One day at present time, a famous singer Takeshi met and fell for a budding musician who was working in a cafe shop, a very beautiful young girl and he used her composed music and in the end, went on a very steady relationship with her. but every time he tries to kiss or hug her, she walks away, farther and farther and he couldn't understand why. And then he caught a glimpse of her scar and was shocked; what had happened to her? She seemed so happy, and fun to be with and yet there was something about her he couldn't quite comprehend.  Yuen Yuen herself was confused as to her past and her present. She felt guilty towards one guy named Ed, and when Ed came to see her after 5 years of separation, during which time he was in prison for something we will know more as we read on, Yuen Yuen could not understand how this man, once who was her husband could simply encourage her to be with another man, when she knew he  loved her beyond his own life. She didn't want a divorce but he forced her to a divorce, to release her from a dark past.

And then we have flashback to 5 years ago, and found out Ed and Yuen Yuen who was 20 then,  met in their university and fell in love after several sights. Against the wishes of her father who felt that she deserved more than this no good punk, they eloped and later married, and she was pregnant not so long later. And then Ed's long lost half brother came back demanding for money, and Ed finally found out why his father left his mother years before and took his brother, Enzo with him. Ed was not his father's child. But he loved Enzo and tried all he could to save Enzo from the evil clutches of a triad boss, if I am not mistaken his name was Hung Hei. But he failed and in the end Yuen Yuen and his unborn child suffered the consequences. Out of sheer anger, Ed wanted a revenge and cooperated with a police by the name of Louis to nab Hung Hei whilst Yuen yuen herself was caught up in a legal and life threatening mess. 

In the end, how did Ed ended up in jail? Who will Yuen Yuen choose? Takeshi, the new man or Ed, the ex hubby? 

Comments
When I first read this story, I thought it was like a story made for fans, as in you as a fan having your dream come true. Yuen Yuen idolised Takeshi and guess what? She gets to date him and perhaps marry him. After a while, there a more in this story. Anyway, I am going to concentrate more on the story rather than the author's writing style, so in a way when I am writing this review I am like writing a review for a series, and so I may have been a little bit harsher than I should be. Frankly, I have not much to talk about the way the author writes, except for one or two things. Let it be known, I do not like Edison Chan and his smirk smiles and his tongue sticking out of his mouth annoys me big time and I can never understand why every fan fiction I have read has him in it because I don't think he can act nor sing nor is he a good example for youngsters because I know he is serious about his career but the way he carries himself doesn't really connote such seriousness that he should have. Phew! 

Firstly, I will not talk about the accuracy of the medical procedures in here because I am not Dr Funn Lim. I am not going to talk about the accuracy of the depiction of gangsters, police investigations and love. I am not an expert in all field. I will talk about this story from the stand point of a reader, pure and simple.

This story took me a week to finish, not because it was that long in terms of chapters but because my interest in it was only so much. Frankly, I have nothing to talk about the structure or the way she writes, because I am ok with the way she presented her story, though sometimes the author will bring the story to such great heights and then suddenly used the most inappropriate words to end the chapters, thus making the ending a bit of an anti-climax. Since I have been reading so many anti-climaxes this whole week, I don't feel anything at all for this lack of suspense at the end of each chapter. I feel the author should end the chapters in a more suspenseful way, to make me turn the pages. 

Frankly, I hate doing comparisons. But I feel to improve you must learn from the best and the worst, to see what you should do and what you shouldn't. The best example of a page turner is actually the very 1st chapter of The Soul Seekers. I was very intrigued with the 1st chapter, and every word used created this eerie suspense and I thought after reading quite a number of fan fiction, that 1st chapter is the only one that made me feel "What a great beginning!", but of course what happened thereafter was nothing to shout about because the author spent too much time in romance, which I didn't really like. Another good example of a page turner is the story within this site of mine, No Turning Back. Each chapter makes you want to read the next, unfortunately for readers as I the author is updating at snail pace. Hopefully she maintains the consistency in her story.

So what has all this got to do with this story by YYL? A lot.

This story lacks a good beginning. What is has is an in depth description of the lead female character, Ho Yuen Yuen like..

"She opened one sleepy eye at the crimson, rosy clouds. The sun was shyly hiding between them.

Yes, this stunning young lady is Ho Yuen Yuen (Cecilia Cheung). Standing at a grand height of 1.75m tall and blessed with a willowy yet voluptuous figure, her face is another story to tell. A pair of delicate eyebrows lightly defines her almond eyes, which are the windows that lead to a gentle soul and brave heart. A big nose, inherited from her father's side of the family was inevitable. But it harmlessly soften what might have been an astutely perfect beauty. A pair of chiseled luscious lips ended the finishing touch to this lovely face. When her lips part, they never cease to smile, ushering care and warmth to other's hearts. When closed, they seemed to invite kisses and sweetness. It is a wonder she had diligently stayed single for the past 5 years.

