With or Without You by Rochelle Allison

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5807324/1/With_or_Without_You

Official Description: Edward and Bella were once high school sweethearts. Years later, their lives converge unexpectedly, forcing Bella to deal with and accept things she’s long since tried to move past. This story started with “Trampoline”, once a WitFit prompt.

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SweetDulcinea says: I don’t read as many hurt/comfort or angsty stories as I used to, but one particular twitter rec caught my attention, and I decided to give With or Without You a shot. I’m so glad I did! Rochelle Allison does not waste words in this story. With chapters averaging just over a thousand words each, every one is concise and filled with a heavy dose of emotions. While relationships and situations are not overly detailed, we are given what we need to know, and readers will still find themselves enraptured and in love with the characters. It’s difficult not to be, even when you feel frustrated, mad, or appalled at them.

To sum up the basic premise of the story, Edward and Bella were high school sweethearts and first loves. Life pulled them apart, leaving heartbreak and scars, but life continued, and they both moved on. Years later, Edward has returned to their home town, which Bella, now a widowed single mother, discovers when Edward’s son befriends her daughter. Umm, awkward.

Laying my lemonade down, I stand up and wander over to the little boy, all the while glancing over to his new house so that I can meet his parents too.

“Did you want to play?” I ask him, recognizing desire in his grassgreen eyes.

“Yes, please,” he lisps, his eyes steadfast on the prize.

I look again and this time I see who I assume is his father and I squint, holding my hand over my eyes because the sun is so so bright out here, away from the shelter of my oak.

“Excuse me,” I call. “Is it all right if your son plays with my daughter? She just got a new trampoline, and…”

He turns around, smiling, only his smile dies when he sees me, and then so does mine.

He was the one, forever ago, that broke my heart.

What unfolds is a beautiful, tragic, multi-dimensional story of love, life, friendship, parenthood, confusion, moving on, and maybe even going back a little. With or Without You is not the sordid tale of ex-lovers who disregard everything else to reconnect. No, that’s not the case at all. Rochelle Allison handles their circumstances with care and realism. I constantly find myself connecting with these characters on so many levels, and I believe that every reader could in some way. These characters will hurt and feel confused, not just romantically, and that will probably hurt you a little too, but it is also what makes this journey so addictive to read. Add in a cast of well placed supporting characters, and you find a truly unique and poignant read. We see so many stories where circumstances align perfectly and there are no victims in the end; WoWY gives us hope for an eventually outcome, but no one is unaffected. To me, that’s the beauty of it all.

“You don’t know what it feels like to be trapped in a marriage.”

“And you don’t know what it’s like to have your husband snatched away from you forever. Edward’s not home a lot, but at least he’s alive.”

Maybe it’s insensitive; I’ve wanted to say it for months.

Nothing in life, love, or family is black and white. Nothing is ever simple, and sometimes the logical partner or solution isn’t what feels right in our heart. In the end, we can only give ourselves time, follow our hearts, forgive, and hope we end up where we belong.

I promise that if you give this story a chance, Rochelle will capture your heart and leave you anxious for more. If you’re a crier, keep those tissues handy!

MF’er says: After reading Volition, there was no doubt that I would love this new addition to Rochelle’s line-up. And of course I did.

What I love most about With or Without You is that it’s real. The situation these characters find themselves in is believable. I find myself able to connect better with them because I can feel the heartache and the happiness and everything else through the words that Ro has written to describe their story.

I know there are many people who lose themselves in the ‘what-if’ scenarios in their lives. Bella in this story is no different, after ten plus years not seeing the man she fell in love with and experienced many of her ‘firsts’ with—and having her heart broken by him—he comes back into her life unexpectedly.

“Did you want to play?” I ask him, recognizing desire in his grassgreen eyes.

“Yes, please,” he lisps, his eyes steadfast on the prize.

I look again and this time I see who I assume is his father and I squint, holding my hand over my eyes because the sun is so so bright out here, away from the shelter of my oak.

“Excuse me,” I call. “Is it all right if your son plays with my daughter? She just got a new trampoline, and…”

He turns around, smiling, only his smile dies when he sees me, and then so does mine.

He was the one, forever ago, that broke my heart.

With his sudden reappearance—as her next door neighbor—the feelings she once had for him inside start to surface. In a time when she feels like she’ll never move past the death of her husband far enough to love someone else—be with someone else—she finds herself okay with the idea of Edward being that someone else. Though she admits that she hadn’t thought of him in years, this story is a true testament that sometimes there are things that happen, faces we see, that remind us of what once was and we can’t help but wonder if the lives we have chosen, and have been happy with, were really what we desired all along.

Or if there is something—not quite better, but different… and just as good—out there.

“I never thought… you’d still be this upset with me. Not that I don’t deserve it,” his voice tapers off and he seems flustered, the tips of his ears red.

“I … wasn’t. Not until I saw you,” I say truthfully. “I hadn’t really thought about you that way in years.”

“I thought about you,” he says.

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugs.

There are hurdles for them to cross, but it’s clear there is something there, for him too. And you’re left with the anticipation of learning what happened between them in the past and seeing what will happen between them in the future.

”Do you feel that way? Could you ever… again?” he asks, his eyes darting back and forth between mine.

Feeling it and telling him are two completely different animals.

