E L James may have penned one of the sexiest reads in recent memory with her debut work, "Fifty Shades of Grey." But you won't find this mother of two teenaged sons pushing them to read her super-naughty trilogy.

"No I wouldn't, in all honesty," James said in an interview that aired on CTV's Canada AM on Friday.

"I don't think they would want to read it either. There's a certain mother-son bond and I don't want to break it in any way," she said.

The author spoke to Canada AM earlier this week from New York, where she has been on a whirlwind press tour to promote her book.

James, a TV executive, wrote the online erotic novel with modest expectations.

Like any first-time author, James dreamed of seeing it on bookstore shelves one day.

To her astonishment, her kinky romance about a college girl and a troubled billionaire now tops the New York Times bestseller list, with its sequels, "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" in the No. 2 and 3 spots for adult indie fiction.

This steamy read filled with spanking, submission and sadomasochistic sex has become fodder for "Saturday Night Live" and Ellen DeGeneres, and sent Hollywood into a tizzy over who will star in the upcoming movies based on James's trilogy.

The literary phenom has even been banned in 17 Florida libraries for being too "pornographic," as readers elsewhere around the world devoured every page.

"For what has happened I am absolutely stunned," said James

"My goal was to write an entertaining love story… I had no idea it would blossom the way it has," she said.

Indeed, "Fifty Shades of Grey" has entranced female readers, who credit the graphic relationship between characters Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey with spicing up their own sex lives.

"When you put the book down, you will actually want to have sex with your husband. Like, a lot," wrote the popular parenting blog, Gurumommy.com.

Critics, however, such as HLN TV personality Dr. Drew Pinsky, have looked less favourably upon "Grey" mania, calling the story a rape fantasy.

In the book, Anastasia's relationship with Christian involves bondage and sexual dominance and submission.

The relationship is dark, explicit and disturbing. But James isn't fazed by her critics or the somewhat demeaning moniker of "mommy porn" that her work now holds.

"All this fuss is just what it is -- it's just fuss," said James.

"You can't own people's opinions and you can't own people's reactions to the book," she said.

Despite all the twisted sexual antics that pepper this tale, James credits real romance for its phenomenal success.

"Fundamentally, it's a love story. I like to call it a love story with a kink," said James.

"You see the journey of two characters who come together from different walks of life, and you have to see if they can make it together," she said.

"It's nice for people, women especially, to suspend their disbelief and go with the story."

As for the "mommy porn" labels, James takes little offence.

"I think it's a convenient way for journalists to package something, in my humble opinion," James said, with a hint of disdain lacing her voice.

"I don't really have any strong feelings either way about the term," she said.