Some stories have such a big following that it’s hard to remember where you first heard about them because every-freaking-body you know is reading them. They're the stories that are recognized by initials or stand-apart details and are immediately connected to an author's name. They get you talking, screaming, and swooning about fic, and often become the standard by which other stories are compared. These are those stories.
We've invited three guest reviewers to share their thoughts on some of our recent ‘we can’t stop talking about them’ favorites.
banner by Jaime Arkins
Goodbye Peter Pan by Bled Dry
Prompted by a feeling, Alice leads the Cullens back to Forks, but ten years is a long time in a brief human life. Edward's wish for Bella to have a nice human life seems to have been fulfilled. Bella believes that once she loved a remarkable boy, but in the end he didn't love her. Can Edward convince her she is wrong?
JoFicFreak~
Edward tried to stay away. He really did.
That’s the first line of Bled’s story. It’s also the line that made me keep reading.
It’s been a while since I’ve read any fanfiction (other than some of my favorite authors whom I try to keep up with). It seems the past year has proven quite crazy in more ways than one. However, on one fated day, when I was lurking on FB, I happened to see a post by the lovely edmazin (Mel), alerting everyone that this little story, Goodbye Peter Pan, had updated.
I thought to myself, okay, that sounds kinda cool. I like Peter Pan. And hell, if Mel likes it . . . so I open it up, and like I said, I read the first line, and kept reading. I liked it from the very start.
Now, let me tell you why I still like it.
This is a post New Moon story. But with a grown Bella, who has, not only matured and “moved on” (I won’t go in to details) and an Edward who is, as Bella put it, different. I don’t get the weeping girl who is falling apart or the vampire who forgets his manners when he sees other men around her. Instead I see a guarded heart, and a lesson learned. The hard way.
Edward has a lot of hurdles to jump over before he can even attempt to woo the woman he’s made the horrendous mistake of leaving but also, I love love love watching this Edward grow as an individual too.
When the story started getting some attention, I won’t lie, I thought to myself, rut roh. For reasons. But when more and more people started to read Peter Pan, and Bled started getting more reviews per chapter, and she began to see how anxious people are for Edward and Bella to “get together”, she could have very easily turned this into a sex fest.
To her credit, she didn’t.
She’s simply writing her story the way she believes it needs to be told. In the time it takes to tell it.
We’re on chapter thirty two now (as of the time of this review) and there has been no Bella / Edward sex yet.
Random reader: Um, Jo. What?
That’s right. I said it. No sex.
That’s not to say there haven’t been any tender moments, some stolen somethings. And it’s certainly not to say Bled hasn’t caught some shit for it either. (Yes, I trolled your reviews Bled. Sorry not sorry and SMH. We should talk.).
She’s not writing for the readers, though. Which, okay, we all like our readers to like what we put out there but at the root of that, we like our readers to like what WE LIKE TO WRITE.
There are issues to be solved. Relationships to be mended. Hearts that need healing. That doesn’t happen over night ya’ll. Not in a well thought out story.
So why am I still reading?
It’s not just for the story that I’m kinda sorta really adoring now. Although that’s half of it. But the other half is Bled. Because I respect this woman. And I’m sticking it out to see where all these people she’s gotten me invested in wind up at the end. I’ll probably even read her next one.
I hope you do too.
Dolly Reader~
I’ll admit it, I have an absolute soft-spot for vamp fic. There’s something about the otherworldliness that is like a siren song to me and I always become ridiculously excited when I find a quality vamp story.
Goodbye Peter Pan by Bled Dry is quality. It has a complicated situation with no easy answers and a slow delicious, tension filled burn that leaves you at the edge of your seat, waiting for more.
As the story opens, we find Bella in Forks, 10 years after Edward left her behind. Bella has done her best to live her life, she’s gone to college, has a career, and a husband.
“It just seemed pointless to keep trying. I loved an immortal boy vampire. I tried to love an immortal boy werewolf. After a while it became ridiculous. I had to say goodbye to my Peter Pan fetish and grow up. I couldn't spend my life pining after seventeen year old boys."
And though Bella and Mike are the town’s perfect couple on the outside, we learn that they are not without their own troubles. When an unexpected request from Mike stuns Bella, she finds herself beginning to question whether or not she has made the right choice in her life. Facing pressure not just from Mike, but from her best friend Angela, Bella must come to terms with whether her conviction is worth the ramifications.
"What are you saying?" Bella broke first. "If I don't agree to this, we're done?"
"No. Is that what you're saying, though? If I don't agree to give up on this, then we're over?"
"No! But I'm not the one who's changed their mind here!" Bella raised her voice again.
