Thursday, February 2, 2012

Fifty Shades Freed Book Tour: Author E.L. James Guest Posting

Posted by Unknown at 12:00 AM

Bona Fide Reflections proudly welcomes E.L. James!! I am so excited to have her visit the blog today.

 There are three things going on with this post:

1.  Guest post by E.L. James
2. Bona Fide Review of Fifty Shades Freed
3. Complete the Rafflecopter to enter to win your own copy of Fifty Shades Freed.  


Without further ado, I am handing over the blog to E.L. James:


E.L. James' Guest Post

I love cars.  Funnily enough so does Christian Grey (boys and their toys!) and he’s wealthy enough to afford my dream car – a black Audi R8 Spyder.



But more on that later...
I have a thing about Audis, which is a little weird, because I drive a convertible Mini One - although I do love it. Christian only owns Audis.  His staff – Taylor, his additional security team (when they arrive) and Mrs. Jones - all drive Audis.  Taylor is lucky enough to get to drive whatever he’s told to, and as an ex-Armor Senior Sergeant, he can drive … anything. 



The first car to feature in the Fifty Shades trilogy is Kate’s Mercedes CLK. These are beautiful machines too.  Kate is lucky enough to come from a wealthy background, and her daddy not only buys her condos in which to live, but expensive cars too. Ana relishes the journey from Vancouver in Washington (where she’s studying) up to Christian’s Seattle headquarters, listening to loud indie rock music… the miles melt away driving this:


Of course the reason Ana takes Kate’s car is because her beloved Beetle, Wanda, would never get above 55 mph without something falling off:



When Christian takes one look at Wanda, he’s horrified. He thinks she’s a death trap, and he soon remedies the situation - the only way he knows how. 

I originally wanted to use the Audi A1 as the Submissive Special.  It’s a such a neat little car:


But unfortunately it’s not available in the US… yet. So I had to plump for the Audi A3 – which is not quite as cute:

In spite of the fact she doesn’t like receiving expensive gifts from Fifty, Ana loves this car.

Of course that doesn’t last long… for those of you who have not read the story, I won’t spoil it. Then Christian steps out of his Audi comfort zone and decides on a Saab.  Why a Saab?  I think Christian is trying to extricate himself from the associations of the Audi A3, which he purchased for all his submissives - and Ana is anything but. So this is what he buys her:



So - back to my favourite car, the R8. 

Those of you who have read Fifty Shades Freed will know there’s a certain… um… scene which takes place in the R8. When I was writing this story I rang our local Audi dealership and spoke with a salesman who shall remain nameless. I told him I was writing a romantic erotic novel, and  I could hear his gasp of surprise when I asked him if it was possible to have sex in an R8.  He stuttered for a moment, then said no, it was impossible - there just wasn’t enough room.  I thanked him for his time and hung up, deeply disappointed that I couldn’t write that scene.

Well, it just bugged me.  And I thought – I have to go and find out for myself.  The following Saturday I went to Audi’s very plush new West London headquarters, not far from where I live.  The first car you see when you walk in is an Audi R8 – a bargain at £124K (roughly $180,000.)  

I walked around it. I stared. I drooled. And then I plucked up enough courage to ask the ladies at the reception desk if I could actually sit in the car.  They told me this would be no problem, so, squealing inside with excitement, I climbed into the car.  Oh boy – was it sexy… the smell of new car, the short distance to the ground… the stunning dashboard… oh, I wanted to steal that car. And as I sat there I thought, you could TOTALLY have sex in here.  I got out of the car, walked round to the passenger side, climbed in there, and sat… and sat… and thought, and thought.  And those of you who have read Fifty Shades Freed will know what I thought. 

I think on that note I should wrap things up. Thank you, Laurielu, for letting me guest-post on your blog, I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.  

Bona Fide Review


Excellent!

Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James is another stunner of a novel and a great ending to her Fifty Shades Trilogy.  Even though Chrisitan and Ana are now married, the excitement and intensity between the couple has not diminished. In fact, I think it was stepped up a notch. To add some levity to the serious issues dealt with in the novel are Ana’s inner goddess and subconscious and the snarky e-mail diatribes between Christian and Ana.

As the happy couple are enjoying their phenomenal honeymoon abroad, they still have Christian’s mercurial emotional swings and possessiveness to deal with. That being said, it adds to the voracity of the on-going healing process that Christian must face in order to heal. It is Ana’s love, understanding, and many compromises that continue to help him dig out of his dark emotional hole. 

While trying to deal with his inner demons, Ana has some personal battles of her own to wage. Even though it is her deepest wish to set Christian free from his personal demons, she finds herself needing to exert her independence and fight for some autonomy so that she continues to be her own person, not his possession.Adding to the angsty issues in the relationship is the antagonistic plot of the who-done-it portion of the story that began in the previous books in this trilogy. Running these two distinct plots side by side makes reading this book doubly enjoyable.

E.L. James is a wonderful story teller. Her voice is smooth and keeps the story going like a well oiled machine. Once you start, it is hard to put Ms. James‘ book down.  She gives her stories eroticism, emotional poignancy, humor and peppers it all with suspense to keep her readers very entertained.


Fifty Shades Freed is the perfect finish to the trilogy. The ONLY complaint I have is that Ana and Christian’s story has come to a conclusion. I know I can revisit them when by re-reading this series; but, it is just not the same.  I lament the fact that their story has come to an end. I highly recommend this book to all romance readers; however, I really think you should read the first two books in the trilogy (Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker) to get the full impact of this story. This novel will mean so much more to you as a reader when you become completely invested in these two characters. 

