Primrose by Alexabee

Hello, guys! The night has just begun, and it's time for some wise rec with the Owl.

Themes that often come out at night are my favorites, and my first rec will be a heartbreaking—though lovely—tale from little Primrose's POV. Trigger warning as this fic contains references to rape.

Primrose by Alexabee

Summary: 

Prim and Katniss end up in the community home. Canon divergence from Prim's POV. Rated M for non-graphic references to child molestation. Keywords: Canon divergence, community home, Prim's POV, everlark, one shot, child molestation trigger, rape trigger, angst, happy ending.

Warnings: No-Con, Child Abuse, Violence, Rated M. (I said "obscure"…)

Why this fic is a creature from the night? 

Primrose's POV and canon-diverse with Prim and Katniss going to the community home.

Why is it good? 

We see Primrose's innocence being replaced by fear, but Katniss—being Katniss and all—tries her best to protect her sister. We don't have The Hunger Games, but both Everdeens will endure hard challenges all the same. 

Writing stuff comments:

Alexabee has a flowing style, and you'll barely feel you're reading angst. No, kidding, it's angst all the time, but it doesn't suffocate you. It's beautifully written and it's an one-shot: if angst is your thing, go for it.

Heartbreaking line:

"I think it's okay this time, Prim." She smiled. She sounded relieved.

Do you have any suggestions for my next review/rec? I'm on tumblr : thesagaciousowl.

Weekly Fan's Fic Rec: Primrose

This week's fan's fic rec has been shared with us by the dazzling fnur. It's a fic about everyone's favourite little duck!

Title: Primrose
Author: for-prim
Summary: "It is impossible to tell Katniss how much I love her in just a few minutes; I doubt I could properly express myself if I had years to tell her...that she is my best friend, that she is the only one who brings me hope, that I want nothing more than her happiness and health, that without her I would have nothing." A Prim and Katniss story in three parts.
Why do you love this fic? "I love this fic because it provides a more in-depth look at Prim during all three books - her reaction to Katniss's volunteering and how she was when she came home, the distance that the Games created between the sisters, and how Prim grew up without Katniss noticing. A lot of fics just portray Prim as a one-note character who is just all about her sister. This shows human emotions and reactions that are believable, especially of a 12 (then 13) girl who is, at her core, a postive and loving person but thrust into a world where so much challenges her and takes away what (and who) she loves. It's beautiful and tragic and realistic and heart-breaking and just plain awesome."

Thanks for sharing the Prim goodness with us, fnur!

Weekly Fan's Fic Rec

Why, hello there! Herein I present to you this week's fan's fic rec, originally submitted in July (oops!) by the lovely Janice.

Title: Heartsick
Author: misshoneywell
Summary: "We were complicated and messy, a strange mix of pain and pleasure."
Reeling from the death of her best friend, Primrose Mellark, Katniss Everdeen is left to pick up the pieces of their young, entangled lives as she grieves with Prim's brother, Peeta.
Why do you love this fic? "Very dark and very AU; Katniss and Peeta are cast into the roles of poor girl and privileged, young heir in a quiet, contemporary DC suburb town. Heavy on the angst and laced with dark themes not typically found in your average love story. Heartsick is maudlin and beautiful; read and leave a review to beg her to update soon!

I don't know much else to say about this fic other than just go read it!"

Happy reading,

~ Little Miss Mionie

The Bun is Really in the Oven - Cherrypit8 Request

In any fandom, there always seems to be that one nagging 'What If' moment that seems to latch onto any and all reader's and fanfiction writer's minds. In THG fandom, we've got a lot of them. For example, we've got the 'post-Mockingjay epilogue fill in'; we've got the 'Prim in the Games'; and we've got the 'nobody dies', to name a few.

All of these 'What If' moments have a plethora of stories that are magnificent, practical, and filled with detail that we, as reader's, felt were moments of particular interest.

So when Cherrypit8 came to us at Nightlock and asked, "What about the 'Katniss is really pregnant fics' like KaKaVegeGurl's?" - we thought, huh, now there's a 'What If' that's hard to track down.

With that in mind, we went on a mission: Find the Katniss-is-knocked-up stories that give depth, quality and justice to a storyline that can be a pretty difficult one to write simply because, well...


Hormones. Characters change with hormones, okay?

Now, I'm not saying this mission was easy. There's a lot of fic-diving going on when you're looking for a particular story angle. We trudged through a few difficult-to-read stories and by no means should this list be considered the final word (*cough* We are open to suggestions!)

Without further ado, here's some completed "Katniss is really pregnant" stories, just for you Cherrypit8:

Title:  Running Right Into the Fire

Author:  Julia101

Summary: "You could live a hundred lifetimes and not deserve him you know." Haymitch is right. What other boy could still love me after what I've done? What other boy would still stick by someone pregnant by another? Katniss/Peeta/Gale

Rating: M

One Line Rec:  Taking a spin on the Gale train, this fic takes the 'What If' and turns it around a bit, leading the reader down a pretty heartbreaking road.

