The time is upon is. We’ve waited a long time to get to the most romantic day of the year. There’ve been previews and posts in anticipation of the day we go all hearts and mushy stuff. It’s Valentine’s Day this weekend, y’all!! And to make it hot and steamy, we’ve got the Fifty Shades of Grey movie ready to whisk us off our feet!

There’s definitely no real GREY area about the movie. Either people are really excited to go see it because they loved the book or they definitely do not want to see it because they loathe the book and the whole idea of the alpha male sex plot. I can’t lie—I really want to see the movie, but probably not for the typical reasons.

One, I read the book and the entire trilogy. Many times. The first time, curiosity drove me because the news reported Ms. James was making over $200K a DAY on it. Also, I wanted to see if I could spot the Twilight elements. About half way through, I wondered how anyone couldn’t see the similarities to Twilight. Take out the vampires, insert the rich billionaire, and it’s basically the same plot. I didn’t want to like the book. I wanted to ridicule it. But dammit, by the end, I had to read the next book. And by the end of that one, I had to finish the entire trilogy. What the hell happened?

There are a lot of people decrying the poorly written narrative. How James didn’t go out of her way to lose her British-isms, like “Laters”. How there are grammatical errors riddled throughout, which there are. And how the BDSM depicted in the book isn’t close to safe or what the BDSM community deems acceptable. It’s an abusive relationship between an unpredictable controlling man and a simpering victim of a girl.

I cry bullshit. Not that there aren’t valid points to the criticism, but that people are using the criticism to say it’s a horrible romance book. It’s not that bad, and it’s better than Twilight. But there’s another reason why I appreciate FSoG. James unknowingly pushed romance stories that involve hot and heavy sex into the mainstream.

Perhaps it was the dawn of the e-readers and e-books that helped the wave. But all of a sudden, we didn’t have to be afraid of having that racy romance book hiding under our pillows. We could read it out in the open. We could talk about it out in the open. Yes, it might be scandalous to do so, but didn’t that make it even more elicit and fun?

I’ve now put out four pieces to my Rock & Rodeo series: Sweet Melody: Book 1, Warm Body: Book 2, Sweet Thing: Tease 1, and Warm Thing: Tease 2. I readily admit that I don’t think I’d be able to get any eyes on my sexy stories if James hadn’t broken the dam and helped romance storytelling evolve into a new age that allowed us women to say, “Hell yeah, we like sex, we are sexy, and we’re not afraid to talk about it or show it!”

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. And in some ways, the black and white take on FSoG, both the book and especially the film, will show up in the ultimate financial numbers. If so many disapproved of the book, why has it grossed so much? And over this weekend, I’m betting the movie will end up being number one.

Why am I going to see it? Well, for one, it’s kind of part of my job as a romance writer to see a huge movie based on a book from my genre. Okay, that’s a total cop out. I WANT to see the movie. I want to see if Jamie Dornan, whom I loved in Once Upon A Time, can do justice as Christian Grey (I really wanted Matt Bomer). Or if Dakota Johnson pulls off a better awkward brunette than Kristen Stewart from Twilight. But mainly, I want to see if the movie has any heat. My curiosity’s getting the better of me…and you know I’m gonna give in. Stay tuned for a review!

For those who crave the heat or are not interested in FSoG this weekend, might I pimp, I mean suggest, my Rock & Rodeo books as a steamy alternative? They’re all available for FREE with Kindle Unlimited. At just $.99, starting with Sweet Melody would be a great way to dive into the romantic world of the Rock & Rodeo.