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Cozy evening recommendations
My rec lists are embarrassingly out of date (seriously), so I figured it was high time I added to them all the amazing fic I've read this year - yes, it's been a year! Where has the time gone?? Ugh, IDK. But I *do* know that, now that the weather has become most inhospitable, and as we slide into the holiday season, there's nothing better than sitting down to an amazing set of stories. There's something for everyone here - everything from the short and (bitter)sweet to stories you can really sink your teeth into.
TITLE - Love's Smirking Revenge (2007 - 2012)
AUTHOR - Langus
FANDOM - Inuyasha
UNIVERSE - Alternate
GENRE - Drama, Romance, Mystery
RATING - X
WORD COUNT - 200,904 (41 chapters)
PAIRING - Inuyasha/Kagome
SUMMARY - Inuyasha Takahashi is a beat down detective heading the most publicized Yakuza murder investigation of the year. Kagome Higurashi is a journalist who likes a good mystery. When the two clash over the investigation will sparks fly or will they get burned?
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - I have yet to meet a fanfic writer who can write a good, solid, absolutely engaging mystery - so this story was a wonderful surprise. Written like an old-school hard-boiled detective novel, Langus sweeps us into a modern-day world while keeping the canon mythology that makes Inuyasha so interesting and complex. There are multiple storylines which weave together in compelling and sometimes surprising ways, and enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat. There is also plenty of hot romance between canon pairings - so if that's your thing, then this is definitely the story for you :P Just when you think you know whodunnit, the author throws out a final shocking twist - one that reverberates through the entirety of the story, making you want to go back and read it all over again from the beginning. Another nice touch is that every character has closure, not just the main pairing - a rarity for sprawling fic with multiple story arcs. This is a definite don't miss!
TITLE - Alone (2012)
AUTHOR - miss_slipslop
FANDOM - Baby-sitters Club
UNIVERSE - Post canon
GENRE - Supernatural
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 1,700
PAIRING - Jackie Rodowsky/Natalie Springer
SUMMARY - Natalie's always been a singular sort of person.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Jackie Rodowsky and Natalie Springer were definitely two of the more interesting BSC clients. They couldn't be more different, and yet, as miss_slipslop demonstrates, they have the potential for a great friendship. There's also a great twist at the end, one I didn't see coming!
TITLE - Missing (2012)
AUTHOR - ozqueen
FANDOM - Baby-sitters Club
UNIVERSE - Canon
GENRE - General
RATING - K+
WORD COUNT - 1,042
PAIRING - N/A
SUMMARY - Patrick is missing. Fathers are not.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Oh, Charlie ♥ ozqueen's rendition of him is one of my absolute favorites - she manages to capture so many of the interesting complexities of his character. Here we see Charlie drifting through the father-figure relationships in his life - a his father, his stepfather, and his neighbor, Mr. Spier - and how each of them end up shaping him into the character we know and love from the series.
TITLE - Trust (2012)
AUTHOR - miss_slipslop
FANDOM - Baby-sitters Club
UNIVERSE - Post canon
GENRE - Drama, Friendship
RATING - K+
WORD COUNT - 4,777
PAIRING - N/A
SUMMARY - “Even though, I’m always here for you. Whether we’re angsty high schoolers, or destitute med students, or surgeons at Johns Hopkins."
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - This is friendship fic of the best kind - whole, organic, utterly realistic. Nicky Pike & Charlotte Johanssen would seem like an odd pair as eight-year-olds, but miss_slipslop develops their post-canon timeline quite richly and fully. I really like reading about male/female friendships that are just that - friendships, instead of a necessary prelude to something more. And with this story, she more or less hit all of those high points. I love their banter, the way they can spend time with each other so easily, effortlessly, the way they show each other support (be it in the form of lilac wars or a supportive hug in the middle of a breakdown), and their solemn promise to always stay friends, no matter what. Their bond is strong, even though they come from such different walks of life. I especially like the characterization of Nicky here, what with his disdain for bubblegum pop and obvious ease with nerdom =) It makes me wonder how he became this confident teenager after all of the angst of his childhood with the triplets, but happy all the same that he found his niche :) Loved the touch of him "sneaking off" with Charlotte to a place he keeps secret from his siblings, shades of #9, but now he has someone to share it with! It's little details like that (shoutouts to the canon) that make this fic so awesome.
