Fifty Shades Darker

Book Two of the Fifty Shades Trilogy

By: E. L. James

Narrated by: Becca Battoe

Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

MORE THAN 150 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE

Look for E L James’s passionate new love story, The Mister, available now.

Daunted by the singular tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house.

But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades.

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life.

This book is intended for mature audiences.

©2011 E L James (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

"In a class by itself." ( Entertainment Weekly)

Narrator better, and worse....

Where does Fifty Shades Darker rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's definitely a different type of story than I usually listen to

What did you like best about this story?

The personal journey Christian undertakes to make a better life for himself and Ana.

What aspect of Becca Battoe’s performance would you have changed?

Where to start? She does better in sounding more mature in regards to Ana's character, losing the "valley girl" intonations, but Christian and Jack Hyde sound absolutely ridiculous! Who talks like that? I didn't have a problem with those characters in book one....

And she definitely hasn't learned to correctly pronounce several words....

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listen to books constantly as I don't have time to sit down and read them myself.

Any additional comments?

I really think the author should be consulted when choosing a narrator to insure that the audio comes off the way she meant it to when she wrote it....

My inner goddess Is delighted!

The second book in the Fifty Shades Series is as good as the first one but for different reasons. FSoG introduced us to the world of BDSM in a captivating love story. While FSD is a journey. This book begins five days after Ana left kinky Christian. He then realizes that he has true feelings for Ana and wants to change so they can be together. Its so wonderful to see Christian go from darkness to the light (love sure makes everything better).

Sure there's still lots of kinky lovery between the two main characters but they both embrace a vanilla relationship and it's so gooood! Ana learns about Christian's past, accepts him and they both prepare to take the next step in the relationship. This book has no resemblance to Twilight and has some interesting suspense. The ending leaves you wanting more because it is a preamble for the third and final book.

Audiobook narration: after listening to Becca Battoe for forty hours you get used to her and I liked her performance in this book a little better than in the first. She did a very good job with female voices and in the deep emotional scenes I actually felt like she was crying. Still her male voices need lots of improvement but its nothing terrible. It definitely did not keep me from staying awake late at night listening to the story. From the 75 audiobooks I have, this series is in my top 5.

Love it!

What did you love best about Fifty Shades Darker?

I didn't have any annoyance with Becca Battoe's narration. In fact I thought she did better in this one by not making the male characters sound constipated.

Amazing Series

If you could sum up Fifty Shades Darker in three words, what would they be?

Only Gets Better

What did you like best about this story?

The continued development of the characters and continuing to produce a book that you just can't stop reading/listening to

Have you listened to any of Becca Battoe’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

She did the first book, Fifty Shades of Grey - but it's the same series, so it's hard to compare.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES!

Any additional comments?

I loved reading the book, so I love hearing the book - you can critique Becca all you want, she did a better job than I could ever do. This series is a page turning, can't put it down for one second because you MIGHT miss something kind of series....it sucks you in and spits you out a happy sappy lovey dovey mess. Don't listen to the reviews that say it's porn - porn is not about love and to it's core this book is the BEST love story I have ever read.

Glad I kept going

I really debated on stopping after the first book because I was so mad at Christian and I had read so many negative reviews. I am so glad I didn't listen. Darker and Freed are so good and the story ends so well. So for all of you thinking about stopping after book one, please reconsider, you will be glad you did. I am sad that they are over. Enjoy

Excellent read! Great mystery and story! Loved it!

What did you love best about Fifty Shades Darker?

Excellent read! Great mystery and story! Loved the way the main characters matured throughout the story and the trilogy!

Fantastic

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really loved how the characters interacted, and for that reason I do not have a favorite character.

Change of Narrators

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Just started book 2 and having a hard time adjusting to new narrators! Why would they change it?? Not liking it at all!!!

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

NO

The best books I ever read

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes

What was one of the most memorable moments of Fifty Shades Darker?

There is to many to think about

Have you listened to any of Becca Battoe’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No she did a good job

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The love

Any additional comments?

