by Emma (link)
Genre het, drama/angst, romance
Pairings Taylor/OFC, Zac/OFC
Length 13 chapters
Status Unfinished
The title of this story suggests comedy (something that the first story has a little bit of), but it quickly becomes full of drama. The title is quite literal–years after parting ways with Corinne, Taylor has become an alcoholic mess in need of rehab that can apparently only be provided by his psychologist ex-girlfriend.
Massive coincidences aside, because a lot of stories wouldn’t exist without them, Rehab My Ass isn’t quite the typical reunited-after-years-apart sequel. Although Taylor is a mess who claims to still be in love with Corinne, she is in a seemingly happy relationship and doesn’t show any undue affection toward Taylor. The fact that they don’t immediately fall back into each others’ arms is actually refreshing.
Of course, Corinne’s position in Taylor’s life allows her to show how much she still cares for him without getting too close–at first. It isn’t long before she starts to think she might still love him, but those feelings are balanced out well with her feelings for her fiance, who isn’t made into a villain. All of that works well for me, although the sub-plot with Zac and Serena getting back together moves way too fast. The lack of resolution, since Emma never finished Rehab My Ass, is disappointing. It is, however, an improvement over the original, with a bit more subtlety to most of the plotlines, in spite of what the title might suggest. If Emma had managed to finish it, my overall impression of the two stories would be much more positive.
Review by Bethany (website)