by Elizabeth (link)
Genre het, romance, drama
Pairings Isaac/Kate, Isaac/Natalie, Isaac/Nikki, Taylor/Natalie, Taylor/Nikki, Zac/Kate, Zac/Natalie
Length 32 chapters
Status Completed
Elizabeth is possibly the biggest fan of alternate universe stories that I’ve seen, but her alternate universes almost always contain the characters we’re familiar with, just arranged into different configurations. Stained Red doesn’t deviate as far from reality as some, instead imagining a world in which Natalie married Isaac instead of Taylor.
It’s quickly revealed that that marriage was based on a lie–Isaac isn’t the father of their oldest son. Whether the father is Taylor or Zac is revealed as the story goes on, but once the initial lie is revealed, everything unravels. In spite of her promiscuous past–hell, even her promiscuous present–much of the story revolves around Natalie just trying to get through day to day life with her children. It’s a strange contrast, but one that kind of works. I found her to be a fairly sympathetic character, though I know that not all readers did.
As the story goes on and all the lies come to the surface, Stained Red becomes the sort of twisted soap opera I’m used to from Elizabeth. That is, nearly every possible pairing happens at some point and it’s anyone’s guess what the final pairings will be. Everyone’s fate is left a little up in the air, with the story wrapping up pretty quickly after they all start down the path to their happy endings. For Elizabeth, this is a fairly tame story, and if you like a “what-if” sort of AU, it should be right up your alley.
Review by Bethany (website)