The hype surrounding 'Fifty shades of Grey' had begun a good few weeks, before my attention was drawn to it. And the book had been hanging around for a fair while before the masses brought about this 'hype'.
Social networking sites were rife with status updates involving an elusive 'Mr.Grey', whom some seemed to know very well, and the rest of us were left wondering about!
There were wall stickers on people's pages reading 'Keep clam...and obey Mr.Grey'.
And images of a mysterious grey tie were popping up left, right and centre.

To be completely honest, I did instantly see this mysterious book as the latest bandwagon, so dug my heels in for a little while, refusing to jump on it.
Was a really missing out on that much anyway? I am a terrible person for judging a book by it's cover, quite literally, and this cover really gave nothing away....was it some kind of thriller? murder mystery? Was that tie a famous murder weapon??

At an 'Ann Summers' party, a few weeks back, conversation turned to the infamous 'Fifty shades of Grey', and with most of the women there having read it, I watched them all swoon at the mere mention of Mr.Grey's name.
With conversation buzzing, snippets of dark, dangerous, sexy and domineering being discussed, and the fact that all these women were staking there claim to this fictional Mr.Grey, I came to the conclusion that this book was no murder mystery or even a soppy love story....but it did sound very thrilling!!
I announced there and then that I was definitely taking the plunge and reading this book. The hostess of the party lent me her Kindle, that night, and I found all three books in the fifty shades trilogy, sat waiting, ready to be read; 'Fifty shades of Grey' 'Fifty shades darker' and 'fifty shades freed'.
I set to work on the first book that night.
Someone had actually pre-warned me that I may struggle to get into the book at first, but that if I made it past chapter 6, it would get better........Struggle!? Really???
The moment I started turning the pages, I couldn't put it down!
Believe me I had no trouble getting to 'Chapter 6'. I'll admit, the book didn't really give much away in the initial chapters. You are introduced to the main characters of 'Christian Grey'; CEO, multimillionaire, very mysterious, unreadable and dashingly handsome. And 'Anastasia Steele'; 22 year old student, timid, with a banger of a car, unruly hair and a part time job in a DIY store. But with nothing going on in these first few chapters, other than Christian and Anastasia's strange encounters, I thought that the author built up the mystery and chemistry between them, and the enigmatic Christian Grey, in a fantastic way. I was enthralled, sensing that the story would take a dark, dangerous, alluring and sexy route.

I certainly wasn't disappointed! The more this story went on, the more I felt as though I personally, was on a journey with Mr. Grey...I had become infatuated with this character, And now I had become one of those women swooning over him.

I am currently pregnant, and I'll admit, a little more 'hot under the collar' of late, but I didn't think piece of fictional literature could get me going so much! My husband certainly noticed a difference in me...I don't think he was complaining. Many women had spoken about how this book had perked up their 'personal life', and I certainly didn't doubt it.

There were, and are, may doubters out there, who call the book bland, boring and non-dimensional....I'm sorry, are they reading the same book as me? I found it thrilling and enticing. Some say the book is poorly written with weak characters, but lets not forget the author, E.L.James, only started writing this story as a piece of fan-fiction, off the back of the 'Twilight Saga'. She has said herself, she didn't expect the book to be published and read, all over the world. So the fact she has such a major selling book, making her millions of pounds, and has so many women staking thier claim, to the fictional Mr. Grey, I wouldn't say she has done so badly for herself.
Yes there is a little repetition throughout the book, mainly in regards to Anastasia's phrases and the way the sex scenes are played out, but I was generally so spellbound by Mr.Grey during these moments, the writing was forgotten a little.

I don't want to give the whole gist of the story away, for those of you who haven't yet read it, but let me just give you a few teasing phrases from the book;
The playroom...AKA the red room of pain
Rules and contracts
Brown leather plaited whips
Lip biting
Taken over his knee
Multiple..............

I would say prudes and literary experts who look for impeccable writing; you probably want to avoid t!his racy book.

Others....go on and give Mr.Grey a go. But remember.........I have staked my claim on him!