Happy Reading from Bona Fide Reflections!!

(ARC provided by TWCS for an honest review)
To learn more about E.L. James please visit her website: http://www.eljamesauthor.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway








25 comments:

Andrea on February 2, 2012 at 5:59 AM said...

I only read the first two books about a week ago so I'm still pretty wrapped up in the whole story. I had no clue what any of the cars were when reading the books. I had to google and find pictures of a lot of things while reading the books, cars weren't one of the things I was looking up.

Unknown on February 2, 2012 at 6:05 AM said...

LOL! I can imagine. There is a learning curve to some of the things mentioned in the trilogy. I hope you enjoyed today's post. I thought it was a super fun read... just sayin'.

Veronika on February 2, 2012 at 6:53 AM said...

Hi there :) I'm a new follower of the blog, but I'm very glad I found it because of this book tour! I absolutely love it!
I have to say, I'm following this book tour around every single day anxiously waiting for the next stop, and this post was one of my absolute favorites! I laughed so hard reading the funny encounter with the salesman LOL Amazing guest post and review! Thank you so much! I love these books so much!
I also entered the giveaway, though I'm not sure if it's open to international followers as well, but if it is, please enter me :)

Nancy Devault on February 2, 2012 at 9:02 AM said...

Loved it!

Anna (herding cats-burning soup) on February 2, 2012 at 9:20 AM said...

The car dealership bit is too freaking funny! Love it :)

LoriJ on February 2, 2012 at 10:09 AM said...

<3 it!! I'm FREE!! just got my copy 2 days ago!! <3

Jodie on February 2, 2012 at 10:20 AM said...

OMG, the cars are phenomenal! What I wouldn't give for money to be no object. Ana is such a lucky girl. I'm so glad E.L. shared this bit of the story because I think her attention to detail and tons (and tons) of research she has done are just some of the reasons these books are so fantastic!

Anonymous said...

What a brilliant post, so different to any I have read on this series. Well done xx

Anonymous said...

I love this series and it's great to see pictures of the cars - I know nothing about cars whatsoever. Interesting blog too :)

Unknown on February 2, 2012 at 11:12 AM said...

I've heard a lot about this series. It sounds very interesting. Great post!

The ParaNormal Romance Party on February 2, 2012 at 11:26 AM said...

I haven't read any of them, but I have heard GREAT things!! they are next on my TBR list!!

thanx for the giveaway!!
~Samantha Dacier

Unknown on February 2, 2012 at 11:48 AM said...

Excellent review and post. I'm sorta dragging my feet on finishing the book because I just hate for it to be over!
~Amanda
behindtherows.com

Unknown on February 2, 2012 at 11:51 AM said...

Hi!
I haven' read any of the books in the series, but have also heard some pretty good things about it. Audis's are seriously hot cars, but the Mercedes...nice! Great Giveaway!
Sharonda
mslowman@gmail.com

Astrid G.E on February 2, 2012 at 1:04 PM said...

Hi! one of the best thing i love the most of your books are the cars lol I'm in love with all kind of Audi models so it was definitely a bonus for me :) thank you for the giveaways and thanks for writing this 3 amazing book! and Taylor is so lucky for getting to drive all the cools cars ;D

Mary Preston on February 2, 2012 at 5:54 PM said...

I know nothing about cars, shiny is good!!! I would love to read FIFTY SHADES FREED Thank You.

marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Anonymous said...

Is there a chance for a 4th book to this story???

Jana on February 2, 2012 at 6:13 PM said...

I love this series so much! It´s great to see these cars :D I love the Ana´s old car ;)

Kassandra on February 2, 2012 at 7:19 PM said...

I LOVE this series! The amount of growth that Christian has gone through due to Ana is such a wonderful thing. (and yes I have teared up a few times in sympathy for him, shoot me if you must!)

Although I have yet to experience an Audi R8. I have experienced a few other 2 seat sports cars that there was PLENTY of room to get the job done ;)

sionedkla@gmail.com

Jennifer Lane on February 2, 2012 at 8:43 PM said...

Hi Laurie! *waves* I love VW bugs. ;) I haven't started this series but I've heard a LOT about it and am intrigued. Too bad it's over for you!

KCBC on February 2, 2012 at 9:27 PM said...

How fun to hear about the cars... Normally I couldn't care less but Ms. James even knows how to make them sexy! I have adored every moment with these C&A and can't wait to get my hands on the last in the series. Great review!

Jellybellys78 on February 2, 2012 at 9:47 PM said...

This book seems like a fun read, can't wait!

Anne R on February 2, 2012 at 10:12 PM said...

I have not read this series yet but it is high on my list. I hear nothing but good things about it. I hope to tackle it soon.

Can I have one of those cars?? There are really pretty, I hope some day to be able to afford such a fancy sweet ride.

Thanks

Kell on February 3, 2012 at 7:30 AM said...

Thanks for the giveaway. Cannot wait to read.

Stacey Donaldson on February 3, 2012 at 1:11 PM said...

I agree, I loved the stories so much I don't want them to end either! I haven't read the last installment, but I hope I win so I can :-)

Great guest post and review!

Unknown on February 3, 2012 at 5:09 PM said...

Thank you all for stopping by to comment. This has been a fun post for me. I enjoyed having Ms. James post her thoughts. She is a wonderful lady who is humble, talented and a hard worker.

And thank you to those of you who commented on the review. It means a lot to me. XXOO

Happy Reading!
Laurielu