Fic rec

[layne67]

Restraint by DarkEmeralds, J2 Regency AU, Rating Mature ( R to NC-17 ), 150,000+ words.

Summary : The calling card said Tristan Jarrett, Viscount Penrith. Beneath that, in a lazy scrawl, was the addendum Mr Acklebury, be so good as to wait on me tomorrow, number 10, Half Moon Street. Yours, &c., Penrith. Mr Acklebury was not sure how he felt about being thus summarily commanded to paint his lordship's portrait.

I love love love this story so very much. Love it. It's one of those that's all consuming you just can't stop reading, one that you'll happily skip meals for, one that'll have you looking at the word count and saying only 150,000 words? I felt a bit disconnected with the real world while reading it, it felt so real to me!

Set in early 19th century England, Restraint reminded me a bit of Cassie's Houseparty. There's Jensen who's an artist in it, and there's a house party that's every bit as memorable and haunting as the one in Cassie's story.

The only thing is, the name John Acklebury initially put me off a little bit. Jared is Tristan Jarrett, Viscount Penrith while Jensen is John Acklebury and while I had no problem with Jared being Tristan Jarrett, Viscount Penrith, I had some trouble picturing John Acklebury looking like Jensen. I remember thinking, in my earlier attempts to read the story, that John Acklebury was Jensen's father in it!

But as I read on, there is no doubt whatsover that John Acklebury is the Jensen that we know of, just as the Viscount is very definitely Jared. And I swooned at the Viscount just like I used to swoon at the Viscounts in Barbara Cartland's historical romances!

I can't recommend this story highly enough. Do read it even if Jared/Jensen wasn't your thing and it's easy to read this as an original fiction, the love story between the quiet and reserved John Acklebury, artist and son of clergyman, and Viscount Penrith, whose reputation as a rake precedes him wherever he goes. It's a love story that's fraught with conflicts and uncertainties and conducted in secret in a society that frowns upon such relationship. A very riveting and engrossing read indeed!

Comments

[nyoka.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love this fic so much. Is it finished? I'm only about halfway through! But it's soooooo good!

And what is this Cassie story you mention?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I was like, squirming with happiness while reading it lol. Unfortunately it's still a wip but the author said somewhere in the comments that she has it all mapped out and it will be completed so don't stop reading!! Where are you now? Ravensworth?

House Party (http://g-afics.livejournal.com/tag/house%20party%20universe) is an LOTRPs, a Viggo/Elijah AU, one of the earliest stories I read when I first discovered fanfics!

[nyoka.livejournal.com]

Yep, I'm at Ravensworth! *is giddy*

And thanks for the link to the Lotrps story! <3

[layne67.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. And Ravensworth! And don't you just love the manips? That painting of Tristan in disarray omg!!

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Wow. I love House Party so much, I'll definitely love this.

Hmm. 'Jensen' should be Jenson because it's British, right? Or something else. :)

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Oh Shinta, yes, I think you're going to love Restraint just as much as Houseparty! Remember that Viggo was living in France? This Jensen ( or John in the story ) went to Italy!

[xwacky.livejournal.com]

Once again, we proved we share similar taste!

God, I love this fic. I meant to do a rec myself, but I was terribly swamped and backlogged with the things I needed to do, so you beat me to it! =p

After reading the first 20 chapters of it, I decided I should toss my entire collection of regency romance novels I bought throughout the years to the trash can. None of them was as good as this one. What's amazing, I think, is the author's ability to carry out the dialog in the style of the period she's portraying. Not only that, I think her description of her characters' physical appearances were most candid (at least that's how I see them).

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Yay, you've read it!! Oh Jane, isn't it a wonderful, wonderful story? I'm still thinking about it, I can't seem to get the story out of my mind! And yes I agree with you, the style of writing is absolutely splendid, and again, I agree with her honest description of John and Tristan, especially Tristan :) And that painting that John did of Tristan ... *flails*

I love it that Tristan didn't say anything to John about the blackmail. I can just imagine John's distress at that since it was his carelessness that was causing all that. I think it's sweet that he thought Tristan took the pictures though, and just like him not to bring it up with Tristan, about the pictures not being there I mean.

And oh, their first all-the-way sex is simply amazing!! I love Tristan for remembering what David said about not using his rank over another person which is why I think he kept saying to John that he doesn't own John ( though I don't mind if he did though, and I kept expecting him to buy John stuff but he didn't and I respect him for that but again, I don't mind if he did!

I'm worried about Tristan's intention of going into politics. Their relationship is already shrouded in so much secrecy that I can only imagine that it's going to be worse if Tristan really did do that.

I'm picturing them going to America or Europe ( Italy! Behold the lips! ) for them to have a more open relationship.

What I don't want to happen is for either of them to get married to keep up appeareances! ( heheh, sounds familiar? )

[desolate-noir.livejournal.com]

I just started listening to the podfic of this actually. if you are interested it is available at the audio archive(http://audiofic.jinjurly.com/restraint-audiobook-wip)

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Oohhh thank you so much! Did you read the story as well or do you just listen to it?

[desolate-noir.livejournal.com]

I just listened to it but it is read by pandarus one of my favorite readers and she always does a good job.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Which part are you at now? Heheh, sorry but I'm on Restraint-high now and I'm just dying to squee about it with somebody :))

[desolate-noir.livejournal.com]

Well she broke it down in 2 parts and the First part is 5 hours long and I have listened to the first hour which is right when david and tristian are talking and david is getting tristian make several promises not to "press" himself to people who don't want his attentions and to remember his duty and honor with his family name.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Aahh, David. I like him. And Tristan is so going to remember what David said then when he started to get to know John.

