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When the Earth Shakes

by Sarah (link)

Genre het, drama/angst, romance
Pairings Isaac/Nikki, Taylor/Natalie, Taylor/OFC, Zac/Kate
Length 21 chapters and epilogue
Status Completed

It’s funny how there are little pockets of the Hanson fandom scattered all over the web. Although Mibba seems to be popular with other fandoms, largely the Mary Sue writing portions of them, it isn’t big in hanfic. I can only hope that When the Earth Shakes isn’t as much of a Mary Sue fic as most I’ve seen on the site.

The story does introduce a female character, Savannah, early on. She’s obviously somewhat friendly with them, as she works for 3CG, but shows no interest in any of them aside from friendship and concern over Taylor’s emotional state since Natalie’s death. The truth about her death is conveniently kept a secret from the readers and Savannah, but it feels natural to hold it back, as the way Taylor is dealing with that death is the primary focus of the story.

That’s where Sarah’s strength lies, really. The story balances out Taylor’s problems and Savannah’s problems really well, forcing them to help each other rather than one or the other being the primary character. The actual romance of it progresses slowly, only interrupted by an unnecessary cameo from another celebrity suitor. Even without that cameo, Taylor and Savannah’s relationship would still have progressed at the same slow but steady rate, until finally reaching its boiling point, and I think it might have even been better without it.

The needless celebrity cameos get worse as the story goes on, and take away from what really isn’t a huge, sweeping story. The best parts of When the Earth Shakes are the little interactions between Savannah and the three Hanson brothers. Sarah nails their personalities in some of her bits of dialogue, although there are a few strange mistakes that might be attempts to create an alternate universe, but I’m just not sure. Those and the various cameos take away from what is otherwise a touching story.

Review by Bethany (website)