“I don’t know anything right now,” I say, but I look at his mouth.

He drops my hand, coming closer. “That’s not a no.”

As always, Ro’s writing is gorgeous and the characters are well developed and I am completely and totally in love with this story. And you should be too.

tampagirl81 says: What is great about this story is that it is something that I can relate to on a level. Although, unlike this Bella, I
have not lost my husband in action, it is something that is constantly on my mind. Bella has to face the harsh reality of how to be a mom and a dad to her daughter while trying to move on. It seems that Bella has refused to move past Jake’s memory and doesn’t want to be happy. I can’t help but wonder if it’s because she feels she’s betraying Jake’s memory by doing so or if it will cause her to think about her other past loves that she hasn’t really moved on from. As if facing one pain will open the gateway to more paiful emotions, so instead of dealing with them she avoids them all together by wallowing.

This story deals with emotions in a real way. The way the characters have been written, it would be entirely realistic for them not to be together and while I’d like to think I’m an HEA girl (okay, not really), I’m okay without it if makes the most sense. Sometimes too much time has passed and people have changed too much. It’s the way of life and everything is so nicely paced, that anything short of something wacky, like Edward is a sparkly vampire, anything that is written is completely believable. Read it and love it.

WindyCityWonder says: Sometimes things happen because they happen. Sometimes life is sad because it just is. Sometimes analyzing doesn’t equal solution. And sometimes things are beautiful because they just are.

Enter With or Without You by Rochelle Allison. It’s… simply beautiful.

Edward and Bella were high school sweethearts until their relationship ended in a good ol’ fashion fit of Kerouac(y) Tom Petty angst lovin’ colligate Edward just needing to break away from everything and see what else was out there. Too intense a love too soon, these two never forgot feelings or each other in the years that followed (even when they both married others and had children). Their tales have changed quite a bit over time; but when Edward and company move in next door to Bella and her daughter, Sophie, emotions resurface and both attempt to make an awkward situation not-so-awk.

A delightful cast of characters punctuated by the irresistible little ones Sophie and Jaime, Rochelle Allison’s remarkable exploration of life, love and second chances is purely magnificent.

“Can he come tomorrow?” sings Sophie, her cheeks flushed from hours of jumping.

“Sure,” I say, my eyes focused only on her.

But her eyes are on her new friend.

“I like him, Mommy,” she says, after Edward and Jaime leave.

“Me too,” I say. “He’s really sweet.” Tugging her gently along, we leave our flip-flops on the back porch and walk barefoot into the house.

“Yeah,” she agrees.

Later, eating hotdogs on the patio, we watch the sun set, bleeding rouge and burnt sienna through the tree line.

“That’s pretty,” I say, appreciative for this sliver of contentment.

“Mhm” Sophie says. “Jaime’s hair looks just like that.”

My heart sinks as quickly as the sun.

There’s something to be said about reading between the lines. I’d say it’s a sign of good writing. When an author has the ability to paint a picture so vividly and so completely in so few words that a short-phrased description of a sky can speak volumes of meaning within a story. Emotion. Character. Plot. What makes the whole thing tick. Rochelle Allison nails it. Every word has a purpose, and its crafted so greatly that the story reaches far beyond the 1k words or so of its quick chapters.

And this? Just… this.

It’s sort of surreal looking into the eyes of someone I used to be with, someone I was in love with. I know what he feels like when he’s inside me, what he sounds like when he comes, or laughs, or cries. I remember with clarity the day he asked me out, and also the day he let me go.

I don’t know a single person who can’t relate to that. And that’s what With or Without You delivers, quick bits of profound goodness in perfect packaging accompanied by a simply addictive plot and gorgeous words.

They walk out on to the porch, the screen door swinging shut behind them like an exclamation point.

Rochelle Allison, I want to borrow your brain. I want to see the world through your eyes and just… write it all down. Fictionatorators, I need you to run, and not walk. Read. Soak. Enjoy.

Kassiah says: What can I add to get you to drop whatever you are doing and read this amazing fic rtfn? Whatever it is, pretend that I said and go read it–right now.

NGL, With or Without You is emo and tugs at your heart. But it’s also hopeful and beautiful. I don’t know why I haven’t been stalking this girl–the way she writes is phenomenal.

I lay in bed, blankets pulled to my chin, toes peeking out, staring at the window beside the bed. In the autumn I leave it open a crack, craving the cool, crisp air. Tonight, though, it’s letting in more. Tonight I hear Edward and his guitar, plucking and strumming and singing and … aching.

Tiptoeing to the window, I peer out, trying to see if he’s out on his deck. I can’t see him, but I can see that the house is dark.

Which makes sense. It is, after all, two or three a.m.

If my husband was sitting alone in the dark, strumming sadness, I’d go to him.

I’m not his wife.

But I go to him anyway.

The dialogue and descriptions, though succinct, are vivid. The kids are adorable. There’s authenticity in every word. Not to mention, Garrett’s pretty hot.

I do not normally want to read a story about an Edward who thought Bella wasn’t enough for him and moved on without her. I do not normally want to read a story about a Bella who mourns for the loss of her beloved Jacob. I do not normally want to read a story about an Edward who is married to Tanya, seemingly happily. This story isn’t normal, and so I’ll break all of my rules to read it. I think you should read it, too.