Emibella gets busy dissecting a confusing love triange. Sort of.

KTBass
Secrets Don't Keep Friends - T/PG-13
AH
12 Chapters, 51,868 Words
05/24/2009 - WIP
[ FFN ] [ Forum ]

All Human. Everyone has secrets, and Bella Swan is no different. For months she's kept quiet, but the arrival of blunt Edward Cullen forces her to come clean with terrifying consequences. Secrets push friends away, but can honesty bring them back?

Everyone who has read my past reviews would know that I enjoy a cleverly spun yarn. A story that has a unique flair that sets it apart from the others. That is why when Jfly told me that I should read this story (I guess this is her rec, then) I knew that it must be something special. The girl knows that I love a good mystery. Not necassarily the kind that have a whodunit but the kind that keep you guessing. The onion fic, the layers of plot that leave you asking questions and wanting more with each passing sentence.



Secrets Don't Keep Friends is such a fic. It is crafted in a way where you start out completely in the dark of the protagonists feelings. Bella, written beautifully in third person-a style that is utilized not often enough in our fandom, is best friends with Alice who is dating Jasper. That is typical enough. But what isn't typical is Bella's relationship with Jasper. She is uncomfortable around him, stumbles in her confidence with her friend and hastily retreats. We are unsure why, the narrative keeps her secret as well as she does. But through careful language we can surmise that our Bella is hiding something about him. A secret that is revealed slowly and carefully as the chapters move forward.

Now, if you are a fan of Jasper you may be thinking that this must be a fic that capitalizes on his gentle swagger and his overall amazing personality. But KTBASS challenges those preconceived notions by making Jasper a villain of sorts (one could argue this, I implore you to do so on the twilighted thread!)

If you have been reading Gondolier's "What I Learnt in Riting Skool" you know what it takes to make a delicious villain and one might say that KTBASS has crafted such a man in her Jasper.

---

"She wanted to glare at him. She wanted to defend her truck. She wanted to hatefully point out that not everyone felt it necessary to spend money they didn’t have in an attempt to make people respect them. She wanted to point out that such efforts never worked, and certainly not in his case.

But she didn’t.

She couldn’t.

Instead, she bit down harder on her lip and tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to form. “You’re right, J, I really should. See you in the morning, Alice.”

Turning on her heel, she walked as quickly as she could toward the front door. She wished she could run, but the humiliation of falling where he could see was too much to even think about. With as little sound as possible, she closed the door behind her and stepped out into the mist."

Chapter 1, Secrets Don't Keep Friends by ktbass

---

But, like all fantastic characters, this Jasper is uniquely woven in a combination of teenage angst and an inflated ego. He is the boy you love to hate. He is jealous and manipulative and confused on top of his charm. This confusing combination can be infuriating at times. You want to hate him but can't help but enjoy him.

Yet, Secret's Don't Keep Friends is primarily an Edward/Bella story and leave it to Edward to be the hero, cautiously peeling back the layers of the onion to reveal what lies beneath; a girl who is confused about her feelings, naive about the manipulation of what were once her closest friends and scared to move past it. Edward's character is not overly fantastic or brooding, he is an honest portrayal of a boy coming from the outside and trying to understand what is going on with a girl he is automatically drawn to.

I find myself rooting for Edward and Bella in a different way than I do in most stories. I find myself hoping for a sense of closure with Jasper in a way that may or may not involve fisticuffs. I feel the need to hate Alice for being both woefully in character and completely selfish. I feel the draw to stay emotionally connected with Bella as she fights through all of her thoughts and trials.

KTBASS has woven a wonderful tale and a different take on the love triangle. I haven't even touched on Edward's makeover and Jasper's conflicts because I want you to read for yourself.

I live for the unique story, the mystery, the angst that is played without melodrama worthy of a lifetime movie. This story does just that with a simplicity and an ease that is appreciated by this one measly reader, and should be by you as well.

---