Villa Le Duvall

[joandsarah]

Fly by comment as I take a cleaning break..

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Awesome wrap up chapter. I was another Louis hater and think the ending for him was better then he deserved! But I was very glad Donovan and Sasha ended up together.

[Tina ☺]

Thanks Holley and Jo! I'm so happy you both enjoyed it! Now, I can't wait to see what the three other people who usually read it will say.


Holley:

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Yeah, I don't think anyone is ALL bad and most people who are have their reasons, even if the reason is a mental problem...lol! I told you the ending was bittersweet. Well, it was a good run, but now it's all over. *sniff* Don't hold your breath for another one just yet. I'm fresh out of ideas! lol

Jo:

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Ah well, ever since I started this story, I've been pondering over the ending. I've killed poor Louis off many times, many different ways, in my mind, but when it came right down to it, I just didn't have it in me!
Psst, Sasha and Donovan were destined to be together from the beginning. That scene was also played around in my mind over and over on the best way to do it. At first, she was going to escape with him, but then I thought how cool it would be for them to stay at the villa.

Also, I toyed around with different ways for Sasha to be let down by Stephen. I was going to have her try to put the moves on him and have her learn her feelings were not reciprocated, but then I felt it would be cooler for her to overhear a conversation about her.

I was sure that someone would have a comment about my cool picture-editing skilz. Doing that was more fun than writing the story!

[holleyberry]

You know, Your pictures always look so natural I don't even think about them being editted.
Your that good!

[Tina ☺]

Hey thanks!

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I showed DH the pic of Sasha holding the two toddlers and I asked, how cool is that? He said he didn't know because it just looks like a regular picture to him. And I said that's what's so cool about it! Sims CAN'T hold two toddlers at once!

[Sarie]

First thing that popped into my head after reading that last post was: Picture Nerd Ownage!

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Well, that last chapter was quite an ending! I always knew Donovan and Sasha would end up together, but still... Five stars!

[Aussie Karima]

WOW!!!!...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................WOW!!!!



~PS~ Now, I go to mourn for a saga well written, & executed!

Tina, I did notice your brilliancy in editing the pic's, as my mind said 'Sims don't do that!', brilliantly done BTW!

Now..............I go to Mourn

[Tina ☺]

Thank you for reading, Sarie! I'm so glad you liked it. ;D

@karima! hehe... I know the feeling. I think I am sort of in mourning too. *sniff* I am SO glad the story is done, however I will miss it and the characters I think.

[valpre1983]

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!


Now, my thoughts:

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It was well written and your pictures were awesome. I like the trick you used with Louis's pose. I also loved the fun facts section.

BUT...

I'm very sad our love affair with the Duvall's over. Reading this series was like watching a really awesome movie in HD. It was definitely time well spent and I hope you'll be writing soon...it would be such a waste to stop writing while your creative juices are flowing (hint hint here to perhaps resurrect the Duvalls )

I liked....
the ending with Sasha and Donavan. They seemed destined to end up together from the moment they met but to have their relationship blossom like that was bittersweet.

Louis got exactly what he deserved I think, but still sad to see such an evil man being reduced to a loony moony.

Somehow I wasn't expecting Donovan to be the figure in the hood. I know you said you mentioned in Chapter eleven, I must have missed that part but I really thought it was Thomas.

You know how I'm not really a fan of vampires and the supernatural but your trilogy's written with such panache and flare that it's piqued my interest but it's also made me quite picky because now I don't think I'll be able to read another vampire story on the exchange without measuring it up against yours (And I'm not sure if that's a good thing).

I also liked the way the side characters interwove and mingled with the storyline without taking the focus off the main characters.

Now, I'm off to reflect on Villa Le Duvall's final bow. I can't believe it's over. Did you ever think it would become one of your projects for 2009? I mean you've been working on it almost the entire year! We really ought to make good contacts with publishers out there, this site is full of fantastic stories that should make it to storeshelves and your trilogy included....

I'm absolutely floored by the ending. A lot of it was unexpected but you wrapped it up with flare...

I know I keep saying I'm off to reflect and I just keep writing...but now I'm really off. I'm going to mourn the ending of a perfect saga!

[Tina ☺]

Wow, just.... wow! Thank you SO MUCH for that awesome review, Val! BTW, I stuck it behind a spoiler so that it has no chance of tipping off someone who hasn't read the story yet.

