Tuesday's Best 12-7-2010

Good morning, my lovelies. How are y'all doing? I trust you're all being good...well, maybe not good, because I know some of y'all are more than a wee bit naughty at times ;-) The holidays are in full swing, or so the radio stations would have you believe - as well as the shops. 

Might I suggest you take a bit of a break from all the preparations and celebrations, and check out what Aradi and I found for you today. Don't forget to bring that towel, a fresh pair of panties, and some Kleenex! 

Ready? Let's go!

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Sweetp-1 loves me.  There’s really no other explanation.  She writes lovely, slashy stories, and she writes them dark and broody (and sometimes bloody).

Clearly, it’s true love.

I overlook her affinity for wolves (even barfbarfJacobbarf), because that is what you do when you are soulmates.  You overlook whether the other person is a boy or a girl or a (smelly) wolf or a vampire or someone who doesn’t understand that wolves are gross.  

Sweetp understands there’s only so much Jacob (gag) that I can take, so when she feels the irresistable urge to write more wolves, she makes sure to write plenty of Seth just for me.  She also overlooks the fact that I am a creepy stalker.

Love.  Clearly.

Fire in the Blood is her latest, and it is once again Seth and Edward.  It loosely parallels some events in Eclipse, but is a very AU world.  All the characters we know and love are there, but things are definitely not quite right, especially for Seth.

Sam had been good to him. Then.

Now, as the pain keeps coming, Seth wishes he had seen what a fuck Sam really was.

Because there's no escaping now.

When Sam threatened to kick him out of the pack, Seth knew there was an implicit warning.

There's only one way out of the pack; no one leaves alive.

Edward and poor, abused Seth meet during the preparations for the battle with the newborns.  It’s an inconvenient time to be figuring out what could be an inconvenient attraction, especially considering the eternally-inconvenient Bella.  

Seth is looking at him with a strange mix of longing and jealousy, but the moment he registers Edward's awareness he looks away again. The moment is so fleeting, Edward later wonders if he imagined it.

There's something about the young shapeshifter that makes Edward unable to put him from his mind. As the discussion around him continues, his gaze returns over and over to Seth's deep-brown eyes, the dimple in his left cheek, the sharp line of his jaw. It's not attraction, because...because Edward is attracted to females. To Bella. Bella is his girlfriend - she's going to become a vampire, when this is all over he's going to ask her to marry him. No, not attraction - maybe just curiosity, then. Why doesn't Seth hate him like Jacob does? Why wasn't he eating with the pack earlier? Why did Edward enjoy running with the sandy-colored wolf so much?

Fire in the Blood is dark and despairing, two things that warm my shriveled little heart.  It’s also quite violent, so consider yourself warned.  Coincidentally, the final chapter was posted this week (just in time for this review, because Sweetp and I are soulmates, obviously) so you can devour the tale in its entirety if you haven’t been reading along as it posted.

Leave Sweetp some review love, too.  She always looks so happy to see reviews, as best I can tell from my perch in the tree outside her window.

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You ever have those stories that seem to stick with you? Or that make such an impact when you read them, that you want to reach into the story and hug the characters and thank them, and then do the same to the author? Yeah, thought you might have those, too.

Conversed’s, I’m Listening is one of mine. Something about Emmett resonated with me. The way he describes the feeling of being alone, of being so out of depth you feel like you’re drowning and way beyond the capacity to reach out for help...

Emmett volunteers at a helpline, providing a listening ear to those who just need someone to talk to, someone to be there, to silently lean on. He volunteers there, because once upon a time, he was the one on the other end needing a sympathetic ear. He knows the value of listening.

I've been taught that when we listen, we're giving a gift. It took me a while to accept that, but it's true. When the caller cries or sobs or even fucking wails, we give them the gift of purpose. They're not sitting alone, drenched in misery; they're reaching out and sharing. For some that's not enough, but for most it is, and if it works like it did for me, it's so fucking cool.

The silent callers though, they're different and so much harder to manage than the rest. They don't share, so it's hard to listen. The temptation is to fill their sad silences, but that doesn't help. I struggle with the silence, I really do, because I was a silent caller once myself.

Knowing how I felt then, so far beyond sad that I can't even fucking explain, makes me worry for the quiet callers. Really worry. When misery steals your voice away and leaves you mute instead, when you need to say "help me" or "I'm sinking" but can only hitch a breath, you're in too deep. Isolation and seclusion can pull you down before you know it, like hidden currents and it's too easy to drown.

That heartbreak undertow is a fucking bitch.

You get to read about why Emmett ended up calling the helpline. How he ended up working there, later. How he managed to resurface after going under so many times. How he learned to grieve, and get through it.

Yes, I said grieve. Whether or not anyone died, that, you’ll have to read to find out.

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There you have it, folks. Another week with two fantastic recs to sink your teeth into. Be sure to leave these wonderful ladies some love after you've read their stories. And come back next week, to see what Aradi and Captain Jezebel have in store for you.