What I Did On My Summer Vacation / by grimm (NC-17)

Title: What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Author: grimm
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Genre: AU, Werewolves Are Known/Magic Is Known
Pairing: Stiles/Derek
Length: Long (118,749 words)

Author's Summary:
There's something weird about Beacon Hills that Stiles can't quite put his finger on. The way everyone in town knows his name the day he arrives. The way they insist the melancholic howling that echoes through the forest every night is just a dog. The way his dad denies getting a dog, even though Stiles comes home to find one sprawled across his bed, some big black thing whose eyes gleam red in the right light. The way that massive oak tree out in the woods vibrates under his touch, pulsing with sickly life.
There's something weird going on in this town, and Stiles is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Review:
A little bit Werewolves are Known, plus a little Laura Lives, plus Derek is stuck as a wolf, plus Stiles is the only one in town who doesn't know what's going on... Stiles is only visiting his father, the town sheriff, and he gets a summer job at the library working for Laura Hale, and slowly he notices that weird things happen here but no one else seems to think its a big deal so he has to figure it out himself.  As Teen Wolf fics go, this one is fairly light in tone (though there is angsty and a lot of sadness associated with the Hale Fire still).  I like this fic as an example of the everyday magic type of Urban fantasy - Beacon Hills as a whole supernatural town/enclave headed  by the Hale Pack makes for a good premise.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation (on AO3)
podfic by lunchee

How You Keep Breathing / by Linpatootie (NC-17)

Title: How You Keep Breathing
Author: Linpatootie
Fandom: Rivers of London
Genre: casefic, romance - getting together
Pairing: Peter Grant/Thomas Nightingale
Length: Medium (~31k words)

Author's Summary:
A few weeks after the events in Broken Homes, Peter and Nightingale have to deal with multiple drownings in the Hampstead Ponds. The situation is messy. The relationship between England's only two officially sanctioned wizards even more so. Here's to the tiny fandom!

Review:
This fic had me grinning ear to ear and full of warm fuzzy feelings - it may have finally sold me on this ship. The characterizations and voices are very good and the case they have to solve is absolutely awesome with lots of strong world-building and it fits with canon without actually involving any canon supernaturals. The relationship building between the characters is the real star of this fic though - seriously, the feels!  The first fic is rated R, the deleted scene is the NC-17 outtake.

How You Keep Breathing and How You Keep Breathing - Deleted Scene

In the Space Beneath Our Clothes / by kingaofthewoods (NC-17)

Title: In the Space Beneath Our Clothes
Author: kingaofthewoods
Fandom: Sherlock BBC
Genre: Romance
Pairing: Molly/Mycroft
Length: Medium (38,526 words)

Author's Summary:
After Sherlock’s fall, Molly finds herself spending a lot of time with his brother, Mycroft. What unfolds might seem strange, but is ultimately very simple.

Review:
This fic was rec'd as part of AO3's Feedback Fest for International Fanworks Day, otherwise I wouldn't have found it, but I'm glad I did. In some ways, it's a simple fic. The story revolves very tightly around the romance plot but it does that plot very well. I wasn't into Molly/Mycroft before but now I'll have to check it out further. I really like Molly's character in this fic - in canon, it's hard to see her except as John sees her which obviously isn't all there is to her but she's much more developed as a character in this fic and I especially like how she's given a good ability to read people that doesn't really translate into good people skills. Unfortunately, no updates since October so I suspect this fic is abandoned with only 5/7 chapters posted. Fortunately though, it does kind of have a resolution to it where it stops so maybe give it a try even if you don't like abandoned stories.

In the Space Beneath Our Clothes (on AO3)

give your heart to a wild thing / by kenopsia (PG-13)

Title: give your heart to a wild thing
Author: kenopsia
Fandom: Sherlock BBC, His Dark Materials
Genre: daemon AU, kidfic (Sherlock and Mycroft as kids - pre-canon)
Pairing: Sherlock/Victor Trevor
Length: Medium (31,720 words)

Author's Summary:
Mycroft is just hoping he doesn't have to kill Sherlock's daemon in her sleep to help Sherlock live to see adulthood. It might as well be his prime directive, because nobody else seems capable of doing it.
A His Dark Materials fusion that follows the Holmes brothers from childhood.

Review:
This isn't your typical daemon AU - it's just as much a fic about Sherlock and Mycroft growing up and it does that really well. It does some interesting things with daemons too as it looks at mental and personality disorders in world with daemons - Sherlock's daemon hates him and, despite taboo, Sherlock is very close to Mycroft's daemon.  The fic as a whole has good characterizations and the friendship/sibling relationship between the brothers is lovely.  This one isn't finished and I hope the author will continue.

cover art:


give your heart to a wild thing (on AO3)