I have to admit, I had to keep myself from making a very, very, very bad pun out of the story’s title and the current heat conditions here in Germany (we are at 33° C or above 90° F). That must have been said heat which keeps me from thinking straight, really (and that when I’m sitting in university 8 hours a day -.-). But enought of my ramblings, to the story. First of all the vital information: Available at AHA and FF.net (although FF.net is currently one chapter behind), rated T at the moment, modern P&P with Darcy and Lizzy in their teenage years (for the majority of the story at least). Blurb runs as following:

It rains and it pours and he can think of nothing but Lizzy Bennet and the handprint she left on his heart. A story about loss, love, rain, and how the three changed William Darcy.

It’s a WIP and currently the updating scedule is a bit irregular (you all know that thing called RL, right?), but every chapter is worth the wait. Although, at the end of the latest chapter I sort of wanted to tear my hair out!

It’s all described from Darcy’s point of view and boy, he’s hurting! He has just lost his mother and his father (who gives “emotionally distant” a whole new meaning) decided to move to the states to build a new life there. And you really feel Darcy’s sadness and the grief and the feeling of loss. The way everymonday portraits it, is heartbreaking! This story is simply so much more than the average Darcy-and-Lizzy-as-teenagers-in-highschool-story, with all the emotional baggage they are carrying. Because Lizzy has seen loss, too (and I feel that she’s very matured compared to the ordinary 17-year-old) and she might just be the one the help Darcy healing, but they are both so stubborn.

And then there is chemistry between those two – wow! At certain points you could just feel the tension and the passion of these two very strong characters. And I dread the huge row that is going to come, because we know from chapter 7 that there will be a break-up inevitably, which will take some years (in my guess at least). But everymonday promised a happy ending – I will hold on to that.

I can’t really guess where the story might be leading because the foreshadowing has given the story a whole new perspective, this will not be resolved while they are still in high school. So, they will split up when young and I dearly hope that they will meet in the future/present time. And you could see from the few paragraphs in chapter 7 that Darcy has matured quite a lot. Still pining for the girl he fell in love with when he was 17! Those two definately don’t have an ordinary romance!

This story had my whole sympathies right from the beginning as it shares the title with my favorite song – Fix you by Coldplay, in my humble opinion the best song in the world (as evidenced by my iTunes counter according to which I had listened to the song arond 800 times in a year… and which is currently playing in the background, yes, you are allowed to call me an addict). But I’m disgressing… yes, I judged the story by it’s title first of all and it didn’t disappoint.

When an unexpected event disrupts the Netherfield ball, Mr. Darcy finds out that leaving Hertfordshire and Elizabeth Bennet behind is more easily said than done.

At the beginning Boogima apologised for having “chosen one of the oldest plots in the JA fanfic book”, but that’s completely unnecessary, because her take on “suddenly after the Netherfield ball, Elizabeth and Darcy have to marry” is ingenious, loveable and portrayed in a perfect way.

Darcy, gosh, he is so perfectly characterized that I didn’t know what I wanted to do with him, slap him (at certain points) for either his arrogance, his mistaken pride or his stupidity or simply hug him. It may have to do with the fact that we get the whole story from his perspective only and his thoughts and musings are so fitting, that I wish I could write them in such a way. It’s – once again – simply perfect.

“Fix you” is complete with 15 chapters and available at AHA and FF.net.

So, with three entries, orchidvines is (currently) the most often mentioned authoress here on this blog. She is the only reason why I plunge into the chaos that it FF.net as her writing leaves me speachless with both awe and envy. She is really extremely talented and simply has a way of pricturing Jane Austen’s characters in a modern setting that feels so natural and so extremely close to canon. And I think that I’ve sung enough praises of her extreme cool style of writing, so I’ll come straight to her story: Red Light, Green Light, which I not only like, because it’s by orchidvines and therefore well-written, but also because it’s a modern take on Emma and a that’s a really nice change among the great variety of P&P-fanfictions (not that I’m complaining about that ). I don’t really know what to write else as the story is extremely close to the original Emma-storyline (I’m a fan of Emma btw., despite all her faults in the original) and to add that you can never do wrong with a story by orchidvines.

Which is why I will also mention that she posted a P&P one-shot called Mercy, Mercy me (modern, non-canon), which I have also come to adore.

Yeah, I guess, we will hear about orchidvines more often on this blog (that is, if she continues writing – and I pray to God that she will!)

With whom? Darcy, of course – or rather, the Darcy Amy Robertson (4giveMeJane) portrayed in her story “Speak not against the sun”. I read it all in a rush today (on the train journey back home) and wow – I was melting like wax right there. The timing of her posting was very bad for me as she started her story in February (when my stress level was on an all time high) and continued posting until just today and at least once a week Fiora would tell me: “You have to read Speak not against the sun – it’s simply amazing!” – but, alas!, I didn’t have the time. Until today, that is.

