Official Description:
On our first night away at college, Bella Swan, thinking the room was her own, drunkenly stumbled into my bed. She was broken and I wanted to fix her. I loved her for four years before she left. Never did I expect her to come back, but she surprised me.
Well-written angst is a rarity. It’s an art form really, with the writer often walking a fine line between telling a compelling story and falling victim to melodrama. We all know melodrama. The fandom is rife with it, and it tends to make us roll our eyes. Drama, on the other hand, when properly executed can evoke deep emotions within the reader, causing them to feel connected to and invested in a story’s characters. Engaging drama draws the reader in, and even under the most difficult and tragic of circumstances, compels the reader to want to read more. The very talented Jaxington has managed to give us a shining example of one such story in Hallett Hall, a fic that once you start reading, you likely won’t be able to put down.
Hallett Hall tells the story of Edward, a quiet, shy and decidedly nerdy med student who awakes one morning to find that Bella, a foul-mouth, free-spirited, Birkenstock loving, Hippy chick has unwittingly stumbled into his room the night before and fallen asleep in his bed. From the get go, this story is a study in how opposites attract. Edward comes from a nearly picture perfect family and is endearingly sweet and innocent. Bella, on the other hand, has suffered greatly in her life and has perfected the art of shutting most everyone out. She’s the very definition of jaded; however, slowly but surely, Edward worms his way into her heart.
Jaxington’s richly developed characters stand on their own. There are subtle nods to canon, but her characters are clearly her creation. One of the things I love most about her Edward and Bella is that they are both, in some way, beautifully flawed. They are real and raw, and, like you and me, they make mistakes. But they learn and grow from these mistakes, and Jaxington makes it a point to take us through every step of the process so that her readers understand her character’s motivations. Because of this, I found that even when I didn’t particularly like a decision one of her characters made, I could at least sympathize with where they were coming from.
I was invested in Jaxington’s characters from the start, completely entranced with watching Edward and Bella’s relationship unfold. From the get go, the depth of emotion shared between the two of them is palpable, at times twisting your stomach in knots while at others causing you to close your eyes in wonder at the beauty of what they share. They will make you laugh and they will make you cry, but even in the most heart-wrenching of moments, you won’t be able to look away because the writing is real and believable and not for one moment contrived.
Aside from compelling characters and well written angst, one of the more interesting characteristics of Hallett Hall is the manner in which the author approaches storytelling. Each chapter is part present, part past, and Jaxington expertly weaves the two together into a beautiful love story. Watching the past and present converge lends depth to Bella and Edward’s relationship by allowing the reader to understand how it has evolved. But it goes much deeper than that. In a clever twist, as Hallett Hall progresses, each character does a role reversal of sorts. The Edward of the past is the Bella of the present and vice versa. To see how the character’s lives have transformed in such a way is nothing short of amazing, if not entirely heartbreaking.
When it comes down to it, I’m not going to argue that Hallett Hall isn’t at times a very difficult read; I don’t believe my heart has ever ached so much while reading a fic as it has while reading Hallett Hall. However, I don’t believe a fic has ever gripped me with the level of intensity this story has, either. Hallett Hall is a poignant tale of how love changes us, even when we fight hard to deny it, and a reminder that sometimes in order to move forward in life we have to learn to let go. This fic will make you feel, and in the end it is a truly moving story with memorable characters that is well worth the wild ride.
Hallet Hall is a story about the road to redemption, self-discovery and a second chance. Bella and Edward are complete polar opposites but somehow gravitate towards one another from the very beginning. The author does a wonderful job of showing the growth that Bella and Edward go through from past to present. Hallet Hall’s characters and their situations will make you laugh, cry and even rage at times but one thing they and the story will not leave you feeling is not invested in them.
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