221b_recs | Entries tagged with character: janine

Title: Inscrutable to the Last
Author: DiscordantWords
Pairings: John/Mary; John/Sherlock (ultimately)
Length: 48,843
Rating: Mature/R
Verse: BBC Sherlock
Author's Summary: He wasn't Sherlock, he couldn't work miracles. All he'd ever been able to do was write about them.
Reccer's Comments: Let us suppose, gentle readers, that Sherlock Holmes is dead and has never returned, and that John is married to a nurse named Mary, who is not now and never has been pregnant. Let us suppose that John has made a life for himself. Really. He has. And as part of that life, he is writing a sort of novel that he keeps on his laptop and whose events, to a startling degree, resemble the events of S3.

You may go into this expecting a supernatural story in which John's novel comes true. It isn't. It's much more clever and surprising than that. And you will notice that I have not included a "character death" warning, okay?

It is beyond me why this fic hasn't had more readers. Also, I have checked the spreadsheet of past recs about half a dozen times, because how has this not been recced before?

Here's an excerpt from the opening.

"John?"

Mary's voice had gone strange. The tone made something lurch in his chest.

He looked up from his newspaper, from where he sat on the sofa. She was sitting at the little desk in the corner, staring down at her laptop—except—no, no, it wasn't her laptop at all. It was his.

"What's this?" she asked, and her voice was definitely strange, high and strained.

It set his heart pounding, thudding a steady beat of no no no, each jump of his pulse flooding him with a sickening dread. He wanted to throw his newspaper down, bolt for the door, flee into the damp evening air. He wanted to stand up and snap his laptop shut, like he'd done to Sherlock all those years ago—except, no, best not think of that.

He did none of those things. Instead, he rustled his newspaper, folded it neatly and set it down on the coffee table, and met her eyes. He sat very still.

"Hm?" he said. "What's that, then?" He feigned casual, did a crap job of it, and why did he even bother, she'd always been adept at seeing right through him, right from the very start. That's why he'd—

Read on the AO3.

verdant_fire

Title: Seven Times a Night in Baker Street
Author: achray
Pairing: Sherlock/John, Sherlock/Janine
Length: 4176 words
Rating: Explicit
Verse: BBC
Author's summary: “What if we experimented? Kept count? Would you be…amenable?”

“Oh my God,” said Janine. “I’m never letting you go.”

Reccer's comments: As soon as I read this, it became my head canon. It fills in the gaps in Sherlock and Janine's relationship (and does a much better job with it than the show did, imo), and deals believably and respectfully with Sherlock's sexuality and everyone's agency, while still being a Johnlock fic at heart. Its Sherlock POV is excellent, and Janine is nobody's fool. It takes the mess of Series 3 and makes something intriguing and incisive and poignant from it.

(Mods, could we get tags for Sherlock/Janine and for Series 3 fics?)

nathaniel-hp.livejournal.com

Title: He Likes Boys
Music Title & Artist: He Likes Boys by Simone Battle
Vidder: janineshipsjohnlock @ Tumblr
Pairing or Character: Janine & Sherlock (Sherlock/John)
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Link: Vid announcement on Tumblr
Reccer's Comments: This made me laugh, the awkwardness between Janine and John, the looks between John and Sherlock, Sherlock's frowns when he stands next to Janine, and the fun, catchy song. Enjoy!

verdant_fire

Title: Damage
Author: lifeonmars
Pairings: John/Sherlock, Mary/John
Length: 46830
Rating: Mature
Warnings: N/A
Verse: BBC
Author's summary: No damage could ever be truly repaired. John would not be the same.

Or, what happened after the tarmac.

Reccer's comments: I think this is the best post-S3 fic I've read. I'm a tough audience for that sort of thing because I wasn't a big fan of Series 3, but I read this story on the strength of lifeonmars' prior work, and it did not disappoint. The long slow burn between Sherlock and John is very convincing, with alternating POV between them both, and the love story made me cry. The prose is a pleasure to read, and the whole story is moving and skillfully constructed, with a beautiful ending. (Warnings for assisted suicide and references to past sexual assault, both involving supporting characters.) It also has a lovely epilogue, Engaged.

frozen_delight

Title: The Ballad of Lady Smallwood
Author: AJHall
Pairing: None
Length: 1,000 words
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: In His Last Vow that final scene appearance from You Know Who could have been a coincidence. But the world is rarely so lazy.

Reccer's comments: AJHall is a prolific writer and I love all of her stories, not last because they're so clever and carefully put together that it usually takes me several re-reads to become aware of and comprehend all that's going on in them. In this delightful little His Last Vow fic, she explains in an incredibly witty, entertaining and imaginative way how Sherlock got off that fatal airplane. And because AJHall is the forefront writer of "Women being awesome", of course it's the women of Sherlock who save him.

In five marvellous miniatures, we get to meet Lady Smallwood, Mummy, Irene Adler and Janine, all of whom play their parts in Sherlock's rescue. And play them brilliantly. It's wonderful how they're all introduced in just a couple of seemingly random sentences, which manage to truly grasp the essence of their character. To top it all off, there are all kinds of ingenious little references, both to popculture and to the canon of the first two Sherlock seasons.