I think every one should get this book

Good, Enjoyable, but doesn't live up to the hype

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

yes, i enjoyed the story. Lots of sex, ridiculous romance/fanstasy (don't we all want to fall in love with a billionaire and have such crazy passion we have sex 6 times a day or more?), and the trilogy promises hours of entertainment make them a good value. I like how the books are actually long with a plot and not super short like a lot of romances.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It was more suspenseful/cliff-hanger than the ending to Fifty Shades of Grey. I purchased the third immediatly.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Becca Battoe?

YES please replace the narrator! I read the first book in the series on my ereader, but bought books 2 & 3 on audible. I like listening because I can do other things (clean my pool, clean, drive & helps me get to sleep better than TV) so I "dealt" with it, but did not enjoy it. I looked her up, she primarily reads children and young adult novels and should stick with that. The voice for Anna was fine, but every other character was mediocre or bad. The male voices were AWFUL - it made a handsome, dreamy CEO sound like a slow, idiot which was a shame. It was hard to really enjoy the sex scenes because his voice was so UN-SEXY. I was apparently listening to the remastered version. Also, her accents were way off (is Jose hispanic or have a bad lisp?). My favorite female narrator is Susan Erikson (JD Robb In Death series) because she can do a lot of different voices (including men) very well - from southern, irish, hispanic, etc - they should get her if she is not exclusive to Brilliance Audio. I am less concerned with Anna sounding 21 than I am with the performance of most the characters being good.

Do you think Fifty Shades Darker needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It has a follow up - I enjoy the story, but the sex and their interactions are already getting really repetitive. I am starting to get annoyed with Anna at this point - the guy has already made amazing strides in days with her that in real life would take years, but she constantly feels the need to test him, constantly doubts herself (at least this part is understandable) and wants to grill his therapist - unethical! She needs to be more patient, but I guess she is 21 . . .

Any additional comments?

If you get this one, might as well read them all!

I didn't get the first one on audible so here is my take on the whole series if you haven't invested yet:

My understanding is that the books were originally fan fiction available for free online that became popular and were rushed to press. I think I read they were in response to Twilight and notice some people think it is similar or a rip off - I've seen two of the twilight movies but never read the books and don't see how they are similar except in the way most romances are similar (but with no vampires thank god - i can't take this paranormal stuff seriously). The story itself is not much different than any romance novel in which rich/hot guy meets virgin who dates lots of hot women and is never serious with any of them meets hot/virgin & suddenly she is the "one & only" for some inexplicable reason (since virgin is often whiny & stupid when it comes to relationships) and they get engaged within days or weeks. I haven't finished the 2nd book yet or started the third, but I bet they do get engaged, she gets pregnant, & they live happily ever after despite the fact that it would be ridiculous. I am not saying I don't enjoy reading these books sometimes, but I also awknowledge what these books are and I don't think this one stands out that much from the rest.Could have been a lot better if they hadn't rushed and did some editing. Everytime I hear "oh my" I want to kill myself, and that is just one of many repetitive phrases (if I was reading instead of listening I could skip over some of this and reading the emails wouldn't be as annoying - but I actually enjoy the content of the emails). I see my comments are sounding negative, but I did enjoy it. It is better than a lot of other romances out there, many of which are just terrible. If you are new to erotica, you might like this because they don't use "dirty" words as often which can make some people uncomfortable.She uses anatomical terms and phrases like "he touched me down there" "his fingers traced up to the apex of my thighs," "penis," and "erection." I teach anatomy & physiology for a living so these terms are a little lame to me. If these terms bother you, don't bother reading any real erotica! Despite these relatively tame terms it is still sexy, but the sex happens so often it does get a bit boring. Sometimes I wish they would write erotica about normal people (you know, not a billionaire, good sex but not every few hours 7 days a week, a girl more realistic than a 21 year old hot vigin who doesn't think she is hot and apparently has never once been attracted to the any other hot men in her life who are in love with her because she was destined for this man) - but then I guess it wouldn't be a fantasy and not serve as a great escape from reality. Ooh - how about an experienced woman of 30 who meets hot young virgin man and he gets her to settle down ;)