Perhaps it is her loud hearty laughter that took away her femininity. Or maybe it is her lack of ability to flirt that produced innocent honesty causing most men to think twice...or...could it be something else...?"

What I don't like about this whole paragraph is this. Why must the author put "Yes, this...". For a moment I thought somebody else was narrating this story. That word didn't fit. You'll find such instances throughout the story and such words used pushes the potential the style that the author almost had to no where. It had no effect, no impact but pure annoyance to me. Disregard that, if you read the paragraph above, the author is trying to tell us how gorgeous this Yuen Yuen is, creating a certain aura surrounding her, like mischievousness, a nymph,  playfulness and the attraction that the opposite sex will feel for her upon setting eyes on her. But that's all only physical.

When we read about her personality, to our great horror..well read on. 

Later on she meets Takeshi and to build up a more mysterious aura about her, the author made Takeshi asked questions, upon observing her like..

"For an example, she had a few quirky habits that don’t seem natural to him. Whenever he is flirtatious or teases her, she has a tendency to stick her tongue out at him. He thought it was a cute gesture as part of her reaction. Sometimes she will cast a smirk at him, a crooked smile that seemed playful and seductive at the same time. When he asked whether she was being sarcastic, she shrugged innocently and claimed she was not aware of her actions. The mysterious part was these ‘tongue and smirk’ actions only occur when he is affectionately teasing her or being flirtatious. If other people teased her, she is more likely to laugh and make a funny face. He noticed when it is about other serious issues, like when he snapped at her during one of his gloomy days, she became so depressed and worried that it might be due to a mistake of hers that she was not aware of. He concluded there is more to it that meets the eye."

This is really very badly reasoned paragraph. On retrospect, after reading 26 chapters, I realise her sticking out tongue when she was flirted with was probably because this girl has a serious intimacy problem, considering what happened to her 5 years before. But we don't know that. And even with that retrospect, I still maintain my following observation. 

The truth is the only way to make a man want you is to make yourself mysterious, so that he would have to chase you around. That is what the author is trying to do, whilst connecting the present Yuen Yuen with the past Yuen Yuen. Sarcasm, sticking out her tongue, make funny faces, sometimes manic depressive, smirk at him...I was thinking, you know perhaps this girl just had no class. I really don't like Yuen Yuen, because I see her as an airhead, who is luckily blessed with a beautiful face and a good figure. Take away all that and all you have is one annoying little twit. Nope, I don't like her. I wonder in real life would a man ask himself;

"Why she smirks at me? Why she sticks out her tongue? Ahhhhhh..maybe she has a deep dark secret?!".

I really doubt that will be asked. As Takeshi I would think this girl desperately needs some lessons about manners, etiquettes and most of all, sophistication, which from reading all the chapters to my disappointment we have a pretty ordinary heroine who was caught up in the worst of circumstances. If you take away all the drama, she will be one boring character to read.

So let us go to the proper story. 

Things get a bit more interesting when Ed appears, and you will ask yourself, "Why ahhhh? What happened ahhhh?".

Well that is what you'll ask, more so when you read that Yuen Yuen has a horrible scar. Your curiosity will have you zooming into the relationship of Yuen Yuen and Ed, and also displaying to us why Ed is actually a great guy but caught up in everything because of blood ties which in retrospect, no blood ties at all! Well, the author did more than zooming. She showed us all microscopic details.

The whole story is about Yuen Yuen and Ed's past. I know it is rather unfair for me to say this but I was bored half way through the story, which was why it took me a week to finish it. The reason is simple; the author went on and on and on and on about how they met, how they fell in love, long chapters on meeting friends, longer chapters when it comes to investigations, all of a sudden we have Enzo (the person who ruined both their lives), more and more tragedy and more and more drama and more and more stars. When the author has the chance, she will pop one Nick Cheung here, Benny there, Charmaine somewhere, Louis suddenly appears, we have Faye, we have Kelly, we have Ritchie Ren, we have Eric, we have Lydia Shum, we have Lawrence Ng, Ada Choi, Bowie Lam, Alec Su. You name the star, she probably has it. Too many people that I lost track and I feel this story lost its focus for a while, and then it went back right on track, but by that time my interest in this story was nothing to shout about anymore. And even as I finished reading Chapter 24, there was still no answer why Ed went to prison. 

