"50 Shades of Grey" - A Romance Novel...Or Porn?

There's this "romance" novel out there that everyone is a buzz about.  No, it's not "Twilight" or even "Vampire Diaries".  It's "50 Shades of Grey". 

As an avid reader and lover of romance novels, I couldn't believe I wasn't the first to know about this book series.  I had to hear about it from my female co-workers - all of them!  How can so many women be raving about this book and I haven't heard about it?  I must read it! 

But alas, I'm going to have to give "50 Shades" 2 stars out of 5.  Sorry ladies.  Why?  Well, as an avid reader of romance novels, both sweetly romantic as well as erotic, "50 Shades" crosses the line. 

While I give the author credit for the quality of writing and think it would be a wonderful novel if certain things were taken out in its editing, I myself, as a fairly intelligent, educated and liberated woman, can do without the sexual dysfunction of it's main male character, Christian Grey.  I can't bring myself to want to continue reading Books 2 and 3, as Book 1 was, to say the least, deeply disturbing.  Call me a prude if you will, but this goes beyond normal fantasy for any modern woman in their right mind.  Notice my use of the term "right mind".

I get it.  Parts of it are hot and I couldn't put it down.  And I reluctantly admit, Christian does seem to care and love Anastasia to some extent.  But it left me feeling, oh I don't know, not so fresh...and maybe a little angry; and frankly, in reality (which this is so not), no modern woman in their right mind would give a man like Christian the time of day after the second date. 

To say the author's main male character, Christian or "Mr. Grey" is a sexist pig who mentally and physically abuses the woman who he's strongly attracted to and eventually falls in love with, is putting it mildly.  The man is a creep and desperately needs to seek a different therapist from the one he supposedly has.  The main character, Anastasia, is a little bit more real, as she is shown to be a strong young woman who occassionally puts Christian in his place and does have a conscience about the wrongness of the whole thing.  But you have to wonder what's wrong with her as well, to put up with and fall in love with such a dysfunctional human being. 

So, with all due respect ladies, I'm going back to my endless search for romantic and just "steamy" romance novels.  To each her own....