I've only listen to one podfic ( Astolat's Old Country ), I'm not really into them but I think I'm going to listen to this, I love the Regency-flavoured dialogue so much and I can't wait to hear how her John and Tristan sound like!

[shadowc44.livejournal.com]

I just read this over the past week. I figured it was close enough to done that it seemed likely it would be finished.

I don't think I've ever read a Regency romance, that era's just not my thing in general, but I love this story! I agree, it does seem like she's doing a great job with keeping the dialogue consistent. I just hate it when there's a historical setting, yet characters who were raised in that time period use modern phrases and words. It just throws me right out of the story.

As soon as John walked away, leaving his portfolio book there, I started mentally screaming at him for being a total idiot. I just kept expecting him to suddenly remember, and the more time that passed, the more I knew someone had found it...the worst possible person, of course!

I've been wanting to read this for a while, but at first I was going to wait till it was done. I'm glad I didn't wait, because at least with this one I won't be as likely to mix up stories between chapters, 'cause it's not like any of the other AUs that I've read. Great stuff!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I've been refreshing that page repeatedly on the off chance that she has updated lol. But she said she's going to post the next one soon so hopefully we'll get to know what happens next!

I wonder whether John is going to want to find out on what he feels that Tristan is hiding from him. Eeeeee I was totally screaming for him not the draw the nude pictures in the first place, much less keep them!

Speaking of pictures, that painting of Tristan is really realistic, don't you think? And the manips are all absolutely gorgeous!

Do you remember the gag reel, I think it was season 2, the one where Jensen was wearing that Regency wig? I'm hoping the manipper would use that. And I'm really hoping for an outside POV on them. Charlotte was checking on John, wasn't she, when she went to Ravensworth after she got that letter from Tristan?

Any favourite parts?

[shadowc44.livejournal.com]

I keep expecting John to ask outright what Tristan is hiding from him, and I also expect him to finally ask to see the drawings that Tristan has hidden so well.

Sigh. I guess people back then were probably as stupid about making the equivalent of sex tapes as they are now.

I'm not sure what would be my favorite part, though I do like most of what happened at Ravensworth. (corrected from Ravenswood)

I definitely got the impression Charlotte was checking up on John, she wanted to see for herself what he was like and what was going on. I was confused, too, like you were, with his name. Every time I saw the name John in a chapter, I was wondering why one of their fathers was playing such a big part...guess I was thinking of John Winchester. And I JUST figured out what Tristan's pal Wheaton, the one who writes screenplays and the occasional painting review, is Joss Whedon. Duh! I saw his name listed, but I figured he just hadn't come up yet!

I definitely want to read the last 10 chapters of this.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

That's John probably being his restrained self, him not asking Tristan about some things. He wanted to but he thought, despite everything, it wasn't his place to ask Tristan about things he obviously didn't want to tell John!

I have 3 scenes that I really love - the shaving scene ( OMG!! ), the one where they came back soaking wet after their ride in the park and their first time sex!

I'm not actually quite sure who Joss Wheadon is ( though I've heard of the name ) so I had to google that one up.

I'm rereading the whole thing now, chapter 9, Tristan had just received the red-chalked message from John for their session of the potrait *happy sigh*

[shadowc44.livejournal.com]

That was a nice scene, too, their exchange of notes! Yes, the shaving scene was great! The sex scenes aren't doing much for me, but that's true of most of the J2 or S/D sex scenes lately, so I think it's just me rather than the writing.

Yes, Joss Whedon is one of my personal gods! Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse...the man's a freakin' genius!

[ala-tariel.livejournal.com]

I love historical!fics. or hysterical!fics? *giggles* historical, it is!

Anyway, never read it before. 150,000++ words! Will need a long time to save it. :D:D:D:D

Thank you for the rec! ♥

P.S. Is it a complete fic already?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Hee, hysterical fics are good too! :DD

It's 30 chapters completed out of 40. I believe the author updates regularly. And since the story is so long, you can start reading now!

Btw, just curious. Do you never read straight from the computer? I myself will print stories that I like but otherwise I'll just dive straight in!

ps The manips are really gorgeous btw.

[ala-tariel.livejournal.com]

Ah ya, I read there will be 40 chapters! whooeeee...and the words total will be, what, 200 thousands?

I'd better start saving it now.

And nope, I don't read directly from PC. I just can't. I save them to text files, smaller files, so it could be hundreds of them. Then, I put those files into my cell. I read all the fics with it. :D

[layne67.livejournal.com]

What phone do you use? I've never tried saving any fics on mine - just the usual pics and a few songs.

[ala-tariel.livejournal.com]

Nokia E52 and I use memory card to store everything.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

That's a cool phone and the screen is large, quite comfortable to read from. Mine is this (http://www.unwiredview.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/samsung-d880-duos-dual-sim-card-phone.jpg), not that exact model but one similar to it, not sure what my model is exactly. But the screen is quite small!

[ala-tariel.livejournal.com]

That's samsung d880, according to the link. :D
I love black cellphone actually, but this time I use a silver one.

[ala-tariel.livejournal.com]

YES! Finished saving 30 chapters! \o/
Now, I'm waiting for the remaining 10 chapters.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Yay! I hope I'll be able to squee with you very soon!

I'm at chapter 19 of my second re-read and I'm afraid I've been neglecting my flist. I'll be back soon after this. Am I missing anything?

[ala-tariel.livejournal.com]

You are reading it. :)
No, you didn't miss anything. :D

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Wow, I just found this lovely rec. Thank you so much for it!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

The pleasure is all mine!