Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Although I have been more into the paranormal romance genre lately, I decided to try this because of all of the hype I heard about it. I am so glad that I did! Anastasia Steele is about to graduate from Washington State University when she agrees to help out her friend, Kate, who has arranged an interview for the college newspaper with entrepreneur and WSU benefactor Christian Grey. Kate has come down with the flu and the interview would be difficult if not impossible to reschedule, so Ana agrees to go and do the interview using Kate's list of questions and a recorder. Christian Grey is scheduled to speak and help award diplomas at their graduation later in the week, but Ana really knows nothing about him until she literally falls at his feet, tripping over her own, on the way into his office for the interview. One thing leads to another and Christian arranges another meeting with Ana who is very attracted to him. She has never felt such a strong attraction to any man and he seems to be attracted to her as well. As the romance develops, Ana learns about Christian's "dark desires" and he thinks he will frighten her away when reveals them. This story is a very intense romance with some graphic scenes, but I found myself drawn into their romance and hoping for a successful outcome. You will have to read it yourself to find out if they succeed in finding a middle-ground. There are two further books in this trilogy about Ana and Christian and I am already half-way through the second and deeply hooked on their relationship.



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The Darkest Seduction by Gena Showalter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In this latest entry in the Lords of the Underworld, Gena Showalter brings Paris, who is paired with the demon Sex, center-stage. If you are familiar with the Lords of the Underworld, you already know that in order to maintain both his strength and his sanity, Paris must have sex almost daily, but he is only ever able to be with a partner one time, and then is never able to feel desire for that person again. In an earlier story, we see Paris meet with Sienna, who is acting as Bait for the Hunters, the Lords mortal enemies. Just when Paris finally realizes that Sienna is the one woman he continues to desire, even after "having" her, she is killed in an attempt on Paris' life. In this story, Paris is desperately seeking to find her, even though he knows that she is dead. One of the gods, Cronus, has managed to reanimate Sienna and pair her with the demon Wrath who was formerly paired with the Lord Aeron. This story is full of twists and turns, with an ending that I didn't see coming. Suffice it to say that Paris does indeed get his happy-ever-after, but you will have to read the book to find out how it comes about. We also see the birth of Ashlyn's and Maddox's twin babies in this story and learn more about William. This was a very satisfying read.



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Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this because a co-worker gave it to me, thinking I would enjoy it since I enjoyed reading about the "werewolves" in the Twilight series of books. I have only read one other book by Jodi Picoult, namely Nineteen Minutes. I find that her books tend to be a little too much "real life" for me. I am just a sucker for a happily ever after ending and this book doesn't really deliver that.
It took me some time to get into the story, partially due to Picoult's rather choppy writing style, jumping between characters narrating the story. When you start off with a very serious car accident, with one person requiring surgery and one person in what appears to be an irreversible coma, you don't really see how there can be a happy outcome. Cara is the seventeen-year-old daughter of a man who has made a career out of learning about wild wolves by living with them. Cara and her father have been in a serious accident and she has had to have shoulder surgery and he is in a coma. Her mother, Georgie, who is divorced from her father and remarried with a set of young twins, calls Cara's older brother, Edward, who left home to go live in Thailand when he was eighteen after an altercation with his father. Edward comes home to find that he must make a decision about whether to discontinue life-support on his father. The story is told alternately by Cara, her father Luke, Edward, her mother Georgie, her stepfather Joe, and a temporary guardian with the laughable name of Helen Bedd. There was some very interesting information about wolves, and I did find myself involved with the characters after a while, but as I said before, there was no real way to have a happy ending to this story. If you like Jodi Picoult, you will probably enjoy this story as well. If you are looking for light reading and a happy ending, you might want to give it a pass.



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