Truth be told, I love reading fictions/fan fictions online. Some of my favorite pieces are yet to be published that's why I am a bit irked by a lot of the more popular published literary works that are sub par. I am by no means a literary genius, heck even my grammar is slowly disintegrating. But I do know what I like about reading books and other works of fiction.
It is no secret that I am not a fan of the Twilight series, I read all the books but was just left wondering "Why is this so popular?" When I first heard that the driving force or inspiration behind 50 Shades was Twilight, I just had to stay away from the book. I figured that it would just disappoint me, just like Twilight. However boredom struck and it was the only book I had that I haven't read before (I downloaded an e-book, didn't spend a centavo on it) so I decided to give it a shot. It's not like I had anything better to do.
For the record, I spent almost a month reading all three books. Yes, A WHOLE MONTH. The longest time I have spent in finishing a book. It wasn't terrible, it was eons better than Twilight, that's for sure. But it just didn't appeal to me. Don't give me the "maybe you are just not into BDSM or erotica" argument because I've read far raunchier things from fictionpress and AFF.
50 Shades of Grey was ok, it caught my attention but it didn't make me want "more" of it. It was the best book in the series, in my opinion. 50 Shades Darker was so-so, it was tolerable. The last book though, was unnecessary. They could finish the entire story line in one book, but maybe they wanted to milk it.
My verdict (if it wasn't clear enough) is that it is OK to read if you have nothing better to do/read. If you just want to pass time, then it might be ok. Oh, it's not for kids it is erotica let's not sugarcoat it and say it's a love story. It does have a love story but it's still a BDSM novel. On that note, if you are used to reading online fiction which are Rated M, it might also not reach your expectations of smut.
