by Graven Meyerr-Christie (link)
Genre het, drama/angst, romance
Pairings Taylor/OFC
Length 20 chapters
Status Unfinished
“I love you,” they said is a story that flew just a bit under the radar, although it was popular enough in its time that I’ve read a few good reviews of it. Unfortunately, what’s popular days of the fandom often doesn’t hold up when read today, and that’s true for this fic.
The first strike against this fic is that Graven named the protagonist after herself. The second strike is that Graven (the character) and her love interest Taylor are both rather insufferable. It takes until the final published chapter, which isn’t actually the end of the fic, for Graven to admit her feelings to Taylor, yet so much of her behavior up to that point has been based on Taylor not doing what she wants him to do. How can he, if he doesn’t know how she feels?
Of course, Taylor isn’t perfect either, as proven by his impending teen fatherhood with Graven’s best friend Liz. Liz is, in fact, the most likable character in the story, and one who deals surprisingly well with the tragedy that befalls her and Graven early on in the fic–the tragedy that lands them both in the Hanson household.
It’s an immature, typical teenybopper sort of set up for the story, and many of the plotlines that follow are as well. Graven’s writing is strong enough that if she had kept up this story or tried another once she was a bit older, I think she could have had a real hit on her hands. As it is, “I love you,” they said only barely stands out from the hundreds of other teen angst-fest fics out there.
Review by Bethany (website)