever After too. What can I say? I am picky like that. I want my tears to be worth it. I was so very nervous to start reading Fifty Shades Freed. Excited, but definitely nervous. With everything Christian and Ana had gone through in books 1 and 2, I didn't know if they would survive much more. Plus, they really just deserved to be HAPPY.I'm writing this review under the assumption (yeah, I know, never assume) that you have either read books 1 and 2 or won't mind a few spoilery moments. Be sure to check out my reviews of the first two books, where I swoony sigh all over the place. Also note, this trilogy has BDSM, if that's not your thing, well... sucks for you, because Fifty is HOT.In Fifty Shades Darker our beloved Christian foils death but we don't know who the jerk that tried to kill him is. I'd really hoped that it was a female character that went a little wacko. Especially once she is out of the picture. Easy peasy, Fifty is safe. Or not.Freed begins where Darker left off, Ana and Christian are married (everybody say woohoo!) and on a delightful honeymoon. Fifty being, well, Fifty is a paranoid jerk that won't let Ana out of his sight. Of course, it's not a bad position to be in when you are married to a man that sizzling hot. But he's keeping his real concerns to himself, trying to protect his new wife. Only thing is, Anastasia isn't the type of woman that really feels she needs protecting, especially since she doesn't know what Christian's deal is.Body guards, security detail, a driver, and no privacy, even when they are back home and Ana returns to work. The tension between them is a slow burn. Probably not even slow. More like, moderate. Bless his heart, Christian is adorable and I wanted to hug him for being protective of his family but man, is he frustrating.Ana and Christian are plunged into uncertainty. Neither of them really talking about what's going on. Mostly because Christian, though he's grown since Fifty Shades of Grey, is still the same Christian. He refuses to tell his wife anything. If I were her I would have been ready to knock some sense into him. She's certainly stood up to him in the past, which is one thing I love about her. She's not weak. With the fear for his families safety running rampant in his head, Christian goes into overdrive. Every little thing sets him off and in turn, that sets Ana off because he won't talk to her.During those stressful times, Christian decides to take Ana on a little trip with friends. Those days were so sweet and hot but under the surface, there was something (someone) laying in wait. I really wanted Christian just to learn that you can't run away from your problems (or buy your way out of them either). That's just his way though, it's the only way he knows to be. Though it's kind of twisted, it's one of the things I love about him.Unknowingly, Ana misses an important appointment and when she realizes what has happened, there is a huge blow up between her and Christian. Hurtful, angry words are thrown around and my heart just clenched. All I could think was that was the end of them. They'd already been through so much already, how could they make it through something else? Especially something that would change both their lives forever. There are so many misunderstandings between them, I just wanted to shake them both. Then shove them in a closet and tell them "TALK"! But since I'm always a glutton for punishment, those angsty, heart breaking times were among my favorites.Ana and Christian drift, not speaking, not looking at one another -- ugh. When she makes a move to help a family member he is torn to pieces, believing the worst of her. But she is once again, in danger, and Christian once again, is her knight in shining armor. Knight in handcuffs? Knight with bondage rope? I don't know. Whatever. Either way, he was there for her. And Ana, even though she didn't know how things were going to end up for them, she still did everything she could to protect him.I guess that's another thing I love about those two, they are both trying to protect one another without the other really knowing. Ana is the perfect match for Christian; and he is the perfect match for her, even with his insecurities about being a good husband. I'd like to sit down with him and make him see that he's worthy of Ana's love, as well as that of his family.Oh! I just can't say how much I loved Freed. The epilogue itself gave me a glowy happy heart. I felt it was the perfect way to end the trilogy.

Once again I enjoyed the book and it also filled in a few questions that I had from the movie.

I said in my last reviews, the movies do not do the books Justice. The books are so much better than the movie and it’s just a 10/10 experience

I really enjoyed this story, it's quite emotional. This last book showed all the reasons why Christian is the way he is, and he has been through a lot. You know sometimes people talk about other people's behaviour, but they don't really know why they behave the way they do. The reason is never just cut and dry. I just love the way Christian and Anastasia are together. Regardless of the negative comments about the book, I love it, and I think the story is brilliant. There are a lot of people who go through similar experiences in real life which has caused them to fine it difficult to connect with others intimately or otherwise. I understand the fact that life is not only what I or other readers know about. I do not agree with the negative comments about Christian and Anastasia calling each other Mr and Mrs, "Ana is stupid" "Christian is a stalker" "Too much sex". Really!? Can there be too much sex between two people if that's what they both want? And what does it matter what they choose to call each other? Anyway, they are entitled to their opinion. I know it's a book of course, but it causes you to think that when you see people going through certain things, we are not to be too quick to judge because we don't know what they have been through or is going through. As I said before in my first book review, sometimes all a person need is for somebody to love them unconditionally to help them to overcome their pain and self-doubt. I Love the Way the story ends. With the help of the love of his life, his psychologist and the love of his family, Christian was able to change himself and be happy. Something he thought he'd never have. The love that he has for Anastasia and she him, is beautiful and unconditional and that's what he needed, to encourage the change.I think it's a beautiful story. With all it's faults, I love it, and it has given me lots to think about.

