What Girls Are Made Of / by enigma731 (PG-15)

Title: What Girls Are Made Of
Author: enigma731
Fandom: Avengers
Genre: Action, Women (Natasha) being Awesome
Length: Short (4,613 words)

Author's Summary:
"Nat, what are you doing?"
Or, five times Natasha used unconventional means of flying.

Review:
Collection of short action scenes of Natasha being all kinds of awesome!

What Girls Are Made Of (on AO3)

How Rue Became the Mockingjay / by aimmyarrowshigh (R)

Title: How Rue Became the Mockingjay
Author: aimmyarrowshigh
Fandom: Hunger Games
Genre: AU, friendship and/or chosen family
Pairing: Katniss/Peeta
Length: Short (5,064 words)

Author's Summary:
This is an alternate chronology for The Hunger Games in which the rule about District pairs winning is introduced on the first night of the Games rather than after Rue's death.

Review:
Achingly beautiful AU. Rue is so young and she really doesn't understand a lot of what's happening. The story is mostly about what happens in the games when Katniss chooses to shelter Rue so she can grow up knowing it will cost Katniss and Peeta their lives. Though the story is nominally about Rue inspiring the revolution, it's Katniss's choices, her and Peeta's story, that make all the difference. I could nitpick plotty things but it's so beautifully written that even plot holes you could drive a train through wouldn't break my suspension of disbelief. Reread worthy too.

How Rue Became the Mockingjay (on AO3)

There's Another River on the Other Side / Mithrigil (PG-15)

Title: There's Another River on the Other Side
Author: Mithrigil
Fandom: Hunger Games
Genre: AU
Length: Medium (9,729 words)

Author's Summary:
District 11 wins the 74th Games. The rest is history.

Review:
This is the second 11 Wins fic I've rec'd today and very different than the other. In this one, Rue isn't nearly so childish or innocent and she and Thresh work hard to earn their victories. And it doesn't end there - they defied Snow with the same berries stunt as canon and they pay for it immediately and dramatically. Ultimately, her youth still plays a role in shaping how Rue takes up the Mockingjay role, but it's not a passive innocence like the other fic. The prose in this fic isn't so elegant, but there's something to be said for active heroines so the two fics come out even in my book.

There's Another River on the Other Side (on AO3)

Brooklyn / by togina (PG-15)

Title: Brooklyn
Author: togina
Fandom: Avengers
Genre: Romance, Coming Out fic
Pairing: Steve/Bucky
Length: Medium (8,749 words)

Author's Summary:
"Captain America, what's your stance on gay marriage?"Everyone knows that, by now. Everyone but Bucky.

Review:
So Steve comes out at a press conference by talking about his love for Bucky and then there's a romance movie called Brooklyn made about their lives and Steve's giving speeches and people are going to pride parades dressed as Captain America and the Winter Soldier and Bucky comes back and Steve panics thinking Bucky will hate it when he finds out... so Steve maybe sort of tries to keep him from finding out, which is absolutely impossible at that point. It's a great fic. And it's got a happy ending. And I would so love to see the Brooklyn movie!

Brooklyn (on AO3)