TITLE - know you (like i do) (2012)
AUTHOR - meroure
FANDOM - California Diaries
UNIVERSE - Canon
GENRE - Family
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 1,516
PAIRING - N/A
SUMMARY - Marina doesn't have friends. She doesn't have friends because she brings her friends to James. It's what they do: he wants girls, and she will find them, entrap them, and take them to him.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - "Deliciously creepy" was the first phrase that came to mind as I read this. The notion that Marina has such control over her older brother, to the point where she basically runs his life for him, is so twisted. The fact that she's been doing it all their lives? So wrong. And yet, this fic reads so right, LOL! Definitely not for the faint of heart, but for those of you who enjoy exploring the darker side of the BSC/CD world, meroure is a must-read.
TITLE - Scars (2012)
AUTHOR - paynesgrey
FANDOM - Downtown Abbey
UNIVERSE - Canon
GENRE - Romance
RATING - Y
WORD COUNT - 1,092
PAIRING - Matthew/Mary
SUMMARY - Matthew finds one of Mary's scars that has a story.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Oh, man, this hit *all* of my historical romance buttons. It reads like a scene from one of my favorite historical romance novels, in fact! It's a sweet but sensuous scene, with the characters still exploring each other - their pasts, their present. Just beautiful ♥
TITLE - Nickname (2012)
AUTHOR - starzki
FANDOM - Full Metal Panic
UNIVERSE -
GENRE - Comedy
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 491
PAIRING - Weber/Mao
SUMMARY - Kurz tries to figure out from Celina what Melissa's old nickname was.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Because it's utterly hilarious. It's a rare dialogue-only piece, which can be very tricky, but starzki pulls this off with great pizazz - just enough inflection, misdirection, and cleverness to make it flow easily, even in those awkward moments of silence.
TITLE - Overwhelmed (2012 - present)
AUTHOR - starzki
FANDOM - Full Metal Panic
UNIVERSE - Post canon
GENRE - Romance
RATING - X
WORD COUNT - 9,694 (7 chapters - WIP)
PAIRING - Sousuke/Kaname
SUMMARY - Kaname and Sousuke finally have all the time they need to come together and explore their feelings for one another. Spoilers for the series. Post Always Stand by Me, Part 2.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - This is the fic that plunged me full-force into this canon. It's absolutely beautiful, and my favorite kind of story: an endearing OTP, reunited at last and finally able to spend some much-needed quality alone time together. Starzki might have meant for this to basically be a multichapter lemon, but she's built much more than that. A great mixture of giddiness and anticipation, but with the depth of love always lurking just under the surface.
TITLE - Carelessly (2012)
AUTHOR - snarky_imp
FANDOM - Sweet Valley High
UNIVERSE - Pre-canon
GENRE - Angst, Romance
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 485
PAIRING - Ken Matthews/Lila Fowler
SUMMARY - N/A
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - I have a thing for enduring relationships that break up and reunite, and snarky_imp has tapped that vein here. Ken and Lila are together during the summer after sophomore year - on the brink of falling apart, no less - and, interestingly enough, they still don't even really know each other. They're still playing with their preconceptions of each other, and maybe that's what they can't quite get past. Quite interesting, especially given this is a canonical endgame pairing!
TITLE - Casual Observer (2012)
AUTHOR - snarky_imp
FANDOM - Sweet Valley High
UNIVERSE - Pre-canon
GENRE - Drama
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 753
PAIRING - Bruce Patman/Lila Fowler
SUMMARY - N/A
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Bruce witnesses Ken and Lila's breakup, and takes it upon himself to offer a bit of comfort to his old friend. snarky_imp captures Bruce so perfectly here - so cool, so deliberate, so him with that attitude - and hints at a Bruce/Lila backstory that I'm dying to know. This is my preferred pairing, and though its not really a pairing fic, it dances around the dynamic that I find so intriguing and fun.
TITLE - Holiday (2012)
AUTHOR - snarky_imp
FANDOM - Sweet Valley High
UNIVERSE - Pre-canon
GENRE - Friendship
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 1,005
PAIRING - N/A
SUMMARY - N/A
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - A great piece of friendship fic starring Jessica, Lila, and Cara having fun at the roller rink on a late summer evening. I love snarky_imp's take on Jessica, still a schemer without being such a bitch about it. And all the little things - finding Todd idly cute, thinking Enid's a drip, noticing with her own sense of cunning just how Bruce was paying attention to Lila, and how much she had to think about how to react to that. And I love the idea of Bruce skulking in the shadows! This reads like a sequel to 'Causal Observer', and ties in beautifully with that whole dynamic. This is a great little window into the characters before we formally meet them in SVH #1, and nobody does it better than snarky_imp in my book.
