SammieLynnsMom Rec of the Week: 5/30 - 6/5

May 30, 2011

Strawberry Wine by Kas90
Review by SammieLynnsMom

Rating: M
Genre: Romance/Drama, AH
Characters: Edward/Bella

Summary: When Bella goes back to NC to help her sick uncle, she runs into the boy who she fell in love with when she was 17. But what exactly happened that summer? Will they ever get their HEA? What stays with us more-our 1st love or 1st heartbreak?

2010:
It's sad how usually our first love and our first heartbreak coincide with each other. Young, pure emotions shattered by the realities of life. It's not fair how we scar the emotions of our first romance with the pain of its ending.

Our first love is supposed to be a monumental movement, a transition of sorts between the innocence of childhood and the demands of being an adult.
But I wondered, as I made my way back to the place where it all began, what really stuck with us more? Was the heart shaped by the cracks of past broken relationships, or was it formed delicately by those who have showed us love?

In a fandom with well over one-hundred thousand stories, it’s becoming increasingly harder to stumble on newer stories that hit you like a breath of fresh air. The ‘Fic-Gods’ had never been nicer than when they opened their vaults and threw the first chapter of Strawberry Wine, by kas90, at me. I was so shocked to have a story to read that is written in a non-traditional format, which I hadn't seen before, that I literally could not put down. As of chapter ten, the story contains five chapters from the year 1987 and five from 2010. What kas90 has done so well is weave a story around the past and present, where even with the years alternating every chapter, the readers feel as if the story is always moving forward.

It’s the year 1987, and Bella’s hippie mother, Renee, has met her man and wants to hit the road for a while. Instead of dragging Bella like a third wheel, the Ohio resident packs up and goes to North Carolina for the summer. That is where we’re first introduced to Uncle Charlie, a southern man that is wiser than he is old. Eighteen-year-old Edward is cocky, confident, and knows exactly where his life is going. And, Bella, the young, self-assured realist gives the summer all she has, but, like most things, knows it’ll eventually end and she’ll go back to Ohio when it’s over.

With the paralleling future, some inferences can be made. We know Edward and Bella do not stay in contact with each other after 1987, but, at this point, we don’t know why. It is also very obvious they still feel a strong connection to each other that continues to pull them together in the present day chapters. When Bella returns to North Carolina in 2010, to take care of the now sick Uncle Charlie, she meets back up with Edward, who is in the middle of a divorce and has two children. Bella, who is also divorced, is having to face the reality of the life she thought she had. Truths revealed and old wounds resurface when these two come together at first, but frankly, I’m really excited to see how this story ends, and how Edward and Bella end up together. Kas90 has promised a happily-ever-after, and I trust her to give these characters one.

The story has left off with Edward and Bella acknowledging that they’ve both made a lot of mistakes in the past, not only with each other, but also in their lives after their summer together, and I’m waiting on the edge of my seat anticipating how they start to fix their bad choices.

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