But the brain and the heart don’t always want the same things and with Edward returning to her life when the Cullens donate a children’s library to the town, the two of them begin a delicate balancing act of repairing old wounds and establishing a friendship. A friendship that leaves Bella carefully navigating through a current of want and Edward struggling with his need to finally claim his mate.
"Why are you still here?"
"You." He didn't hesitate.
"But why? To have sex with me and leave?" She thought about her fears, that his innocent virgin act had been just a rouse to get girls into his bed.
"Do you really think I'd leave?" He stepped toward her. "It's the only lie I've told you since I've been back. Why do you keep believing the lie?"
"I don't know what to believe when you keep lying." She turned and walked away from him.
He nearly let her get to the car before he went after her. He leaned his hip against her door, blocking her until he'd said what he needed to. "Look, I'm a fucking idiot. I know this. What I don't know is what I'm doing here with you. I don't know how to act, what to say. I'm probably going to keep fucking this up. But I'm not going anywhere." He tilted her chin up to look her in the eyes. "Unless you tell me to."
She thought of her dream.
She nearly told him she couldn't. Instead, she whispered, "I won't."
Edward dropped his hand and walked away. "Just so you know," he called out as she opened her car door. "The only reason I'm heading into that house right now is to stop myself from kissing you."
Goodbye Peter Pan has 34 chapters waiting for you to dive into. Take a chance. Delve into the complicated life of Bella and we’ll all find out together if Edward was worth the wait. I’m betting that he is.
Mariahajile~
I’m not a reader of vamp fics. There. I said it. I used to be, but once AH Edward rested those baby green eyes on me, I never looked back. I blame @roglows, by the way. So when Nic, my very own fic (read: crack) dealer came to me and asked if I was reading
Goodbye Peter Pan by Bled Dry, I gave her the resting bitch face. But because it was Nic, someone who doesn’t read many vamp fics herself, I trusted the rec. And GREAT ODIN’S RAVEN, I’m so thankful I did!
Goodbye Peter Pan takes place ten years after Edward and the Cullens left Forks. Our beloved Bella is now married… to Mike Newton. She helps run Newton’s and works at the library, is best friends with Angela, and leads a normal life ‒ the normal life Edward wanted for her. While her marriage isn’t full of passion, it’s easy, stable, and full of sex in the back office. But all of that goes out the window when the library receives a large donation one day, which she’s told is from the Cullens. What’s the donation about? Why are they suddenly back in Forks? Will Alice ever stop cheating the stock market?
This story drives me bananas. B-a-n-a-n-a-s, Gwen Stefani. My emotions are rocked from one end of the spectrum to the other, before I even have time to fully process them. I want Bella with Edward, but I also don’t. I want Edward to sweep her off her feet, but then I want him to take his lying, abandoning tushy elsewhere. He says and does all the rights things once he’s back in Bella’s life, but they turn out to be the wrong ones, as well, because Bella’s married, an important plot point the both of them sometimes forget. Not only do they fall back into their comfort zone, they also have this crazy chemistry they can’t help but act on.
Making matters worse is the fact that Mike is now infected with baby fever. Despite knowing that Bella doesn’t want children, he thinks he can simply change her mind and even goes behind her back to enlist the help of Angela and Ben. What Mike doesn’t know, though, is that Bella’s “encounter” with James in the ballet studio, left her unable to have tiny humans. Not only that – because what fun would that be – but her inability to have kids may be part of a bigger picture regarding her human-to-vamp capabilities.
At the heart of this story is Bella’s conflict, and Bled Dry’s ability to portray it in such a realistic manner is what makes me want to punch a wall. I get it. I feel it in my chest as I read. My head and my heart hate each other whenever a new chapter arrives in my inbox. Bled Dry has weaved this spectacular plot and infused it with a kick in the emotional ass. I’m absolutely invested in Bella’s decisions. It’s not just about wanting Bella and Edward together; it’s about Bella doing what’s right for her and whether it’s what she really wants.
“You left, your family left, your brother left. You all left me alone with this huge secret and an even bigger heartbreak. You all left me to deal with it on my own. And I did. It took me a long time, but I put you all behind me. I moved forward, and I created a new life. I was as happy as I could get. And then he came back. I let him into my life. I started to let him in here.” – Chapter 33
See? So if you’re not already reading it, get started on that ASAP. It’s a beautiful read and gives you all the feels… whether you like them or not.
~~~♥~~~
We’d like to thank our nine guest reviewers for sharing their thoughts with us on these three amazing stories. ShearEnvy, Nat (evilnat), VampiresHaveLaws, Rochelle Allison, Becca/Gothic Temptress, JennyKate, JoFicFreak, Dolly Reader and Mariahajile. Also a special thanks to banner makers Time Lights, Lolypop82, and Jaime Arkin for the awesome banners!
