VERO BEACH — Vero Beach women are snapping up a sexy series of novels that has become a summer hit on Vero beaches and around local pools.
Readers would have to have had their heads in the sand if they haven’t heard about “Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Fifty Shades Darker,” and “Fifty Shades Freed,” the trilogy topping the charts of the Vero Beach Book Center’s best seller list, with more than 1200 copies flying out the doors since April, when it was released in paperback.
Even before the book came out, the Book Center had received 30 special orders for it.
Book Center Marketing Director Cynthia Callander compared it to the Harry Potter series debut, which was credited with increasing the number of young readers.
“We are absolutely delighted about this,” said Callander. “People are coming in who haven’t been in a bookstore for years … or ever! My hairdresser told me she hadn’t read a book in years until this one.”
While younger women have fired up their Kindles to order the sizzling stories on-line, older women have flocked to the Book Center, which hasn’t seen traffic like this since the release of Twilight series.
“Customers say, “Mom, get this book. It will curl your toes,” laughed Book Center employee Melissa Wade. “Daughters come in for their moms, who are too embarrassed to buy it themselves.”
The Grey franchise is a frothy escape from the stressful demands of careers and caregiving, the perfect beach read credited with helping many women ratchet up the romance and liven up libidos.
Reading the trilogy for the literary value is like watching “Magic Mike” for the acting. The controversy generated by the book is an author’s dream.
E. L. James, a British wife and mother, captured lightening in a bottle with the series, which she classifies as “’romance- suspense-erotic,” and now she is on the way to being worth more than Christian Grey, the dominant dream-date protagonist.
Grey’s alpha nature is the aphrodisiac for busy women who just want someone else to call the shots for a while. The feisty, independent female lead character falls hard for the intense and complex business tycoon, who sends her a state of the art MacBook Pro, among other things, since he isn’t a flowers and candy kind of guy.
Everyone is talking about the series at the dog park or Village Shops parking lot, yet Ocean Drive denizens were shy about speaking publically about the books, especially if they liked them.
“I had a whole new appreciation for the hardware store,” said one John’s Island matron. “I’ll never look at monofilament rope or masking tape in the same way again.”
Ernie Hess, manager of the Orchid Island Ace Hardware, joked he had not seen an increase in the sales of items mentioned in the books.
“I definitely would have noticed that,” said Hess, who had not heard of the series.
The story was written originally as an homage to that other publishing juggernaut, the Twilight series and shares heroes who listen beautifully, and are easy on the eyes.
While many women have eagerly devoured the books and claim it has changed their lives, others read it because they wanted to know what the fuss was about.
“I read “Fear of Flying” in the seventies,” laughed a woman who was lunching at Casey’s Place.
Some women are adamant about not reading it.
Callander described an angry woman at the Book Center pointing at the display. “This is what’s wrong with America today,” said the woman.
While many libraries around the country have refused to stock the series, the Indian River County Main Library has nearly 150 people on the waiting list to borrow the books, nearly the twice the amount on a list for a new James Patterson book, or the Twilight or the Hunger Games series.
“In Vero, we have 50 shades of Lilly Pulitzer,” said a Riomar resident, who had finished all three books within a week.