6/23/2022 c9 Meamazing
This is really good, I'm impressed

5/25/2021 c9 Bellethil
To the Italian Hobbit, who may just outdo Bilbo in writing excellence.

I have been a silent reader, in the shadows. Reading your fics, but being too shy of a Wood Elf to favorite or follow. Breathing hard through the intense scenes in your stories, and tearing up through the emotional ones. I like to consider myself to be a Tolkien fan, having memorized Elvish verses and ranted about how frustratingly sad the tale of Turin turned out to be. After seeing that it has been several years since you last wrote anything on here, I have decided to emerge and write a ridiculously long review. I hope you will be able to read it, and that my efforts to bring back my favorite fanfic writer are not in vain.

Let me just start out by saying how amazing you are at capturing the characters of Middle-earth. I have read/skimmed through several fanfics by different writers, and time and again I have been disappointed. Characters often do not act the way they should, or say the things they should say. Oftentimes they say and do things that they SHOULDN’T. But “you were the one Baggins who showed real spirit,” as Bilbo puts it. Seriously, the way you portray the characters is so spot-on, it deserves a medal. (I wrote, or rather started to write, a fanfic or two of my own, and getting the characters IN CHARACTER is one of the greatest struggles of my life.) You were (and are!) my writing inspiration; I may never be as good as you are, but maybe I will be able to finish a fic of my own one day.

Speaking of characters, let me move on to my next point, which has to do with Fili and Kili. I know there isn’t a lot of material on the Dwarves of Erebor, and their life before the quest to reclaim their homeland. There also is not a whole lot of character development in the canon material on Fili and Kili. So I absolutely love the way you have built up these brothers and their characters and relationships. Their relationship with each other is especially beautiful; they are always there for each other, and it makes the ending of BotFA even more tragic. (I have taken to hiding in fanfics with alternate endings, lying to myself and telling myself that my favorite brother duo isn’t dead.) I have been in love with Kili since I was nine years old, when I first watched the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and saw Aidan Turner’s adorable grin. (And don’t you dare tell me that’s too young to fall in love, because now that I’m much older I can definitely affirm that it was what I thought it was.) You portray Kili so perfectly, and make me love him even more, because you were able to give me more of him TO love. (Not entirely sure if I should thank you for that or not, though... GOSH, love hurts.) You also made me really appreciate Fili more than I ever did: before reading your fics, I thought of him only as Kili’s older brother, but now Fili is much more to me than that. His selflessness and willingness to be a good king are really amazing; thank you for making the sons of Durin so wonderful. Also, thank you for keeping everyone in character, and for doing all the research to make it seem so real.

A Race Against Time was the first of your stories I read. It was simply amazing, and so sweet. It inspired me to do some writing of my own, and made me wish that it was a movie (seriously, we need more of Fili and Kili; Tolkien and Jackson both didn’t give us enough. Also, I found the PERFECT theme song for Race Against Time: Battle Scars, by Paradise Fears). After A Race Against Time, I was hooked. I read through many of your other fanfics. Which led me to here, this last page on the last story that you wrote. You cannot leave me at the edge of this cliff, now knowing how Kili will get his sight back. Not knowing how Fili will overcome his post-traumatic stress, and stop having those nightmares. You. Cannot. Do. This. To. Me. If you must stop writing, at least finish what you have already started! Please, Stephanie, pick up that notebook and come back to us. We miss you. We need you, like Kili and Fili need each other. If I can find the courage to come out from my hiding place and write this review, I hope you can find the courage to write some more.

Your affectionate reader, and fan from the shadows,
Bellethil, princess of Lothlorien

8/7/2018 c9 LifeasFantasy
So sad that I have no read all of your stories! They were all so amazing! Would love too see Kili’s reaction to Fili’s panic would be interesting for him to be a little less self centered and maybe try and become better! I do believe there is still life in this fandom and your stories definitely bring more life into it if nothing else! Will be interesting to see if you have any other stories in mind, the day you post them I will be here! x

10/3/2017 c9 syeern
Not surprised by Kili's bitter resentment and Fili's ptsd, guilt and worry. It drives me nuts that he won't tell Dís or Thorin why hee worries. Glad Thorin's home. Glad Kili's hearing is already sharpening. Heck! Glad you updated! Sorry to read the excursion was a bust. All that and to yeild nothing. Hopefully it's consequences will prove to be fruitful blessings.
Thank you for a new chapter. I've missed reading your work.

9/24/2017 c9 18Luinwen-2013
So happy to see you back, dear! Yep, sometimes it takes a lot of time and stuff to get things together, but keep in mind Professor Tolkien had gaps longer than a year while writing The Lord of the Rings, and... you know the result... I guess a lot of 'followers' would have left him by then if it were self-online-publishing times, and yet the ones who kept faith would be gifted with the best story of all times. I thank Eru and Mahal we're able to keep track of such good stories as this one, and never to fail such good story-tellers as you!

9/24/2017 c9 14CoffeeRanger
Yay! You're back! And Thorin and Dis *finally* know about Fili's breathing problem. *wipes sweat off of brow* Good. Now, if we can just get them to realize (or Fili or Kili to tell them) about Kili and his suicidal-but-not-quite-or-yes-quite-but-he-didn't-want-to-tell-Fili-that thoughts.

Either way, I'm sorry to hear this chapter came from your brain giving you the same thing Fili went through. I have never had that happen, but I can imagine that it was *no* fun whatsoever.

I look forward to the next update, whenever that may be! I completely understand writer's block. :D

9/24/2017 c9 8booksfoodmusic-minion
hooray you have returned!