Title:  Missing a Part of Me

Author:  lovelyladybug5

Summary:  One night before the Quarter Quell changes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark's life forever. When Peeta is captured by the Capitol, Katniss turns to Julian, Peeta's brother, for help getting the boy with the bread back, and for help with two big changes.

Rating: M
One Line Rec: Though I'm not a fan of the formatting (warning, italics in use), this story has a pretty decent plot to follow, using Peeta's brother as a significant character to add depth and a creative twist to the general idea.

Title:  Will He Remember - WIP

Author:  batbaby

Summary:  What if when Peeta is rescued, he finds Katniss to be pregnant and draws out his memories?

Rating: M
One Line Rec: A good story with solid follow-through, it's still a work in progress so we'll have to wait to see how it ends.

Title:  It Isn't a Trick FF.net  / AO3

Author:  lollercakes

Summary:  It isn't a trick, she is really pregnant. A spattering of ficlets around the idea that Katniss is indeed knocked up. Launched from a prompt by lillian raven over at the kolms Girl on Fire ficathon.

Rating: M
One Line Rec: This story takes a variety of POV's and uses them to provide a full-circle telling of a pretty tragic event that spans not just the Quell but into the Epilogue as well.

Hope you enjoy these and please, let us know if you have any others you'd like to add to the list!

Much love, Polkapop


Post-script: I'll do my best to link up any recs I give with AO3 or other sources due to the crackdown on M rated fics over at ff.net, just an fyi. I could only locate It Isn't a Trick on AO3, please let me know if any others are cross-posted. 

Erotica Fics ~ Part II

My previous review of Erotica fics is our most popular post, with over 6,000 hits. Back then, I couldn't find many well-written ones, but it seems that fandom is opening up a little more. It is hard to find good Hunger Games smut, so it's no wonder the previous post got so many hits. I've decided to give you lovely people what you want - so here's some more smutty, PWP, erotic, NSFW fics for you to enjoy!

If anyone is interested, thgkinkmeme has a lot of filled prompts by anonymous authors in their masterpost comments that might begin to satisfy you.

Erotica recs under the cut because they're oh so naughty.

(But srsly, please be cautious if you are offended or underage or against smut etc, because the excerpts provided are NC-17.)

Got Your Back (Prim/Rory)

Since the brilliant Grow Together has ended, I've been searching high and low for a new multiple chapter fic to sink my teeth into. And look! I've found one!

Title: Got Your Back
Author: karebear
Summary: They learned a lot from big sister and big brother, how to help and how to hurt and how to survive. They step up when the world falls down, the unsung heroes of this war.
Ship: Prim/Rory
Review: Got Your Back is so, so innovative. The rare, minor pairing is portrayed perfectly, and is written in wonderful prose. Karebear really gives life to both characters of Prim and Rory. I really enjoyed this differing view and focus of canon events. A heartbreaker - and it's complete, too!
Excerpt: 


Prim's nearly asleep, her head on Rory's lap.

"You can't be comfortable," he murmurs, combing his fingers gently through her hair. She doesn't mind, even though she thinks he's actually making it more tangled up. He shifts just a bit, leaning against the wall, letting it support his weight so that he doesn't notice as much that his legs are feeling a bit numb.

He sounds about as tired as she feels, but she doesn't want to move, to break whatever magic spell lets everybody be happy, just for tonight. "I'm fine," she whispers. "I'm really, really good."

"Me too," Rory tells her. He traces slow circles on her back as the music and quiet conversation lulls her into a state of perfect relaxation. She doesn't think she's ever felt like this before, and certainly not in recent memory.

Happy reading!

~ Little Miss Mionie

Desert Blossom - Peeta/Katniss, AU

Who's up for another totally completed fic? This month I'm bringing another DustWriter story into the spotlight as we look at Desert Blossom. This fic is an awesome alternate universe tale that mixes cultural, social and world themes together to create a compelling and entrancing story.

Title: Desert Blossom
Author: DustWriter
Rating: Rated M - Romance/Tragedy, AU
Summary: Peeta meets Katniss under very different circumstances in this present-day AU. Together, they must struggle together in a war-torn land to overcome tragedy and find the strength to live again.

Recommended:

I'm going to be honest - the THG fandom is incredibly talented. There are so many fics out there that are completed already that it makes my job hard sometimes, just picking one. But I think this month it was easier than most as I read Desert Blossom and it reminded me of why fanfiction is fun - it takes the characters we know and love and builds on them. An author of fanfiction can often create a character backstory that changes your canon view, can make storylines happen that confuse your canon, or even make it so totally believable that the characters exist outside of canon.

