by Kaylin (link)
Genre drama/angst, romance
Pairings Zac/OFC
Length prologue, 15 chapters and epilogue
Status Completed
Cancer stories are tough ones for me; if I had done enough research to realize that Through New Eyes featured that particular sort of plot, I might have given it a pass. Having the cancer patient be something of a Mary Sue doesn’t help, either, but I know Kaylin was young and so it’s almost par for the course for any story she might have written.
The basic plot is pretty simple, with few gory cancer details. The main character, Corey, just wants to meet Hanson before she dies. Of course, she gets said wish and it doesn’t stop with just one meeting. The boys, Zac in particular, decide to spend as much time with her as possible, even helping her live out some dreams like learning to drive and getting (fake) married.
There’s only the barest hint of romance in Through New Eyes, although in the end, Zac does refer to Corey as his first love. Keeping it simple and not overdoing it helps balance out the rather Mary Sue-ish setup of the guys immediately being taken by Corey. Kaylin’s writing is sparse but not bad, and the mixture of third person and journal entries actually works fairly well, even when it switches to Zac at the end. There isn’t a lot to this story, but what there is isn’t bad; it doesn’t stand out from the crowd now, but it would have been a sweet, touching little read back in the day.
Review by Bethany (website)