Small Town Gossip by LASMKE

Small Town Gossip by LASMKE
Official Description: While going through her parents' attic, Bella uncovers a secret. Looking for answers leads her to Forks, WA; and ultimately changes everything she thought she knew about herself. AU/AH BxE   COMPLETE 

I enjoyed this story of how a small town will talk when a mysterious outsider Bella gets involved with Edward, their revered golden boy. I found myself emotionally engaged in this story. Saddened by Bella's loss, touched by her newfound connection in Charlie. Amused by B's feistiness and surprised by E's character reveal. And who doesn't love a virginal Bella who looks to Edward for guidance. Oh, did I mention there are a BUNCH of hot lemons.

Sweet and lemony - a pretty tasty combination.

BELOW ARE MY REVIEWS AND THE AUTHOR'S REVIEW REPLIES. AKA SPOILERVILLE, USA. If you haven't read the story yet, you might want to avoid.



My Review for Chap 2
I <3 botanical-loving, stalker Bella and nosy-nelly smalltown Edward (I'm assuming that's Edward with the bright green eyes and shock of messy bronze hair). $5 says Charlie cries when Bella tells him that she's his daughter.


My Review for Chap 3
I teared-up off and on this whole chapter. POOR CHARLIE! He can never catch a break, that lovable lug. Such heart, to keep the nursery in the hopes that one day Renee and Isy would return to him. I'm pretty pissed at Renee at the moment. She seems to be quite manipulative of poor ol' Charlie and his endless desire to make her happy. I wonder if we learn more of Renee's perspective from someone, like Esme maybe, which can *maybe* redeem Renee and her sh|tty decisions a bit. Cause at this point, girlfriend is seeming pretty cruel.


LASMKE's Review Reply for Chap 3
First, THANK YOU for reading and commenting. I appreciate it and am getting a kick from reading them.

Second, Renee will never be redeemed. She's just a messed up broad. Bella will have to learn to live w/o answers, and that might drive her a little crazy, but all will be fine. lol.

Thanks, again!


My Review for Chap 4
LASMKE, I'm loving this story, loving this Edward, and loving you (I loved getting your review reply! Makes me want to show the love and review every chapter. And I like what you said about Bella not getting an explanation for Renee's actions. It does give a nice thread of tension or introspection for Bella, having it be unresolved.)

I'm interested to see where you go with this Edward. I want to makeout with his quick witted banter. At first he seems like he time travelled from the 50s. Or from that movie Pleasantville where Bella is one of the hip modern teens that lands in a smalltown and teaches them all to see in color. But in Edward's banter with Bella, you give him some bite, which I love. (<- and with that sentence, I'm apparently into "B" aliteration, too) Your Edward isn't all innocent and naive, but clearly quite charming. Charming and freakishly persistent.

//"No. I don't remember any of that. But, I do think I still have that doctor play set somewhere." He waggles his eyebrows at me.//

Oh, le sigh. I think it's safe to say that our all-American smalltown hero boy isn't used to being turned down. Bonus points for self confidence, I guess. And Bella's all trying to resist his charms. Methinks she doth protest too much.

Can't wait to hear from Edward next chap!
Much love, Althea


My Review for Chap 5
Well, it turns out Edward is a dirty, dirty boy. I don't know if I'm disappointed that he's the type to bang strippers and have 3somes on prom night, or be turned on that he's got a foul mouth and even dirtier intentions. (pst, I'm pretty sure it's the latter)

So, cheers to dirty intentions, and here's hoping for some dirty deeds to match.

Oh, also, I'm digging on Esme and Edward's psychic link.

//My mother, ladies and gentleman. Orchestrating a hook up.//

Such a momma's boy, that Edward. A dirty, dirty, foul-mouthed momma's boy.


LASMKE's Review Reply for Chap 5
HA HA HA.
Yeah, Edward is a small town perv... he just needs the right girl to make him apply the morals his momma taught him. It's not just Edward though, those damn girls are skeevy too. lol

Thanks again for reading. I'm going out for the night. Have fun w/the fic while I put up with my sister in law. UGH!


My Review for Chap 7
L,

I'm legit enjoying every chap.

//Edward seems like the kind of guy who could teach a girl a thing or two. //
I, for one, would like to register for that class.

This made me laugh out loud - //The summer I learned to do wild things that my future husband will appreciate//

That EPOV chapter got my pervy head in the gutter... but I'm quite OK with that :)

It makes me so happy that Bella and Alice have each other. And I'm SO glad Alice seems like a normal college girl and not abnormally controlling or fixated on playing dress-up Bella Barbie. (Not that I don't enjoy a good bossy fashionista Alice, I just like how you have avoided making her a caricature of canon Alice, ykwim?)

