TLS Fics of the Week June 7 - 13 - The fab four reviews:

The Journal by MsEm
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6889509/1/The_Journal
His wife's journal. He shouldn't read it, but he can't help himself. My entries I entered into the Quickie Contest, EXTENDED.

Review by FictionFreak95 (FL95)

Oh. What to say about this story… and it’s author. MsEm is one of the funniest, sweetest, giving people out there in the fandom. She pimps, she supports, she makes you laugh when you don’t want to, she’s passionate about the people she cares about… she’s been there for me over and over, so when I found out she was writing this, I had to check it out.

I was blown away, people. The emotions this story has drawn to the surface for me are inexplicable. The way each of these two characters are flawed in their own special way and yet - you want to cheer them both on, hold both of them, make them better. Make it all better for them. It’s completely heart clutching for me to read.

If you’ve ever been in a situation like what these two characters find themselves in, or even if you haven’t, you’ll be tearing up.  And it's all because of MsEm’s words. Guaranteed.

In a nutshell, you’ll begin the story, reading about an Edward who suddenly finds himself in a marriage that has gone stale… communication with his wife has come to a stand still... he spends long hours away from her because of his work… he feels like the spark has gone out on his relationship with her… then finally, in a desperate effort to simply feel loved again… he turns to someone else.

Until he finds his wife’s journal…

Excerpt:

Monday, March 7th, 2011

…..

She questions his fidelity.


No. She doesn't question it. She knew. She knew and she doesn't care.

Out of irrational anger, he starts thinking, and almost believing, that she is solely the one to blame for his affair and her depression. It's her fault. She stopped talking to him, touching him, making an effort. In the back of his mind, he knew it wasn't just her. He knew he didn't make half the effort she had when they started drifting apart. He knew his anger was mostly because he just wanted her to fight for them, for their marriage. But she knew, and she didn't. She didn't fight at all. So his anger outweighed what he knew was the truth.

That is, until he continued reading.

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

My therapist says I should confront Edward of his infidelity. I can't. I'm not ready for that just yet. I know that if his indiscretions are confirmed, it would kill what's left of me.

Happy moment: I got out of bed.

All of the anger he felt before, left as fast as it came.

He feels sick. He's killing her. He's not sure if he wants to continue reading.

But he does.

Saturday, May 28th, 2011

It's been a few days since I've written in this. Thursday was a bad day. If Seth hadn't come home early on his last day of school, I would have swallowed the whole bottle of sleeping pills. I had them in my mouth when I heard him come through the front door.

Happy moment: Seth graduated today!

He can't hold the sobs back.


When Edward sees that his wife is just as miserable about what’s going on between them as he has been, he starts to make an attempt to mend what’s been the cause of so much hurt for such a long time. The question is, is it too late?

I can’t tell you everything will be okay. I can tell you there are moments, as you read, that you’ll see glimmers of hope, windows of opportunity, and a redeeming quality that you wouldn’t have thought you’d find in this Edward.

MsEm writes this story with shortened chapters filled with lots of emotion and wonderful meaning. I wait anxiously to find out where she’s going to take us in this story about love, life, hurt… and two people finding their passion for each other again.

Words With Friends by nolebucgrl
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6910604/1/Words_with_Friends
Bella Swan has a major crush on a major star, Edward Cullen. They have an obsession with the same game. Can they connect through Words with Friends and become more than that? Time will tell! Ratted M for possible lemons down the line and some language.

review by Edmazing

Words with Friends. Come on, who isn’t playing or thinking about adding the app.  Especially since we all heard that Rob plays it? It’s ridiculously addicting, scrabbling it up, messaging with your buddies and picking up a random game or two when no one else is around. It’s just kinda fun. And that’s exactly why Words with Friends by Nolebucgrl is so easy to slip into. It’s easy to relate to and has a Bella that you might want to play, but would definitely want to be.

Whether you play or not, the idea of finding out you and your crush (ahem, Rob) have something in common, decoding his user name, and engaging him in a game of words is everybody’s fantasy, right? After getting together to watch super hottie Edward Cullen’s interview with her college roommates and seeing his confession to his gaming addiction, Bella, Rosalie, and Alice take different approaches to the “news”. Alice quickly whips off a game request to their actor’s most popular character, what the user name EdwardCullen would be in our world… because we all know that’s what Robert Pattinson’s playing under right now. Yeah, anyways, Rose does what comes natural and scoffs, while Bella does what any #1 fan has to do.

