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Sibling Rivalry – The Beginning

by Frances (link)

Genre cest, romance, drama
Pairings Isaac/OFC, Taylor/OFC, Tike, Zac/OFC, Zaylor, Zike
Length 14 chapters
Status Completed (part of a series)

Sibling Rivalry is, effectively, a sequel to a short story Frances wrote, and so it begins rather abruptly, in the middle of the action. That sort of beginning can be done well, but if you haven’t read the first story, The Chair, you might be a little confused here.

The chapters are fairly short, and switch back and forth between perspectives quickly. I have to pay close attention to be sure who is saying what, but Frances does eventually start marking the perspective changes. Between that and how quickly both Isaac and Isabelle and Zac and Taylor’s relationships are discovered… well, it all just moves just a hair too fast, even if I do find the premise interesting.

It gets even more interesting when it turns out that Zac and Taylor aren’t entirely on the same page, each having different ideas about the exact nature of their relationship. An unorthodox solution to Zac’s problem is devised, one that leads to a pretty steamy scene, followed by more drama and even more steamy scenes. Frances never lets the story devolve into pure smut, instead letting the sexual tension come just to the edge of boiling over… until the end of the story. I wasn’t so sure about the quick pace of it at first, but when Frances finally brings all the siblings together in a way that wouldn’t be possible without Isabelle’s character, she wins me over, and sets the stage for a very interesting sequel.

Review by Bethany (website)