The Lost Boys by hwimsey

This week's Perv Pack Recommendation is...

Title: The Lost Boys
Author: hwimsey
Chapters: 19
Words: 144,559
Reviews: 2507
Summary: Three young woman, three young men, a potentially haunted Victorian that's falling apart around their ears, unrequited love, and an up and coming band. Take all that, shake it up, and set it in romantic San Francisco. All human, usual pairings.

---

Guest Reviewer- JAustenLover
I have died and gone to Heaven.

Those were among the first words I ever wrote to Sarah (hwimsey) in a review of The Lost Boys four months ago. H & T (otherwise known as HMonster4 and Profmom) rec’d this story to me when I blurted out in conversation that I longed for a British Edward. Don’t get me wrong. There is a wealth of memorable Edwards in fanfic that no doubt speak with the same Midwest accent of my hometown Chicago. I love them all dearly. However my penname gives you a clue. I love the works of Jane Austen and Mr. Darcy with a passion only rivaled by my love of great Twilight fanfic. I was looking for something a bit different. I found it the night I devoured the six available chapters of this story, all sinfully fat and delicious, each averaging 7,500 words of witty dialogue, lush characterizations, and unrivaled levels of UST. Thus began my love affair with The Lost Boys. I am thrilled to be here reviewing it.

The Lost Boys story line is both unique and complex. The primary story is overlaid with multiple sub plots. Bella Swan is a student, living in San Francisco. She has recently returned from a semester abroad in England. Upon her return to the states, she yearns for a British musician that she watched and fell in love with from a distance while he sang and played guitar on a pub stage every Saturday. He is her own personal brand of heroin. Edward Cullen is the soulful yet tortured singer/composer of The Lost Boys. (The 2009 version of a brilliant young British musician from the 1960’s named Paul in my opinion.) Edward is on a quest to find his Muse. A brown-haired muse who has haunted his dreams and inspired his words and music since he was a child. He spots her one Saturday, as she sits in an English pub, listening to him play. He travels halfway around the world to find this unknown woman in San Francisco.

Layer on a ghost story that takes place in the old Victorian house they inhabit that involves the mystery of two lovers that died tragically in the 1930’s named Nick and Nora. They need Bella and Edward’s assistance to be reunited. Edward and Bella’s destiny appears to be tied to the fate of these lovers. Add the owner of the Victorian who just happens to be British and coincidentally shares Edward’s last name. Throw in Bella’s roommates, Rosalie and Alice, and the balance of the band (Emmett and Jasper) that share a flat in the Victorian with Edward. There are countless other cast members and sub plots that I will let you discover for yourself. They all play a meaningful part in the intricate and mesmerizing web that Sarah weaves in The Lost Boys.

Other key ingredients that make this story so unique include Sarah’s incredible ability to intertwine literary, theatrical, and musical references into the texture and fabric of The Lost Boys. References include Browning, John Donne, Jane Austen, Lord Peter Wimsey, The Thin Man, Harry Potter, Casablanca, and White Men Can’t Jump to name just a few. Throw in a dash of fairy tales to sweeten the pot. All of these delightful gems make the story incredibly witty, romantic, and connect the characters to the imagery and dialogue that make The Lost Boys dazzle brighter than a room flooded with sunlight and vampires. In addition to the goings on at the ghost-ridden Victorian in The Haight, we are taken on a journey thru current day San Francisco that includes landmarks and imagery so real and alive, you feel like you are peeking over Bella’s shoulder, staring out at Portals of the Past in Golden Gate Park or sitting next to Edward at dinner at Bourbon and Branch.

Are you on sensory overload yet? I can’t stop now. Yes, these paragraphs warrant a SPOILER ALERT. This story has an undercurrent of desire and UST that rivals any story in the fandom. Edward wants Bella. He wants to consume her, to claim her as his own, to wipe out all those that stand in the way of making that happen. And Bella needs Edward. Physically. Emotionally. Her desires are as passionate, lusty, and wanton as his are. This is a love story. It just happens to be one of the most sexually charged love stories I have ever read. You won’t be disappointed. At one point Edward confesses to Bella:

“I wasn’t raised to want to keep you tied up in a bed so that I could fuck you whenever I want, legs spread open for me and me alone. I wasn’t raised to want to keep you as my slave, my whore.” His mouth was hot against my skin as he gasped the words, making me moan. “I adore you, beyond reckoning, but one look from those exquisite eyes and I’m no longer sane, I am a monster. And it terrifies me as much as I crave it. Crave you. Because the longer I’m with you, the longer I touch this skin and kiss this mouth, the more I can’t control it, and it consumes me and . . . I love it.”

