Sunday, May 16, 2010

Sunday Selections for May 16, 2010

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JaspersDestiny recommends Breaking by hopeforastalemate

Dr. Carlisle Cullen, always perfect, always in control. What happens when his family decides he needs to be broken...for his own good? Dark AU story without Jacob, the wolves, or Renesmee. All vampire. Rated M.

So, we were approached by hopeforastalemate, who asked if one of us Lambs could read one of her Carlisle-centric fics in the hope for some feedback. It's very difficult to weed through the masses of stories available in FFn's database to find a good story to rec - especially when the character in focus is not the most written about. My experience with Carlisle has been that while there may be quite a few fics out there, only a handful come to mind for me. So, when an author feels confident enough to put themself out there and ask for advice or feedback, I am very happy to oblige.

Grey, as she likes to be called, seemed hesitant to ask us, but when she mentioned that she had a completed Carlisle fic, whose sequel is already underway, and that it was very dark and full of extreme lemons (in her personal opinion)...well, I had to give it a go!

And, yes, this is a very dark fic. And it's a very good story. Carlisle, as we know, is very conventional. He was raised in his human years by an overbearing, religious father who viewed tradition with the utmost regard. Imagine, then, even with the ability to be more enlightened than many during that rigid time, Carlisle - when changed - would still retain much of his father's teachings and practices. Vampires aren't supposed to change very much, and much like Edward, Carlisle holds on to much of his past.

When I think of Carlisle, I think of a man who holds tightly to his position as
coven leader, respected physician, devoted and gentle husband, loyal friend, and well-loved father. But I also think of him as boring as far as vamps go - he never steps outside of the box he has crafted so well over the years because he takes comfort in the shelter it provides. He is never 'wild', never 'animalistic', never 'sexy'. He's never truly a vampire. He's almost like a fraud, living a fake life, unaware that he can be both things - he can be a vampire and retain some of his humanity. He just needs someone to show him the way.

Just because vampires aren't supposed to change, it doesn't mean that they can't. And with Eleazar's initiative and the help of his family, Carlisle is broken down in this story, reassembled, and made anew...and not without consequences.

He was a man who made love to his wife with a tender hand...

He was a man who refrained from drinking human blood...

He was a man who saw his 'children' as children...

He was a man who didn't know how to have fun and engage in his animal side whilst hunting...

He is now a man with a new reality.

I emailed Grey halfway through this 7-chapter story because she had written that her lemons were 'extreme'...well, let me put it this way - this story is NOT for the faint of heart. Grey had me gurgling on the transit while reading this story, and she left me looking over my shoulder in the restaurant while eating lunch, paranoid that someone may be looking over my shoulder and seeing the dirty, dirty, dirty things I was tittering at during my read-through of this story.

"What a pity you're not human, lovely one. If you were, you'd be dead by now." Carlisle didn't recognize his voice, low and gravelly. He had ceased to think, his mind fucked into submission by his body, his body that knew nothing in this moment but the craving for human blood. He wanted to drink every drop of it from Esme's body, and he wanted her to drink from him.


I advise you to proceed with caution because there is one issue that some readers may question, and that is the polyamorous aspect. This doesn't affect me so much as the fact that there is a heavy 'Daddy' tone to some of the lemons. But, as I told Grey, I don't truly see Carlisle as anyone's 'Daddy' - it's just a part of the act for me. But, in the same vein that there are readers who take issue with Oriana de la Rose's Dark Whispers, the same readers will take issue with this piece. There is a lot of taboo in this particular story, but by confronting these taboos, Carlisle is able to break out of the confines he constructed for himself and come away from the experiences a freer man.

The sequel to Breaking is called The Scarlet and the Gold, so check that out when you finish this one. There are three chapters posted to the sequel, and the fourth is being written as I write this. Think you can handle a changed Carlisle? This certainly changed me...


Maelyn recommends At your service by MissCullen90

Isabella Swan gets a job as a personal assistant to the executive director at Cullen Inc. The attraction is there, but will it develope into love? AU-all human, Carlisle/Bella. Rated M to be safe.

I stumbled across this little gem on a Twilighted thread where someone was asking for good Carlisle fics. (By the way, you can find that thread here.) I can’t tell you how hard it’s been to find a Carlisle and Bella fic that doesn’t involve adultery or a ridiculous timeline (i.e. they jump in bed and/or make love with each other the instant Edward and Esme are out of the picture). So it was refreshing to come across this one.

Granted, it’s an AH fic, but if I had to pick a word for it so far, I’d say ‘cute’. It gives me the same feeling that Bella and the Billionaire by nashstheory did and I quite enjoyed that fic as well. It was light and fluffy, but still had substance enough to make you want to read it.

Now, there are only nine chapters of At your service so far. I have a feeling we haven’t gotten into some of the meat of the story just yet. The author’s chapters are pretty short and I think she’s still establishing Carlisle and Bella’s relationship at the moment. But it has a decent core so far and I am really enjoying it.

Carlisle is a workaholic who never takes time for himself and, so it seems, has given up his own dream to take over his uncle’s business. So he hires Bella to be his personal assistant – basically a live-in housekeeper, cook, maid, and whatever else he needs.

I love that Carlisle is such a reclusive workaholic that he doesn’t know how to handle the situation when he falls for her and realizes she likes him too. He even has flashes of insecurity where he worries if she is only responding to him because he’s her boss. But this is what makes him so endearing to the reader, I think. He is so incredibly unselfish that you are totally rooting for Bella to get her claws into him and show him there is more to life than work.

I just really love the setting and the tone of the story so far and if you are looking for something cute and poignant, then I think you will too.

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