by AJ (link)
Genre het, drama/angst, romance
Pairings Isaac/OFC
Length 25 chapters (in two parts)
Status Unfinished
First things first–if AJ’s apparent poor formatting bothers you, read Never Broken Promise through something like Readability. Something in the coding in her site has stripped out all punctuation. Adding the punctuation back in helps only a little, though, as the fic’s plot is still very weak.
I tend to like pre-fame stories, but AJ relies on all the cliches here, and the boys’ rise to fame really isn’t part of the story at all. The story actually centers on a typical Mary Sue who has suffered a great loss before the story and suffers even more as an obsessed Hanson fan stalks her and forces her to think running away is her only option for survival. That might be a little unique, but misguided, and the way the entire Hanson family dotes on her and all but adopts her is eye-rollingly cliche.
At least the romance with Isaac is a bit different, as he often gets the shaft in hanfic. Unfortunately, his romance with Devon leaves a lot to be desired, as they spend half the fic oblivious to how deep their feelings go, and the other half cuddling and exchanging sweet talk. The build up is nonexistent, and the last bit of drama Devon experiences–before AJ ceased writing the story–comes completely out of nowhere as well. While her writing is better than it seems, the plotting and emotional arc of Never Broken Promise leave quite a bit to be desired.
Review by Bethany (website)