TITLE - Love's Smirking Revenge (2007 - 2012)
AUTHOR - Langus
FANDOM - Inuyasha
UNIVERSE - Alternate
GENRE - Drama, Romance, Mystery
RATING - X
WORD COUNT - 200,904 (41 chapters)
PAIRING - Inuyasha/Kagome
SUMMARY - Inuyasha Takahashi is a beat down detective heading the most publicized Yakuza murder investigation of the year. Kagome Higurashi is a journalist who likes a good mystery. When the two clash over the investigation will sparks fly or will they get burned?
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - I have yet to meet a fanfic writer who can write a good, solid, absolutely engaging mystery - so this story was a wonderful surprise. Written like an old-school hard-boiled detective novel, Langus sweeps us into a modern-day world while keeping the canon mythology that makes Inuyasha so interesting and complex. There are multiple storylines which weave together in compelling and sometimes surprising ways, and enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat. There is also plenty of hot romance between canon pairings - so if that's your thing, then this is definitely the story for you :P Just when you think you know whodunnit, the author throws out a final shocking twist - one that reverberates through the entirety of the story, making you want to go back and read it all over again from the beginning. Another nice touch is that every character has closure, not just the main pairing - a rarity for sprawling fic with multiple story arcs. This is a definite don't miss!
TITLE - Alone (2012)
AUTHOR - miss_slipslop
FANDOM - Baby-sitters Club
UNIVERSE - Post canon
GENRE - Supernatural
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 1,700
PAIRING - Jackie Rodowsky/Natalie Springer
SUMMARY - Natalie's always been a singular sort of person.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Jackie Rodowsky and Natalie Springer were definitely two of the more interesting BSC clients. They couldn't be more different, and yet, as miss_slipslop demonstrates, they have the potential for a great friendship. There's also a great twist at the end, one I didn't see coming!
TITLE - Missing (2012)
AUTHOR - ozqueen
FANDOM - Baby-sitters Club
UNIVERSE - Canon
GENRE - General
RATING - K+
WORD COUNT - 1,042
PAIRING - N/A
SUMMARY - Patrick is missing. Fathers are not.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Oh, Charlie ♥ ozqueen's rendition of him is one of my absolute favorites - she manages to capture so many of the interesting complexities of his character. Here we see Charlie drifting through the father-figure relationships in his life - a his father, his stepfather, and his neighbor, Mr. Spier - and how each of them end up shaping him into the character we know and love from the series.
TITLE - Trust (2012)
AUTHOR - miss_slipslop
FANDOM - Baby-sitters Club
UNIVERSE - Post canon
GENRE - Drama, Friendship
RATING - K+
WORD COUNT - 4,777
PAIRING - N/A
SUMMARY - “Even though, I’m always here for you. Whether we’re angsty high schoolers, or destitute med students, or surgeons at Johns Hopkins."
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - This is friendship fic of the best kind - whole, organic, utterly realistic. Nicky Pike & Charlotte Johanssen would seem like an odd pair as eight-year-olds, but miss_slipslop develops their post-canon timeline quite richly and fully. I really like reading about male/female friendships that are just that - friendships, instead of a necessary prelude to something more. And with this story, she more or less hit all of those high points. I love their banter, the way they can spend time with each other so easily, effortlessly, the way they show each other support (be it in the form of lilac wars or a supportive hug in the middle of a breakdown), and their solemn promise to always stay friends, no matter what. Their bond is strong, even though they come from such different walks of life. I especially like the characterization of Nicky here, what with his disdain for bubblegum pop and obvious ease with nerdom =) It makes me wonder how he became this confident teenager after all of the angst of his childhood with the triplets, but happy all the same that he found his niche :) Loved the touch of him "sneaking off" with Charlotte to a place he keeps secret from his siblings, shades of #9, but now he has someone to share it with! It's little details like that (shoutouts to the canon) that make this fic so awesome.
TITLE - know you (like i do) (2012)
AUTHOR - meroure
FANDOM - California Diaries
UNIVERSE - Canon
GENRE - Family
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 1,516
PAIRING - N/A
SUMMARY - Marina doesn't have friends. She doesn't have friends because she brings her friends to James. It's what they do: he wants girls, and she will find them, entrap them, and take them to him.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - "Deliciously creepy" was the first phrase that came to mind as I read this. The notion that Marina has such control over her older brother, to the point where she basically runs his life for him, is so twisted. The fact that she's been doing it all their lives? So wrong. And yet, this fic reads so right, LOL! Definitely not for the faint of heart, but for those of you who enjoy exploring the darker side of the BSC/CD world, meroure is a must-read.
