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Underneath Era

2004-2006

 

All The Answers by Cyndi and Kate (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There still seem to be a few holes in the plot, but I’m not quite sure.
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Any Better Than This by Kristy (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Although Kristy’s writing is strong here, perhaps even stronger than the original, it can’t quite save a tired plot.
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Barfight by Steps (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Steps clearly had plenty of ideas for Barfight, but it’s a case of putting a few too many eggs in one basket.
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Before and After by Nyssa (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The basic plot here seems to revolve around the toll of Hanson’s early fame, which is an interesting topic, but I find it hard to relate to how bitter and angry Taylor is.
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Beneath the Waves by Heather (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Even if I did guess the slight twist, the reveal is no less affecting, and the characters are nearly all touching and relatable.
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Best Laid Plans by Stephanie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I understand the desire to keep writing about your beloved characters, but there comes a point when you don’t have anything new to say about them or do to them.
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Bid My Blood To Run by Misery (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Although I know there were two more stories planned after this one, they were never written and that leaves little resolution for the new plot developments that appear in the last few chapters
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Blind White Lies by Aura (link)
review by Bethany (website)
A lot of questions are left unanswered after so few short chapters, but Blind White Lies has such a unique premise that I can’t be too upset about its brevity.
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Blistered by Tiffany (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Although Zac narrates the story, the one with mental health issues is the female character he pursues.
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Breaking Free by Amanda W. (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There are a lot of tropes that have become strongly associated with Zaylor stories, at least in my mind, and Breaking Free covers most of them.
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California Living by Miss Dodger Blue (link)
review by Bethany (website)
As ambivalent as I felt about the first story in this series, Oklahoma Living, I wasn’t very hopeful for this one to impress me much.
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Collide by Heather (link)
review by Bethany (website)
For the most part, though, the emotional reactions to the drama are believable, and that’s what saves this story from being completely over-the-top.
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Concrete Angel by Ashley (link)
review by Bethany (website)
All these heavy topics — depression, suicide attempts, eating disorders — are easier for me to handle in those sort of small doses.
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A Different Kind of Dream by Shawna (link)
review by Bethany (website)
This is, once again, a case of a sequel not adding very much at all to a story.
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Distorted Blessings by Brittney (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I understand that an author’s bias will show through on certain issues such as this, but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant for a pro-choice person such as myself to read.
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The Divorce by Hazel (link)
review by Bethany (website)
This story attempts to balance Taylor’s dramatic story along with the story of an original female character, Jody, and for the most part, it’s successful.
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Dreamgirl by Shawna (link)
review by Bethany (website)
What does happen is well plotted and paced, and when Shawna nails her attempts at comedy, she really nails it.
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Drunk by Nicky (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Sometimes, stories just get too emotional for me to handle, and I could see from the start that Drunk had that potential.
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Embers by Ahestele (link)
review by Bethany (website)
While the pairing doesn’t interest me in the slightest, there has to be something good here if so many people love it, right?
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Even When I Stay by Tiffany (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The problem with a sequel, I think, is finding a way to make it fresh and not just rehashing everything that happened in the original story.
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Every Word I Say by Tiffany (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Tiffany happens upon some really nice prose every so often, and that makes reading it feel a little more worthwhile in spite of the other frustrations.
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Fall Away by Heather (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I can’t say that these are her strongest works, but they still stand out from the crowd.
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Fallen Down Angels by Heather and Kristy (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Another thing I’m not so fond of in chick lit is that one character — you know the one — who is just a bitch.
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Fragile by Beth and Toni (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The connection between Zac and Taylor is the strongest part of Beth and Toni’s writing, and it’s a shame they gave up on the story before that relationship progressed very far.
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Girls Like Us (Guys Like Them) by Andrea and Shannon (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There’s not a great deal I can say about the plot; it’s fairly typical and not really exciting, but I don’t see any huge flaws with the romcom-ish drama.
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Hair Like Fire by Diosa (link)
review by Bethany (website)
If you can allow yourself to be submerged into the world Diosa has created, you’ll be just as affected by the characters’ dramas as I am.
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Hanging by Megan (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It’s hard to pack much story into just thirteen chapters, and Megan does struggle with this.
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Hearts Will Bind You by Stephanie V. (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There’s a saying about how fiction has to make more sense than reality does. In the case of Hanson and their love lives, fiction needs to be less cliche, too.
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Hold Me Down by Mandee (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Although it’s clear from the start that Zac and Jovie would end up together, their relationship is nicely platonic until circumstances force them together.
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If Only I Could [Turn Back Time] by Gabi (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The title, as it turns out, is quite literal–that’s right, this fic involves time travel.
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If You Read This by Kerry (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Despite the chapter number, this really isn’t a very long read, and that’s a plus.
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Imprisoned by Cassandra (link)
review by Bethany (website)
While Cassandra’s writing is, at times, not too bad, I still can’t quite get over all the impossibilities in the plot.
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Journey Into Oblivion by Melody Blake and Taylor Quest (link)
review by Bethany (website)
If you’re looking for over the top, horribly written female characters and so many conspiracies and plots it will make your head spin, then Journey Into Oblivion may just be the fic for you.
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Just For Us by Auto (link)
review by Bethany (website)
While some of the twists and turns this story takes tugged at my heartstrings, the strange structure and poor writing kept it from being all it could be.
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The Last Perfect Thing by Heather (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Despite being a trilogy, these are not overly long stories. Each one accomplishes exactly what it is supposed to accomplish.
