Surely by now you’ve heard friends talk of this book, and if you haven’t yet, you will.  Consider me a friend.  And here’s my talk.

I love the characters.  Ana may be sexually naïve at the start of the book, but she has spunk and wit.  She takes on Christian as no other woman has; the email between them is priceless.  Christian is flawed, but for a reason.  Discovering that reason is cause enough to read on.

I love that this book is, at one level, about the empowerment of women.  Despite Christian’s needs, Anna has control from the start.  Moreover, Christian falls so hard for her that she actually has the ability to change him.  Isn’t this every woman’s fantasy – to take a flawed man and help him grow?

I love the sex.  It may be kinky, but it is consensual, erotic but gentle and intriguing, with built-in safeguards and care.  I love that it has none of the violence of, say, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Fifty Shades of Grey is the first of a trilogy.  Having breathlessly finished it, I’m into the second, Fifty Shades Darker, and am fascinated both by the growth of the characters and the evolution of the sex.  The third, Fifty Shades Freed, is on my iPad.  I suspect I’ll be reading it within the week.