by Heather (link)
Genre het, drama, romance
Pairings Taylor/OFC, Zac/OFC
Length 29 chapters
Status Completed (sequel to Stray)
Stray ended on a positive note, perhaps too positive, considering how many problems were left unsolved. Naturally, with Fall Away, Heather endeavored to solve those problems, but not without throwing a few more obstacles at her characters first.
The beginning is a bit tedious, with Evie and Taylor’s problems largely seeming to be nitpicking and small personality clashes. Although the main event that sets the plot rolling is a bit random and doesn’t have much lead up even in the paragraphs just before it happens, it somehow works. I appreciate that no one else blames Evie for the accident as much as she blames herself; it ties in nicely with Taylor’s observations in the (real) song he writes about her.
My biggest complaint with Evie in Stray was the massive chip on herself that she has only taken a few chunks out of by the end of the fic. In Fall Away, we see even more that she is choosing to suffer even when she has every reason to be happy… if she could just figure out how. Unfortunately, Heather sends Evie away for a quick time skip so that we don’t actually see any of that character growth. Still, she and Taylor get their happy ending, even if it’s a little difficult to swallow.
Although Fall Away adds a lot to this short series, it suffers from the same problems as its predecessor. The endings of both are rushed, and Heather’s writing is uncharacteristically sloppy and unedited. I can’t say that these are her strongest works, but they still stand out from the crowd.
Review by Bethany (website)