Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades #2)

Daunted by the singular sexual 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 her anger and envy of the women who came before her and make the most important decision of her life. Erotic, sparkling and suspenseful, Fifty Shades Darker is the irresistibly addictive second part of the Fifty Shades trilogy.


For me this was the best of the three books.  I absolutely LOVED the middle of the story, which is sort of weird.  Most people love the beginning or the end, but for me this was where the story got interesting.  For me trilogies have been mostly misses, but this one was pretty decent.  Not to mention this is the story that brought me back to reading full time again.  So it has a special place in my heart.

We see a very different side to both Ana and Christian in this book.  Ana seems to have grown up a little and  understands that sometimes you can't fix what's broken in someone else.  Not that our sweet girl doesn't keep trying, she does, she is just more aware that she can't fix everything.  After the way the first book ended, it was pretty painful to see where our heroine ended up.  She was devastated and alone.  It made your heart hurt thinking about how she had to go through essentially her first heartbreak without even having her best friend there.

Christian is very different in this book as well.  He starts to realize that sometimes loving someone is worth the risk of getting hurt.  He let Ana slip through his fingers the last time we saw him, and he will be damned if he allows it again!  He needs Ana's innocence in order to move forward with his life and to heal.  We see a lot of demons come to the surface with Christian here.  And we see someone from his past trying desperately to ruin his present and possible future.

My favorite part of the book is when Christian has gone missing and you see how much he is loved.  Not just by Ana, but by his family as well.  Something that even surprises him when he gets back.  I found that moment when he returns, to be the most precious of all three books.  Not because of the connection so much as the emotion he never allowed himself to feel.  He is very distant with his family, and with Ana at his side, he seems to let them in a little more.  He is able to open up to them a bit.

Ana's new job is interesting and of course Christian steps in and causes a bit of chaos, but in the end it all works out.  Her new boss however, is creepy as hell.  We see him trying to trap Ana in a sexual relationship because he feels she owes him.  We see more on this creepy bastard in the third book.  And Christian has his own creepy relationship with his mother's friend Elena Lincoln, who quite frankly used Christian.  She was way too old for him, and preyed upon a teenage kid who was vulnerable.

There is also a former submissive of Christian's that comes and makes life very difficult.  And although Ana does come across as jealous and angry, I understood completely.  I wanted to hit Christian more than once myself.

This really was my favorite in the trilogy.  I felt like there was a ton of story told in this book.  I highly recommend it.  I give it 5 lipsticks!

Amazon link:http://www.amazon.com/Random-House-Shades-Darker-ebook/dp/B007IXWKUK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368255890&sr=8-1&keywords=fifty+shades+darker

~B~