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

Surprised...

I was totally taken back by the content of this book. Even though there was plenty of sexual content, I thought it was done in good taste. Becca Battoe was a perfect choice to narrate this book, I could picture her as she examined her inner self, and questioned her choices. As she progressed through the story realizing she was loving this dominant man, and finding that she was his equal outside of the “playroom”. I could hardly put the book to sleep, I listened to it while on my treadmill, and could have walked 20 miles, as one could not guess which way the story would go at the end of each chapter...
Great Read for open minded people...

Worth reading.

This book has gotten a lot of 'flack' about the narrator, but I didn't think she was that bad (of course I am no exper)t.... Yes her voice was a bit young, but Anastasia is only 21, so yes she is young.
The story itself was nothing less than wonderful. Definately worth the read.

Becca Battoe really hard to listen to

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The Narrator

Would you recommend Fifty Shades of Grey to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, in paper back or on a Kindle

How could the performance have been better?

Ms Battoe totally ruined this book for me. The hardest parts were when she read the email correspondences.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

A different Narrator!

Any additional comments?

Did I mention I was extremely unhappy with the narrator?

Fifty Shades of Messed up!

This is the first review that I actually struggled to write. For me this story is a mix between Twilight (my favorite book ever) and Outlander (a book I couldn't even finish listening because I hated it that much). I struggled between loving this book and wondering really? Why do I like it? Mr. Grey is seriously messed up, Anna is too naive, the sex is intense and the BDSM is a little disturbingat times. But for some reason I was completely consumed with the story to the point I considered taking a day off from work to just listened to it the whole day. I became a fifty shades junkie and wondered Have I become fifty shades of messed up as well?
I love the Twilight series but every time I read those books I always tought "well if I was Bella, there's a lot more things that would be happening with that Edward." For Twilight fans this is an adult and addictive version. The dark misterious man and the innocent girl in a strange relationship that is oh so intense, romantic and sexy. Oh myyy! It hooks you because you want to understand why Christian is the way he is, wonder if he'll change and if the relationship will work out and it keeps making you want more.
I have only read one previous book that included BDSM, which is Outlander (HORRIBLE) so I was sure I would hate that aspect. In the fifty shades series, it works. It's HOT!!! I don't know why but I just couldn't get enough.
Now, about the narration: audio editors failed. Miserably failed. On the first edition Ms. Battoe sounded very very young and some words just did not sound right. But the second "remastered" audio version was a bigger fail! WHAT THE HECK!!!! It now sounds like a slow motion version. Boring and it drags. I don't really like the sultry tone she uses now and there's even less difference between e male and female characters. Totally disappointing narration. I preferred the first version by far. But don't get me wrong, I already got the second book. The story in itself is so good I can deal with the narration issue.
I recommend every female over the age of 18 to get this book. You'll probably be fifty shades of blushing at times. It's just amazing! By the end of the story my inner goddess kept screaming: More, more, more!!!!

Very over rated

What disappointed you about Fifty Shades of Grey?

Taking 19 hours to tell a 6-8 hour story

Would you be willing to try another book from E L James? Why or why not?

No See above

How could the performance have been better?

Does the author not know any other word to describe a smile rather than sardonic?Eliminate the perpetual "Oh My" and "How his trousers hang on his hips"

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Fifty Shades of Grey?

All the email details are trivial and boring.

Any additional comments?

The only thing that sold this book was the erotica and it could have been done much better.

For twilight fans ONLY...

This canned product made by a fan of Twilight is mostly to fans of that saga (that I actually liked 5 years ago) that don't have the imagination (or experience) to picture this obscures sex scenes so they need a girl to write them down.... Too basic, too dull. The only thing good are the characters... but those are Stephanie Meyer's credits, ooops!

It is indeed a great marketing product and nothing else.

pretty good...I lliked the story two thumbs up!

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

maybe not.... but I don't think anyone can narrate it right...

What was one of the most memorable moments of Fifty Shades of Grey?

the begining

Which character – as performed by Becca Battoe – was your favorite?

Gray

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

She did a good job

Way to out there for me. Not my kind of book

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes, I wouldn't have bought it!

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Didn't like it at all.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Becca Battoe?

Probably

Was Fifty Shades of Grey worth the listening time?

NO

Any additional comments?

Wish I hadn't bought the whole series!

Twilight Saga with a "playroom"

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

Okay, I bought this trilogy in spite of the reviews because I like to know what people are talking about, even when it turns out to be stupid. I was very surprised, though,that not one of the reviews mentioned that this series was an attempted remake of the Twilight Saga some X rated parts thrown in for spice). It had nearly the same cast (pale faced, darkhaired, clumsy, virgin girl meets gorgeous, rich, copper haired, "cold", mysterious man with " no soul", who likes to go fast and (surprise) plays the piano; scatterbrained, but lovable mom who has bad luck with men; folksy dad; ethnic "friend" who wants to be more--And it even took place in Washington state! Some of the dialog was even the same! But, hey I guess everyone's entitled to copy (I mean capitalize) on someone else's idea. (Especially when that idea made mega bucks)-- look how many verisions there are of the same movie--but an original plot, story line, characters, etc would have been nice.

I thought the emails were funny and some parts of the book were quite informative. I liked the "Inner Goddess" (it reminded me of that commercial where the person is walking along very normally and their shadow is doing the happy dance). As far as the narator goes, the heroine WAS really immature, so I thought her voice fit (except that everyone else sounded like Thurston Howell III from Gilligans Island.) I probably still would have read this series, but I wish I'd gotten them free from the library instead of adding to the "author's" bank balance.

Bye the way, I DID like the Twilight Series, but I didn't expect it to be any more than it was. That may be why this series was so disapointing, I expected more.

INTERESTING READ

I was told by a friend to read this book and been hearing folks ranting and raving on how good this book was so I decided to pick it up. Personally, this book was a little slow paced it seemed to take forever to get where it needed to go. This is a very long book and I really think it could have been a little bit shorter. The emails that went back and forth throughout the book started to get on my nerves. What the author did do was build the character so that you felt as if you knew them and their personalities and then helped you understand the main characters' inner conflict and how they saw themselves.What I did like about the book was the descriptive sexual content. Whew I could just picture the scenes in my head. I am a fan of the bdsm lifestyle and love anything to do with bondage, role playing, pain and pleasure so the scenes were fantastic and had me at the edge with all sorts of thoughts running through my head. The narrator was also perfect for the book and did an amazing job. I would recommend this book to my friends and most of them love this book and now fully understand that I may not be as weird as they thought, because they loved the sexual content in the book they now want to try something new and have been blowing up my phone to tie them up and spank them...hahaha This is a pretty good introduction book into the second book.