TITLE - Scars (2012)
AUTHOR - paynesgrey
FANDOM - Downtown Abbey
UNIVERSE - Canon
GENRE - Romance
RATING - Y
WORD COUNT - 1,092
PAIRING - Matthew/Mary
SUMMARY - Matthew finds one of Mary's scars that has a story.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Oh, man, this hit *all* of my historical romance buttons. It reads like a scene from one of my favorite historical romance novels, in fact! It's a sweet but sensuous scene, with the characters still exploring each other - their pasts, their present. Just beautiful ♥
TITLE - Nickname (2012)
AUTHOR - starzki
FANDOM - Full Metal Panic
UNIVERSE -
GENRE - Comedy
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 491
PAIRING - Weber/Mao
SUMMARY - Kurz tries to figure out from Celina what Melissa's old nickname was.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Because it's utterly hilarious. It's a rare dialogue-only piece, which can be very tricky, but starzki pulls this off with great pizazz - just enough inflection, misdirection, and cleverness to make it flow easily, even in those awkward moments of silence.
TITLE - Overwhelmed (2012 - present)
AUTHOR - starzki
FANDOM - Full Metal Panic
UNIVERSE - Post canon
GENRE - Romance
RATING - X
WORD COUNT - 9,694 (7 chapters - WIP)
PAIRING - Sousuke/Kaname
SUMMARY - Kaname and Sousuke finally have all the time they need to come together and explore their feelings for one another. Spoilers for the series. Post Always Stand by Me, Part 2.
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - This is the fic that plunged me full-force into this canon. It's absolutely beautiful, and my favorite kind of story: an endearing OTP, reunited at last and finally able to spend some much-needed quality alone time together. Starzki might have meant for this to basically be a multichapter lemon, but she's built much more than that. A great mixture of giddiness and anticipation, but with the depth of love always lurking just under the surface.
TITLE - Carelessly (2012)
AUTHOR - snarky_imp
FANDOM - Sweet Valley High
UNIVERSE - Pre-canon
GENRE - Angst, Romance
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 485
PAIRING - Ken Matthews/Lila Fowler
SUMMARY - N/A
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - I have a thing for enduring relationships that break up and reunite, and snarky_imp has tapped that vein here. Ken and Lila are together during the summer after sophomore year - on the brink of falling apart, no less - and, interestingly enough, they still don't even really know each other. They're still playing with their preconceptions of each other, and maybe that's what they can't quite get past. Quite interesting, especially given this is a canonical endgame pairing!
TITLE - Casual Observer (2012)
AUTHOR - snarky_imp
FANDOM - Sweet Valley High
UNIVERSE - Pre-canon
GENRE - Drama
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 753
PAIRING - Bruce Patman/Lila Fowler
SUMMARY - N/A
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - Bruce witnesses Ken and Lila's breakup, and takes it upon himself to offer a bit of comfort to his old friend. snarky_imp captures Bruce so perfectly here - so cool, so deliberate, so him with that attitude - and hints at a Bruce/Lila backstory that I'm dying to know. This is my preferred pairing, and though its not really a pairing fic, it dances around the dynamic that I find so intriguing and fun.
TITLE - Holiday (2012)
AUTHOR - snarky_imp
FANDOM - Sweet Valley High
UNIVERSE - Pre-canon
GENRE - Friendship
RATING - T
WORD COUNT - 1,005
PAIRING - N/A
SUMMARY - N/A
WHY I'M RECOMMENDING THIS PIECE - A great piece of friendship fic starring Jessica, Lila, and Cara having fun at the roller rink on a late summer evening. I love snarky_imp's take on Jessica, still a schemer without being such a bitch about it. And all the little things - finding Todd idly cute, thinking Enid's a drip, noticing with her own sense of cunning just how Bruce was paying attention to Lila, and how much she had to think about how to react to that. And I love the idea of Bruce skulking in the shadows! This reads like a sequel to 'Causal Observer', and ties in beautifully with that whole dynamic. This is a great little window into the characters before we formally meet them in SVH #1, and nobody does it better than snarky_imp in my book.