http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6354427/1/Trippin_Slippin_Stumbletumblin
a tale of pirouettes and prayers. Marseilles and a mosaic-heart. whispers and white dahlias. leg warmers and LSD. Turtle and tutus. SixtyFour and "Since I've been Loving You". lies and lilacs. truth and the trouble with it. blood… and bearing a grudge.
Review by PAWsPeaches
It was a typical school night, March 9, around 8:00 pm. I put my children to bed, grabbed my kindle and went to my room. Conditions were perfect for reading. All was quiet and I was relaxed. I selected and opened Trippin, Slippin, Stumbletumblin from my kindle menu. About fifteen minutes later, my mind was wrapped in YellowGlue’s words and escaping my reality, to float happily, into her world, of a dainty, young-at-heart, feminine, ballerina girl and a Possessive, alluring, selfless, loves-like-no-other- darkward.
Today is April 28, 2011. It is 9:35 pm and I have been obsessed with Trippin, Slippin, Stumbletumblin for exactly seven weeks, one hour, and twenty minutes. My obsession began with this excerpt from EPOV:
As I shook my head, a sound like seraphim singing thrilled my ears.
I stopped for half a second in my steps, and turned to Carlisle.
"Do you hear that?"
He raised a brow above his sunglasses.
"What?"
I was moving toward the sound then, following it and trying at the same time to keep my pace humanlike.
"That..."
I listened harder, trying to figure it out. But I couldn't name it.
"That sound..."
His steps picked up behind me, trailing after me as I followed what started to sound more and more like a lullaby in the night air the closer I came to it.
I heard her before I smelled her. Smelled her before I saw her.
……………..
The lullaby unfolded lyrics.
My name - between verses of "Please" and a chorus of "Thank you"s, surrounding a bridge of "Edward, you're welcome..."
She didn't look up at me. She didn't notice me or know me at all, but the red inside her did..
I wanted to speak, to ask Carlisle again if he could hear the music, but I couldn't find my voice.
She was a baby. Not an infant, but a child hardly more than two years old, freckles across her nose and babbling words that made simple sentences. She walked clumsily between her parents. One hand in her father's and one in her mother's, her steps were high like she was marching almost, like she'd only just recently learned to walk.
Plans - arrangements and rearrangements were forming in my mind even then. Settling on nothing, I knew only that she was everything, ever. That she was mine, and I was unconditionally and irrevocably hers.
"Edward," Carlisle called, sounding much farther than the few feet behind me he actually was.
I turned my head slightly, glancing him over my shoulder.
"What is it?" he asked.
I turned my head to the family, watching as the three of them walked hand in hand from the restaurant to their car. Her father latched her with care into a car seat and closed the door, removing her from my sight.
The sound and scent of her lingered. All softness and lilacs. All mine.
I walked back to Carlisle after they drove away, only barely resisting the urge to follow.
"What is it?" he asked again.
"The girl. She... I could hear her blood."
9:42 pm…. My review for Trippin, Slippin, Stumbletumblin was due around hmmm, let’s see…..Yesterday. What do you do when you can’t possibly grasp the words to describe the best, most moving story you’ve ever read?
You drink wine and log onto tumblr.
Two glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon later and I’m tumblin’ nicely. Got some good Rob porn, one or two Kristin’s and a few fuck-a-rounds as well. Lately, everything that rolls through my dash or plays on my radio, reminds me of TSS. Why is this? That’s simple. In my two years of reading fan fiction, I’ve never read anything like it. I’m taken by it.
I can’t remember a time, other than reading the Saga, when I’ve been more affected, by a story, than I have while reading this one. Only three paragraphs into the Prologue, I was hooked, and at times, this story elicited so much physical and mental emotion from me, that I had to take breaks while reading.
The thrill, excitement and pure, raw emotion, that rolled through me while reading can only be compared with the best adrenaline rushes I’ve had. That’s what this story is to me. It’s an amazing string of excitement and smiley swoons with an occasional adrenaline rush that leaves me speechless. It’s also my number one fic. Ever.
