GuestFicRec: Findin Love Anywhere

theladyingrey42
Love Amongst The Ruins
AU Human Mature
16 Chapters 99,952 Words
09/11/2009 WIP
[ FFN ] [ Forum ]

Bella begins a new job at a university library, only to be haunted by dreams of earthquakes and the presence of a mysterious and tortured Edward. Can they rescue each other from their pasts, and maybe find love in the process?

antiaol's

I was first introduced to theladyingrey's writing during the Tattward and Inkella contest. After reading the entries she submitted, I was immediately smitten with her words. It's hard to even express how much her words affect me as a reader, but the easiest thing to say would be that I haven't been this moved by pieces of fiction in quite some time.



After I had fallen head over heels for the way she paints beautiful imagery with her stories, I went searching - hoping beyond belief - that she had a multi-chaptered fic I could lose myself in.



She didn't disappoint.



Love Amongst the Ruins brings together our favorite characters in a new way. Even after all the fics I've read, I still found this one to be unique. From the very beginning, tlig gives the readers no choice but to be intrigued with the hints and secrets sprinkled throughout. What happened to Bella? What caused Edward to be in so much pain? And what are they going to do about this connection they feel to one another?



The characters are in their mid to late-twenties, which I love. High school fics have their place, but I much prefer reading about adults in adult situations and this story definitely delivers that.



We start the story with a foreboding prologue, hinting at the secrets I spoke of before. What happened to cause Bella to be paralyzed with fear? And what happened that caused Edward such physical pain?



At the start of the first chapter, we are taken on a ride with Bella - moving to a new city, starting a new job, and seemingly starting a new life from scratch. What caused her to do this, we don't yet know. We are, however, given glimpses into her subconscious through dream sequences at the beginning of some of the chapters. A new take on canon from us being able to hear Bella's dreams through her sleep talk, we get to actually feel the dream - be submersed in what she's seeing as she is - and develop our own theories on what the dream is eluding to.



The first chapter also brings us Edward (aka: my reason for reading fic) when Bella actually runs into him. And rather than Edward being Mr. Prince Charming and sweeping Bella off her feet, we get to see our first glimpse at the painful past - both literally and figuratively - of Edward's childhood.



From the beginning of their relationship in the form of a disastrous encounter and a rocky start at best, to the stolen touches, the coy glances and the awkward dance these two seem to do, we get to watch the characters grow and evolve, learning to let new people in while attempting to work on their inner demons.



As of the time I wrote this review, we were just shown the prologue and subsequently part of why Bella is so broken. What we haven't learned as of the publish of this is who exactly Bree is and what sort of dirt she has on Edward to make this grown man cower.



Tlig takes us on a wonderful ride, suspense and mystery and love and drama, while she moves this story along at a believable pace. If you haven't had the chance to be captivated by her words, go now...run, don't walk...and immerse yourself in the world she's created for us in Love Amongst the Ruins.

---

antiaol is the author of Library Rendezvous and one of the four main authors for the soon to debut collaboration, The Hills of Twilight. When she's not writing, you can find her slutting her way around the fandom in the form of AH Twi threads, contributing to The Perv Pack's Smut Shack and hunting for hotties to stock The Locker with.