JANUARY GRAY REVIEWS

IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT I HATED THE 50 SHADES OF GREY TRILOGY

Unfortunately, I had gotten caught up in all the hype about them, so I downloaded the Kindle 3 book bundle all at the same time.

I read the first one…every word, and read/skimmed the second and third books.

Not only did I hate them, but the fact she was widely published and clearly such a poor writer, while I have stacks of books from excellent, yet unnoticed Indie Authors really made me mad. And, it takes a lot to really make me mad.

And the way she represented that particular lifestyle is all wrong. If you don’t know this, just trust me. I cannot even give her creative liberties with this one, because even Fiction requires a certain amount of responsibility.

I also made a lot of people mad at me when I would mention how the popularity of these books just goes to show how many bored housewives are on the planet. Relax, I’m only playing.

“Bored housewives unite!”

*wink wink*

There is nothing wrong with Erotica or Smut. But when it is completely mangled…when ANY book is completely mangled the way these were, there is going to be negative feedback.

A friend loaned me her copy of Grey, and I read every word. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but I was curious about something.

When E.L. James and her crew did the the Talk To The Author thing on Twitter, she received some horrible tweets. I agreed with them, mostly. I thought they were stupid for even trying something like that on the social networks.

But now, after reading Grey myself, I have a bit of a change of heart.

Just a bit.

MANY of the comments were in the mean zone but true.

MANY of the comments about Grey (the 4th book) in particular, were taken out of context.

MANY of the comments were downright grasping at straws simply as another opportunity to slam something/someone.

All creative people subject themselves to criticism and there will always be a Team Love and a Team Hate.

Admittedly, Team Love sometimes goes over board as well,

but when Team Hate Tweets about a paragraph in a book, and that one lone paragraph is all you get to see, without reading previous pages, it is clearly taken out of context simply for a point for Team Hate.

In all fairness, maybe the reason I didn’t enjoy her books is because they were too tame for me. I read smut books that almost make my eyes bleed.

And, if I were still a teen girl, I promise you I would be sneaking ALL 50 Shades into my parents house and sneaking to read them!

It is okay to dislike a book. Hate it even.

But the criticism needs to be as equally honest as the praise.