Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit / by pyrebi (PG-13)

Title: Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit
Author: pyrebi
Fandom: Supernatural
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Romance
Pairings: Dean/Castiel
Length: Short (Words: 3,800)

Author's Summary:
In which angelic marriage bonds are apparently stupidly easy to trigger, Cas wages multidimensional war in Heaven, Dean can't catch a break like ever, Sam rather enjoys being a dick, love saves the day, and nobody consummates anything.

Review:
I love the characterizations here and I think the dark, sort of twisted premise for the accidental marriage in question really sets a tone for the piece that works with canon.  Cas gets to be both BAMF and funny (his attempts at swearing especially).  This fic also does Sam's voice really well - I consider it a very good sign when the dialogue in a fic starts to sound like the actors in my head without any effort and this fic's Sam really does that for me (Dean to a lesser extent, not so much Castiel though he's awesome in this fic anyways).   I also love the audience reaction prompt when the evil witches decide to summon Dean's "wife" - yep, that's a devious smirk because we all know they're about to get what's coming to them.

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit (on LJ)

Carry On / by TamrynEradani (NC-17)

Title: Carry On
Author:  TamrynEradani 
Fandom: Supernatural
Genre: Non-magic AU, Prostitution AU, BDSM, Pre-series, Slow-build Romance
Pairings: Dean/Castiel, Sam/Jess
Length: Very Long (Words: 148,088)

Author's Summary:
When Sam gets into Stanford, Dean needs a bigger paycheck than Bobby's garage can give him. Luckily, he knows a guy.

Review:
I wasn't sure about trying this one since I don't generally like non-magic AUs or BDSM-centric stories but it has 2418 Comments and 2891 Kudos and on AO3, that's a lot - especially since it's only been up for three months.  So I gave it a try and I'm glad I did - I really enjoyed it despite not being a big fan of either genre so while I can definitely rec this fic for anyone 18+, people who do like those genres should absolutely not miss this fic.  It's a good slow-build ship fic and the psychological issues Dean deals with in this fic (which is told entirely from his POV, but in 3rd person) fit really well with canon.  Cas' characterization is also very good, and Bobby and Gabriel too though they play lesser roles.  It's also one of those stay up all night, can't-put-it-down stories which, considering it's entirely character driven, is pretty impressive. 

Carry On (on AO3)