The story just sucked me in and it was great to read it all in a rush. As mentioned above, I fell in love with this Darcy – he was just swoonworthy, I tell you. Completely and steadfastly devoted to Elizabeth, incredibly charming, unfailing, honorable… I could go on forever, I guess. Elizabeth… All right, this girl was in love with him and she had very good excuses – but at certain points I just wanted to smack Elizabeth for her stubborness! In addition to the great chracterizations (the Colonel is also very cool, but you should know by now that I have a weak spot for him) there is a great storyline and a great style. And it has a tolerable angst-level – at least in my opinion.

And the ending… Well, I won’t go into detail about it in case you haven’t read it yet, but it was powerful!

Yes, you should definately read this (comparatively short – 14 chapters altogether) story. It has already a place in my favourite stories.

It’s available at AHA, DWG (the last chapter is still on the posting board) and FF.net

I almost had a heart attackt when two days ago I tried to access the Jane Austen category at FF.net via my bookmarks and the error message “The page you are looking for does not exist. (3) book JaneAusten” It took me five minutes (after the initial shock) to find out that they had apparently created separate sections for all her books, so there no longer is a JA-category. It’s not a bad idea altogether, however, instead of making the obvious choice and putting all the fanfictions into the “Pride and Prejudice” category as (my guess) appr. 95% of the stories are P&P-stories, they put them into “Emma” category (which is the first alphabetically, maybe this explains the absolutely dumb decision). And now it’s a total mess, some have changed the categories of their books, but with more than 1,200 stories for the JA-category and with some of the authors no longer being active it will never be clearly divided into the separate book sections. As I’ve mentioned, it’s simply chaotic.

I don’t know what made them take such a decision. At least the reactions I’ve read are totally negative and users such as dontstealmyvitaminies have added polls to their profile page and are bothering the admin team to reestablish the old order.

I personally think that the admins won’t change anything soon – but I’ve a very negative opinion of FF.net and maybe they manage to surprise… We’ll have to wait and see…

So this week the whole thing about my not-so-secret second identity as Amerna at FF.net and some small commotion about Sag niemals nie (Never say never again), one of my at-the-moment-only-available-in-German-stories, made me actually look (and sort of update) my profile at FF.net again. I’m not that active at FF.net anymore as I prefer other sites (as you may know ) but it also had its advantages because I recovered an old favourite of mine: Love and other accidents. It’s the only story I have in my “Favorite Stories” section at FF.net.

It’s a modern take on P&P with Darcy being a rockstar and Lizzy a student (and a former model, although everybody is surprised about this ). It’s very close to the original with them having (of course) a very rocky start and things going downhill from there on. There’s Hunsford and then Pemberley and of course – after some angst – a happy ending. The only changes are in the family dynamics, Mary and Kitty don’t exist and Lydia is a cousin instead of a sister, Mrs. Bennet has a minor role as Jane and Lizzy (fraternal twins) have moved out.
Another change concerns the hero’s name. At first I was a bit confused that Darcy is called Darlington (and as you may remember from my previous post I don’t take changes in names so well ) but this is part of the story – a very good twist, I might add.

So what else makes this story so worth reading?

First of all the style. Lizzy is a photographer and the authoress manages to describe the shots Lizzy takes very well. It’s very visual and you have the picture Lizzy takes in front of your eye. This is very cool – after all, isn’t writing fiction about conjuring images in front of the reader’s mind? Additionally her dialogues and the descriptions of people’s reactions are very well done. Some of them were simply “right”, some of them made me laugh out aloud – it’s been a pleasure to read.

Another thing: The characterizations. Lizzy and Will are – though modernized – perfectly in character and I was almost ready to bild a shrine for Richard who is really cool (and unfortunately very married ) in this story. Compliments also for the portrayal of Mr. Collins! I love it! I was laughing all the way through this part of the third chapter.

There are also other little details for example Darcy’s family constantly taking Lizzy for a groupie or things Lizzy suggests in jest really happening later on. Or the references to modern pop culture. With VH1 and stuff.

I’m really glad that I “recovered” this story and I read it again today. Strangely there was one scene I remembered as soon as I had read the title and the blurb. It was the scene where Darcy, who’s a big star in America but unknown in the UK, was recognised by a American tourist and Lizzy, currently visiting the UK (and Pemberley among others ) “saved” him.

I think it’s a pity the authoress paperclipz doesn’t have any more stories! I would have liked it very much to read more JA fanfictions. But you cannot help it. I have to be content with Love and other accidents – not that I’m complaining.

I’ve already recommended one of orchidvines’ stories back in April and now she’s posting a new story (although updates are a bit irregular) which (of course) has me hooked already!

