Valentine's Day Recs
Long, romantic, and feelgood, for your February 14 reading pleasure -- a very few selected stories. From (surprise!) several fandoms. Still, leading off with... ♥ ♥ ♥
SGA
Every Day In Every Way by velocitygrass. ~58,500 words, rating: NC-17, McShep (and incidental background pairings). pining!John/oblivious!Rodney, the one where every sex scene (and there are a bunch) is meaningful both emotionally and to the plot. A classic "it starts with sex" story where it of course becomes more. Nice unfolding and progression into a full-on relationship.
Star Trek XI (2009)
strive seek find yield (aka Spoctoria), by waldorph. ~68,200 words, rating: Explicit, Kirk/Spock (and other pairings). An amazingly successful fusion between the Star Trek Reboot and Young Victoria. It sounds cracked out, but just go with it. If the Federation were a monarchy with heavily entrenched aristocracy and Spock was its heir (with dynastic obligations) and Kirk a rebellious princeling, this is just how it would happen. The gradual figuring out of how their relationship -- stay-at-home King and adventure-chasing Prince -- can be made to work is lovely.
Sherlock (BBC)
I tried for one longer fic per fandom, but for this one it's a few shorter stories, as I haven't yet stumbled across a 30,000+ word story that fits my "romantic (re-)reads" criteria in the short time I've been reading Sherlock fic. :)
- my body when it is with your by mad-maudlin. John/Sherlock, rating: Explicit, ~10,100 words One of my favorite SGA writers brings the Sherlock, and so well. Apotheosis is my favorite Sherlock story by mad-maudlin overall, but this "John's a werewolf. With Pon Farr issues" fic is my preferred John/Sherlock romance by this writer.
- It Feels like Home when I'm With You by etothepii. John/Sherlock, rating: PG-13, ~14,050 words. John's DOA in this story, so there's no consummating of the love, but there is love, and as a ghost he assists Sherlock with his cases. Narrowly beat out Good Omens fusion I Used to Live Alone Before I Knew You (~11,100 words, PG-13, not-a-demon-just-a-fallen-angel!Sherlock) and Show Me How to Stop Running (~12,400 words, NC-17, bitten-werewolf!John/born-werewolf!Sherlock) by this writer.
- Helpless by ivyblossom. John/Sherlock, rating: Mature, ~12,750 words. Although it felt a little OOC in terms of sweetness of characterization, the caring inherent in the premise has made me read it more than once.
Merlin
The Student Prince by
pandarus/FayJay. ~145,250 words, rating: Mature, Merlin/Arthur (and other pairings). Modern-day college AU/semi-fusion with operetta The Student Prince and faux-RPF (the Prince of Wales goes to university at St. Andrews in Scotland. Except here HRH is Arthur). Magic exists but is rather secret in this world, and nearly-out-and-proud Merlin is assigned as Arthur's roommate. He instantly lusts after the apparently very straight His Royal Dickness, starts magically protecting him from supernatural threats, and they become first friends, then more. Just awesome. Also the one where (after Merlin accidentally lets the Great Dragon possess a Learjet) the Dragon wants an iPod. This story is also available as a podfic read by the author, which not being a podfic-listener I haven't actually heard, but many people seem to really like the writer's podfic reading style for many works.
Supernatural
Old Country by astolat. ~40,650 words, rating: Adult-Explicit, Sam/Dean, but (it seems to me) relatively mild on the Wincest factor, and as much Dean/the Impala, and Sam/not-wanting-Dean-to-go-to-Hell, and spiritual as much as or more than romantic-type love between the brothers. But overall still very much a love story. A crossover between Supernatural and Harry Potter, this fic was initially inspired by the prompt "Dean Winchester is a Hufflepuff who thinks he's a Gryffindor, and Sam Winchester is a Slytherin who thinks he's a Ravenclaw. Discuss." -- and astolat is so good at turning cracky prompts into far-less-cracky and delightfully rereadable stories. Also the one where the Hogwarts unicorn may have inappropriately fallen a little in love with them. (For this fic too a podfic version read by
pandarus/FayJay is available.)
Supernatural runner-up:
The Cause Sanguine by glasslogic. ~48,400 words, rating: NC-17, Sam/Dean though not Wincest as they are not related. Apparently, well-written werewolf fics (which seem to be all too rare) make me think "romantic feelgood story" -- huh. In this one Dean is Dean Winchester, hunter, but Sam is a werewolf he meets while recovering from Papa Winchester's death. The unusually interesting thing: Sam's type of werewolf is only human three nights a month, not the other way around, yet the author manages to pull off having a real relationship develop despite this impediment. (Just in case it needs to be said, in this fic Dean's fine with gay, but remains clear on no bestiality.) Random endnote: This story seems like it could do well published with the serial numbers filed off.
In case you're not familiar with the canon sources for the (crossed-over/fused with) fandoms for these stories -- don't worry! In several cases, neither was I. :)
A few I've seen or read a bunch of, but for others I've only watched 2 or 3 episodes, for some I've seen just a trailer or a fanvid or two, and for a few I looked up the source on wikipedia -- after reading the fic. They were still all highly readable, enjoyable stories. ♥
ETA: I just stumbled across a reccing comm that looks like it was made for meee, epic_recs, which focuses on longer, well-written stories (in a variety of fandoms, handy now that I've branched out a bit from SGA). At least one of my favorite reccers from over at sgagenrefinders recs there regularly, so now I'm just sorry I didn't find the comm earlier in my fic-reading! They have a bunch of Harlequin-type recs up this week (and several of the stories in this post have been recced there), so if you want more longer, well-written (romance or not) stories, go check out epic_recs. :)
SGA
Every Day In Every Way by velocitygrass. ~58,500 words, rating: NC-17, McShep (and incidental background pairings). pining!John/oblivious!Rodney, the one where every sex scene (and there are a bunch) is meaningful both emotionally and to the plot. A classic "it starts with sex" story where it of course becomes more. Nice unfolding and progression into a full-on relationship.
