DARKER (Fifty Shades Darker as told by Christian #2) by E L JAMES

“We’ve chased the dawn, Anastasia. Now the dusk.”

Oh be still our hearts; Darker was everything we were hoping and wishing for. There is something about the male POV which truly ensnares our heart and none more so than the voice of Christian Grey. We thought we knew all there was to know about him; his troubled heart and mind, his controlling ways and his boyish vulnerability. The true extent and depths of his mercurial ways though really takes the centre stage in this, our favourite instalment in the original Fifty Shades series.

“Appearances can be deceptive. I’m not fine. I feel like the sun has set and not risen in five days, Ana. I’m in perpetual night here.”

Oh Mr. Grey; you really do doubt that love is all around you. Through snippets from the past we experience the sadness, the sporadic rays of light, the darkness and ultimately the love which surrounds this wonderful and enigmatic man. A man whose life is changing through the insistent love and the strength of a good woman, the wonderful Anastasia Steele.

‘Baby, you read me like one of your books; except I’m not the hero. I’ll never be the hero.’

Oh but you are Mr. Grey, you’re our hero. A hero who protects those he loves with all that he is and all that he has. A hero who shows compassion, humility and patience. A hero who stole our hearts years ago yet once again reaffirmed that special place which still truly belongs to Christian Grey.

‘I can do this. I can live with this. I must. I need to protect her and her vulnerable heart. I take a deep breath. I can do this.’

Oh yes, we know this story and we know it well, through re-reads of our favourite passages. However, there were so many new, romantic and exciting moments as well as heartbreak and desperation experienced through Christian’s eyes, mind and heart. Tears, laughs and romantic sighs……we went through all the emotions once more.

‘My throat constricts as my heart expands. I’m on the edge of something unknown, a plain where the horizon disappears and the territory is new and unexplored. It’s terrifying. It’s confusing. It’s exciting. What are you doing to me, Ana? Where are you leading me?’

Oh my, the heat…the heat combined with the honest and captivating yet conflicted and contradictory feeling of unworthiness, of feeling loved, the fear of loss yet gaining so much more. It all added up to an all-encompassing and more enthralling journey than we could’ve imagined.

‘Be in the moment, Grey. Live this. Feel this. Conquer this. I am at Ana’s mercy. The woman I love.’

Oh, it felt like coming home, an embrace from an old lover, a kiss from the lips of a loved one. The words familiar, yet somehow new. The story that has lived in our hearts has had new life breathed into it and we loved every single moment of it.

‘This is me, Ana. All of me. And I love you.’