I have read all of the Shades of Grey & the first two from Christian's view, (waiting for the last to be released), twice over. I have LOVED them all. The only disappointment is this final Fifty Shades Freed. It all starts heading a bit downhill from half way through the book. It seems as if EL James had had enough of writing about these two, skipping weeks, months etc and not expanding fully on events that had previously happened and needed concluding, just brief details, then on to the next bit. To be honest, I think there could have been a fourth book to finish the saga properly, especially as these books are so hard to put down. I look forward to reading the last in the Christian trilogy, but I expect that this will have the same disappointing ending too. Because I feel the end is rushed, I have taken a star off. To have been drawn in to this world of Anastasia and Christian and a story than you feel you are so much a part of. Are sad when they're sad, feel the difficulties that they have to work with or around, are high when they are high and feel all their exhilaration; it's almost a kick in the guts to be left as an outsider, wanting that bit more to finish the story at their side. I'd still recommend this be read if you've read the others as you'll be just left hanging but don't expect it to be as inclusive of the reader later in the book. A real shame to end a story so brilliantly written in such detail, over the previous two books to be let down at the end.

Right! first off when i first read this book i actually rushed reading it,it took me 1 night to read it and i stayed up until 5,am because i was actually obsessed by this point with having devoured fifty shades of grey and fifty shades darker and i loved this one just as much as the other 2.But since ive re read all the fifty shades trilogy and took my time reading them, i was actually a little disappointed with this book not disappointed enough to never read it again but disappointed because i thought it was really rushed towards the end and alot of stuff crammed into it.The sex scenes are still fab dabby dosy though and got my blood boiling a few times.BUT yeh i was a bit gutted with the ending!!!!!! SPOILERS!!!!!!E.L James writing in this one was like she didnt know what else to write for instance the honeymoon she goes on and on about.....for a quite a few chapters actually, boats ,jet skies, hickys, photos ,tickling, handcuffs, sex ,sex and more sex then once she gets to ana being pregnant its all rushed from there theres a kidnap plot which all happens in one chapter. Then obviously after christian now excepts little blip it goes from little blip to being massivly pregnant and doing some unimaginary sex scene in the red room of pain/pleasure then straight to teddys 2nd birthday to being pregnant with blip number 2. Then ended happily looking out the window before baby 2 was even born.I understand thats its to show how happliy ever after they are and how christian has come full circle from the dark sadist what liked to whip little brown haired girls what looked like his mother into the light a happy family man what wants lots of children and ana doing the same coming from a sweet innocent virgin to a nymth manic.It just needed slowing down a bit. It was all too rushed (in my opinion)Anyway having said that i still really liked the book but just not as much as the first 2! sorry!I LOVED CHRISTIANS CHAPTER AT THE END FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE WHEN HE FIRST MET ANA. PLEASE PLEASE E.L JAMES WRITE THEM ALL AGAIN IN CHRISTIAN POINT OF VIEW. How much fun would they be??I would advise fifty shades lovers to read this book to get the end of a story!!!

This is the last book in the trilogy. Christian and Anna just get back from their honeymoon and are about to begin their new life together as a couple. However, something from Christian's past has come back to haunt him. Both Christian and Anna have to go to this final battle before they can live happily ever after.It's a very good final instalment for this fantastic trilogy. There is a good mix of action, mystery and most of hot sex in the book. I cannot put it down as I can't wait to find out why Christian was targeted. And the fact that the author wait till the very end to reveal it means I was hooked all the way through. Apart from the crime thriller element, the change in Christian is even more apparent than previous books and he can finally make peace with his past. The author also tied up the loose ends of other minor storylines such as Kate and Elliot, the attitude of Christian's father towards Anna etc. The epilogue is also well written, giving us the point of view of Christian when he first met Anna and I could not keep myself from laughing.This book has definitely set a new trend or era for erotica. A well known televisin series even base one of the episodes in the current season based on an author of erotic-you can see its effects. And a movie based on the novel is currently being put together and I am sure I will definitely check it out.

I loved this trilogy and read all 3 books back to back like so many others have. It totally consumed me and I couldn't think of much else during the journey. I still say to anyone read book 1 first before getting the next 2 as it is will not be everyone's cup of tea due to the nature of the sex and how graphically it is written. I loved in the first book you watch how the relationship starts to develop and grow between Ana and Christian, and by this book they have finally reached their destination. Christian is a character that gets in your head and has this strange effect on you even though you know he is only fictional. You find out how messed up he is in the first book but by the time you get to this book you understand why he is the way he is, and see more of who he really is. It has more of a story line outside of their relationship this time and I thoroughtly enjoyed it. I have loathed the character of 'Mrs Robinson' the whole way through and can totally see where Ana is coming from in her feelings towards her. I almost hope they don't make these books into a film as I really don't think it will work. I mean who out there would be perfect enough to play Christian???? I'm sad to have now finished the trilogy and for some strange reason I am going to really miss him (how strange is that??) and will probably wait a couple of days before beginning another novel as I don't want to come off the high I feel from reading these books. I also now have a new favourite phrase that was a constant through the last 2 books, 'kinky-f**kery' - so apt!!