Official Description:
Edward is forced to leave his playboy life behind in Chicago and come home to Washington, but will he change his ways or risk losing everything? All human, cannon couples, OOC.
Hi, I’m Barbi. Actually, the name’s Eleanor, but my whale handle kinda gave me this nick.
I’ve been reading fanfiction for about 2 years now, I think. Some stories just stay with me. One of those stories is No Place Like Home. It’s actually one of the first stories I’ve read, and thanks to tellingmelies, who’s updating it once every blue moon (love ya, Jenn), it will be here for a little while longer.
What is NPLH about? Well… Bella, running a book store in Forks, is Alice’s best friend. Jasper was Edward’s best friend in college. Going to Medical school in Chicago, under his grandfather’s watchful eye, he depends on his trust fun to fund his escapades, being a high living playboy. Edward’s partying nature leads him into trouble that lead him back to Forks, and under the strict supervision and many limitations his parents put on him. Let’s not forget James, Edward’s cousin and “partner in crime”, who gets to stay in Chicago and continue with his very liberal lifestyle. NPLH James is not a villain, believe it or not. And yeah, after hundreds of fics I’ve ready to date, that doesn’t happen often, trust me. Charlie, married to Sue is living on the res. Emmett is Edward’s older brother, married to, wait for it – Rosalie, and they have 2 rambunctious, yet cute, kids. They don’t know their uncle Edward very well, but are very closely bonded with Bella. Although, when you first read his interaction with them… well, let’s just say it’s very real. Hence – funny.
This is just the VERY basic outline of this story. When reading the entire thing, as you ALL better be doing the minute you finish reading my blabber, you’ll find that tellingmelies definitely keeps us (well, me) on our toes with the funny, the romantic, the UST (oh, God, the UST) and the anger (part of the UST, no? *wink*) she writes so beautifully.
Spoilers: there are several memorable moments in this story so far that I’ll never forget:
“You work here?” I asked relatively calm.
She didn’t answer, she just tilted her head to one side, giving me a pointed look.
I leaned on the counter. “Then why when I asked if you knew who worked here, you just ignored me?” I hissed.
Her eyebrows raised slightly, a smirk playing on her full lips and then her eyes flicked to the side and back up to mine. I followed her line of vision and noticed her finger was pointing to a sign on the counter.
Ring the bell for service.
Well, fuck me.
One of my favorite parts at the beginning of the story is when there’s the “engagement party” at Alice and Japser’s:
“What the fuck is this?” I gestured to the sandwiches. “Is it tea time in Wonderland?”
“Does that make you Tweedle Dum or Tweedle Dee?” she grabbed the bowl of powdered sugar and began sifting it on top of the bread.
“Haha. I just didn’t know that making a sandwich classified as dessert.”
She slammed the sifter on the counter causing a cloud of powdered sugar to arise. “These are not just sandwiches. These are delicious works of art.”
I leaned forward on the island. “They are fucking sandwiches.” I enunciated each word slowly.
She leaned on the other side, “They are Panini’s. Dessert Panini’s.”
“You do know that a Panini is just a fancy word for sandwich, don’t you?” I smirked. “And as for delicious…” I spread my hands wide.
Then there’s Bella’s gift for Alice and Jasper’s wedding:
“What the hell is all this for?” Edward asked, placing the power saw in the shed and gesturing to the pile of wood on the ground.
I sat down the can of paint, “Jasper and Alice’s wedding present.”
“And you don’t think she’ll see all this?” he asked.
I shot him a look, “You really think Alice is going to come looking behind a tool shed?”
He let out a laugh and bent down to look at the wood, “True. So what is it?”
“A huppah.”
“A what?”
“A huppah.” I answered again.
“You do know we’re not Jewish, right?” I nodded. “And neither is Jasper.” He continued.
“I know.” Duh, I mean, Alice was only my best friend.
“The why the hell are you building a fucking huppah for their wedding?” he asked looking slightly outraged.
“Because Luke made Lorelei a huppah for her wedding to Max.” I answered calmly. He looked at me like I was crazy.
“What the fuck? Who the hell are Luke and Lorelai?” He threw up a hand, “Wait, never mind, I don’t even want to know.”
I mostly gave out favorite quotes from the first part of the story (first 12 chapters). I figured these are enough to get you guys reading it. Not sure tellingmelies would choose these as teasers, but she’s not writing this review, now, is she?
OK, all jokes aside, this is definitely one of my favorite stories. Highly recommended. Oh, and dear friends: you read? review. It makes our authors smile. We want authors to smile. If they don’t smile, they’re sad. When they’re sad, they write angst. Angst is sad and heartbreaking. Get where I’m going with this?
Much love, Barbi.
My girl Saranic rec’d this story to me, and I’m so glad that she did! Just reading the summary, you might think this is your typical cliche playboyward turns good for virginal Bella, but you’d be so wrong.
It’s true that Edward is kind of a badboy when the story begins. He’s a jerk and is used to getting his way. But Bella isn’t a pushover in this fic, and honestly neither is anyone else. Edward’s been away for awhile and it hurt his family. When he comes back, they are really happy he’s home, but they all don’t expect much from him. I love how tellingmelies lets the story unfold and doesn’t allow everything to be fixed with one wink from our hero.
Like barburella said, No Place Like Home is funny, romantic, and has off-the charts UST.
Her name had barely been spoken when I felt her lips touch mine. Everything around me stopped. My entire body froze, my mind reeling. Bella’s mouth moved almost timidly against mine and I felt my walls crumble as I slowly started to respond. Walls I didn’t even know existed. I was relishing in the feeling of my mouth against hers. Her lips parted and I held my breath, waiting, wanting to taste her but also wanting her to make the first move…again. But all that control was shot to hell the moment her tongue brushed against my lower lip.
I forced her backwards, shoving her up against the wall as I opened my mouth and her tongue slid in. She tasted like alcohol and cherries, and something else that was completely Bella. I groaned as her hand weaved its way into my hair, pulling me closer. My hands were everywhere and nowhere at the same time as the kiss deepened, both of us exploring each other’s mouth with wild abandon. My chest began to tighten. I needed air. But I needed Bella more. My hand found her hair, tangling in the soft waves and I pulled slightly. She obliged, tilting her head to the side, allowing me more access to her mouth. She moaned as the kiss intensified and that moan reverberated through my entire body. Eventually the need for air become too much and we broke apart, both panting.
I stared down at her not knowing what to say as her hand slid from my hair coming to a stop on my chest, right over my pounding heart. I wanted to blame it on the alcohol, because why else would Bella kiss me, but her eyes were clear, fully aware of what she was doing. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, when she put a finger to my lips.
“I just wanted to know what it would feel like,” she breathed out.
The characters are believable and though they have issues to work through, they do it like adults and not like whiny kids. I really like this story, and I hope you’ll check it out!
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