Author: BookwormBaby2580
Rated VVM18+
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance
Pairing: Carlisle & Bella
Summary: Bella's dark life is lightened by hope when she moves to Forks and meets Carlisle Cullen. Will have references to physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
When I first trawled FF.net for Bellisle fics and found this...well, I was reluctant to read it, I admit - I'm not a huge fan of abuse, and I usually scroll down the page double-time when anything really graphic appears on my screen...but then, this fic doesn't shovel abuse in your face for no reason.
This fic vividly shows you the consequences of a person's actions, how that person dictates their victim's life, even when they're not there, and how, when that victim finds herself stuck between supernatural worlds in little ol' Forks, light can be found in the strangest and darkest of places.
To date, 'Take This Heart' is eighty-five chapters long - I know! How does she do it?! - and an update for it seems to appear in my inbox like clockwork. But not only is BookwormBaby2580 dishing out the chapters faster than I can say, 'Wait... Is that another chapter?' but the quality of them... *sighs* Her writing is fan-fucking-tastic - it's more than readable, more than relatable, and it gets to the heart of the matter so cleanly and precisely you'd think she's written it with a scalpel.
It begins in Carlisle's POV - he's sitting in his study, as gentlemen like to do sometimes, contemplating his youngest son's most recent debacle; namely, colliding Bella's wrecking-ball scent. Of course, at first, Carlisle is reasonably detached about the whole thing...but then Edward decides he wants to make friends.
Bella has no room to fall in love with Edward, or he with her, and it's beautiful to watch the friendship between them grow and read their witty banter - we were never really able to see this side of the relationship before because they were so intense with their angsty love for each other that it clouded everything else; this, of course, prompted questions on the healthiness of their relationship, and created so many other popular mates for Bella rather than Edward.
But agonisingly slowly, like unwrapping a surprise present you recieved from a not-all-there relative, things come to light in Bella's POV - nothing too obvious at first, nothing too revealing, but BookwormBaby2580 teases you with snippets of Bella's past and then reels you in.
Of course, there are trials and tribulations, secrets from Phoenix that the reluctant Bella would rather not unfurl to the prying Edward, twisted feelings and revenge, unexplained injuries, partial memories that leave you stunned and begging to know all of what happened...but then, detracting from the darkness, there's the relationship between Bella and Edward, the special bond between Bella and Jacob, the unconditional affection between a father and daughter, and a blossoming love between Bella and the Cullen clan, especially between her and someone special in their ranks...
Lemons, fluff, humour, abuse, darkness... BookwormBaby2580 takes everything and twists it together to make some kind of fantastical, nonsensical sundae - these things shouldn't go so well together, but they do! And it takes so sweet. The chapters are each reasonably size, and reading this story is so far from a chore it's laughable - it really isn't as daunting a task, reading all the chapters, as it seems; you honestly won't regret giving it a chance.
The entire story is like taking a ride, and not the typical cliche of a rollercoaster with its ups and downs but a ride where you can sit back and revel, cling on for dear life, shout and scream for more, get so involved you have no idea where your head is at, feel your heart drop and your stomach flutter, gasp and laugh and cry, and, most importantly, as soon as your turn stops...you want to ride again.
*** Completed: 05/16/2011 ***
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