This truly is a showcase for the women in Sherlock. But it's also more than that - it's a showcase for absolutely excellent writing. If Season 4 went with this fabulous explanation for Moriarty's appearance at the end of His Last Vow and told it in a similarly stellar fashion, I would be beyond happy.

swissmarg

Title: Law Like Love
Author:

PlaidAdder /

idairsauthor
Pairing: John/Sherlock, John/Mary, Harry/Janine
Length: 50K
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Six months after Sherlock didn't go off on that mission to eastern Europe after all, all is well at 221B Baker Street. Little Rachel is just beginning to sleep through the night. John and Sherlock are sleeping with each other. Charles Augustus Magnussen is alive and unwell and just about bankrupt. And Mary is nowhere in sight. Obviously the events of "His Last Vow" were not what they seemed. What really happened? How did we get here from there? Well, we're going to find out. Backwards.

Reccer's comments: "Dear Moftiss: I used your underutilized female characters for you. They were awesome. It wasn't that hard. Love, me." This is one of the author's end notes, and it's so true. Janine and Harry in particular are fantastic, but Lady Smallwood and Mrs Holmes have important parts to play as well. It's very much an ensemble piece as everyone works together like cogs in a clockwork machine to bring the plan to fruition that is at the heart of this fic: getting Baby Watson to Baker Street with John and Sherlock, and taking care of Magnussen - who just won't stay dead - once and for all.

As we know how it 'ends' - we're shown in the first chapter and it tells us in the summary anyway - and we know most of what came before from HLV, you'd think there wasn't going to be much in the way of suspense, but you'd be dead wrong. The fun - and it is a great deal of fun - is in the systematic reveal of how the plan came about, who contributed what, who was faking it and who was being genuine, and, finally, why it had to be done this way. (Spoiler: love. It was for love.)

At the same time as the machinations are gearing up, we follow back the thread of the main characters' relationships. (There is vaguely referenced infidelity but nothing is made explicit.) Janine/Harry was a delightful surprise to me, and I really liked the fact that John struggled with his feelings throughout. It is never easy for him to make a break, even when he finds out … what he finds out about Mary.

One of the most powerful aspects of this story for me, though, was the exploration of Magnussen's and Mary's characters, just what a psychopath is, what they feel (or don't feel), how they see others, and what, in the end, they actually want. Fair warning: Mary doesn't come off well in this story.

( Excerpt... )

swissmarg

Title: The Adventures of a Single Girl in London (Plus Consulting Detective)
Author:

earlgreytea68
Pairing: John/Sherlock, John/Mary
Length: 32,913 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Character death
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Sherlock Holmes keeps choosing flatmates who fancy themselves to be bloggers.

Reccer's comments: This is the first longer fic I've seen that casts Janine as a lead and uses her well. She's funny and quirky, honest and insightful, and I especially like that she's not just a Johnlock cheerleader but has got a bit of a thing for Sherlock herself and just wants to be the best friend to him she can be.

We get to see a whole new side of Sherlock in this: a Wii-playing, Tweeting wingman who actually does a much better job of balancing his friendships with Janine and John than John does balancing Mary and Sherlock.

The fic is one part Bridget Jones' Diary, one part Friends, and one part 'stab-me-in-the-heart-why-don't-you'. You'll just be reading along, snickering at the snarky banter and startlingly insightful one-liners, when all of a sudden, BAM, you get hit in the feels.

( Excerpt... )

There is character death in this, and it hurts. It's warned for at the beginning of the chapter in which it occurs, and it's not graphic or even on-screen, but it might be a sensitive issue for some people. Also, obviously, massive series 3 spoilers.

unovis.livejournal.com

Hi!
Just a few words on our tags and tagging your recs.

Tags are useful search tools for grouping the recs by categories: by pairing, genre, content, and sources for the stories or other fanworks.

We ask that reccers attach tags that are relevant to the works they rec. You don't have to add everything that applies-- for example, not a character tag for everyone who might appear in the story, or every theme or content. But if Molly has a significant cameo, say, that you think people searching for her might appreciate, then by all means list her in a tag. Likewise if you think this is the addiction story people should read, then use the content: addiction tag.

The required aspects to tag are pairing (if it applies), relationship genre (i.e., gen, slash, or het*), and verse (the source: ACD books, Sherlock BBC, Granada, etc.).

The easiest place to see all of the tags available is in this list of tags.

Tagging is enabled only for the author of the post and the mods. Only the mods can add new tags. We have a beginning list up now, anticipating likely categories and characters. We'll add more as recs are made, if characters and pairings, for example, aren't covered already. You can request a new tag to be added by commenting here or by contacting one of the mods. Keep in mind, again, that we'll be adding character tags as additional characters appear in recs.

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson have been abbreviated as SH and JW in pairings and some other places (e.g., content: sick jw). Since this recs comm is open to all versions of Sherlock Holmes, it seemed the simplest way to identify the characters. Lestrade, Gregson, and Dimmock are listed as "inspector" following ACD book canon, and Moriarty is listed only once by his (their) surname alone. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is abbreviated throughout as ACD.

*We won't add a category for "slash-if-you-squint" or similar invitations for the reader to see subtext in a story. If the author hasn't labeled her work as slash, then it's genre: gen or genre: friendship.

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221B Recs

A Sherlock Holmes Recs Community

Entries tagged with character: janine

Fic Rec: Inscrutable to the Last, by DiscordantWords

fic rec: Seven Times a Night in Baker Street

Vid Rec: He Likes Boys

fic rec: Damage

Fic Rec: The Ballad of Lady Smallwood

Fic Rec: Law Like Love

Fic Rec: The Adventures of a Single Girl in London (Plus Consulting Detective)

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