The prologue begins in Bella’s bedroom.
Snuggling deep into the covers, pulling them up around my ears, I closed my eyes and counted to five.
At one, I took a heavy breath.
Filled my chest up.
At two, I adjusted around the breath in my chest, and felt my lips start to smile.
By three, my smile stretched up and into my cheeks.
For four, my stomach leapt grand jetés.
And just before five, I held all of myself completely still. I didn't even breathe. Just for that one second...
I opened my mouth only then, just barely so that I could shape my lips around two syllables. So that I could whisper out, so quietly, almost all air:
"Edward..."
His answer was immediate and soft, just like the sudden breeze of night air on my cheeks and nose.
"Shhh, I'm here."
I opened my eyes when I heard his voice. He was stepping away from my window, closing it silently behind himself. And I felt my smile digging, deeper into my cheeks.
………I skipped a few paragraphs to shorten this because I couldn’t not share this next excerpt, from the same scene with you………..
He skimmed his nose over my skin once more, barely touching and I felt him breathe in. I tried to swallow the sound that threatened to come out of me, digging my teeth into the side of my lip as he spoke so low I almost didn't hear him at all.
"Shh," he whispered once more. "I'm talking to God."
The way Edward loves Bella as a child is like nothing other, and I can only compare it to the imprint that Jacob has with Nessie in twilight. It is a completely innocent, involuntary, honest love. When Bella gets a little older, it becomes clear to Edward that he won’t be able to control himself around her any longer, the way he has, the years before. Yes, Edward leaves, and yes, it’s heart breaking, but, it’s also beautiful and very necessary to the story. Edward comes back, and when he does, from the second he’s in Bella’s vicinity, you are thrown into this emotional, thrill ride, that will take you high, high, higher and leave you breathless at the end of each chapter.
After Edward leaves, YellowGlue walks you through their heart warming years together by flashing backward and forward while moving the story along at the same time.
Even when Edward is gone, she keeps you enraptured with her words, scenes and brilliant characters that I absolutely adore. Bella, Sixty Four (Alice), Leah, Jasper, Jacob and turtle will make you laugh, smile and fly high with butterflies while reading their times together, and you’ll twist and turn in the feelings of sadness, confusion and betrayal that Bella alternates while he’s away. But Then……….. Edward …..comes…. back.
Dun Dun Dun……. No words for this and every subsequent chapter after.
There were quite a few chapters that I read over and over because they were so good I wanted to immediately re-read them. She continued to blow my mind chapter, after chapter, with this story.
After reading YellowGlue’s work, you won’t settle for anything less than the best. She will change your opinion of great fic. I fell in love with her and she has my heart. Forevers.
Please don’t let yourself miss out on this. My words will never do this story justice, nor begin to describe how great it is.
XOXO, PAWsPeaches
2nd Review for Trippin, Slippin, Stumbletumblin by LaMomo
After reading Worst of Weather and Rose Like Thunder, I knew for a fact that YellowGlue is a sure bet.
With this tale of love and loss, of faith and doubt, she has only confirmed her worth.
Edward is Bella's best friend since she is a but a child. These are his first words when he first sees her:
"I heard her before I smelled her. Smelled her before I saw her. And I knew right away I wanted to taste her, wanted to feel her life-force, her pulse beating right into my hand, against my palm."
"Plans - arrangements and rearrangements were forming in my mind even then. Settling on nothing, I knew only that she was everything, ever. That she was mine, and I was unconditionally and irrevocably hers."
Yes - Edward is vampire. Bella is, predictably, his singer.
Since he realises this, even if Bella is a mere toddler, his center of gravity is stapled around the rhythm of Bella's heart, his lifeline lies within her growing, pulsing blood vessels.
What happens as she grows? He becomes her protector, her best friend. The dark angel that visits her at night and reads to her, and keeps her safe in her sleep, but leaves before she wakes up.