I climbed into bed and reached to turn off my lamp. My own iPhone lay on the nightstand, charging away. I picked it up and turned it on, hitting my Words with Friends app. BlueBel22 had five games going, but I ignored those and hit the green plus symbol at the corner of the screen. I pulled up User Name and typed Skeletor. Edward had talked in numerous interviews about his love for the cartoon He-Man as a child and how that skeleton bad guy had amused him. It had just a good a chance of being him as anything else, right? Well, maybe I needed something else. His favorite number was 17; he'd said that in his first Entertainment Weekly interview.
Skeletor17 came back as an active name and I started a new game. I giggled when I saw my letters. PEEN? I was not going to play the word peen against Edward Cullen. Mane? Eh. Name…that was good. There was a meaning there, as I wanted badly to know his name, if Skeletor17 was Edward Cullen. I played that for my measly 8 points and closed the app before turning off my phone.
I had to get to bed so I wasn't a zombie in class tomorrow. Maybe I'd wake to a response from Edward. A girl could dream.

Alice is over the moon with her game against an obvious no-go username, and most likely a kid using his movie hero’s name. Meanwhile, Bella is getting to know Skeletor17, who’s penned by none other than TwistedCoincidence. Between the turn taking and tabulating of scores clues are gained about each other’s real life and a dialogue emerges filled with the necessary concerns, curiosity, oh, and flirting,

Skeletor17:
I knew you were too witty and interesting to be illegal, at least I hoped that was the case. I was guessing that you didn't want me to go to jail, because then you couldn't play with me anymore. And we both know you really want to!
I'm 25, so you can save the handcuffs for more interesting reasons than to arrest me. I'd happily assume the position if you asked in the right way (and of course I mean my favorite position, which you're still wondering about I've no doubt).
Clearly I do enjoy you being a perv, now that I know you're allowed to be legally. It's nice not to have to censor myself. You can't imagine how many things I'd love to say that I'm never allowed to.

Yeah, who wouldn’t be playing and dreaming if messages like that were waiting for you from someone you hoped was your favorite leading man! Check out Words with Friends and you’ll soon be logging in and waiting for more messages, too. Take a look at some of Nolebucgrl’s other works once you’re caught up. You won’t be disappointed. And if you haven’t read TwistedCoincidenec’s fics yet, now’s as good a time as any.

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1901714/Nolebucgrl
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1723607/twistedcoincidence

Never Sleep in a strange man’s bed by wndrngY
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4896195/1/Never_Sleep_in_a_Strange_Mans_Bed
B & E. Alice's new boyfried Jasper lives on Hilton Head Island, S.C. He invites her & her friends to come down for a visit. Bella isn't happy to be the only single in a couple's paradise...until she ends up in his roommate's bed.

review by MzB

Have you ever had to sleep in a stranger’s bed? Well not only is Bella in a different city, but she’s clear across the country sleeping in her best friend’s boyfriend’s roommate’s room (that’s a headache, huh?) as the fifth wheel on a couple’s weekend.
Enter Edward Cullen (said roommate) whose room is currently occupied by a beautiful stranger. Couches aren’t all that comfy to sleep on… And so they end up in the same bed. Yeah, you all probably automatically thought of a one night stand predicament, but this story is so much more.

My body was burning with a delicious, welcome fire. One strong hand was running over the curve of my hip, encouraging the connection between my ass and what was obviously an erection of impressive proportions. The heat coming off of the body curved flush against mine was making me slick with sweat and I wanted my damp nightshirt off. As if he had read my mind, his hand slid under the hem and worked it over my head. I realized with a shuddering gasp that he was already naked when he pressed back up against me. I moaned and startled myself half-awake with the wanton sound of it.

Edward! Edward was naked and working my now all-but-naked body into a frenzy. Somewhere my conscious mind was swimming desperately for the surface, attempting to shout out orders: Stop! This is crazy and wrong! You don’t even know him! This isn’t you, Bella! You’ll regret it tomorrow! But my subconscious mind took advantage of my half-sleep state and the flood of hormones to drown my conscience into silence.

