"What About Love?" by La Vita Nuova

          Ah, Spring Break (for Americans, anyways)! What better way to enjoy your vacation than another awesome fic from an amazing author! This week I recommend you go and read La Vita Nuova’s What About Love? This is one hell of story, with a Bella you can’t help but love.

          In this fic, Bella and Alice are twins, and an inseparable duo. Despite being the exact opposites of each other, they still are the best of friends. When Rosalie Hale comes into the picture, she causes a rift between the sisters. Alice and Rosalie new friendship starts to drive a wedge between the sisters. The final nail in the coffin comes at a party one night:


Bella grabbed out for the nearest available object to keep her upright and apologized profusely when her fingernails clamped down on a shrieking girl, but her eyes never left the sight Rosalie had been so eager for her to see. Standing clear in the middle of the backyard, next to what she would have otherwise described as a picturesque pool, was Bella's best friend and twin sister, furiously kissing the love of her existence.It was like a horror film, desperately wanting to shield her eyes from the sight, but knowing she would only peak through the gaps. Just as she decided she couldn't take it any longer, they pulled apart, the bile rising in Bella's throat as Edward's finger gently trailed Alice's cheek with a reverential look in his eyes. Bella turned on her heel and ran, question upon question racing through her mind as uncertain feet hit down hard on the ground beneath.She didn't stop for anything, not even when she tripped over, flailing to her knees in the gritty driveway. Her body didn't slow down for a second. Heart beats and feet raced their way home, and even as she felt the burning strains in her muscles, Bella only pushed on faster and harder, enjoying the physical pain as it superseded the emotional.

She tore through the house like a wild animal, not caring whether Charlie was home to hear her wailing cries. Images of betrayal were burned into the recesses of her mind and no matter how hard she sobbed, or how much she begged for the images to disappear, they simply wouldn't go away.
        
           Bella finishes off the school year avoiding Alice and the others, taking off for Oxford to attend school. The best part of this fic is that it switches back and for between the present and her time in high school, slowly revealing what happened at the party then her time in Oxford. After Oxford she came back to live in Arizona with Jake and takes a job at a publishing house in the area. Alice moves in near them, and her and Rosalie ruin her life again when they sleep with Jacob and send her a video of the act. With the publishing house being closed and the employees transferred to different locations, Bella takes this opportunity and packs her things, taking a position in the Chicago office.

          Meanwhile La Vita Nuova is telling Bella in present day Chicago. Alice has moved to the city with her fiancé Jasper. Bella attends a barbeque and meets some of Jasper’s friends. One in particular, Leah, helps Bella devise a plan to help ruin Alice’s life the way she ruined Bella’s. The duo slowly work on Jasper, and when Bella attends a Masquerade Ball and run into Alice and Rosalie, her plans come to fruition. When Bella takes Jasper back to his and Alice’s place to sleep off the party, they end up sleeping together. Bella leaves and tries to avoid Jasper, but after he comes to her apartment and she runs into Rosalie, she gets hit by a car trying to flee. After talking with everyone during her Hospital stay, finding out about Jasper calling off the engagement,  Alice’s desperate attempts to get him back, and a blind date with another one of Jasper’s friends, Bella and Leah decide to move forward with their plans.

          This story is still in progress, and as of now, Bella is spending time at Jasper and his friends at his cabin. La Vita Nuova has written one awesome Bitchella, and you just gotta love her. Bella and Leah make one badass duo, and I suggest you get over and get yourself caught up on this awesome fic!

So grab a drink and enjoy!

“What About Love?” by La Vita Nuova: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6505593/1/

"Lessons Unexpected" by AlexisDanaan

Okay folks, I’ve got another rec for you this week, and this one’s a real winner. If you haven’t read AlexisDanaan’s Lessons Unexpected then you need to do so now! This little beauty has a great plot, and a whole helluva lot of angst. This starts out with Bella, four years after Edward left, working at a bar in Alaska while attending college. This certainly isn’t the Bella we know; she got a whole lot more fire in her veins now. When working one night, she comes across Jasper in the back alley, and their reunion isn’t on the best of terms:

Bella gasped and pulled at the unyielding hand around her throat, willing herself to stay calm despite the fact that her chest was burning and she feared for her life. Her efforts were for nothing; the kind of panic that swallows a human being faced with death is not easily defeated and Bella was no master at staring down death. Sure, she had been pretty sure she was about to die when she went to meet James, but when the moment came she was far too distracted by the pain in her body. Now, there was very little pain compared to back then. Now, there was a terrifying lack of oxygen, a burning in her chest, and fear in her heart. She felt her limbs growing heavy as her vision darkened. She realized, belatedly, that the last thing she would see before she died would be Jasper's angry face, staring into her own. For some reason, that disappointed her.

