Twilight, Travel, and Treats

Hi gals,

I'm in Hong Kong right now and there isn't much Twilight related stuff going on. I can't believe I left Vancouver, where they're filming Breaking Dawn, to come here. I hope that when I return to BC in April that they'll still be in town.

Scarlet by Archer24

I really loved this fanfic. Normally I'm a movie buff and I especially like crime/spy/action thrillers. This was right up my alley.

Plot - Bella is the greatest thief the world's never seen; she is only recognized by her scarlet calling card. Edward is FBI, and has been able to catch every criminal he's come across. Little do they know, they are both about to meet their match.

This story is well written. I think it's actually very difficult to write an action sequence well. But this author managed to describe Bella's stealth jewel thieving tactics in a way that is captivating and easy to follow. There are a lot of action scenes involving thieving and fighting but nothing too gruesome. I absolutely loved watching Bella kick ass.

Spoilers - And of course what would a crime action thriller be without a scene where Edward's in a tux and Bella's dressd to the nines doing the tango together.
In the middle of the story it takes an odd turn. It's enough to make you think - really? This is happening? Does this actually make sense and how is this happening so seamlessly? But if you just go with the flow for a chapter it's fine and the story progression seems to make lots of sense and is very entertaining.

Okay, let me know what you think. If any of you have more crime drama fanfics to recommend I'd love to hear about them. I'm feeling a bit addicted to this genre.

So you know how in the movie Julie & Julia the woman bakes her way through Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking? I loved the concept but sadly I suck at cooking.
Her idea inspired me to do something less daunting and more up my alley. My very first fanfiction post in January 2010 was about Wide Awake by AngstGoddess003. It was the first fanfiction I fell in love with. Each chapter is titled after the cookies that Bella bakes for Edward in that part of the story. They're clever titles and I really wanted to see the recipes. From interviews I know AngstGoddess herself is not that much of a baker and I see there are a few recipes on LiveJournal connected to WA but I can't seem to get my hands on them. Hence I decided to create my own list.

These are not my original recipes nor are they linked to AngstGoddess003 in any way. I've compiled this through my usual online recipe search looking for the yummiest sounding cookies! I was thinking it may be fun to do this over a year since there are 52 batches of cookies. Only problem - that's a lot of cookies and I don't know how I'll maintain the skinny bitch figure if I eat all that butter :)

Chapters 1-7

Click title for story link and click Recipe for the cookie recipe link

1. Gingerbread Zombies  Recipe - FoodNetwork

2. Bloody Newtons  Recipe - GroupRecipes

3. Double Fudge Rendezvous Recipe - FoodNetwork UK

Hope you guys have a chance to make any one of these this week. If not at least read each chapter! I'll post some more later!

Hit By Destiny by ocdmess

Well here's another angsty long fanfic worth a read. If you are a fan of Emancipation Proclamation then you'll like this one. It's not for the faint of heart - there's bullying, assault, and just downright scary shit that happens.

Plot - Edward in this story is the epitome of the conceited arrogant teenage asshole. Of course he's a beautiful manwhore to boot. Bella is the quiet isolated girl at school who is constantly bullied. No one knows her story and no one cares. She has secrets that eat her up so badly she wants to die. She's nearly killed when Edward crashes his car into her on a dark night. Will they both be saved from their demons by this fateful accident?

My thoughts...

I enjoyed the authors style of writing and appreciated that the first ten chapters are a lead up before the crash so we know what we're dealing with. The villains aren't the usual suspects and neither are the friends. Edward's character is such an asshole at the beginning it's almost too difficult to read. But I stuck with it knowing that there must be some form of redemption and a love story with it. I wasn't disappointed. If you like reading E get all soft and mushy on B then you'll be happy.
Word to the wise - if you're like me and keep reading to get to a good steamy part you'll be reading for a while. There is a lot of cockblocking in this fanfic but it doesn't feel out of place. If there were more lemons it would be out of character for this Bella.
The title felt obvious to me but I didn't really get the deeper meaning of it until I got to the last two pages. It kept me happy and surprised until the end.
Wishing there were outtakes but you know we can't have everything!
As always I'm adding this to the "Ward of the Day" fanfic rec section on the left sidebar.


It feels like this blog is becoming fanfic based. Good thing I'm heading to Hong Kong in a few days so I can add some travel back in here.