And that's exactly what DustWriter does in Desert Blossom. She makes the characters exist in a world that has nothing to do with Panem.

I'm recommending this fic for not only it's fantastic writing and inventive storyline, but more importantly for it's oustanding feat of making the name "Peeta" seem completely reasonable in modern day society.

The story follows the POV of Peeta as he, Gale and Haymitch study abroad in Afghanistan and struggle with the cultural divide between an American upbringing and the society that exists in the Middle East. And also he meets Katniss, obviously. This story is so far out of Panem that if not for the strong characterization loyalty you'd think that DustWriter had written accommplished original fiction. In my opinion, they have.

A further reason I recommend this fic is because it's researched (seriously, there's a legit bibliography). There are no (noticable for me, at least) negative stereotypes that would often be associated with an author unaware of cultural differences. The story is written with Katniss and Prim being of Afghani origin and it isn't just a forgotten fact - it's key to the characters development.

I love this fic. I really do. I think it pushes the comfortable boundaries of fanfic to create a story that bridges so many divides. Further, I think it's an important story to tell especially in a political climate such as this. It tells the story of people connecting regardless of their origins while still respecting their culture.

If you want to follow Peeta and Katniss out of Panem and into reality, this is the fic to read.

Primrose Post!

Hey fellow tributes! I hope you're having a fabulous week :) Today I'm bringing you a recommendation for fics centred around everyone's favourite little duck, Prim.

Good Primrose Everdeen fics are hard to find - all of these (pffft, all = three) I found on Archive Of Our Own. I think because we aren't given much of Prim's character - or perhaps because she's young - Prim isn't a character than many people base their writings on. However, I've found some wonderful fanfictions that I loved loved loved reading; they are mostly one-shots that expand on what Suzanne gave us and breathe life into Primrose Everdeen.

(Beware: Mockingjay spoilers lie ahead.)

Title: the mechanics of a dream (your future's a machine)
Author: Electrumqueen
Summary: Prim and Rory live their lives, until the revolution comes calling.
(Recommended by Miss Scarlett 05)
Why? The mechanics of a dream (your future's a machine) is a dark, adult, screwed up fic and it totally sucks you in. Not for the faint hearted. It's a great expansion on Prim from the little girl to someone as brave as her sister. The Rory/Prim pairing works really well in this, and Primrose's characterisation is just ramble-worthy in a twisted and gritty AU world. Electrumqueens' writing is superb.

Title: Choosing Fate
Author: Sour-Idealist
Summary: Prim has always had a sense for when to brace herself.
Why? Choosing Fate is a lovely short piece with a real sense of purpose. The final allusion to the events of Mockingjay is very well done, as is the brave and resolute characterisation of Prim. The descriptive language, especially a great simile in the first scene, is beautifully done in such a simple fanfic; "hears the sweetness slipping around the center of it as the T brushes behind her teeth like a kiss."

Title: so my hopes rise and fall
Author: Not Listed
Summary: Primrose Everdeen is strong in her own way.
Why? This is an interesting third-person perspective that favours Prim. This author's attentiveness to the canonical portrayal of Primrose is excellent, as are their observations on Prim and Katniss. Long, compounded sentences really add to the calm, reflective tone of this fic. I think this fic puts up a very good plight for Prim!

Little Miss Mionie's Recs: Recently Completed Fics

Good morning, tributes! 

I hope you are all having a great day! I've been quite excited all week - I ordered a Mockingjay necklace from Amazon the other day. (Those from Australia/Not the USA will understand my sheer delight: we don't have any merchandise stores. Nope, not even one single Hot Topic. So we have to trawl the land of internet far and wide to find good merch. It looks lovely, is legit, and only cost me $40!)

Anywho. I should probably get to the point of this post.

Here lies the results of me looking for some fics that have been recently completed - for those who'd rather read a fully finished fanfic.

Against All Odds by AsTheDarknessFalls
When Primrose Everdeen is reaped into the Hunger Games, she doesn't know what's going to happen to her. She knows that her chances of winning are next to nothing. Are they, though?
Verdict: Such an awesome plot idea. I can't wait to sit down and read this properly!


Love and War by Half of Halves
The Rebellion is over. Katniss and Peeta just got married, but they have a new war to fight. One that will change their lives forever.
Verdict: For all the drama/angst-lovers out there. A very interesting plot. Charas a bit OOC.

Turning Tables by A Middle Distance Maximum
MJ SPOILERS. Seven months after Gale lands a job in District 2, he finds himself longing for District 12 with each day. When a person he had never even considered encountering again shows up, he's amused, confused and extremely curious. 
Verdict: An excellent What Really Happened To Gale? exploration. I know I want to know!

May the odds be ever in your favour!
~Little Miss Mionie

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