I know I know, you need time to build up the story, and the whole story is  about Yuen Yuen and Ed. I always said that you must build up the story. But I feel by half the story, the author has already built a "mega mansion" complete with ten tennis courts, 10 swimming pools, with 20  gardens with golden fountains and all. My point is  does the author have to be so long winded? She enjoys every chapter, which was obvious, she enjoys writing them so much her imagination is getting further and further away from the ending, and I believe if she ends this story abruptly, that will be the worst thing that could happen to this story. I am guessing Yuen Yuen goes back to Ed. Anyway, it is so long that after a while, it gets rather tedious. Running around the bush, poor Ed was like running out of one mess and into another, and Yuen Yuen was like blur most of the time. You must know when to end the story! If this was a TV series, I would have ended it earlier. Luckily this is not a TV series, if not you'll read hell of a review in E-Buzz. After 26 chapters, including all the advertisements, the making of scenes and interviews all imagined by the author, the story is still nowhere near the ending.  I was sitting in front of my computer thinking; "When will this all end?!" A bit frustrating for me when I am taken on a run around with no where near the answers. Which is why I have a love and hate relationship with X-Files. I only hope the author does not take 8 years to end the story with more questions than answers.

One thing I didn't quite understand. Yuen Yuen was 19 when she met Ed, she is now 25 years old, Ed and Yuen Yuen separated for 5 years, so they're left with one year for courtship, marriage, pregnancy, slashed, maimed, mutilated, became a fugitive, pick up the pieces and etc?! So many things happened in one year! But well, it is plausible. No comments, just an observation.

But there is one chapter that I quite like. It was where Yuen Yuen was brutally attacked, pumped heroine into her body, slashed and mutilated and her baby, sadly died. How the baby died is a mystery. One point we have Ed switching off the respirator because he didn't want to see the baby suffer, and another we have a medical report saying things like drug overdose or something like that. Truth is, this baby will probably be addicted to heroine once he was born but not by one shot though. Moreover, there is something called detoxification and all that happened between the poor baby and the angry Ed was simply pure unrealistic but plausible drama. Anyway, I like the brutality of that chapter and I think the author handled that part pretty well. The rest I can't say the same.

One thing I must comment on, is the character of Nick the autistic kid. A waste of space to talk about, just to illustrate how much Yuen Yuen misses her dead baby but could have been done in a variety of more effective ways.

Now that I have come to the end of my review, I finally realised what is the number one problem with this story, other than the length. There are so many wasted characters who just come and go and had absolutely nothing concrete to do but to divert your attention into what I do not know.

Yes, yes yes, I am very very frustrated reading this story and this review will be my worst. But I am commenting about the story. As for the author's writing style, I really have no comments except for what I have said above. What I feel the author should do is to control herself and  delete the unnecessary stuff and make it all much much much shorter.

You know, I am beginning to miss Takeshi who is only a ke-le-fe (colourfare) in here, even though the story started with him and Yuen Yuen. Poor guy, gone and forgotten. 

You know, after reading all the chapters I finally realise Yuen Yuen has a problem. Not in her attitude but in my observation of her. Remember the beginning where she was playful and all? Remember when Ed came back, and she was hysterical as to why he didn't care? Remember all the past incidents?  And My GOD! How could she so easily start a relationship with Takeshi after what had happened to her?! I know, you must live on but not that easily. She probably should be traumatised after that slashing on her body incident but wow! She wasn't even one bit traumatised and she cried only once when she was with Nick and then she moved on, no need for therapy, no fear of strangers, no depression, no anger, not even once did she scream at Ed for dragging her into this though she probably didn't mean to if she did. What an illogically strong girl. Either she is in denial, suffering from some form of amnesia or she is a super woman!

Funn's Recommendation
I am just picky. What I wrote above is because I didn't like the story but I have a feeling I will receive hate mails for my rather biased review with no concrete criticisms except that it was way too long and the words used are rather inappropriate for some chapters. So read it and you be the judge. Don't listen to this rather emotional me. Anyway, the author did an admirable job, rather imaginative author, could improve more on the way she presents the story BUT remember...SELF CONTROL. I have said this before in another review and I shall repeat it here, in case the author wants to add this quote into her story by me quoting somebody else;

"All good things, my friend, must end some day"

Some Tidbits
In some chapters you'll find some "The Making Of" of this story. Just imagine that Edison and Cecilia is filming this "movie/series" and you have  a rather funny and quirky chapters, which I feel is the most entertaining of the whole story.

Read quotes from many other people at the start of a chapter.

"Listen to songs when reading". Yep, the author loves songs in her series.

And if you're wondering what does LB : Love Bites refer to, it is actually a nickname that the nurses gave to the drug that was pumped into Yuen Yuen's body when the bad guys were trying to kill her to get to Ed. 

A Suggestion To The Author
If you really really want to put music into your story, there is a way. Find any MP3s, cut and save the appropriate part, encode them into WMA or RA format, add a code for a pop up window, so that when a reader click a chapter, the pop up window with the Realplayer embedded into that page will pop up, and you put up a list of songs in there. If you have two songs, let the player play one after another.

OR 

Put one realplayer for each song you want the readers to listen to at the appropriate places in the chapter, and put up a notice that they must only click the player when they come to a certain part of the story.

Good idea you know, to make your story more interactive.