Rhapsody in B by LillyBellis

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5427856/1/Rhapsody_in_B

Official Description: When a rising musician falls in love with his small-town childhood friend, can their yearly New Year’s Eve tradition bring them together once he rockets to stardom and leaves her behind?

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littlesecret84 says: I hate giving things away in reviews of stories I love. I just want people to take my word for it and read them. And review. A lot. They should just trust me, because I obviously know what’s best for them. Clearly, this is all about me and not about Lillybellis, or the wonderful story she writes – Rhapsody in B.

I can go on and on giving examples of what I love about RiB, but I’d be ruining it for all of you. Instead, I’ll simply copy/paste the summary:

When a rising musician falls in love with his small-town childhood friend, can their yearly New Year’s Eve tradition bring them together once he rockets to stardom and leaves her behind?

I found RiB when Lillybellis tweeted a link to it last fall. I read the prologue and it completely sucked me in. The prologue was in Charlie’s POV, which is pretty unusual, but it was beautifully written, and made me feel things. I thought about waiting until the story was complete to read the rest, but when I received the alert for the next chapter, I immediately clicked on it, and I’m so glad I did. RiB is one of the most captivating and well-written stories I have come across.

Where do I begin? When I think about RiB, I always wonder what I’d categorize it as. Fluff? Angst? Romance? Friendship? There should be a category that encompasses all of these genres, because RiB has it all. While RiB makes me smile and laugh a lot, every word Lillybellis writes makes my heart ache. A sweet ache I long for between updates. The best kind of ache. It makes me cry. It makes me laugh. It makes me remember old friendships and miss people from my childhood, or from when I was twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. It reminds me of the overwhelming sadness you feel when you lose a loved one, but also reminds me of the people who stand by you when this happens. The people you may not spend every day with, but who matter more than anyone else. True friends who become your family, who know you better than anyone else. Oh, the things Lillybellis makes me think about. It’s cruel, but she does it so beautifully that I can’t hate her.

So in RiB, Bella and Edward grow up together. The story is set in the 90s, and it’s so much fun to go back in time with the entire gang. That sounds so lame. I assure you, the story is not lame. Anyway, Bella and Edward grow up together, and there is so much sweetness and love and amazing writing that you won’t be able to take a break while reading the chapters. The format of this story is unique – each chapter takes place on New Year’s Eve. We basically grow up with them, watch them change, develop as characters. Ultimately, we watch their lives take completely different directions. Their New Year’s Eve tradition brings them together again, if only for one night a year, and it’s oh so painful and beautiful at the same time.

That’s one of the things I love about RiB. The separation is painful. I cry real tears! But it’s also wistful and sweet, because it’s clear that they both love each other – it’s just that the timing and circumstances are unfortunate. Bella doesn’t sit around all year and mope. She’s strong, she lives her life, has friends, she loves. Even when she sees things that cause her pain, she doesn’t crumble. Her strength and the way she deals with the situation break my heart, and I’m always in awe of her.

Friendship, angst, nostalgia, romance, laughter. An Edward to swoon over, a Bella to admire. Charlie, wonderful Charlie. Adorable James. I’m forgetting a lot of people, but that’s fine, because you’re all going to go read this. And you’re going to tell Lillybellis she’s amazing, and you’re going to thank her for writing it.

SnowWhiteHeart says: New Year’s Eve. A night of major expectations, right? A night where you “have” to be doing something special, or be with someone special. Rhapsody in B is a lovely story set across several NYE’s in the 1990′s. It’s full of fun, nostalgia, longing, and sometimes sadness. It’s glorious.

Fathers and sons didn’t attend the same high school to maintain an idiotic birthright; they did it because there was only one high school in the whole damned town. Generations filed into The Forks Diner for dinner every Saturday night, not because the food was particularly good, or to keep up some kind of moronic custom. No, they ate at that diner because it was the only one within a thirty mile radius, and if they didn’t they’d be stuck trying to choke down some god-awful homemade slop being passed off as dinner. I was a newlywed; I knew a lot about choking down god-awful homemade slop.

Charlie Swan himself narrates the first chapter of Rhapsody in B on New Year’s Even 1975 with his newlywed wife, Renee. Lillybellis does a great job w/ the Chief’s voice, but also manages to make a special moment with Renee really sweet and authentic. Fast forward to the totally-radical early 90′s.

“I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!”

All I could see were Jasper’s feet as his ratty old tennis shoes shot up in the air after he rolled off of his chair and onto the floor. Emmett laughed so loud I could feel the table vibrating, and the two of them were acting even more stupid than they usually did.

“God, I love that commercial,” Emmett said as he locked hands with Jasper to pull him back up onto the seat. “Every time that old lady falls down the stairs…”

“Emmett cracks up like an idiot,” Edward whispered, right into my ear. His warm breath made me shiver.

I absolutely love how Lillybellis seamlessly weaves such great nostalgic memories into her dialogue. Between references to Urkel and the ORIGINAL 90210, this is a must-read for any child of Generation X. Here’s a hint if you’re a Gen-X-er….did you drink Crystal Pepsi?

Aside from the cute references and the awkward teenage moments, there is some real depth to the story. Bella’s mother died young. Edward is consistently out of Bella’s reach. There are touching moments that will make your heart break.

“There was always this time, this empty space between when our lessons ended, and when you’d come downstairs to do your homework. I didn’t want to leave, because I always just liked being around her, you know?”

I nodded, swallowing against the lump in my throat. I understood that feeling completely.

“I’d sit at your kitchen table, watching her as she got ready to make dinner. It used to be a quiet time. I’d sit there and pour over the sheet music she’d given me for the new song I was trying to learn, or I’d just watch her, because…because she was just so different from my mom. Once she got sick, I stuck around more often, maybe because I knew our time together would be short, I don’t know.

“It got to the point where she’d stand there, chopping vegetables and stuff, she’d say things like, ‘Bella likes to have cherry popsicles when she has a sore throat. The twin pops, not the single ones,’ and ‘Bella gets sick when she reads books in the car. You can’t ever let her bring a book in the car.’ Completely random stuff that I thought maybe she was trying
to remember, or that felt good for her to say out loud.”

I smiled, because Edward always remembered the best things, the happiest times. When I was with him, when he talked about her, I felt like she was just in the other room, not years away, her memory stowed away in songs and pictures and things that would never, ever be her. Edward brought her back to life.

“It took me forever to figure out why she did that, but over the last few months I finally began to understand,” he said, his fingers brushing the skin between the hem of my shirt and the waist of my pants. The feeling made my whole body tingle.

“Why did she do it?” I asked.

‘Because I think,” he began tracing a small circle on my hip, “she was trying to teach me how to take care of you when she wouldn’t be able to do it anymore.”

Oh, I’m sorry, I should have pointed out that you should grab some tissues. /sniff

Anyways, I think Rhapsody in B is such a wonderful blend of genres that you absolutely must sample it. I was astounded at the range of emotions it was able to produce. It’s extremely well-written, and the storyline will certainly keep you wanting more. Enjoy, friends.

MF’er says: I just deleted everything I had to say because I can’t possibly put into words as beautifully as these girls have how much I adore this story. Since the very first chapter I’ve been in love and I regularly pester Lillybellis because I want more! She has such an incredible way of making me fall in love with her characters and her words, it’s just impossible for me to explain how she does it. Between her words, the humor, the heartache, the wonderful 90′s pop culture references and the UST, it all just comes together to make a gorgeous story that you will be sorry if you don’t read it!