Actually, I am sad it's over too. I will miss them, but to carry on with it through another sequel would, I think, only serve to diminish the previous segments and take away some its 'flare' as you put it.

I appreciate the fact so much that you enjoyed the story as much as you did and that you gave it such a shining stamp of approval. I actually have moisture pulling up in my eyes right now. Thanks again!

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Actually, I never said WHO the cloaked man was in chapter 11, but I did make a point of steering the reader away from the idea that it was Thomas because of Shannon's horrified reaction. Thomas had been visiting her for a LONG time at that point, so she would not have been startled to see him there.

I figured that people may think it was Louis, or maybe Stephen who decided to pay her visit.

It IS sad to see Louis that way. As evil as he was, he was one of my favorite characters in the story. Gosh, he was SO MUCH fun to write! *sniff* I will miss him. *sigh* lol Like I said earlier though, I just could NOT bear the thought of killing him. Yes, I am a wuss!

[valpre1983]

ooops...did I give away too much in my review...me and my big mouth

[Tina ☺]

That's ok! It's why I put up a spoiler button on this forum! To use it, all you have to do is type out your message, highlight the parts you want behind the spoiler, and then hit that button up there on the right that looks like a little black face.

[jillyson]

Oh my God, Tina...That was AMAZING!!!

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Just to touch briefly on the photo skillz...that pic of Sacha holding the twins looked so natural that it never even dawned on me that sims can't actually do that until I read it in another post! Lol! The only two that looked visibly photoshopped were the Louis/pillow shot, and the one with Penny holding the baby, and even though you can tell they were "doctored", they were done very well and really added to the scene rather than detract.

Now, those shots with Donnie's head in Sacha's lap were fabulous!!! You have to spill how you made those happen! I wasn't sure about those two for a long time (I hoped, but I didn't feel sure, ya know?) but the tenderness of those shots - that's when I KNEW.

Now for the important part...the STORY!

I don't think there was any better way you could've wrapped this up. You were true to every single circumstance, every single character, every single nuiance of their personalities. Everyone acted as their personalities dictated they would throught the whole saga. To me, that's the most important thing. A lot of people will make their characters do things that go against the way they've been portrayed the entire time just to throw in what they consider an exciting "twist" ending. To me, that just screams "FAKE!" and ruins the whole thing. I applaud you for not "cheating" your characters out of the ending you worked so hard to bring them to.

Donovan being the cloaked man was a fabulous twist that I never saw coming, but made so much sense! It was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful writing!

I am SO pleased that he and Sacha got to have a "natural" family before he was turned. I love that he chose to do good by returning the DuVall tradition to the noble thing it was, and while I know there are no sequel plans in your future (right now - Lol!) I'd love to see a story about Sacha and Donnie increasing the DuVall fold in the way it was meant to be done. Don't worry. It's enough to know that they are doing it in the DuVall universe, whether we can see it or not!


Finally, the fate of Louis. Fabulous. I don't even know if I can come up with the words to say how perfect it was. Donnie stopped him from further perverting the DuVall tradition, yet without knowing it, brought him peace by bringing him back to Penny and their child. Genius.

Thank you, Tina, for the wonderful ride that has been the DuVall saga. We look forward to where your writing talents will take us next!

[joandsarah]

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Jillyson said: "Donovan being the cloaked man"

I forgot to mention that part. That had me totally fooled, I thought it was Louis, so that was a huge surprise.

[jillyson]

Jo, I saw your spoiler wasn't working, so I tried to modify your post & re-spoil it, but the same thing happened!

[Tina ☺]

Wow Jill! I am blown away your review! ;D Thanks you so much for the standing ovation! It makes me feel great to know that I accomplished exactly what I wanted with this story. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

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The shots of Donovan with his head in Sasha's lap were no great feat of mine. I simply used one of my couple's pose boxes for that...lol.

So crap, the pic of Louis and the pillow looked THAT fake, eh? lol Ah well, he was put there in three separate pieces and then the pillow was added...lol.

I fixed Jo's spoiler! The problem was you can't put a quote inside a spoiler. As a matter of fact, I don't think you can use any other tags at all inside a spoiler. It ends up breaking the spoiler tags...lol