"Argh! I can't do this!" Jasper practically screamed as he released his hold on Bella's throat.

Instantly she dropped to her knees, taking in a deep, painful and ragged breath as she did. Her hands came out to catch her and she found herself on all fours, staring at the toes of Jasper's boots. Cowboy boots; she had been right about his footwear. She wanted to laugh at herself, and would have had she had the breath to do so; of all the stupid things to think of when your life has just been handed back to you.

Suddenly, Jasper was crouching in front of her, his lips next to hear ear, "Stay away from me Bella Swan. I've no need for you to complicate my life once again."

With the speed and grace inherit in his species, Jasper straightened up and turned on his heel. She looked up, watching him cross the street and walk away as if he had been doing nothing but strolling leisurely through the neighbourhood. As she watched his retreating back she felt that same anger rise up in her again, the anger she had worked so hard to let go of four years ago when he had walked away from her, when they had
walked away from her.

Jasper was walking away from her, again. Abandoning her. Running.

Coward, she thought, her blood boiling.

"You COWARD!" she screamed, her throat protesting such violent use so soon after being assaulted.

Jasper didn't pause. He didn't look back. He didn't even acknowledge that he'd heard her.

He just kept walking.

    After running into Jasper again during class, they have another spat, and again at her work, Bella begins to worry that she might have pushed Jasper over the edge. That night she finds out how right she was. After a scuffle in her room, Jasper takes a bite out of Bella, and the change ensues.
      
    Waking up from the change in a cabin in the Alaskan wilderness, Bella realizes what Jasper has done and attacks him. The pair continues fighting for months while Bella struggles to gain control of her bloodlust. These two are constantly at odds with each other, fighting over the simplest of things. Combined with Bella’s unstable emotions, there are a few good fights between the pair. With the Charlie’s vow to continue the search for his supposedly dead daughter, Jasper decides it time to move on. They head to a Cullen house in Canada to wait out Bella’s newborn year. The pair grows closer as their time together wears on, and hopes for more than friendship is in the air. Unfortunately Alice’s visions bring the Cullen clan to the Canada house, and cause a rift between the two. Fights break out, and the once calm house is disrupted.
      
    Never fear, AlexisDanaan ends this story on a high note; A naughty lemon in the forest, an understanding between Bella and Edward, and everyone heading their separate ways. The epilogue gives us a glimpse into their lives several years down the road. We get to see bits of what the happy couple has been up to in the past few years, and the happiness that our lovely couple shares. This is one great fic, and will keep you hooked for sure.

So grab a drink and enjoy!

“Lessons Unexpected” by AlexisDanaan http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6208626/1/

Friday Night Slash Welcome!

Hello all you pervy slash lovers! I just wanted to take a minute to welcome you all and introduce myself. The name's Mel and starting the first full week of April I will be handling the Friday Night Slash section of this here wonderful blog! I'm so excited and honored that Jacob asked me to help out with this section. I am a slash loving h00r and proud of it! Obviously my favorite character is Jasper (who doesn't love his sexy self?) but I share my love with all the twi-boys :)

I have no reservations about pairing or content so I will try to rec some of the best slash fics out there and even some new, undiscovered gems. If you have any suggestions or a fic you'd like to see me rec, please feel free to e-mail me at mel.bookbytescorner@gmail.com or come find me on twitter @JasperLuver48 and let me know!

I can't wait to get started and will see you again starting Fridays in April!

Until then my lovelies...

xoxo
Mel

Welcome to Magic Monday's!

