by Pamella (link)
Genre het, romance, drama
Pairings Isaac/OFC, Taylor/OFC, Zac/OFC
Length 29 chapters
Status Unfinished
Whenever I see an early hanfic described as adult, I’m always amused and intrigued. Rarely do such stories live up to their names; instead, they tend to be some teenager’s imagining of what adulthood is like, typically with gratuitous amounts of sex. Never let it be said that I’m not a fan of gratuitous amounts of sex, though.
Although the story begins with the typical teenybopper setup–a girl who grew up best friends with Hanson–there are indeed a few adult elements. Unfortunately, Fynn’s name is the least of her problems; she really comes off as childish in spite of her constant drinking, smoking and cynical attitude. That, and the typical plot that also involves aging Hanson up, make me think Pamella might not be as adult as she wants her readers to believe.
Truthfully, very few of the characters in Stay are all that likable. What I can say for them, though, is that even when they behave terribly, they add more and more layers to what could have been a very simplistic plot. All in all, Stay doesn’t cover a lot of ground, but it does cover a lot of emotions. While I’m not always some of the characters’ biggest fans, I do enjoy the snappy dialogue. Pamella could have done a better job at not jumping from one character’s head to another during scenes, but other than the shoddy formatting, that’s my only technical complaint.
An author’s note at the end suggests that the story isn’t finished, but it ends on a perfect note that should be the end. What I expected to be a typical teenybopper attempt at an adult story is actually quite a good read. And the sex? It wasn’t gratuitous at all.
Review by Bethany (website)