The thing about the Twilight books — FF Recs by @KStew411

It came up today because I was totes hating on Breaking Dawn–don’t you like the Twilight books? The answer is yes and no. No, I don’t think they’re revolutionary literature. There were some problems, for the sake of not writing a dissertation I’ll stick with this: there were grammatical errors. These are professionally published books going out on the mass market and there were glaring grammatical issues in every single volume. That’s just Mickey Mouse. And people can talk about “themes” and “subtext” all they want–these books are pretty shallow. If you start looking for literary value, you’re going to get a headache, and frankly, you’ll probably ruin your ability to enjoy the books. Because yes, I find them perfectly enjoyable. The Saga is great fluff reading. The rom-com of books. Entertaining, in turns romantic, suspenseful, mysterious, funny. I liked reading them. They’re campy and twee and good for beaches and airplanes or under the covers on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It’s a pure-pleasure read, and there’s nothing wrong with that. All that aside, I did not like Breaking Dawn at all. It felt like such a copout. Breaking Dawn is a giant anti-climactic talk-off. Aro and Edward just blab at each other for a couple hours and everyone goes their separate ways, no loss, no price, no suffering. Jacob even has his creepy-baby-crush to help him get over Bella. I would have liked Breaking Dawn if everything didn’t work out quite so neatly. It just felt like the whole series had been building to this epic battle of Cullen vs. Volturi and we got…just the tip. No wonder we all want Midnight Sun so badly–Breaking Dawn left us unfulfilled.

PS: Both these stories are COMPLETE.

“The Lost Boys” by hwimsey

One of my all-time favorite fanfic Edwards. He’s sexy, he’s British, he’s a musician–sounds familiar, no? I think he borrows pretty heavily from Rob Pattinson–he plays blues-tinged music and wears a black beanie–but it all works, so I’m not complaining. “The Lost Boys” centers around an old Victorian in San Francisco occupied by Bella Swan and her friends, Rosalie and Alice. Bella is just back from a year abroad in London where she fell in love with a musician she never met, but she would listen to him play the pubs around town. Little does she know that the musician, Edward Cullen, has followed her to San Francisco, searching for the elusive muse he only glimpsed in the shadows. Edward is the front man for the indie/blues band The Lost Boys, also featuring his buddies Emmett and Jasper. This story takes the cake for romance, drama, and mystery. Edward and company end up moving into the other flat in the Victorian with Bella, and while Rose and Emmett, and Alice and Jasper, fall easily into romance, Edward and Bella predictably do not. Bella is shy, insecure, unsure of her own worth and ability to captivate a dynamic, beautiful man like Edward. And Edward is plagued by his own demons, including a battle with the remnants of a nervous breakdown. They’re attracted, of course. But Bella’s insecurities and Edward’s issues keep coming between them. The story isn’t all angst, though, not by a long shot. There’s plenty of humor–the use of the Volturi is the best out-of-character/all-human treatment I have seen. I was dying of laughter every time they popped up. And there’s a really good ghost story to boot. As I am a Dashiell Hammett fan, I loved the use of Nick and Nora Charles as ghosts who haunt the Victorian the characters live in. Edward and Bella must embark on a quest to reunite the undead lovers in the afterlife and so seal their own fate together on earth. “The Lost Boys” also features some of the best lemons around. This is a sexy, sexy Edward. He was schooled in the arts, shall we say, by a Parisian mistress! In turns sexy, sweet, hilarious, and frightening, “The Lost Boys” truly has something for everyone.

There is another one, right after the jump!

“She’s Royal” by halojones

This is my second rec of a halojones story–she’s one of my favorites. “Last Rites” has destroyed my ability to read the real Twilight (along with Philadelphic’s spectacular “La Canzone”), but before “Last Rites” there was my first halojones–“She’s Royal”. The story begins in Hawaii and ends in Washington/Oregon. While on vacation with his family to celebrate his college graduation (in true Edward fashion, he did it one year early, at 21), Edward Cullen meets a girl while cliff diving at Waimea. She turns out to be Bella Swan, a college student spending her vacation in Hawaii, too. But this is more than just a romantic vacation story. In “She’s Royal” Edward and Alice have the same abilities they did in Twilight. Alice has dreams that can become reality and she often goes out of her way to manipulate events to synchronize with her visions. And Edward doesn’t read thoughts precisely; it’s more like he absorbs all the subliminal information about a person through their tone of voice and gestures. This “gift” has weighed heavily on him, causing him to withdraw from the world–except for his family–because solitude is the only respite he has from the constant bombardment of people’s “true” meanings. And Bella’s gift is an intriguing combination of the canon idea of her being a “shield” and also her belief when she first changes into a vampire in Breaking Dawn that maybe her gift is to love Edward more than anything. The contrast of physically beautiful Edward and the real, shy inner person is very sweet. Bella is put off by her first impression of him, walking through a club with a harem trailing after him, but she soon learns he’s just as awkward and innocent as she is. And with Edward the usually bookish, quiet Bella becomes more adventurous, more open and more daring. It’s very sweet and subtle, with the extra layer of their mysterious gifts. But then of course Edward does what Edward always does and they have to find their way back together. If I have any complaint about this story, it’s the frequent shifts in POV. It probably would have been a bit easier to follow if the story was told in third-person omniscient, but after a few chapters you get used to following along. And this gentle, whimsical story is well worth a read.

It’s okay. None of us really liked Breaking Dawn that much! So when you are tired of the “fade to black”, check out KStew411′s recs!