Star Trek XI (2009)
strive seek find yield (aka Spoctoria), by waldorph. ~68,200 words, rating: Explicit, Kirk/Spock (and other pairings). An amazingly successful fusion between the Star Trek Reboot and Young Victoria. It sounds cracked out, but just go with it. If the Federation were a monarchy with heavily entrenched aristocracy and Spock was its heir (with dynastic obligations) and Kirk a rebellious princeling, this is just how it would happen. The gradual figuring out of how their relationship -- stay-at-home King and adventure-chasing Prince -- can be made to work is lovely.
Sherlock (BBC)
I tried for one longer fic per fandom, but for this one it's a few shorter stories, as I haven't yet stumbled across a 30,000+ word story that fits my "romantic (re-)reads" criteria in the short time I've been reading Sherlock fic. :)
- my body when it is with your by mad-maudlin. John/Sherlock, rating: Explicit, ~10,100 words One of my favorite SGA writers brings the Sherlock, and so well. Apotheosis is my favorite Sherlock story by mad-maudlin overall, but this "John's a werewolf. With Pon Farr issues" fic is my preferred John/Sherlock romance by this writer.
- It Feels like Home when I'm With You by etothepii. John/Sherlock, rating: PG-13, ~14,050 words. John's DOA in this story, so there's no consummating of the love, but there is love, and as a ghost he assists Sherlock with his cases. Narrowly beat out Good Omens fusion I Used to Live Alone Before I Knew You (~11,100 words, PG-13, not-a-demon-just-a-fallen-angel!Sherlock) and Show Me How to Stop Running (~12,400 words, NC-17, bitten-werewolf!John/born-werewolf!Sherlock) by this writer.
- Helpless by ivyblossom. John/Sherlock, rating: Mature, ~12,750 words. Although it felt a little OOC in terms of sweetness of characterization, the caring inherent in the premise has made me read it more than once.
Merlin
The Student Prince by
pandarus/FayJay. ~145,250 words, rating: Mature, Merlin/Arthur (and other pairings). Modern-day college AU/semi-fusion with operetta The Student Prince and faux-RPF (the Prince of Wales goes to university at St. Andrews in Scotland. Except here HRH is Arthur). Magic exists but is rather secret in this world, and nearly-out-and-proud Merlin is assigned as Arthur's roommate. He instantly lusts after the apparently very straight His Royal Dickness, starts magically protecting him from supernatural threats, and they become first friends, then more. Just awesome. Also the one where (after Merlin accidentally lets the Great Dragon possess a Learjet) the Dragon wants an iPod. This story is also available as a podfic read by the author, which not being a podfic-listener I haven't actually heard, but many people seem to really like the writer's podfic reading style for many works.
Supernatural
Old Country by astolat. ~40,650 words, rating: Adult-Explicit, Sam/Dean, but (it seems to me) relatively mild on the Wincest factor, and as much Dean/the Impala, and Sam/not-wanting-Dean-to-go-to-Hell, and spiritual as much as or more than romantic-type love between the brothers. But overall still very much a love story. A crossover between Supernatural and Harry Potter, this fic was initially inspired by the prompt "Dean Winchester is a Hufflepuff who thinks he's a Gryffindor, and Sam Winchester is a Slytherin who thinks he's a Ravenclaw. Discuss." -- and astolat is so good at turning cracky prompts into far-less-cracky and delightfully rereadable stories. Also the one where the Hogwarts unicorn may have inappropriately fallen a little in love with them. (For this fic too a podfic version read by
pandarus/FayJay is available.)
Supernatural runner-up:
The Cause Sanguine by glasslogic. ~48,400 words, rating: NC-17, Sam/Dean though not Wincest as they are not related. Apparently, well-written werewolf fics (which seem to be all too rare) make me think "romantic feelgood story" -- huh. In this one Dean is Dean Winchester, hunter, but Sam is a werewolf he meets while recovering from Papa Winchester's death. The unusually interesting thing: Sam's type of werewolf is only human three nights a month, not the other way around, yet the author manages to pull off having a real relationship develop despite this impediment. (Just in case it needs to be said, in this fic Dean's fine with gay, but remains clear on no bestiality.) Random endnote: This story seems like it could do well published with the serial numbers filed off.
In case you're not familiar with the canon sources for the (crossed-over/fused with) fandoms for these stories -- don't worry! In several cases, neither was I. :)
A few I've seen or read a bunch of, but for others I've only watched 2 or 3 episodes, for some I've seen just a trailer or a fanvid or two, and for a few I looked up the source on wikipedia -- after reading the fic. They were still all highly readable, enjoyable stories. ♥
ETA: I just stumbled across a reccing comm that looks like it was made for meee, epic_recs, which focuses on longer, well-written stories (in a variety of fandoms, handy now that I've branched out a bit from SGA). At least one of my favorite reccers from over at sgagenrefinders recs there regularly, so now I'm just sorry I didn't find the comm earlier in my fic-reading! They have a bunch of Harlequin-type recs up this week (and several of the stories in this post have been recced there), so if you want more longer, well-written (romance or not) stories, go check out epic_recs. :)