TLS Special Sneak Peek Feature

The Lemonade Stand has spent years bringing you the best the fandom has to offer, and we are very excited to have the chance to offer you MORE. We've watched stories grow and develop from first post through COMPLETE in The Nursery, and now we're sharing previews of the stories that will soon be your new addiction. 

This week, the lovely pattyrose, author of the standout story The Cullen Legacy, shares some info on her exciting new story The Age of Innocence with us.

Summary - WWII: a time when unthinkable monstrosities brought about by cowards led rise to unimaginable bravery by everyday heroes. It was a time when young boys became men, and young women became everything. Our story begins on the eve of this era…the eve to the end of innocence.

Rated M. AH. E&B

Here’s the response of my beta, Michelle, when I first shared the outline for my new story with her: 

“Holy &@%$!#, I’m going to cry so much!”

Me: “Well, go get your Big Girl Panties on and pull ‘em up high!”

She did go get her Big Girl Panties. And she pulled them up high.

And she still cried.

(*shrugs*)

But she also laughed.

And she sighed.

And she gasped.

And she smiled.

Because a story that begins with the Second World War looming in the background can be heart-wrenching – yet it can be so much more than that. 

It’s a reminder that no matter the generation or what global events may be shaping our world, we remain the same. Regardless of what’s going on in the background, our personal experiences and resulting emotional reactions do not alter from generation to generation. We all experience the deepest devotion, the closest friendships, the greatest losses, the toughest conflicts, the most satisfying intimacies, and of course…the greatest of loves. 

Love, in its most fundamental form, always remains. And when you have the kind of love that will sustain you through the darkest of days, yes, there may still be tears, but there will also be so much more.

The Age of Innocence is a coming-of-age story set against the eve to the end of one generation’s natural, inborn innocence. Through the eyes of a young girl growing up as part of our “greatest generation,” we get glimpses of a nation struggling to prevail through the events occurring around them.

“Where are you going?” 

“Why, to the army air corps, of course. To fly a bomber - soon as I turn 18. Pop says he won’t sign for me before then, so I’ve got six more years to wait. I’ll watch Sandy for you ‘til then, Bella, but after that, you and your mutt are on your own.”

My mind was already wandering to what I’d do with Sandy after Edward left to fly his bombers. 

But then something hit me. 

“Why’d you call me Bella? No one calls me that.”

He gave me another shrug. “You’re too tiny for a name like Isabella.”

It was a time when the unspeakable horrors of monsters led rise to the bravery of heroes, and The Age of Innocence follows one young man as he grows to become one of those heroes.

Yet, at its heart, The Age of Innocence is a love story between two individuals whose lives are forever altered by the circumstances of their times… 

“Listen to me!” he demanded. “It was never what I thought you’d do to me! It’s what I’ve always known I’d do to you!”

“What will you do to me?” I cried, my voice shaking with the desperation I could no longer hold back.

He rushed me then, cradling my face in his warm hands, his emerald eyes locking me in their frenzied gaze.

“Bella, it’ll kill me to leave you,” he said hoarsely. “Yet I know that someday I’ll have to. I have to. But I love you. I think I’ve always loved you, in one form or another.” His voice broke then, and the pain in his eyes brought the tears I’d been struggling to hold back to the forefront of my own. “I love you, yet I can’t promise you I won’t go, and you deserve so much better than that because where will that leave you? Waiting to begin your life? You’re everything to me, Bella, and if you ask me to stay…I’ll stay, but the entire time, I’ll hate myself for being such a coward.” 

It’s the story of two young people whose most basic decisions are pre-determined by the state of the world around them…

He rested his forehead on mine. “I’m afraid,” he whispered, his soul bared to me so that I could see how truly terrified he was. “I’m not afraid of going out there, or of being in that dark sky littered with hundreds of other men hell-bent on shooting me down. I’m afraid of losing you, of being somewhere where I can’t hold you…kiss you…call you mine. I’m afraid of an oblivion that won’t include you. It’s all I’m afraid of.” 

I wrapped myself around him as tightly as possible, wishing with all my might that I could somehow give physical form to my love and transform it into a shield because if I could do that, then my shield would be impenetrable. 

“We’ll never lose each other, Edward. No matter what may ever come our way. You’ll come back to me because you hold my heart in your hands, and it’s your duty to bring it back. So you will return, and then I’ll always be yours, and you’ll always be mine.” 

The Age of Innocence will be told mainly from Bella’s POV, though there will be EPOV chapters later on in the story. It will update twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays, and will begin posting November 10th.

 So while you may want to go get on those Big Girl Panties, don’t forget to also grab an old-timer radio, some big band music, and be prepared to remember that true love has no set era. 

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Don't forget to pop pattyrose on alert so you don't miss out!

♥ Kim