I meant to ask you, what does LASMKE stand for?

Mwa, Althea


LASMKE's Review Reply for Chap 7
Yeah, I get so tired of hyper chihuahua Alice. LOL

LASMKE

LAS = My initials
MKE = my man's initials.

OR... as my friend, vysed, the travel agent, pointed out: LAS=airport code for Las Vegas and MKE= airport code for Milwaukee.

HAHA. I'm not that creative. It's just initials. BORING!


My Review for Chap 8
Tent action is hot frickety hotness.

My Review for Chap 10
LASMKE, Your EPOV lemons are knockin my socks off, sister. How hot is Bella in all her innocent, "Tell me how you like it"-ness. And I love that Edward appreciates what he has going on in Bella. Not only is she smart, funny, cool, and gorgeous, but she is also basically a clean slate that wants to learn how to best please her man. Edward must be the luckiest f*ck in all of Forksville.

Aside from the delicious smut, there was a great serious moment between Edward and Charlie, where Charlie looks at Edward and says, straight up, if you do something that makes her leave, I won't forgive you. That whole scene from EPOV was awesome and I love how you revealed this relationship between Edward and Charlie. I can just imagine how it started out as Charlie busting Edward's attempts at high school hijinx, and evolved into two men who hang out and shoot the sh|t. I love how this takes Charlie beyond the cliche protective parent and establishes him as a real guy. A guy cool enough for Edward to want to hang out with at least.

Since I imagine you posted this awhile ago, what are you reading now?


LASMKE's Review Reply for Chap 10
You. Are. Awesome.
I really wanted Charlie's character to not be short-changed. I am so glad that you enjoy his parts. I love Charlie. Sigh.

Right now, I am reading some Pride and Prejudice stuff. I have a few fics on my faves but there are very few I get "excited" about. I'm kind of roaming around. High Anxiety and Caravaggio pissed me off with their last few updates, but I used to love them!

Mostly - anything by gren goldfish. She's awesome. And, hm, what else... OH anything by Itzmegan73 and/or americnxidiot They are my 3 fave authors.

Oh and Bad Habit by amerymarie.

Whew. I guess I am reading quite a bit. HA HA HA


My Review for Chap 11
Wow. Just... wow. Edward, I love you. //It's not my ego that's big.//


My Review for Chap 12
LOVED Rounders. Card-shark-Bella is a badass. And, I wanna hug Charlie too.


LASMKE's Review Reply for Chap 12
Yeah, little known fact - ok, no one knows this, but my mom actually worked in Vegas for 25 years. I may have spent some time in a few casinos... just sayin'. lol


My Review for Chap 15
LASMKE, I do love your EPOVs. And I love how consistent you are with them.

And I LOVE that Edward realizes he's in deep. He's such a sweet (and hopefully reformed) manwhore! Seriously though, how sweet that he knows he'll be missing Bella so he plans to stay over at his parents' house.

You've set up so many possibilities of things that are coming up in the story that I can't predict what the next chap will specifically entail... which makes it more exciting. Gonna cut this review short because I wanna keep reading and see what's next for these two :)
Much love, Althea


My Review for Chap 18
So cute! Sorry haven't reviewed the last several chapters - got caught up in the story. I am so in love with this Edward. And I love how Bella is smart and sassy and straight forward, but also shows she's human with her bouts of jealousy. Oh but Edward, he is dreamy.


My Review for Chap 19
I want to jump into the deep end of the pool with drunk Edward.


LASMKE's Review Reply for Chap 19
LOL. Thank you! I'm so glad you are having fun with the story!


My Review for Chap 21
This is an amazing chapter in so many ways.

First of all, Tanya not only has game (mackin on surfer dude Aro), but she apparently also has a great left hook. You got the humor of Bella's attempt to deliver a beat-down. and her response to Victoria //"So, call a cop," I sarcastically laugh. "Oh, wait, that's my dad."//

Yes, what she said about f*cking E in front of B was dispicable. But it's clearly said out of a desperate attempt to reclaim the man she sees as hers. She seems like this small town girl who doesn't see many options for herself and uses her body to try to land the outcome she wants. I feel bad for her, like she doesn't realize she doesn't have to degrade herself, and that she shouldn't have to put up with someone who treats her like a whore. But between this ringside event and her crying outside E's place listening to Chris Isaak, I like how my disgust for Victoria is balanced out with some degree of sympathy for this clueless woman. I can't stand how writers often portray any girl that's not Bella or a Cullen as an expendable whore who deserves to be mistreated. You walk a fine line with Victoria because she earns her whore-like status via her whore-like actions, yet you maintain the sense that it's the limited options of a small town that makes her be the way she is. I don't know if all that made sense, but I really appreciate your nuanced Victoria.

