When it came to the Fifty Shades novel phenomenon I wasn’t really interested in reading the books. Of course I am definitely not one to steer away from erotica but have never been into romance novels. After all the books had been released and there was so still so much hype I decided, why not have a look and so I started reading.

For a virgin erotic romance author I believe E.L.James came up with a great concept, bringing a different sexual appetite to our minds and our bedrooms. I couldn’t put the books down they were far more exciting than what I had expected. I was so pleased that I didn’t have to wait for the next releases I could just continue all the way through. The suspense would have killed me.

My already sexual imagination went into overdrive, I couldn’t help but think about how the people who prefer the romance novels were going to react to such a different side to sex and sexuality. This was actually a turn on for me.

When I found out that there was going to be a movie my first instinct was how were they going to be able to portray this erotic story and bring alive what my and every other readers imagination had envisioned. It was going to be a tough task.

But I waited in anticipation for the release and finally the day arrived. To say I was very excited was an understatement. Even though there had been a few negative reviews in the media the day before, I just couldn’t wait.

The movie is definitely a ‘chic flick’, man meets girl – girl meets man but with the obvious differences. I watched and felt it was almost like any other romance movie to a point. The guy is pursuing the girl and the girl falls for his attention, and then the games begin. It is just these games are a little kinkier and this makes it more exciting.

The major exception is that we get to see what they get up to in-between the sheets, not that there are many sheets when they are having sex, and this is where the kinky side of the story comes in for the fans of Fifty Shades.

Whips, cuffs, silk ties, ice cubes are just the teasing start to this sensually arousing tale. Every person will have their own image of what Christian and Anastasia look like but I was a little disappointed with Christian, to me he felt too soft. I didn’t see any hard masculine domineering features to him at all. But this doesn’t mean I didn’t find him oddly attractive, especially in his ‘red room of pain’ jeans.

Anastasia was exactly how I envisioned, an unassumingly attractive young college student that although intelligent has self confidence issues. A body that most women would kill for but what is with the pubic bush, a little trim would have taken away that 1970’s feel.

The sex scenes were hot and very sensual and the S&M scenes were very mild except for when Anastasia asks Christian to show her the worst of what he would like to do. This is the time a mixture of feelings come through. Remember she knew the safe word.

It is a unique romance/love/erotic sex story but it’s up to you how you want to take it. One with sexual gratification and innocents and if you haven’t read the book you are not going to completely understand and you may have an extremely different opinion on the movie compared to someone who has read and enjoyed the book.

I believe this is where some of the reviews calling it a form of domestic abuse/violence are coming from. They don’t know the whole story yet, and if they did they may change their view. To me, I watched two consensual adults who both had free will.

What I am disappointed about the most is that, in my imagination it was hotter and sexier than it came across on the big screen. They should have left it at an R rating so that we would have more of the stimulation we received from reading the book. But nothing that they could put in a movie would be able to completely compare with our overactive imaginations. But great first try.

First try, obviously means there is more to come. So my second disappointment is that the way it ended has now left me hanging. And now I have to wait for the next movie, they better not leave us waiting for too long.

I give it 3 ½ stars