‘His mouth crashed down on mine. I kissed him back, with all my passion and hunger I possessed. Letting him know I felt the same torture, the same inexplicable longing, and I feared drowning in it, too. But was willing to do nothing to stop it.”

Once these two declare their love for each other, the level of eroticism spirals into overdrive. Eighteen chapters into the story, Edward and Bella have not consummated their love as a couple. Edward is determined to differentiate their experience from his endless one-time fucks with groupies and fan girls during college and concert tours with the band. He wants their first time together to special. Memorable. He tells Bella:

“When I make love to you . . . when we make love . . . it needs to be somewhere we can be completely alone. Where no one can interrupt. Where we can stay in bed all day and all night. Where what I will make you feel . . . what I will make you whisper and cry out . . . can only be heard by me.”

Despite the lack of more traditional sex two thirds of the way into the story, Sarah includes some of the most tension-packed, smutty scenes I have ever read. Edward fantasizes about Bella alone in his room, unaware that Bella is watching from a secret passageway in the house. Later in the story, he ‘plays’ her like an instrument in the most unlikely of locations. She reciprocates later that night by taking the reigns as the beast to his beauty. They are overcome with desire in the dark in a public place. The Lost Boys elicits the same sexual tension that underlies Edward and Bella’s relationship in Twilight. It is, however infinitely more satisfying. Bella and Edward’s ‘encounters’ leave me running for a cold shower or locking the bedroom door behind my husband. Yes. My name is JA. And I am a full-fledged Perv. Hehe.

We still have plenty of story left to go. In addition to mysteries to solve and plot lines to resolve, I predict when these two lovers go ‘horizontal’ the earth, the moon and the stars will be in alignment and there will be fireworks rivaling the very best of Fourth of July celebrations. And I will die and go to Heaven all over again.

---

Emmy- I cannot remember which of these slags told me I HAD to read this story. But thank fuck they did. IT IS INCREDIBLE!!! I am seriously in amour with this fic... I really struggled with how I could express this adequately enough... Really struggled. The best I could come up with it the following:

The Lost Boys bewitches me. The Lost Boys beguiles me.

The Lost Boys has taken my heart and has squirreled it away somewhere, and I fear it will not return to me until the many intense and captivating mysteries of this story are solved. The mysteries of Nora and Nick; of the strange pattern that is engraved on various treasures; of the connection of MusicWard and his muse; the ancient connection of LondonWard and his VintageElla.. ~these all need to be solved for me to regain my sanity. Yes I am that addicted. That sunk to this fic. S-U-N-K. Kerplunk splash, bottom of the ocean sunk.

What is it about hwimsey's writing that has me so transfixed, hooked, addicted, in deep love and lust? I don't know. Her characterisations are strikingly different. I love her Bella. (I don't love many Bella's - its normally the Edward that swings it for me). Her Bella has her inner fears locked away that her rogue professor prays upon - as does the red snake.. But she makes her own decisions and owns them, realises her power over the passionate, intense and sexy as fuck debonair yet scruffy MuscianWard.. & Christ MusoWard... What a passionate glorious bastard he is (not bastard as in a tit), but bastard as in he makes my girly bits come alive and sing when he is even hinted at in the story.. The fire for Bella, the fire for his muse, the fire for his music, the fire to protect god they rage and burn within him - licking out to enblazen this story with heat; crackling, tingly, burning heat; and with tension. It really is on fire.

The storyline is pure genius. GENIUS! An absolute BELTER! of an idea!! What the blazes is going on? What is connected to what? Who is connected to whom? & Why the devil do all the ghosts stress the need for urgency? Seriously. This fic messes with my head, in the most wonderful of ways. I actually phoned one of my friends who will read twi ff and made her read it whilst I waited on the phone so I could discuss it with her on the phone. Fucking twitter is NOT enough.. (so if you can handle the time difference and need to discuss this fic with me verbally please let me know, as it is seriously sending me dolally!)