I’ve already praised her talents into the skies the last time, so I won’t bother you with my obvious appreciation of her talents and come straight to the story.

Will Darcy had absolutely everything. Until the accident. In a glimpse of what could have been, he wakes up beside Lizzy Bennet, the artist he was supposed to dump ten years ago. The fork in his path. Still, what the hell happened to his Armani suits?

It’s called “You, Me and the Bourgeoisie” and as you may have guessed from the blurb it’s a modern take of P&P crossed with the movie “The Family Man”. (Sadly) It’s only available at FF.net

I love this premise already, it’s very interesting to read, how Darcy, the epitome of arrogance and success, is suddenly thrown into another life, where he is married to Lizzy with two kids and “simply” runs the bookstore Mr. Bennet had to give up after a heart attack. And now from simply one glimpse to another he has to deal with all these changes. My guess also is that his “adaption” to this new life is not the only obstacle Lizzy and Darcy have to overcome, because I have the feeling that there is also something in the past of Lizzy’s and Darcy’s relationship that will blow off sometime soon – and which Darcy of course will not remember. The reason I think this is that there is the mention of a “George” and my guess is that this is George Wickham as Charles Bingley is (sadly) not part of this story. I would like this to be George Knightley, but I don’t think so.

So, I’m curios what will happen next – I know the movie with Nicolas Cage of course but it’s quite difficult to imagine what will happen next. But I’d love to read the declaration Nicolas Cage makes at the end of the movie in this FF, because that would make me melt on the spot.

I’ll probably recommend orchidvines’ other stories here soon, because you can definately call me a fan of her work. So, you can do nothing wrong with reading “You, Me and the Bourgeoisie“

I have had this article in the drafted section for a relatively long time but only today I had the time to finish it. Today – as you may have noticed, is Blognapping Day 1. Yeah, maybe I’m a bit crazy because my loyal partner in crime – Fiora – has deserted me *cries* She’s gone to New York and will only return on the 14th of April which means I have to survive 10 days (!) without her. So, apart from my obvious envy (she’s in New York! While I’m visiting my parents in a little village near to the Dutch border) I also miss her – what’s a girl to do then? I’ll tell you, I’m kidnapping this blog. I’m on holiday this week before starting in a new department next week and therefore I have time, so I’ll hopefully write one blog entry a day for the next seven days and I have called this blognapping because the first thing I did was changing the appearance of this blog to a Mac-theme (I’m a devoted Mac fan) and then I’ll do things on this blog about which I won’t confer with Fiora – because she’s not here >:) So for the next seven days this blog is mine! *evil cackle*

So, beginning with the original title I never thought that I would come so far that I would actually recommend a story posted at fanfiction.net. FF.net and I, we do have a very, very, very rocky past. FF.net was the first site I dared to post a story on, I still have an account with six (German of course) JA-stories there (my pen name is Amerna) however I have long learned to loathe FF.net. I don’t mean to badmouth a site so all in all I’ll just say that I think the site is somehow loveless and it’s more about quantity than quality. And apart from that, the handling of the site sucks (IMO).

There are few singular and very good stories on FF.net in the Jane-Austen-genre as many authors crosspost their stories on such sites as AHA, DWG, Mrs. Darcy etc. and this is why I’m less active at FF.net, however I found one and this one is really a gem, it’s called “Personally, I’d rather lick sand” and it’s by orchidvines, a young author of only 17 years (and I already envy her talent!).

Ever opinionated Lizzy Bennet is in for a knotted year. Manuscripts must be salvaged, revenge must be taken, and arrogant men must be stomped into the dust. Well, maybe with less melodrama. But who ever claimed the Bennets weren’t theatrical? Modern Day. (this is the link )

Personally, I’d rather lick sand (or PIRLS as Fiora and I affectionately call the story (hopefully I’ll be ready to post something about our abbreviation issue later in the week) is a modern version of P&P in which Elizabeth is a student and aspiring writer and Darcy the heir of a publishing house who (first of all) rejected her manuscript, is the brother of Lizzy’s roommate Georgiana and then did all the other things we know him to do from canon.

There are many things that make this story readwhile (does this word exist?) like for example the references to things I like or  some undescribable funny things which make me snort with laughter (example: “You’ve dialed the Awkward Hotline; leave your monosyllabic answers and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.”), however one thing to point out is orchidvines style as she chose to tell the story partly from Lizzy’s point of view with a first-person-narrator. And this is just great! It fits perfectly and as I have recently had my try at writing a story with a first-person-narrator I know how difficult it is, but orchidvines manages it perfectly (and have I already mentioned that I envy her talent?).

So, in the end – Personally, I’d rather lick sand is almost finished now, only a few more chapters so it’s also safe for all the angst weenies out there, I will miss this story. Go ahead and read it – I promise you won’t regret it!