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Look to the Stars by Leigh and Amy (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Fair warning here: even steadfast cest fans may find some of this story’s details difficult to stomach.
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review by Paola (journal)
There are times in every fan fiction reader’s life when it really pays to be proven wrong. I am willing to admit that this is one of them.
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A Love Incognito by Taylor Quest (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Not surprisingly, neither are able to keep things under wraps, and that’s where things start to get weird, but not in the typical Taylor Quest way.
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Love Me by Presley (link)
review by Bethany (website)
A story with as much drama as Love Me needs to be handled with care.
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Love Song by Shannon (link)
review by Bethany (website)
While Shannon’s chapters are short and she does have trouble sticking to one tense at times, her writing is solid enough to sustain at least this length of a story.
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A Man On The Moon by Elisabeth (link)
review by Bethany (website)
When you don’t even know the author’s name (without doing a little digging), you know you’re in for something pretty mysterious.
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Mixtape Poetry by Presley (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I love the way Presley wove music into the stories — something that was clearly on her mind when she named the second one.
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More Than Anything by Shannon (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Given how much her writing has improved over the course of these two stories, it’s a shame the third story never went anywhere.
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My Shining Star by Sunshine (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There are moments that have potential for real, interesting drama, but it always seems to be resolved very quickly.
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Nearer To Thee by Ahestele (link)
review by Bethany (website)
This version of Marshall, a cop who is still connected to the streets he grew up on while also being dedicated to his job as a homicide detective, is very interesting.
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Office Hours by Ivey (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There is an actual plot beneath all the sexuality here, I promise.
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Oklahoma Living by Miss Dodger Blue (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There’s a reason this sort of plot has been written so many times. The idea of having two, even three, Hansons chasing after you? It just gets most of us right in our inner teenybopper hearts.
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Once More With Feeling by Krystal (link)
review by Bethany (website)
My final complaint? I want more!
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One Hundred and Two by Heather (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It’s a nicely contained, complete story. I’m curious to see how Lucy and Taylor’s story, which seems to end here, can continue on for not one but two more stories.
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Penny Lane by Morgana (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I want to roll my eyes at such a fractured fairytale having a happy ending, but the nearly polished (with only a few typos) writing and smart literary references make Penny Lane an almost perfect example of the sort of romances that early to mid-2000s hanfic did so well.
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The Places You Have Come To Far The Most by Kristin (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Her writing is a little weak at times, but her dialogue is fantastic and flows very, very realistically.
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Pretending He’s Beside Me by Akimbie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
From there on, the writing improves greatly, only occasionally falling back on the problems that plagued On My Own.
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Raking The Coals by Erin (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Whether it’s the sloppy writing, Erin’s rather childish interpretation of Taylor, or both, I’m having a really hard time connecting to this story.
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Regrets by Hayley (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I’m a firm believer that you don’t have to always like the characters in a story to like the story. If every character always did what you wanted them to do, that wouldn’t make for a very interesting read.
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Retrospective Itch by Dusty (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The mixture of past and present leaves me feeling impatient and hardly sated at all with the few answers I get along the way to explain how it all fits together.
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Slick Haze Mirror by Dusty (link)
review by Bethany (website)
With all of that in just the first chapter, you can imagine how much of a rollercoaster ride the entire story is.
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So Many Times Before by Kristy (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Stories about Hanson’s early days are always popular, so it’s interesting that Kristy has chosen to set this story during the recording of This Time Around.
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Stray by Heather (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It has just enough unique elements to remain interesting even if it mostly covers familiar ground.
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Sunshine in the Shadows by Taye and Jamie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
A part of me wants the story to go into seriously dark territory, but I’m not surprised that Taye and Jamie shy away from it.
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Tomorrow May Never Come by Holly Shomo (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It seems as though Holly had a lot of ideas, but was afraid to fully write them.
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Trampled Underfoot by Taye (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Unrelatable, unlikable characters are one of my biggest problems in any story, and I found that to be the biggest hurdle in this story.
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Truth of the Scars by Heather and Kristy (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The whole story is sort of like watching a trainwreck, but it all works out to a happy ending, somehow.
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Weak and Broken by Beccy and Jenn (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Although there are some cliche plot elements here and some time skips that make it a little difficult to follow, Beccy and Jenn are clearly skilled writers if not skilled plotters.
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What Is And What Should Never Be by Reebin (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The older woman thing has been done before, but the fact that Zac is actually of age makes this story a little different.
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The Wheels On The Bus by Crystal (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Although the writing leaves a little to be desired, these two authors set up interesting premises that are never fully realized.
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Whether You Want To Or Not by Kerry (link)
review by Bethany (website)
One thing that does impress me about this trilogy is the obvious thought Kerry has put into them — right down to how well the titles fit together.
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The You In You by Diosa (link)
review by Bethany (website)
If you can get through the beginning, you’re in for some comedy gold.
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You’ll Never Escape by Kerry (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It ends on a huge cliffhanger, which I’ve been waiting for, and will actually be anxious to see resolved in the final part of the trilogy.
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You’re Beautiful by Beth (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Parts of the last few chapters don’t entirely make sense — no matter which epilogue you choose to believe is the “real” one.
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You’ve Got To Love Somebody To Know by Lauren (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There are a few interesting ideas and subplots (or potential subplots) happening here, even if the basic plot is pretty thin and typical.
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