Fifty Shades Darker - a Romance Reader/Writer's review

As a romance reader and writer, it’s probably no surprise that I’m out and proud about having enjoyed reading the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. I also enjoyed watching the original movie…

Yes, it won a load of razzie awards, but I have a sneaking suspicion these may have been voted for by people who wouldn’t appreciate a romance novel if it knocked them over the head… That’s not to say there weren’t problems with that first movie - not least because it's remarkably hard to translate any pure romance novel to the screen, the story of a romance is mostly an internal one and well, movies can't exist inside someone's head (unless you're John Malkovich).. But I think Sam Taylor-Johnson did a terrific job of conveying the fantasy elements of the story and giving the film a distinctive look - in short she respected her material…

Remember folks, this is romantic fantasy. It’s not supposed to be taken seriously, it’s pure escapism. Whether you find it hot or not is a matter of personal taste of course… But one huge factor Taylor Johnson had in her favour, IMHO was the casting. Particularly of Dakota Johnson who brings a refreshing likability to what is at times a fairly daft role (if we’re going to take it seriously, which we’re not) as the virgin student with enough emotional maturity to fix a young and thoroughly broken billionaire with an S&M fetish.  Jamie Dornan too, for me, encapsulated a lot of what Christian Grey is about - gorgeous, brooding, traumatised and emotionally stunted.

So.. I’m not going to lie to you, when I heard Taylor-Johnson had been replaced by James Foley (whose big work was back in the 90s) and Saving Mr Banks scriptwriter Kelly Marcel replaced with EL James’ husband I was somewhat concerned about Fifty Shades Darker... The second in the trilogy of films.


So were my fears justified?

Well, yes in some ways. The film seems to want to have the story both ways, to concentrate on the developing romance between Christian and Ana - which despite that title is now less kinky and more playful as Christian begins to confront some of his many ‘issues’ - while also adding a daft thriller element, involving Ana’s new boss Jack Hyde and one of Christian's former subs. To be fair, James’s second book had the thriller element too, but in the film we get no build up and no pay off for either of the two thriller sub plots - like a Greek tragedy much of the action is conducted off screen, leaving the audience to feel cheated or simply confused. Spoiler alert: the film finishes with a dark, shadowy shot of Hyde setting him up as the villain for round 3 which left me and I’m sure most of the rest of the audience thinking WTH? Where did he come from? Why is he ominously smoking a cigarette in a park overlooking Seattle? I'm sure a few people might even have been wondering who he was!

Foley also has none of the wonderfully lush OTT imagery that made Taylor-Johnson’s first film such a guilty pleasure. This is at turns a very prosaic and yet rather coy handling of the material. And as usual with 18 films, we get to see lots of her and not a lot of him… Which is kind of a shame as eye candy choices go, because let’s face it, the main target audience for this film is heterosexual women...

Then again, the main strength of the first film is still there. Namely Dakota Johnson’s refreshing Ana (there’s a cute tribute to Dakota’s mum Melanie Griffith, see if you can spot it) and Jamie Dornan looks much more relaxed too, so his Christian is a less stiff (no pun intended).. Sadly though, this is the film where we want to see Christian and Ana actually start to fall in love. Ana challenges Christian to give her more, she wants to understand why he is so screwed up, but the film fails us. Both Marcia Gay Hardin as Christian’s adopted mother, and Kim Basinger as his former lover are totally wasted, their parts so cut down that they are reduced to cardboard cut outs - when in the books they help to explain a lot about Christian’s problems. And while Johnson and Dornan work overtime to inject the proceedings with humour - because surprise, surprise, folks there is actually quite a lot of humour in the books - very little of that is actually in the script.

All of that said, I still enjoyed this movie… But I think it was greatly helped by the two stars, my enjoyment of the OTT nature of the original books and also the fabulous venue where I went to see it and the company I saw it with… If you’re going to go for a guilty pleasure like Fifty Shades Darker, I’d highly recommend going with a fellow romance novelist (aka Abby Green) and seeing it at one of the Everyman cinemas, because not only can you share a sofa - putting you into your own little world - but they serve wine in bottles… And we needed it.

Tempting the Knight Release Day and Important Blog Roll!!

YAY!! Doing little snoopy dance today with the release of Tempting the Knight.

Here's the blurb:

Once upon a time, poor little rich girl Zelda Madison wanted someone to love her, until she discovered being a badass was much more fun.

Ten years after getting kicked out of convent school and torn away from her three best friends, Zelda has worked hard to clean up her act, but after a midnight swim on Manhattan Beach, she’s suddenly in urgent need of a knight in shining armor…

Hard-working legal aid attorney Tyrone Sullivan is the last guy she should call. Not only does he hold a grudge when it comes to Zelda leading his little sister astray all those years ago, he’s also supremely pissed about having to rescue a runaway supermodel from a Brooklyn police station at two am. But when Ty reluctantly agrees to bust Zel out of her ivory tower and let her hide out on his house barge for a few days, she shows him the wild side he didn’t know he had.

Zel discovers there’s nothing hotter than tarnishing a good guy’s armor… Until he starts to steal her bad girl’s battered heart…

This is the second in our fabulous Fairy Tales of New York series, also featuring books by Kelly Hunter, Lucy King and Amy Andrews....

Four BFFs, four hot dudes and four badass new makeovers of classic fables.

This is the order in which the stories run, so I strongly recommend you reading them in sequence.

Book 1: Pursued by the Rogue by Kelly Hunter - Out on 19th June
Book 2: Tempting the Knight by Yours Truly - Out on 22nd June
Book 3: Taming the Beast by Lucy King - Out on 26th June
Book 4: Seduced by the Baron by Amy Andrews- Out on 29th June

Anyway, if you want to know all about how we brain-stormed this series read this Pink Heart Society blog.

If you want to know all about my inspiration for the books... Or rather how Jamie Dornan, Kiera Knightly and a housebarge in Brooklyn fired my imagination... Then check out my Pinterest page. There are hot pics of Jamie and sexy gifs galore on there... Just sayin'

Tempting the Knight... One hot picture at at time...

If you want  updates, comps, release info, etc for all the books, like our Facebook page.

And if you want to read some cracking excerpts from Tempting the Knight check out the book's page on my website, or Tule Publishing's excerpt... But be prepared they're HAWT!

If you're a reviewer and would like to request a free copy to review you can do so on Netgalley.

Or if you actually want to BUY a copy already.... It's currently available on Kindle only in the US and the UK... And will be out on all ebook platforms in October.

And here's a sexy little meme to get you in the mood...

Psst... Jamie Dornan, The 50 Shades Movie AND a Book Giveaway.

Want to know my top ten reasons why Jamie Dornan is the PERFICK casting for Christian Grey in 50 Shades of Grey: The Movie?

Answer: YES.... Then head on over to the Pink Heart Society today where I have gotten ahold of the coveted Male on Monday post specifically to enlighten people on that very subject.

Answer: NO, I couldn't give a toss about 50 Shades or who plays Christian Grey in the movie... Then head on over to the PHS anyway because I'm giving away a copy of Beach Bar Baby to one lucky commentator.

Bribery works. See you there.