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Keep You Close

by Kristy (link)

Genre het, romance, drama
Pairings Isaac/Nikki, Taylor/Natalie, Zac/Kate, Zac/OFC
Length prologue and 15 chapters
Status Unfinished

It’s interesting how each era of hanfic has its own distinct trends. Keep You Close invokes a few popular ones from its zeitgeist, but it does so in a way that manages to mostly not be cliche or boring.

Despite the infodump of a first person prologue, the rest of the story (what there is of it) is in third person, allowing us to see both Zac and Farrah’s perspectives. While his attraction to her is mostly described in physical terms, it develops slowly and sweetly over the course of the story, which is impressive considering she’s already five months pregnant with another man’s baby when the two of them meet.

Kristy avoids any uncomfortable talk of abortions by having Farrah and her baby daddy stay together initially, thus absolving her of any need to consider giving up the baby. That’s a little too convenient, but it at least keeps unpleasant politics out of the story. Likewise, she gets Kate out of the way easily while also leaving the possibility of her returning to Zac’s life–and she does, at least once.

Unfortunately, Keep You Close was abandoned right after Zac and Farrah had their first semi-official, unconventional first date. There’s no resolution there at all for anyone who has read the previous fourteen chapters, which hold a lot more action than so few chapters have any right to. Still, the story doesn’t feel rushed and I have high hopes that Kristy would have eventually given Zac and Farrah the happy ending they deserved. If you don’t mind that such an ending wasn’t actually written, you’ll find Keep You Close a nice, not too light or too heavy read that does chicklit just right.

Review by Bethany (website)