Let's talk about Lillie Cullen. (Gasp!)

So we're coming to the end of November and the end of our month is dedicated to one Jasper Whitlock/Hale/Whatever. So far, we've recommended several stories that had positive outcomes for our favorite empath/vampire/human/southern gentleman/lover...eh, you where I'm going? Anyways, there's that one story that's out there right now that literally leaves the Jasper fans still foaming at the mouth, and not in a good way.

That's right, I'm talking about A Lesson In Fate, by Lillie Cullen. Did I hate it? Absolutely. Why did I hate it? Because it pissed me off. More precisely, Bella pissed me off. Edward pissed me off. Even Jasper pissed me off. I have to admit, I was one of those people that went into this seeing the sequel based on the love triangle between Edward, Jasper, and Bella, but I didn't expect Jasper to lose the girl. I went into reading this story expecting a Jasper/Bella tale, and what we got was Edward/Bella.

Okay, first of all, I do love Edward. Some of my all time favorite stories are Edward/Bella. But, this story literally just kicked my ass, and made me sick to my stomach. Why? Because it was well written enough that I felt Jasper's heartbreak; I hated Bella with a passion; and, Edward was just pathetic, even after he got laid. I never wanted someone to die in a story before like I did with Bella in this story. I was so engrossed with this story that I couldn't even write my own anymore, every time an alert hit my inbox. I finally had to just stop reading it, because I couldn't take it anymore. Later on, I went back and finished the story, because I just HAD to. I was drawn in, and I didn't like it!  And I have to say now, that I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. There's no way in hell I'd want Jasper with the Bella in that story, and I'm satisfied that Edward got his girl. In this story, I couldn't stand either one of them. I might have preferred having Jasper spit in Bella's face, but hey, that's just me.

For a story to make me feel that way, it takes some mighty powerful writing, and you gotta give Lillie that, because I've found out I'm not alone. I've talked to a few other fellow readers of this story, and it turns out they had similiar reactions. I really don't think there's another story out there among Jasper/Bella shippers that is known as 'that story'. You could say, it's the story 'that shall not be named.' I have to wonder if this has maybe...altered Lillie's reputation for some of those in the fandom, the hard-core Jasper fans. It hasn't for me, though. 

Lillie wrote her story. And that's what it was, it was hers, and she wrote it how she wanted to write it. And, for those of us that didn't like it, well, it was a simple fix. See that X up there on the right hand corner of your window? And the fact is, to create the emotions we all had while we read this story, to the point where we literally HAD to stop reading it to keep ourselves sane, what does that say? It says Lillie's one hell of a writer, and I have a lot of respect for her because I'm sure it wasn't easy. The fact is, this story was well known. As of this date, she has 8709 reviews for ALIF on FF. I didn't have time to sift through them, but I have to wonder how many of them were 'angry'. But, I'm also sure she had more than her fair share of good reviews for those who wanted to see Edward and Bella together again. The point is, well done, Lillie! Well done, indeed.

For those of you who don't know, Lillie has started the third and final installment for The Lessons Saga. A Lesson In Love is only one chapter in, currently, and Lillie has stated that this story won't involve another love triangle. Lillie is also writing Manhunt on Text Novel, which is an original romantic suspense novel, and she's making a name for herself. Manhunt has won both the TextNovel's Editor's Choice Award and she was named as a Dorchester Romance Semi-Finalist for 2009. Good for you, Lillie.