by Lauren (link)
Genre cest, drama, romance
Pairings Isaac/OFC, Taylor/OFC, Zac/OFC, Zaylor
Length prologue and 14 chapters
Status Unfinished
In spite of its enduring popularity, there isn’t a whole lot you can do with the Zaylor genre unless you veer off into serious alternate universe territory. Making a “canon” version of the brother/brother tale feel fresh and unique is tough, and although I do like how Lauren plays with the roll their music plays in it all, You’ve Got To Love Somebody To Know falls a bit short of the mark.
Lauren’s chapters are short and a bit disjointed; one scene doesn’t always lead right into the next and the time skips can make it difficult to feel the emotional progression of the story. On the flip side, overlapping scenes from different points of view aren’t differentiated enough to feel necessary.
Although the story was discontinued at a nice point, there are still a few loose ends left–such as Isaac’s reaction to finding out Taylor is gay. There are a few interesting ideas and subplots (or potential subplots) happening here, even if the basic plot of You’ve Got To Love Somebody To Know is pretty thin and typical. That, combined with Lauren’s un-edited writing, doesn’t make for an especially memorable story amongst the Zaylor renaissance of this era.
Review by Bethany (website)