Official Description:
Not all is as it seems when Edwards from two different universes find an old journal that can bridge the gap between them. Things become even stranger when the reality of one universe starts to bleed into the other. AU, B & E Rated M for Lemons.
Word Count: 90,213
Some of you may know me as Bri. Or antiaol. Or, quite possibly, The Flouncing Queen (TM stephk0525). I like to flounce fics. A lot. Correction, I don’t like to flounce fics, I just often find it necessary. And frequent.
So you can imagine my surprise and delight when I stumbled upon Across the Universes (thank you @amcas), and within the first chapter I had the tummy flips. I was so engrossed and intrigued by this storyline and the way that FantasyMother wrote it that I was completely smitten.
First, let’s talk a little bit about the premise. So, the summary says: Not all is as it seems when Edward finds an old journal that can bridge the gap between universes. Things become even stranger when the reality of one universe starts to bleed into the other. I’ll admit, the summary didn’t grab me nearly as much as the first chapter did. Through each chapter, FM shows us both points of view – EAM and EAMC. What you find out within the first chapter is that one of these Edwards is human, and one is, well, not. Normally I’m not a fan of switching up voices within chapters. Sometimes it’s confusing, and — let’s face it — some authors just don’t do a good job of adequately showing the differences between them. This author? That’s not a problem. She does a wonderful job of showing us how a 17 (or 18) year-old dude in present day would talk and think versus that of a 100+ year old vampire. The two Edwards really were seamlessly done, and I loved the balance of both of them.
Now, the storyline – I’ve read a looooooooot of fanfic (an embarrassing sum, really), and I’ve never read anything like this before. The premise is unique, and yet FM does a fabulous job of making it all completely plausible. The way she weaves in canon details, twisting them just-ever-so-slightly to fit in with her plot is remarkable.
Our first glimpse of a voice is EAM (Edward Anthony Masen) as he finds the journal mentioned in the summary. After acquiring it and bringing it home, he figures he better write something in it:
Opening my desk drawer, I took out one of the few possessions that had been my father’s – his antique Sheaffer pen, and a bottle of brown ink. Carefully inking the pen and testing it on scrap paper, I opened to the first page and wrote
Edward Anthony Masen
August, 2010
That one tiny decision to buy the journal and fill the pages was exactly what caused a chain of events that caused everything to change. We leave EAM at that point and transition to EAMC’s POV. In his alternate universe, we see much of the same thing happen. However, where I got the tummy flips and the ZOMG, I CAN’T GET THROUGH THIS FAST ENOUGH!!! feelings, was here:
I tentatively reached over and opened it again, noticing my hands were trembling. That wasn’t there before, I know it wasn’t. How could this…
Oh yes, I get it. Someone’s idea of a joke, of course. Alice? No, I don’t think so. I’d guess Emmett, although if it was him, he did a better job imitating my hand than I’d think him capable.
I reached into my desk and pulled out my much-loved fountain pen, and the bottle of sepia ink. I carefully amended the journal so it no longer just said “Edward Anthony Masen.”
I added “Cullen” to the end.
Do you hear The Twilight Zone music playing? And that’s just the beginning…
And, because I know you’re all a bunch of h00rs, yes, there are lemons. No, there’s not smut. Does that make sense? This story was definitely not about the sex — though the physical reactions are definitely a major plot point — but I got my fill. I was more intrigued with the storyline than I was looking for dirty smexin, but FM sprinkled it throughout, giving it a nice balance.
You know what else is great? It doesn’t break any of my rules. Well, not really. It’s extremely well written & unique. Have I mentioned unique? Humor, drama, intrigue and suspense are all present throughout, and she gives us just enough of each to satisfy just about every reader out there. Plus, a bonus in my book? It’s complete and stands at under 100k words. No needless info or drawn out drama here!
If you’ve been looking for something to really wow you, you need to give this a go. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
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