One of the first things I am asked about my book, Forever Love, is, “Is it like Fifty Shades of Grey?” Not having read the books and only knowing that it has bondage and domination it in, I would reply, “no, but it does have sex in it.” Since my daughter had downloaded the series onto my Kobo account, I thought I’d better read it and have a better answer next time I was asked a similar question. So, I guess you could say that I spent three days last week researching by reading the three books.
My answer is now, “Yes and no. Yes, my book is a romance with sex in it. No, there is no S&M in it, although some of my sex scenes may be a bit more graphic. And no, because my book is written better or is that better written?”
Now, don’t get me wrong. I liked Fifty Shades of Grey. I liked the characters and the plot. To really enjoy the book, I had to believe that a woman could enter a relationship with a man knowing full well that he was damaged goods and knowing that he liked his sex rough (that’s putting it lightly) and knowing that he wasn’t into hearts and flowers. I had to believe that a man as perfect yet damaged as the hero, could be saved by love. I believe in suspending my disbelief when it comes to stories such as this and it worked for me. Overlook the dark cloud of S&M that hovers over the story and you will like the story.
In Forever Love, if you can believe that a younger man can fall in love with an older woman and if you can believe in love at first sight, then my book is for you.
Where Fifty Shades of Grey and Forever Love differ is in the writing. When I read Fifty Shades of Grey, I was shocked by the number of spelling and grammatical mistakes. I don’t think the author used a thesaurus when she wrote the book or a copy editor. I was bothered by the constant use of the adverb intently. I’m sure the hero,Christian Grey, could look into Ana’s eyes in some other way than intently. Some paragraphs seemed to be copied throughout the series word for word. The language was repetitive and dull. Once again, overlook the poor writing and you will enjoy the story.
In Forever Love, I tried my best to be grammatically correct (thanks Dad) and to vary my use of adverbs and adjectives. I did not copy paragraphs throughout the story. I think it’s well written. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have published it. I may have overdone it on the sex scenes, but I won’t apologize for them. The heroine, Davina, is an older woman pursued by a younger man. He finds her sexually attractive and thinks she’s a live wire in bed. The story is about her sexual rejuvenation. It’s about her emotional resurrection when she thought her time for love was gone. It’s about people finding love when they least expect it and fighting to hold on to it. Forever.
So, if you want to read Shades of Grey, go ahead. It’s a romance. Enjoy it. Then compare it to Forever Love and let me know what you think. Do you agree with me? Yes or no.