Hey everyone,
Starting April 4th I'm going to be doing a weekly section on this blog called Magic Monday's where I rec some of the best of the best in the Harry Potter fandom! Bearing that in mind, if you have a story that you think needs to be recommended, whether because it doesn't get enough love or it's just that awesome that it needs MOAR lovin', let me know by sending me an email at: alexis.bookbytescorner@gmail.com
I'll be looking at all pairings, ships and ratings in this section but I will warn you ahead of time if the fic that I'm rec'ing has any triggers or is considered extremely mature. I will be judging fics based on basic things like grammar and spelling, but also on things like plot, progression, characters and their development. Obviously, I may not like every fic and there will be people who will disagree with me so I propose a compromise: If I get enough support for a particular story I will force myself to read it and give it a open minded review. Sound fair?
Again, please send me some suggestions for stories, even if it's your own! I'm always looking to expand my reading list!

"Miror Quaenam Sis Tam Bella" by MeraNaamJoker

           Alright folks, it’s another week, another recommendation. This week, I recommend you get over and read MeraNaamJoker’s Miror Quaenam Sis Tam Bella. This is a Paul/Bella pairing, with all the drama that ensues when these two get together. The story begins with Bella up on the cliffs; but before she can jump, Paul intervenes and pulls her away from the edge. When he goes to confront her on why she jumped, he imprints and they get down and dirty on the cliffs. And then a few more times in various locations around Bella’s house. Confused by their feelings and not wanting to ruin their relationship with Jake because of their imprinting, Paul tries to break the imprint by running away to Canada (Now why does that sound familiar?). While Paul is on his Canadian excursion, Bella gets a chance to see the Paul that nobody knew, the Paul he kept hidden from the rest of the pack (Hint: Brawn AND brains! He’s to die for!) Unable to resist the pull he feels, Paul goes running back to Bella, and they make up with a nice little lemon. But the threat of Victoria still looms, and after setting a trap to lure her in, the pack dispatches her with the help of a certain all-seeing pixie vamp.

           Throughout the story, Bella is dealing with a struggle within herself between the different parts of herself; Edward’s Bella, Jake’s Bells, and Paul’s Isabella. Each one looking after their own interests, especially the part of her that wants to keep their imprinting secret to stay friends with Jake. This issue causes a fair few fights between the happy couple, but once their secret’s out and Jake knows, things all start to fall into place. Victoria is taken care of, Jake comes around to their imprint, and Bella’s inner selves come together at last:

I honestly didn't know if I'd be able to do it until I heard the words come out of my mouth. "I love you, Paul."

Was that you? I asked the other-me, but she was silent. She didn't love Paul, she just owned him. The love was all me.

Holding my breath, I looked at Paul and waited. Please don't say it, please don't say it. I knew how he felt. I didn't need to hear "I love you." It sounded way too much like "I'll leave you."

He didn't say it, of course, so I smiled at him, and tugged his mouth down to mine. When he lifted his head again, he looked serious. "Thanks. I know you didn't want to say it, so . . . Thanks."

"I meant it." I shrugged a little, leaning up to kiss his chin. "If you need to hear it, then I need to say it. I mean, I don't have to, but I want to. You're my Paul, but I'm your Isabella. Okay?" I knew I couldn't give him the reassurance he offered me so regularly. I couldn't claim to be all his. Not yet. There were too many pieces of me fragmented and lodged in other hearts. So I put what I had on the table. "I'm only ever Isabella for you." I waited to see if that would be enough for him.

"That's the only you I want," Paul replied, and he smiled when he said it.

The room spun around him, dislodged from its usual gravity by the drugs I'd taken. He was the only stable thing in front of me, but he was enough. I raised my hand to caress his cheek, feeling the other-me and the Bella-me and the Bells-me move and turn and reorganize inside at his words, clicking with the Isabella-me to form something new. Something that maybe really was all his. This was the reassurance I could offer, so I said it out loud: "Then that's the only me I want to be," and pulled him into my embrace.

           The story has a beautiful ending; with the pair attend the wedding of Jake and his imprint, Amanda. After the event and a discussion of the future, MeraNaamJoker brings the story full circle; the couple taking a dive of the La Push cliffs. It’s a sweet story, and doesn’t short on the angst.

So grab a drink and enjoy!

“Miror Quaenam Sis Tam Bella” by MeraNaamJoker: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6391523/1/