Until something changes, and Edward leaves abruptly. His departure leaves Bella lonely and broken. His departure leaves him lost and without a purpose.
Until he comes back. And nothing is ever the same, right? How can he put things back together? How can he gain her trust, her confidence, her friendship, her love back?
This is an incredible story of love and friendship lost and found again, of the unimaginable lengths we go to protect the ones we love, and of the incredible misconceptions we inflict upon ourselves.
All this is told with masterful and evocative storytelling, like impressions of colours and shapes on a canvas, that appear blurred if looked closely, but appear in all their glory if regarded from the right perspective.
You will not probably find a better, more heart-rending and clearer explanation of the "Cantante" concept anywhere else, not even in canon Twilight - with a poetic yet violent imagery that perfectly portrays the absolutes and the conflicts underlying the relationship between a vampire and his singer.
Anyone who has a penchant for vampire fics should not miss out on this.
And mark - I never thought I'd be reduced to tears by a Winnie The Pooh quote, but I was. "You can't spell love, you can only feel it."
One last word: hooked.
This is what you'll be.
Frontline by MissAlex
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6020448/1/Frontline
Edward Cullen is a mysterious, wealthy CEO, who always gets what he wants. Isabella Swan is a headstrong nurse at Manhattan Memorial Hospital. Edward arrives at her ER one night and their steamy chance encounter changes both of their lives forever.
Twilight - Rated: M
Review by evilnat
Frontline is a romance/mystery about Bella, an independent, headstrong emergency room nurse and Edward, a millionaire CEO. Bella meets Edward one night at work, he demands she be the nurse who treats him and from then the ride begins! He is very much a 'see what I want and take it' person and Bella is unsure how to proceed with him.
Bella is sassy and quite confident but finds herself questioning her judgment around Edward who influences her easily. He is used to being in control and he's almost over the top with everything he does. From the security to the cars he drives (or the convoy of cars!). He is sexy and charming, yet almost a little condescending. He just presumes she will do whatever he wants. She has trust issues as he is not very forthcoming with any answers and also stands up to Edward which in turn makes him chase her more.
The usual suspects appear in the supporting cast, Emmett and Jasper as part of Edward's entourage and Alice and Rose as Bella's friends and neighbours. Each character is entertaining in their own way, but a highlight for me is Rose's taxi driving.
Frontline is very well written. Each chapter is in Bella's point of view and conveys her frustration with Edward perfectly. She doesn't know how to read him and even when she tells him to stay away he doesn't. As the story proceeds he becomes more mysterious as Bella tries to work him out. As a reader I am still questioning what it is he is really up to, is he in the mafia, is he the good guy or the bad guy? Another of MissAlex's stories, Rebel Without A Cause, is one I enjoyed immensely. Frontline is very different, not requiring the historical research that Rebel did but you can tell she has put just as much time into it. It is also a little darker and slightly more graphic.
There hasn't been a lot of recent activity on the front as far as updates (I think the last one was in January), but the story is so good I don't mind waiting patiently. Edward says in the beginning of the story: "Welcome to my world, Isabella," he whispers. "You'll soon discover that I live up to many reputations extremely well." This quote alone is keeping me hanging, hoping we see some more action in the near future!
High School Confidential by troublefollows1017
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5948601/1/High_School_Confidential
Bella, fresh from a breakup, starts a new job as a guidance counselor at Masen HS under the watchful eye of her very handsome but very married principal, Edward Cullen. A connection begins to develop as they work together to help the troubled students.
Twilight - Rated: M
Review by crookedsmile101
High School Confidential was the last fic I read in 2010 and that alone is enough for me to say “2010 was a good year.” Generally, I’m not fond of very married Edwards, unless they are married to a Bella. It’s important to mention that, in this story, Edward doesn’t cheat on his wife with Bella. If anyone is hesitating to read it just because Edward is married, note that it has to be like that at first in order to create that kind of UST. And what a blissfully resolving UST it is.