Another thing you did this chapter which was awesome...
I loved irrational Bella who got revved up to deliver a beatdown at the sight of her friend being threatened. It's a guilty pleasure laugh to see her in this OOC mode. But I love how you revisit it when E and B are talking later that night in the back of the car.

//"Awe, you were worried about me getting hurt?" I squeeze him back. "You should be. I don't know anything about fighting. I've never been in a fight before. I just saw red, and my adrenaline kicked in or something. It was crazy."//

When I read that I was like, 'YES!' because you remain true to the Bella character you have developed. And she is owning up to such a primal response.

And finally, the ily's. I really don't have much to say about it besides... perfect.

And of course with the happy was the sad. You made me tear up... again. Bella's excitement to tell her mom she is in love and they both freeze up with the sudden realization - heartbreaking. You can feel her "oh yeah" moment of remembering that her mom is dead, and then the reader makes the same connections as Bella is making them - that her mom will never know Edward, she won't be at her wedding, etc. So raw and I loved it.

BTW, itzmegan73 and americnxidiot are 2 of my faves as well. They're on my "I will read anything written by this author" list. I haven't read any green goldfish but have seen her name around and will have to check her out!

Lots of love for another great chapter!
- Althea


My Review for Chap 22
I love your supporting characters:

Tanya is such an awesome, unselfish friend. And I forgot to mention how I for real laughed out loud a few chapters back when Edward's driving the girls home from the airport and Tanya leans forward and says something like, "So Edward, are you psyched about the threesome?" It totally established her as a character to love.

Charlie's response to Bella's news made for such a wonderful moment between them!

Esme is a strange one who seems almost like a sweet and subtle puppetmaster, pulling the strings to set things up. She kinda showed more of her colors this chapter when she assumed that their love for each other can be equated with their HEA.

//I try to interrupt her, but she ignores my protests and continues speaking, "Oh, I worried about him settling down. We all did. We're all very aware that Edward has been very selfish and as much as it pains me to admit, he was disrespectful to women more often then I want to think about."..."Well, now we never have to visit that topic again. The book is closed." Esme smiles at me //

Maybe she's just trying to assure Bella that he has changed from being that person and she need not worry. But still, you can tell that momma hen has played it out in her head to the logical conclusion of E & B's future together, even if they haven't gotten there yet, But I must say, strangely involved Esme is SO much more interesting than the usual empty 50s housewife Esme.

And I LOVE your A/N -- E & B's interactions, his taking care of her with a bubble bath and dinner and their playfulness outside in the backyard, these were as hot and loving as a lemon would be. So I dug on your decision to forgo writing an actual lemon, mostly because you said to your readers - use your imaginations. Ha! //Just make sure that you conjure up an epic marathon of love-making sans condoms. Yay.// OMG I was laughing for like 5 minutes. You are too funny.

Lurve, Althea


My Review for Chap 25
LASMKE, I loved this story. So much fun! You totally nailed the small town dynamic. I loved how you reflected small town life in the way you developed your characters.

Thanks for all the review replies! It makes it so much fun when you can get to know the author a bit. Much love to you and I'm putting you on alert so I can check out what you do next :)

Mwa, Althea


LASMKE's Review Reply
I was just going through all the reviews now. I am SO GLAD THAT YOU GOT THE CHARACTERS! I mean, really got them. I agree, I hate when a woman "villian" has no depth. Victoria is small town and a bitch, but she is still a woman. So sad.

And, yeah, I wanted the secondary characters, Esme, Charlie, etc to get enough depth that they didn't seem like filler. Hopefully, anytime one of them showed up (Rose, Emmett, etc) they served to add to the story... not take up word count. LOL

Did you read the the two outtakes that I posted after the epilogue???

I don't have a twitter. I would go nuts and never get any work done. LOL


>>>> LASMKE passed away this week. The Fictionators dedicated their FanFiction Friday to her as  a tribute to the stories she shared with us and her contribution to our FanFic community. They encouraged people to leave messages via the post's comments. Here's what I posted 3/5/10:

AltheaJ said:

I just met LASMKE a couple weeks ago when I read Small Town Gossip straight through in a matter of days.
 
Any reader will tell you - there is nothing like getting a Review Reply from an author where they not only express appreciation but engage with you about their story. LASMKE and I had a dialogue going as I read and reviewed each chapter and she'd Review Reply. It was such a fun back-and-forth over the span of 3 days. Sharing that connection with LASMKE while reading her story - was one of those Great Moments in Fanfic for me.
 
My heart goes out to her family and all of the members of our fanfic community who loved her or enjoyed her stories. She will be missed.

-- Althea 
(P.S. STG was such a sweet story, I highly rec.)
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