Judge Spotlight - LJ Summers

Written by Phoenix Rising

LJ Summers is a judge for the OC Awards, a talented author of both original fiction and fan fiction, and has posted her stories on a variety of websites for our enjoyment.  She can be found as LJ Summers on Twilighted, Fanfiction.net, The Edge Girls’ Blog, and on A Different Forest (her Cabin and Storytelling Corner.)  She also will be starting a column on MyVampFiction which, I am told, is going to debut sometime around the end of the month.  And with all the time she spends with her family and tweeting with me (follow her on Twitter) I’m not sure how she finds the time to sleep!  

 

I met the lovely LJ when I found one of her multi-chapter stories called The Hardest Part in the queue on Twilighted.  For those who don’t know, I’m a validation beta over there.  When I started validating THP, I quickly realized two things: First, that this was an extremely well-written and engrossing story, and secondly, that this was not a B/E tale.  Now, I’m a vamp girl at heart, and technically this was a B/E story, but the E was for Embry Call, not Edward Cullen.  The vamp girl warred with the part of me that wasn’t sure it liked imprinting stories, but I quickly found myself hoping she’d upload the next chapter immediately so I could read it.  One story turned into two and more, and before I knew it, I was thoroughly enjoying the series she dubbed Imprinting: The Mating Imperative.  LJ’s characterization of everyone in her stories seems real and spot on, and her storytelling never feels rushed or slow – it’s just like Goldilocks’ middle ground: Just right. 

 

My favorite of her Imprinting series has to be Never Saw That Coming, which is a Leah/Charlie imprint story.  It’s funny, awkward, and just pure gold…and yes, there is a Leah-meets-Renee moment.  A final note on this series: Jake does get his happily-ever-after (being the perv I am, I nearly wrote “happy ending”) with a lovely OC straight from LJ’s imagination.  Even if you’re not a fan of OC’s, go check this one out.  Cassie is a stuck-up, bitchy spitfire, but she wins you over in no time (and poor Jake too, even though he has no choice.)    

 

Eventually LJ submitted a sweet Edward/Bella story called From the Wings, and I was thrilled when she wrote a mysterious, twisty sequel titled Places, Everyone!.  From what I hear, she’s also working on a third in that series.  There’s also a sexy Carlisle/Bella fic in her vast list of stories called Young Man’s Fancy that made me want to lick my computer screen.  No matter what she’s written, either wolf pack stories or vampy AU, I’ve enjoyed every minute of reading her work.  

In my notes to her (in lieu of reviews) I left little comments about how much I was enjoying each of her chapters and  stories, and we started a fun email correspondence.  Not only is she a fantastic writer, but she turned out to be one of the most lovely ladies I’ve met in the fandom and I’m proud to call her a friend.  One thing led to another, and soon I was flattered to see some reviews of my own stories coming in from her.  I was thrilled that such a great writer took interest in my work (and, I’ll be honest, a little worried she would think I’m entirely too pervy for my own good), but to my delight she enjoyed them.  She’s even taken time out of her busy life to give me advice on original fiction writing, which was, and is, much appreciated.  

LJ Summers has been nominated for (and won) numerous awards for her work and is a wonderful member of the Twilight fandom.  If you happen to check out her stories on FanFiction or any of the other places she posts, please grace her with a review.  I know she’ll love it. 

Before I get too long-winded, I’d like to close with a little teaser from The Hardest Part, the first in the Imprinting: The Mating Imperative series.  

From Chapter 1, where Embry is remembering imprinting on Bella: 

And then she looked past Jacob to the rest of us. We stood there, our arms crossed, waiting for Jake to tell her goodbye. I grimaced and prepared to meet her accusing expression –

Wide brown eyes met mine and I gasped. I felt my arms fall out of their protective stance. All the pieces of my life took a few steps back, distancing themselves from the girl who had suddenly become the center of my universe with a jolt that left me breathless. Mom? The pack? School? My best friends, Jake and Quil? None of them held my heart or loyalty anymore. Not like she did. Not like Bella Swan. Everything made perfect sense, now. Everything. My head felt light. I felt a heat start burning in my heart. It was like something was glowing inside of me. I was imprinting. Me. Wow.

I saw her blink while I tried to get a handle on this. Of course – she had no idea what was happening, did she? She knew vampires, not werewolves. Well, now she would. Anything she wanted to know, I’d tell her.

I approached her eagerly, only belatedly hearing my brothers’ shocked exclamations. “Bella,” I said, reaching the door of her truck and standing right next to Jake. “It’s you.”

“Embry?” Jacob’s husky voice hit me sideways, but I couldn’t drag my eyes from Bella’s face. Her deep brown eyes, the growing blush in her cheeks. I felt like I could stare at her all day and be completely happy. I was fiercely glad that I was a werewolf because I knew that I had helped rescue her, that day in the meadow.

When Jake called my name again, I tried to pull my attention from Bella, but it was really hard. I needed to talk to her, to hear her voice, to touch her...