I finished the Fifty Shades trilogy a week or so ago. Much like the first two books, I feel like this one was “meh” although more entertaining than the second book.

The plot contrivance I wondered about at the end of book 2? Well, I still think it could have been left out, but it did play a bigger role than I anticipated in Fifty Shades Freed. Still, the same things that bothered me about the first two books continued to annoy me here. Christian is still stalker-controlling. Finally, towards the end, he appeared to relax a small little bit. I did like that Ana continued to grow a backbone in this installment, but she still came across as a little too immature.

And the cliches…. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but OF COURSE Ana finds herself in a particular situation and OF COURSE Christian reacts in a less than ideal way. And OF COURSE it works out perfectly in the end.

The smut was still a bit tedious, but somehow less annoying than in book two.

My verdict on the series? As a mindless read, pure entertainment, it meets the bill. It’s certainly rooted in fan fiction, and the writing leaves much to be desired. But EL James does give us enough in the characters of Christian and Ana that I did want to know how things ended for them, and hoped for the best.