Hey Stillill,

I started with this two days ago and finally finished it, and I'm definitely glad with this! I'm so happy I read this, really. It's a very interesting story, I can never pull a story like that in such a normal life. Though yes it's kinna funny how all these drama can come outta no where, it's just very 'full of it' ya know, it's funny, it's sad, it's warming, and all that Callum-swearing is funny too.

I don't know but I have a lot of stuff to say about this, and the way you portray Callum is just good. I'm young and I don't know much about personalities and ** but Calum seems very real, like guys won't exactly make their horniness obvious but all the way Callum's been thinking of getting into Marina's pants, just very REAL!

Good job, and thanks so much for this.

Good luck with what you're doing for now too :)

WOW...(lol i was going to start with a 'wo' but now i think about it, it would sounds stupid of me) the mushy scenes were hot! i loved your story...it's very addicting...the ending was of a 'that's it?' kind for me...but after reading many comment below...i couldnt help agree (saying the ending was good being open-ended but then again..its 'fiction') I'm not the type to read stories twice...but this story is an exception :D
looking forward to reading all your other stories !!

Wow! I really enjoyed reading this! Avoided my work all day long to do so, and hot damn was it worth it! I love Callum and his Irish vocabulary, it's pretty fantastic. :)

I'm not gonna lie here, while reading this I started wondering where I could find an Irish guy in the valley where I go to school. Sadly, I'm not sure there *are* any. It seems I might have to move to a city somewhere to emerge victorious here. ;)

Well done on this story! Also, thnx for not making him cheat on her - I was pretty angry at the dude for pulling that stunt. Ended up forgiving him after learning about what really happened, though...but I still think he's an idiot for not calling her as soon as he found that out. I'll never understand the male species... >.>

*adds to favorites*

Oh, how I love this story.

Er... me again. Am about to go to sleep, but just wanted to say this before I forget in the morning - I really like what you did there with Marina having a shower at Callum's, just like he said on the phone to Emily in an earlier chapter (almost as if he were foreshadowing this).

Also, the last paragraph in this chapter was beautiful. Beautiful.

Hey, Stilill! I read this story about 2 years ago and... I am back again. Aka this is a horridiously overdue review. *is sheepish*

Whilst I don't usually like to reread stories to which I know the ending, BtB is just too full of depth for me to care. You know, I don't actually remember much about Marina and Callum - just that they were extremely realistic characters with whom I could empathise. And I vaguely remember the ending - at the time, it felt rather unsatisfying, but now that I'm older and wiser, I understand how leaving it open-ended really was the best way to end it. Because, you know, this story ultimately mirrors relationships in real life, and they're not always picture perfect.

This is weird, isn't it? I feel like I'm reviewing a story before I've even read it. I guess I just want to say (in an outrageously long-winded way) that this story stuck in my head - for 2 years. That's really something. I wouldn't mind owning it in book-form. ;)

Syl

I read this in its entirety last week and realized, at the time, I would probably have to give myself a moment to recoup when I finished it before I could leave a review that was a little more succinct than, "OMG I LUV IT!" This story was a huge mess of emotions - I mean that in a good way - and left me feeling a little emotionally drained by the end.

To tell the honest truth, after the first chapter or two, I almost quit reading this for a few reasons. One, I tend to not like characters who are music/book snobs...which sounds more negative than what I mean, but I can't think of any other way to describe it. I think this aversion has to do with dealings with real-life people in the art world who are art snobs...something about it just gets under my skin. But! I put my personal dislikes aside because I was truly curious about where you would take this story. And I certainly didn't regret it.

Also, while I like the idea that it is written in first-person because it definitely gives us more insight into both of the main characters' thoughts and feelings (some of the tangents Callum went on in his head were hilarious), I found the sudden switches - despite the clear sectioning - between the two almost jarring...like it was hard for my brain to switch gears into the other person's head...This switching back and forth seemed to become a little easier as the story progressed, perhaps because I became used to it or maybe because of all the drama that started to happen!

And, oh boy, was this story chalk full of drama. Sometimes I felt that reading this story was like watching a train wreck - or events that would eventually lead to a train wreck - and despite having a dreadful feeling I knew what was going to happen, I just couldn't look away. Callum made me alternately want to swoon and wring his neck with his stoic attitude. Marina was a great female lead - sweet and strong at the same time. She occasionally had moments, too, where I just wanted to wring her neck. But she always seemed to make up for it...like when she crawled under the pool table with Callum. That was one of my all-time favorite moments in the story. I loved the sort of random conversation that occurred and that it was written from Callum's POV so we could see how it affected him.

