Fifty Shades of Grey

Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy

By: E. L. James

Narrated by: Becca Battoe

Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

More than 150 million copies sold worldwide.

When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too - but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success - his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family - Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

This audiobook is intended for mature audiences.

Look for E L James’ passionate new love story, The Mister, coming April 16, 2019.

©2011 E L James (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

• Finalist, GoodReads Choice Awards, Best Romance

Different voices

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

I would recommend getting a man to at least read the man's part.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ana and grey, i could't choose between the two.

What three words best describe Becca Battoe’s voice?

good, soft, seductive

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

laugh, not cry, yet. . . . .

Any additional comments?

Can't wait to read/listen to the second one.

Predictable Story

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

It wasn't horrible, but the hype was bigger than the book. The writing style reminded me too much of a Harold Robbins novella, so I wouldn't pan it, but it wasn't a great read. You can guess how the story will go before you are half way through the book, Anna and Christian's actions become predictable, the emails are filler for the lack of story content and the sex becomes gratuitous which unless you like that type of thing doesn't give you much of a reason to buy the other two except to find out Christian's history.You can read it, but it won't be memorable.

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

Though I think the story as a whole doesn't provide a compelling reason to buy the other two books, the ending leaves just enough questions about the character Christian's past (his "mentor", family relationships, early childhood) to consider reading on.

What didn’t you like about Becca Battoe’s performance?

Becca Battoe did a decent job for the voice of Anna, was able to give the character that naive sense of the world and was okay for Christian since we were hearing Christian voice from Anna's perspective.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

Any additional comments?

no

It's so much better than I thought!

What did you love best about Fifty Shades of Grey?

It was very difficult to get past the first few chapters but then I was hooked! Great romance, now I have to get all the books in the trilogy!

What about Becca Battoe’s performance did you like?

She sounded immature and teenager-ish like her audience was a bunch of high schoolers. It was hard to get used to her mannerisms and tone of voice.

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

Anna wanting more and Christian promising to try.

Over rated

What did you like best about Fifty Shades of Grey? What did you like least?

I don't know. I liked Christen meeting Anastasia, I liked there verbal sparing and there intellect. Though I though it was hot! I didn't like they're style sexually, I just couldn't get into it. I also didn't care for the narrator. I sometimes got lost between caricatures. as if wondering who's who?

If you’ve listened to books by E. L. James before, how does this one compare?

?

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Not really

Did Fifty Shades of Grey inspire you to do anything?

Nope!

Any additional comments?

Didn't like the way it ended

Good book ....need more character voices

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

Yes, I enjoyed it but I wish there was an actual male reading the dialogue for Christian.... The reader did a great job... I just prefer different people reading for each character... Like , "The Help", that was done very well.....

What didn’t you like about Becca Battoe’s performance?

She read well, it was hard for me to hear her read the the dialogue for the male roles. I prefer audible books that have many readers for the various characters.....

ooh Yess!!

Would you consider the audio edition of Fifty Shades of Grey to be better than the print version?

Yes...I enjoy listening to books...but then reading them are just as good...but this book it better when you listen to it.

What did you like best about this story?

The love story between Anna and Christan

Which scene was your favorite?

ooh that is hard...I love the whole book..but if I must pick it would be when they were walking back from the café and he saved her but told her that he was not a good guy for her.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Red Room

An amazingly good romance that's very different.

Becca Battoe did an amazing job. The audipbook is just enough different than the movie that you felt like you finally got the whole story. I loved it.

The one time...

This is actually probably the one time that I thought the movie was better than the book, which is kinda weird. Not that I didn't like it but OMG if Ana called Christian "hot" one more time...I mean Ana is supposed to be an English Lit Major, I'm sure her character should be able to come up with another adjective to describe Christian. The narrator did okay. I wasn't a fan of her voice for Christian. Maybe its because I have the thought Jamie Dornan in my head. At any rate, because I loved the movie I will continue with this series. Hopefully Ana could use better descriptive adjectives, heck I'd even go for "sexy" at this point but I'm so done with "hot".

Ya ya I know, lady porn. BUT!

If you've lived on this planet at all you already know what everyone is saying about 50 Shades. Yes it's very erotic but the story all this erotica tells is really what makes the book and the series great. You can only read or listen to so much porn before it gets boring. I was never anywhere close to bored while listening to this trilogy. Were there time I found myself saying "oh come on, really"? Yes but I found the story good enough to forgive those moments.

so much better then the movie.

it's better than the movie. With this you can get into the characters and you realize it not just about the sex its deeper . loved it.