http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Shades-Black-Blue-ebook/dp/B007X5V6CQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335373928&sr=8-1

AAR Sandy: No, you don’t, LJ.Point taken.Actually, I was referring more to the disdain that’s coming from the FanFic community.I should have been more clear.

the disdain is definitely not sour grapes. it’s more the author’s behavior in the community which is pretty tight-knit and supportive of one another in general. just not a fan of someone who puts themselves on a pedestal at every opportunity when there are LOTS of fantastic fanfiction authors out there. yes, she has definitely hit mainstream popularity but I would have to add that a lot of the initial steam was provided by the fanfiction community that James seems very eager to ditch altogether.

LJ: @Tesa
No, I read the first two novels.
“because there are characters who make it blatantly clear that BDSM is not the problem,”Except that it IS because Christian’s NEED to be a dom is based on his childhood trauma and then Ana ‘cures’ him of his need to be a Dom through love. How is that not treating it like a disease?And then we have two other characters in the book, His former lover who is a chil abuser and a former sub both of whom are psychologically damaged and are used to drive the plot?Oh yes, this is a BDSM positive book.
You’re telling me I didn’t read it? You must be kididng.I wanted to throw my ereader through a window.And no, don’t be ridiculous, of course BDSM books can deal with psychological issues. Anabel Joseph has written a book that covers this issue almost exactly. The difference is, she managed to deal with it without treating BDSM like a disease. She also managed to feature BDSM positive characters just as she has dealt with many psychological issues AND BDSM at the same time without ‘curing’ either the Dom or the Sub of their inherit need to practice BDSM.
AND she didn’t treat every character over 40 like a pariah.

Obviously, I’m going to agree to disagree, and choose not to take what’s becoming a discussion fraught with unnecessary tension personal. I’m not suggesting that you read anything that you find objectionable, but I would hope that you do understand that it’s a trilogy for a reason with conflicts that are not resolved until the end of the third book.

1) Ana does not cure Christian of anything. They find a level of kinky fuckery that works for both of them.

2) Christian is screwed up regardless of his sexual preferences. It is NOT the BDSM scenes he’s flashing back to, it’s his trauma. It’s not BDSM that messes with his idea of intimacy, it’s being prematurely involved in ANY sexual relationship at 15 with a grown woman.

3) Taylor, Mrs. Jones, the therapist, both sets of parents, just a few of the characters over 40 who are not social pariahs.

Suffice it to say that interpretations of the plot are entirely subjective, as is clear by the range of opinions on this blog.

Mirole:

I don’t quite agree with you and those who say they cannot understand why these books became such a great success and there are better romance books that deserve equal/greater success on the strength of their better writing. I’ve just looked up my top 10 romance and while I agree most of them are better written, all of them are very formulaic romancy

I agree with you here also. I didn’t mean to say that the writing was bad, because I thought it was good. Two problems I did have was that I thought it was a bit lengthy and that parts could have been shortened up a bit, especially book three. And also, the language, the voice didn’t sound American. I wouldn’t have minded if the books were set in London. But anyway, I loved the series and feel the author deserves all the attention her books are getting. I say, good for her.