Fifty Shades Freed Review

So...Fifty Shades Freed...

When unworldly student Ana Steele first encountered the driven, damaged young entrepreneur Christian Grey it sparked a sensual affair that changed both their lives irrevocably. Shocked, intrigued, and ultimately repelled by Christian’s singular sexual tastes, Ana demanded a deeper commitment; determined to keep her, Christian agreed.

Now, together, they have more – love, passion, intimacy, and a world of infinite possibilities. But Ana always knew that loving her Fifty Shades would not be easy, and being together poses challenges neither of them ever anticipated. Ana must somehow learn to share Christian’s opulent lifestyle without sacrificing her own integrity, identity or independence; Christian must somehow overcome his compulsion to control, and lay to rest the horrors that blighted his past and haunt his present.

Just when it seems that together their love can conquer any obstacle, misfortune, malice and fate combine to make Ana’s worst nightmares come true. Alone and desperate, she must face down the poisoned legacy of Christian’s past.

Official review
[Contains Spoilers]

And the journey comes to an end……

Honestly, this is the hardest of the trilogy to review. Ms. James really does cover a lot of ground in Freed and sometimes it seemed a little surreal. Christian does not loose his Fifty Shades (which I was so afraid of); she carries on the theme of the cover and title actually following the storyline; and Anastasia still has her doubts about her billionaire, megalomaniac, controlling husband.

In Fifty Shades Freed, Ms. James tries to tie up all the loose ends bringing everyone full circle. Anastasia and Christian are working towards their HEA and are still tackling all the issues that they have with each other. We find out about Christian’s past and his reactions when he really does not have control over a situation.

The beginning of the book takes us on their honeymoon. There are some light and fun moments and one bondage scene where we go through Christian’s regret of leaving marks (nothing permanent) on Ana. They return home to more intrigue with Jack and she finally brings everything to an end with him with Mia’s kidnapping. The story-line’s with Mrs. Robinson, Leila and Suzanne (a new sub that was never mentioned in the other two books) were also tied up. We faced Christian’s fears with him and Anastasia’s insecurities. There are some wonderfully romantic scenes and, as usual, the sex was hot. But, I did miss some of the banter between them that was in the first two books.

There were a few scenes in the “Red Room of Pain” that were tastefully done. I enjoyed the orgasm deprivation scene, but, it was a little confusing. Except for the first book where Anastasia researches what a D/s relationship would be, there’s no explanations of what he is doing or why. Ana safe-words in the scene only because she has no idea what he is doing. She knows he is mad at her but nothing is negotiated. I guess he forgot that she was never a Submissive and wouldn’t understand that what he was doing was a punishment for disobeying him and not for her pleasure. The final scene in the Red Room was very touching…..Christian lightly flogging her while she was pregnant. I guess I never thought of a bondage scene being touching but, since this is not a “true” BDSM series, it fits.

All in all, I actually loved the Shades Trilogy. It was a wonderful erotic romance. Anastasia and Christian were so easy to fall in love with…..you felt their love, pain and anguish throughout the books. Playful Christian just steals your heart and you want him to have a happy, normal life with the woman he finally gave his heart to. Even when he is being controlling and an “arse” you love him. It’s his way of showing how much he truly wants and loves Anastasia. You feel Anastasia’s anguish in trying to understand why Christian is the way he is….you go through her turmoil with her when she finally takes a stand against him knowing that she is pushing him to face his former life.

As I previously stated, if you are looking for true BDSM, these are NOT the books for you. There are other series out there that give you the true meaning of BDSM if that is what you are looking for. (Kallypso Masters, Cherise Sinclair, Bianca Southerland, to name a few authors) Ms. James touches on the subject but, in my opinion, Christian is more of an Alpha Male with control and self-esteem issues than he is a Dominant (which is why it was so easy for him to slip back into his Submissive role in Darker).

I give kudos to Ms. James for this being her first foray into writing. This was a very well written Trilogy with lots of love, romance and some steamy sex scenes. If there was any disappointment (besides not being true to the BDSM life-style) it would be in the “after thoughts” at the end of Freed. After the epilogue, there is an “Author’s Note” that explains a scene in Freed. There are then 2 “Bonus Material” sections – Fifty’s First Christmas and Meet Fifty Shades. Honestly, there was no reason to explain the scene from the Author’s Note – it was implied in the book. Fifty’s First Christmas would have been wonderful as a “flash-back” scene when he starts remembering his childhood. As for “Meet Fifty Shades”, well this is Christian’s POV from the beginning of Fifty Shades of Grey when he first meets Ms. Steele. Hmmm, interesting!

Listen to the first chapter of Fifty Shades Freed below: