by Jennifer (link)
Genre het, romance, drama
Pairings Taylor/OFC
Length 53 segments
Status Completed (with sequel)
A Million Memories is a story that keeps popping up whenever I search for early hanfics. I can only assume it was well read and well liked in its day, but unfortunately, that’s where it fits best–its time.
The plot is a series of unbelievable incidents. The narrator, who runs a Hanson fansite, has made an online friend from Tulsa who knows Hanson. She’s lucky enough to get a phone call from Taylor and persuade the entire family to come stay with her family and play a concert in her hometown. Her hometown, by the way, is Blacksburg, Virginia, and Jennifer describes it so well that I’m sure it’s her hometown, as well. That’s a novel detail for someone like me, from that general part of the country, but it only cements that fact that this is a self insert of the highest order.
Still, there’s something almost endearing about just how brazen this story is in its wish fulfillment narrative. This isn’t great literature. This is a small town girl, obviously mocked for her Hanson fandom, who imagines a world where the boys of her dreams swoop in and save her from the bullies. A Million Memories isn’t a story any of us would read today for its high quality writing, but it’s a pretty accurate snapshot of what it was like to be a teenage fangirl.
Review by Bethany (website)