Troublefollows1017’s writing style, for lack of a better word, is masterful. From the start to the end, she manages to keep her readers’ interest alive and lets the story flow smoothly. She remains true to the storyline and doesn’t bore you with unnecessary details or leave anything vague.
One of the most prominent qualities of the story is consistency. The consistency of the plot line. The consistency between and within the characters. The pace of the story is also very well built. Nothing is rushed, premature or unrealistic and nothing is “should’ve happened already!”.
The characterizationl is also very strong. The characters are quite unique and also familiar enough to make you care about them from the start. We get to see the whole gang there. Alice is sometimes speechless, other times scary, but mostly sweet Dean of Students. Jasper is the social studies teacher who is unable to express his feelings to the love of his life. Rosalie is the principle of principal of McCarty High School and Emmett works there as the head football coach. Carlisle and Esme are your usual sweet and perfect parents.
Principal Cullen wins his readers over with the first chapter. He is a caring and charming man, who has good bonds with his family and is still trying to save his failing marriage. He is also damn good at what he does! Plays basketball with students on detention, plays drum, plays with hearts!
The game was exciting and close. By halftime, it was tied 14 to 14. The band took the field during the break and it took me a minute to understand why the student section was going so crazy. In the middle of the drum line was no other than Principal Cullen. He had a set of tenor drums strapped to his chest and he was banging away with the boys in the band.
Bella begins working as a guidance counselor at MHS. She is just out of a relationship. Heartbroken but not a mess. Sweet. Friendly. Devoted. Hard-working. Not afraid of breaking the rules and using unusual ways to reach out her students. And she is goddamn skilled at dealing with ‘I believe in acting out’ adolescences.
"It's a shame you let Mr. Newton have so much control over what you do," I threw out there. Jake stopped walking immediately. "I don't let him control shit. I'm going to ditch because I want to ditch," he said defensively. "Yeah, but you want to ditch because of him. He's the one in control." Jacob's face contorted into an angry grimace. He was trying to figure out a way around my logic and was struggling. "I don't want to be in his class so I hope he fails me. This isn't about what he wants, it's about what I want," Jacob tried to reason. "I guess I think it would be funny if you went to his class and, I don't know, passed it, and stuck it to him since you hate him so much. That would be the ultimate revenge against a teacher like that. But what do I know? What's down this way?" I asked, changing the subject effortlessly.
And he goes to that class very determined to ‘rock that class and make him cry when Newton has to pass him’. Jake is a very complicated character and the most troubled student of the school. Smartass. Badass. And some other asses I won’t bother with listing here. His adoration towards Miss Swan causes some difficulties. No matter how tolerant Mr.C is with him, as Jake would call Edward, he is not that tolerant when it comes to messing with a certain guidance counselor. The change in Jake through the story is very clear and strong. The readers are lucky enough to witness how Miss Swan touches his life and how her touch changes his future.
The gravity between Edward and Bella is undeniable. They try to tame it, but will it work?
I sat her on her couch and slipped her shoes off her feet. With my hand wrapped around her ankle, I had to fight the impulse to run my other hand up her soft, smooth leg. Her skin was this perfect milky white. It was like virgin fucking snow - beautiful to look at but so tempting to make your mark on. I was so tempted but managed to stay strong and put her foot down.
As story proceeds, the readers get to see how Edward and Bella deal with the difficulties that keep them apart and enjoy a very appreciative and down to earth author’s work and read one of the most beautifully written epilogues.
You can run away and you can search for where you belong but the only place that I am ever going to belong is wherever you are.
The Screamers by KiyaRaven
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5081258/1/The_Screamers
Living on the streets is hard for Bella Swan, but not as hard as putting up with Edward Cullen when he drags her into his lifestyle of sex, drugs and Rock and Roll. Will they be able to help each other before they kill eachother? Cursing/dark themes
Twilight - Rated: M
Have you ever thought that you had it tough? Well as always there is someone out there who has it worse than you.
