by Akimbie (link)
Genre cest, drama, angst, romance
Pairings Taylor/Jonny Lang, Taylor/OFC, Zac/Bob Moffatt, Zac/OFC, Zac/OMC, Zaylor, Zaylor/OFC
Length 54 chapters and epilogue
Status Completed (with sequel)
Years ago, I started reading an unfinished and very sad Zaylor story. I eventually abandoned it, most likely due to the sadness and unfinishedness, but it stuck with me for years. I couldn’t remember the title, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it must have been On My Own. Realizing just how popular of a story it actually was, I was really interested to finally finish reading it.
My immediate impression of On My Own is that it’s very hard to follow. There are some awkward and abrupt scene transitions, tons and tons of messy run-on sentences, and the dialogue is formatted improperly so that it’s often impossible to tell which person is speaking. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves, but I forged on. The initial premise — Zac and Taylor already being together and inviting fans along for threesomes — intrigued me enough to see it through.
By the first interlude, I was certain this was the story I’d read years ago. None of the details, aside from their split up and the interludes, seemed familiar, but that was enough. The poor writing was definitely not familiar, though, and was a big disappointment. Several scenes were really hard for me to even follow due to the lack of separation between the end of one scene and the beginning of the next, and having no clue who was actually speaking anyway.
Despite the rather poor writing, there is something captivating about the story. The multitude of pairings listed above make a lot more sense in context. It is, at times, a bit of a revolving door situation, but it’s meant to be a highly emotional story. Nearly each character gets at least a brief turn narrating, although the focus remains primarily on Zac and Taylor. Their mood swings are the most believable of all, showing in rather realistic detail how this sort of relationship might really play out.
I’ve heard that Akimbie was conflicted by the attention this story, not the first of its kind but the most widely popular, brought to Zaylor. I think the steaminess of the sexy scenes probably played a large part in that, although they’re far from the best I’ve read. Despite the fact that she did, ultimately, portray the harsh realities of two brothers in love, there’s something interesting about that sort of tale that makes other people want to write their own take on it. On My Own is far from the best Zaylor story I’ve ever read, but it’s hard to deny that it was groundbreaking in its own way.
Review by Bethany (website)