I am going to shut-up now. Or I will fill a whole page of the shack with my obsessed ramblings, that none of you can probably understand anyways...

READ THIS FIC! OR FACE ETERNAL WRATH OF THE AGES FROM EMMY! Seriously. I adore it. LondonWard owns me as does hwimsey (oh btw her supporting cast characterisations and roles are so much more than the average - another brillo score for her)... Oh & her LondonWard hasn't let this fussy brit down yet with her Londonisms, she is either crazy talented or has amazing help (I am GUTTED that its not me! lol). So for the love of LondonWard read this sizzling fic. I am hopeful the last very tense and OhMyFuckingBloodyBuggery chapter is resolved soon, so this fic can me make me happier than happy again... (sorry my attempt to avoid rambling has imploded disastrously!)

SO READ LONDONWARD! THE LOST BOYS IS INCREDIBLE! I give it 5 vintage french-eyelash-lace and silk knickers out of 5. As I both love and lust it terribly.


Kathy- The Lost Boys is one of those gems in the ficland that makes you think. There are mysteries, there is drama, and cliché as it is, there is intrigue. I'm not going to lie; some of the references in the fic have gone over my head, but enough haven't that it was an enjoyable read. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the absolutely unbelievable UST – but it's not just UST, it's the kind of UST where they both BURN for each other, but circumstances keep them apart. Edward wants her so badly, so obviously, so achingly, but they haven't gone horizontal just yet.

Several lingering questions/hints were answered and addressed over the last few chapters, and hopefully that trend will continue. We're left in a spot of heartfail after chapter 19, but I have faith, as the author has reminded us – things are often darkest before the dawn. 4 out of 5.


Nina- Maybe a previous review that I left for H might help in expressing my undying love for this fucking story.
_______________________________________________________________________________

The Lost Boys, ch 18	2009-07-29	2009-08-10
I'm sorry but I can't take this story anymore. The way you write Edward makes my uterus contract and make me want to have relations with the man that lives in my house that I happen to be married to and I can't have that! Jesus Christ Almighty, what the fuck do you drink/smoke/chant/burn/sacrifice to write him that way? Mother fucker, I want it (and you) but I digress.

_______________________________________________________________________________
So, yeah. That is what this story reduces me to every fucking time I read it. It's got mystery, romance, lust, no smut but who cares, the UST she delivers is enough to make me drool.

The Lost Boys are a band that originated in England and is the location that our fair Bella falls for Edward, the lead singer. So, already he's English, hot, in a fucking band and hot. Right there should just scream READ ME! But there is more.

H, weaves such a fucking unreal tale, with essentially five paralleled stories. A/J, Em/R, C/ and she who must not be named, Nick & Nora (the ghosts) and E/B, the best storyline of all.

As previously stated, there isn't any smut yet BUT, holy fucking shit. The small hallway between their rooms has one of the HOTTEST SCENES ever. Jesus, sweaty bodies, dirty floor and oral. Christ. Then you've got the alleyway behind the restaurant where they had their romantic dinner. MOTHER FUCKER.

This Edward is now in my Top 3. I'm not kidding. She writes him with such unrestrained passion it makes my toes curl. There are lines in this story that I literally have to read two and three times because I'm fairly certain I black out from them and forget how fucking hot they are.

Honestly, the story itself as my Taco and I always say is magical. It's unique and hot, hot and mysterious. It encompasses so much heart, passion, zest, UST fuck! I can't shutup about it.

No under-roo rating b/c you shouldn't wear them while reading it.

I love you H!


Steph- Waaayyyyyyyy back not long after this story started gustariana was pimping it out hard core. I trust gusta, so I read it. And fell in-fucking-love. Completely. Admittedly I got behind (like everything else in my life lately), but I just caught up and holy hell. I don't even have adequate words for how much I love it and where H has taken us. I really think she should change the names and publish this. It is THAT amazing. I'm not even going to try to go into actual details, cause I'm still trying to sort all that shit out in my own head. Go, run, read this NOW. I'm dying for B and E to get horizontal, but all the vertical action we've had so far. I am a puddle o' fucking drool on the floor. 5/5 drenched panties from me (And go read her story Clair de Lune too!)