Edward Cullen is a pretty boy rock star who has an addictive personality and extreme fear of teenaged fans.
Bella Swan has been to hell and back but still has her snark and wits about her, even while living on the streets.
I have to say that I loved the story before I even finished the first chapter. I know I was late to the game and didn't read it when it was a WIP but i'm kind of glad of that. It's such a great story I probably would have been threatening Kiya to update ASAP!
And it's not just Bella and Edward who I love. Kiya has a way of writing every character into being a favorite. Even the Robert Pattinson character.
**I still believe that Rob was talking about The Screamers when interviewed about fanfiction**
This is a story that pulls at your heartstrings, makes you laugh so hard you may pee and won't let you put it down (so to speak).
It was at that moment, while I was on my knees with my hand firmly grasping the front of Rob's pants, that a barrage of flash bulbs went off, filling the darkened alley with an explosion of light. Rob and I looked up in horror to see a paparazzo there, snapping away like his life depended on it.
He was grinning like a maniac.
"Oh, boys," he breathed, ecstatic, "I am soooo glad I overheard those girls looking for you. You have just made my fucking CAREER!"
He dashed out of the alley.
Rob and I looked at each other and groaned.
This was bad. This was VERY bad.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." Rob was chanting quietly under his breath as we walked back to the hotel. "My manager is going to rip me a new one when she hears about this." He shoved his hands in his pockets angrily.
"Relax, Rob," I laughed. "There are worse things than being caught in an alley with a famous rock-star who seems to be going down on you..." My voice trailed off.
Where Love Began by butterflybetty
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6633238/1/Where_Love_Began
She thought he was everything; He thought she hung the moon. Now, Bella and Edward face their toughest challenge in a race against time. Will love be enough? AH&MA Cannon Pairings.
When I got the alert for this story, the first thought that went through my mind is the same one that goes through it on every alert I get from butterflybetty – Where the hell does she find the time? I think the truly amazing thing about butterflybetty and her copious amounts of WIPs and completed stories is that no matter how many there are, each one is simply outstanding! Where Love Began is yet another slice of awesomeness.
The story opens with Bella storming out of the house to go to work, after having a fight with Edward that did not end well. Like every real marriage, Bella and Edward’s isn’t all sunshine and roses. Unfortunately, as the day (and story) progresses, Bella and Edward, as well as the many readers of this story, learn that even in the worst of fights, it’s better to try to work things out than to leave angry words as the last ones said.
Bella is an elementary school teacher. She arrives at school and is just getting her class settled for the day when an armed gunman burst into her classroom, demanding Bella return his son. It is all a mix-up – the child had attended a different school and a different teacher was involved in his removal from the home, but the gunman, Phil Dwyer, still continues to demand his son be returned before he will release Bella, her TA Angela, and the children in her class. In the midst of protecting her students, Bella is physically beaten and threatened with a gun to her head.
Edward is a local police officer and he and Jasper, his partner and friend, are on the scene at the school, trying to resolve the situation. As the situation escalates, so does Edward’s concern and he struggles to maintain his objectivity in the face of his wife’s life being in danger. He speaks with the teacher over why the child was removed and discovers that Phil had been physically abusing the child. We also see, in the classroom, Phil making statements that can only lead us to believe that the child’s mother is dead, most likely at Phil’s hand.
Bella and Edward’s personal story is told throughout the story, woven in as a series of flashbacks, and we see the disparity in the way they were raised. Edward’s family is wealthy and his parents disapprove of the relationship, Bella is an orphan who has worked hard to make her own way. Through the flashbacks we are given the depth of the love and commitment they share, and it only makes me even more hopeful that all will be resolved and we will have a HEA.
This story is action-packed and I was kept on the edge of my seat as I read through each chapter. At only 11 chapters posted, I’m sure that there is still plenty more action and anxiety to go, but I can’t wait. Butterflybetty has woven an amazing story that will certainly hold your interest and make you heart race in anticipation and even a bit of dread over what will happen next.