You get to reading and figure out that our stranger couple might just get that HEA! But of course there are twists and turns- living in different states, crazy work schedules, and even a psychotic stalker.

As you all know I am a firm Emmett lover… and this story doesn’t disappoint at all. Especially the relationship that Edward and Emmett have. Let’s just say that boys love to play cops and robbers… and they also like to think they’re capable of dealing with a psycho stalker.

Even Carlisle and Esme are amazing characters. You know how you can sometimes read a fic and know that mentioning the ‘parents’ was forced? Well WndrngY does a great job of making them vital characters!

My parents called every Sunday and we would put the phone on speaker so we could all talk. We tried Skype with them, but my techno-phobic mom said it gave her a headache so we stuck to the phone mostly. One particular Sunday, my mom happened to mention that she and my dad were going over to Myrtle Beach the next weekend for a shagging competition.

            The look on Bella’s face was priceless as she struggled for an appropriate response to such an announcement. Obviously, she felt there must be some mistake; she just couldn’t quite understand what it meant. I started laughing, Bella turned beet red, and my parents demanded to know what was so funny.

            “You should see Bella’s face right now!” I told them.

            “When are you going to grow up, young man?” my mother demanded. “Bella, shagging was a kind of dance long before it was a euphemism for sex.”

            “Yes, well. Yes, it’s a dance competition we’re going to next weekend,” my dad interrupted. “But thanks for thinking we might be at competition level in the euphemism.”

So as the story comes to a close (the author hopes to add an epi and some outtakes soon) I think back to the emotions that I have experienced while reading this fic: fear, sadness, joy, anger, anticipation, surprise, disgust and the tinglies.

In my opinion that makes this fic of the best I’ve ever read. So you should read it too!

An Acquired Taste by Magnolia822
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7000756/1/An_Acquired_Taste
Arrogant British celebrity chef Edward Cullen made an impression on NYC caterer Bella Swan long before either one of them became a success. Now, armed with her cat and a devious practical joke, Bella's plan may turn up the heat for both of them. ExB OOC

REVIEW BY LAMOMO

It is the second time I have the privilege of reviewing one of Magnolia's stories.
Her latest endeavour is still in the early stages - only three chapters in - but there is already more than enough to remain captivated.

A quick rundown to entice you, without giving too much away (how could I? we ain't seen nothing yet...):

Bella and Rose own a thriving catering business in Manhattan. Emmett is their office bitch and best pal. They hang out, club the night away, work their asses off, and do yoga on Sunday mornings.
Bella is in a non-relationship relationship with Felix, a good-looking but increasingly elusive lawyer. They keep courteous, detached, infrequent contacts via telephone, because both are too busy (and too uninterested) to make time for each other in their lives.
Bella is career-driven, as much as Rose is. Other than that, she is a loner, because she harbours a painful secret.
This secret is a burning, festering scar in her heart, that she's been struggling to lock away, throwing the key in the ocean somewhere.
This secret is the ultimate reason why she isn't able nor willing to build a stable, healthy relationship with a straight, involved and reasonably good-looking male.
This secret is a 6'2", bronze-haired, green-eyed, British God named Edward Cullen.

And this secret is now flashing his pearly whites, chiseled jaw and sex-hair from a TV screen, because he's earned himself a name as a top-notch Chef, and also boasts his own reality show - "America's Hottest Chef".
Bella is in turmoil, because the indicted douchebag now resides on the wrong side of the Ocean - hers.
And Edward is a douchebag - or appears to be.

She remembers a summer fling - his devastating beauty, his intensity. She remembers that he broke her heart, she remembers a summer fling that meant a lot more to her, but couldn't go on. She remembers he was different. Or seemed different. At times.
Now she can't see past the self-assured, self-centered, self-important asshole who rules his show with an iron fist and his sexy accent. And the Maitre De Douchebag is going to select a chef, via his reality show populated with Michelin Star Guide Wannabes, for his "coming soon" restaurant in Manhattant.
Suddenly, the city that never sleeps becomes too stifling and small for two people who haven't even met in years.

And this is where the snowball effect begins...and where you NEED to start reading!!! STAT!!!