In honour of my birthday this year I present to you...
Readingreylo's Absolute Favourite Reylo Fanfics
Jessie's be-all and end-all fic list. The fics that I have re-read multiple times. The fics I would pay money for. The first fics I reach for when I've had a shity day. The fics that I have downloaded and printed off and have in a secure place in case the internet ever goes down. Those fics.
(And because it's me, 90% of these are Modern AU. There are some incredible canonverse fics that I have enjoyed, but not many that I come back to again and again like these fics)
Janus by englishable | @englishable | Teen | 48k | Complete | Modern AU | Neighbors | strangers to friends to lovers | Slow burn | Recovering drug addict!Ben | Ben POV | She moves into the apartment beside his, with her flowers and her singing and her brisk optimism, and Ben Solo knows himself just well enough to realize that a person like him really shouldn't have anything to do with a person like her. His good friend Snoke, of course, has other plans, because he gets a certain enjoyment from watching Ben - Kylo Ren, rather, as he calls him - screw things up. Which Ben inevitably does: but that's not where he wants them to end, and maybe Rey doesn't either. | The story of a man facing down his demons and moving forward with his life. | Brillaint charcterization across the board (Snoke was a highlight!). Not just a regular romance, but episodes in Ben's life that culminates in a satisfying payoff. Loved the use of flashbacks. I can't get over all the little details the author pulled from canon to weave into the background! This was the first fic I printed out to keep for a rainy day.
Hanging by a Moment by crossingwinter | @shmisolo | Explicit | 44k | Complete | 2000s AU | Funerals/wakes | Dysfunctional Family Drama | Misunderstandings | Chronic illness | Angst with a HEA | Ben POV | There are many things that Ben could have tolerated about his parents’ divorce. That his mother had finally had it with his father’s borderline illegal—or rather, as he liked to put it, borderline legal—company, the shady activities it covered that would doubtlessly end her political career if a reporter got hold of them; that his father had finally had it with the way his mother nags, because sure, he’d thought it was hot twenty years ago, but he is in fact an adult who can actually keep his shit together—all that he would have gotten. He’d have been wrecked, but he’d have gotten it. His dad leaving his mom for a nineteen-year-old gold-digger though, and his mother not even putting up a fight—that had caught him by surprise. | Ben comes home after years away for his father's funeral to deal with his gold-digger step mother. But nothing is what it seems, and this week away will turn his life upsidedown. | The story, the tension, the emotion! It feels like a movie! Great characters and plot! Drama and romance and a touch of humor with a beautiful and satisfying ending!
between two lives by neonheartbeat | Explicit | 31k | complete | Modern AU | Strangers to lovers | Fashion Model!Rey | Mechanic!Ben Solo | PTSD | military backstory | sexual disfunction | psychological trauma | CW: graphic depiction of violence | Rey POV | Rey Niima, a model driving from Chicago to New York, finds herself broken down in the middle of nowhere, Indiana, without any way to fix her rented car. Ben Solo, the big, silent, resident jack-of-all-trades in Kirby, a town with almost two hundred people, happens to come across her on the road, and offers her a place to wait for a tow, but Ben has a secret he's not willing to share, and Rey is determined to find out what it is... | I cannot count how many times I have read this fic. There is just something about the characterizations, the raw-ness that keeps bringing me back. The story itself is deceptively simple, but sets the stage for multiple emotional punches. On the technical side it's so well crafted. Love the author's prose and the pacing and plotting are engaging. The smut is out-of-this-world hawt.
a place to go by delia-pavorum | @delia-pavorum | Explicit | 52k | Complete | Modern AU | Snowed in | Christmas | Strangers to lovers | Sharing a bed | Cabincore | Canada | Multi POV | Rey is a teacher trying to have some peace and quiet over the holidays. Ben is a writer trying to run from his problems. They both end up snowed in at Luke's cabin. | This feels like a hallmark christmas movie, you know where its gonna end up, but the chemistry and Charcterizations surprise you along the way. With beautifully written prose, an attention to detail that adds a richness and some *chef kiss* smut.
Flux & Solder by angharabbit | @angharabbit | No longer available | Explicit | 23k | Complete | Modern AU | Neighbors | Domestic Reylo | Retired RCMP!Ben Solo | Artisan!Rey | Angst PTSD | Sexual Disfuction | HEA | Multi POV | Rey’s established a quiet life in the suburbs. Working in her stained glass workshop and reading on the front porch may not be enough though, after a new neighbour makes her question her accepted loneliness. | Brilliant and beautiful! Soft and lovely with a healthy dose of emotional constipation and personal drama. It's not fast-paced, but it's by no means slow or boring. If you can't tell, I love haunted-by-demons Ben Solo, and this fic has that in many suprising details! One of the first fics I truly realized "That's my favourite!"
Cupcake Wars by crossingwinter | @shmisolo | Explicit | 36k | Complete | Modern AU | Enemies-to-lovers | Bakers | Rivals | Hate Sex | Rey POV | Entirely by accident, Rey ends up fucking someone who works for Snoke's Cupcakery. She's just blowing off steam. It doesn't mean anything at all. It certainly won't come back to bite her in the ass. | or Rey and Ben work at rival bakeries, and are hooking up for hate sex on the side. What starts as casual slowly becomes anything but. | Beautifully written, fleshed out with great steamy smut. Such a great realized story. Not what I was expecting AT ALL!