I knew that all the sweet moments couldn't last, though. However, I suspected from the get-go that Callum hadn't slept with that girl. But it wouldn't have been nearly as deliciously angsty if he believed otherwise.

I adore the way you ended the story - open-ended, allowing your readers to decide the two characters' fates. I like to believe they got back together, but not right away and not until they had time to sort things out.

All in all, I have to say I loved this story. The idea behind it was simple, but written so engagingly that I couldn't stop reading. You filled it with just the right amount of details and emotions, wrote your characters so believably that I felt like I was a part of their world. You made my heart ache for Callum and Marina, made me laugh, and ALMOST made me cry, which isn't an easy thing to do. I'm glad I finished this story in spite of my initial misgivings. It's definitely one of the best that I've read around here.

~cu-kid

I love this story.I was just wanting to know whatever happened to her migranes that she kept getting? Did she get them for any reason in particular?

Loved this story. Your characters are truly amazingly written. There's depth and credibility to the story. Your music and literary references are obscure (to me anyway) but they really add to the tone of the story. Congrats!

Alright, here comes the review that's been circling around my head for the past two days.

There's something about your writing that surpasses most of the other fiction on this site. This story is so unique and if it weren't for this, believe me, I would've dropped the story before I even got to Chapter 10 (I only finish long fics if they're good [although sometimes I finish a substandard one just to know the ending]). Now, I usually hate it when people swap between POVs not only because I think that that's the lazy way of writing to convey meaning, but also because a lot of people use it without realising that it's complicated to write in different POVs and still carry the story along as well as keep it interesting (aka, not repetitive).

However, you used this method the way it's supposed to be used: to show what they're thinking and feeling. I've read so many stories on this site where the person swaps POVs but spend most of the time in each POV describing the scene rather than putting any effort to explain the characters' actions and thoughts. When your two POVs did overlap (although often you seamlessly switch while continuing the story), it didn't feel repetitive.

Now this means that you also developed your characters really well. It felt a little weird at the beginning when I was reading the Callum sections because his thoughts are stilted and his sentences aren't always grammatically correct. BUT, that's the beauty of this story because that's obviously how he thinks. I find that so many feel that even though you're writing in 1st person and therefore, should be writing AS the character, the writing has to be perfect with flowery language and complicated sentence structures. You didn't and by doing that, you really let me (and all your other readers) get to know Callum (he's incredibly hot btw... not my type of guy but hot nonetheless).

Finally, I thought the ending was short and sweet. :) I was so incredibly angry at Callum when he woke up in whatshername's apartment, but a part of me held out with hope that he was jumping to conclusions :P

As I said earlier, I sometimes stick with a story because I want to know what happens or because I liked one character. With you, I also enjoyed your writing and how you grasped the point of writing in 1st person. Callum's use of the bird was somewhat annoying, yet it's so him so ... you know what I mean ;D

So basically, this long-winded review is to say that you should be proud of the story. Definitely, if you wanted to, you could improve it even further but I think you should be happy with it even if you don't. Oh, I'm curious... is the Vincent story before or after this? I hope after because I hate reading stories the wrong way round!

Even though this review is massive, I probably forgot some points... but I think I got the message across (ie. it was awesome, basically). So yeah, I'm going to stop writing now. Seriously, I am.

Wow... just amazing.

sending PM.

This is my favorite story on this site. I hope you continue to write. I absolutely love these characters. You are very talented.

I really don't understand why your stories don't get more reviews. I love them all, your such a great writer.

It is sad that I have not yet finished this yet but things are just so busy! I'm pretty sure I aced my socials test btw =) Anyways, I just hope you don't take it down or anything like some of my other favorite authors have been doing because they were plagiarized or mainly just because they want to publish their story. I'd be devastated if it were taken down while I was reading it halfway. I still love it so far!

I've read until this chapter and I have to say, this story's hilarious and ** adorable. I absolutely love Callum's personality! I wish I could have started sooner but sadly, I have a socials test to cram for. Life is sadistic that way. I'll try to finish it by tomorrow. It's been really good so far!