Children and Other Wild Animals by Virginia_Tradescant | @silmarilliant | Explicit | 90k | Complete | Modern AU | FBI | Witness Protection | Bodyguard | Organized Crime | Undercover agen!Ben Solo | Hitman!Kylo Ren | Teacher!Rey | Schools/Children | Forbidden relationship | Pining | Drama | Action/violence | Angst | All-aboard-the-pain-train | HEA | Multi POV | Ben Solo's return to field work should be easy, but a sting operation to draw out a mole within the FBI, disguised as Witness Protection will test his every resolve and push him to his limits. Caught in the crossfire is Rey Niima, a early childhood educator who is just trying to live her life.
Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations. by crossingwinter | @shmisolo | Mature | 74k | Complete | Canonverse | TFA re-write | Strangers to friends to lovers | Action | Angst | Multi POV | Ben woke, but Luke’s saber wasn’t ignited. Instead, he saw a master who had shattered his trust, who thought he was a monster, and—worse—he was probably right. So he fled Yavin IV, to Skywalker’s dismay, and no one heard from him since. Years later, on a wasteland planet, a girl and a fugitive stormtrooper board a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter in desperation to find they are not the only ones trying to steal it. | or Ben Solo is on the run from the voices in his head, and gets caught up with a girl, a former stormtrooper and a droid carrying a map to luke skywalker | A brillaint exploration of the butterfly wing effect! You think you know where the story is going, because it's so familiar, but it veers off in suprising directions! Love the story!
Sip the Honey Sweet by dietplainlite | General | 14k | Complete | Historical AU | Edwardian | Prince Edwards Island | Romance | Strangers-to-lovers | Falling in love | Heartbreak | Angst | teacher!Rey | Jewish!Ben Solo | Reconciliation | story within a story | Rey POV | Spring, 1902. It's Rey's first day of teaching at Chandrila school on Prince Edward Island. Her perfectly planned morning starts off on the wrong foot, setting her on a completely unexpected path. | or Rey manages to catch the eye of a man no one has been able to entice before. Friendship blossoms into romance, but Ben's past haunts him. | Beautifully evocative and romantic! Well written, with a charming story. Loved the characterizations and backstories. So much packed into 15k.
At the Edge, Alone, and Burning by Ben_Solo_Good_Boy_Sweater_Emporium | Teen | 24k | Complete | Histroical AU | 1920s | Strangers to lovers | Orphan!Rey | Lighthouse Keeper!Ben Solo | Small town gossip | Marriage of convenience | Falling in love | Rey POV | Orphan Rey starts a new life for herself in a small coastal Maine town. There barely two weeks her life is thrown into turmoil when her benefactress dies unexpectedly. Faced with returning to the loneliness and poverty of the orphanage she instead accepts a marriage proposal from the equally lonely lighthouse keeper, Captain Solo. | Wonderfully romantic! I love the dynamic and budding romance between Rey and Ben. Just the right amount of angst and small town drama. The ending is tooth-rottingly sweet!
The Ballad of You, Me, and Everything in Between by bluetoast | @blue-toast17 | Explicit | 27k | Complete | 1960's AU | A/B/O | Strangers to lovers | Road trip | Porn with Plot | lactation kink | breeding kink | Domestic Fluff | Falling in love | HEA | Multi POV | "Alpha Ben Solo just wanted to get to his new job in Yellowstone National Park by the weekend. He'd had it planned out - get through the major cities outside of rush hours, be there and settled by Saturday. Pretty easy, considering most traffic was headed east, to Woodstock. That was before an omega named Rey Johnson tapped on the window of his Volkswagen bus in some spit in the dirt town in Ohio asking for a ride." | No drama, just fluff, romance and lots of smut! I am such a sucker for a good period peice and bluetoast writes them well!
Back Together by UnderTheCancerMoon | Explicit | 20k | Complete | Modern AU | Infidelity | Strangers to friends to lovers | Drama | Minor Rey/Poe & minor Ben/Bazine | Multi POV | Rey discovers her husband has been having an affair with a colleague. Ben's wife abruptly leaves him after telling him she's in love with someone else. An unusual relationship develops as two strangers try to figure out how to put back the pieces of their broken lives. | Deliciously angsty! A brilliant peice about hurting people finding love again. Every time I read this fic, I can't get over how 'real' these characters and the world they inhabit feel!
the man, the stallion, and the wind by voicedimplosives | @voicedimplosives | Explicit | 17k | Oneshot | Modern AU | Roadtrip | Strangers to lovers | Snowed In | Multi POV | Weary and alone, Rey barrels west on the Trans-Canada Hwy in her old pickup truck. Weary and in need of a lift, Ben Solo stands by the side of the road with his thumb out, in the hopes of hitching a ride. One hell of a winter storm’s about to roll in, leaving them stranded. What ever shall they do? | it's a pretty predictable plot but the charcterizations feel so genuine that you don't mind at all. Well written with interesting backstory and steamy smut and delicious chemistry. And it's set in Canada too!
The Tenant of Theed Cottage by WaterlilyRose | @waterlilyrose | Explicit | 9k | Oneshot | Historical AU | Regency | Family Drama | PWP | Rey POV | Rey has been a ward of the Organa-Solo family since the age of six. Her memories of their only son Ben Solo are brief but powerful. Now, after a thirteen year absence, he has taken possession of a home within close range of his old family seat. Rey believes a reconciliation can come about. The man is not the boy she remembers and she could soon come to realise she longs for more than the return of a boy she knew so briefly but now recognises as a powerful man. | This feels like a Jane Austen movie adaptation! Steamy AF and Love the plot!
The Runners Up
More fics that I adore, have re-read many times, and you absolutley should read!
