by Leigh (link)
Genre het, romance, comedy
Pairings Taylor/OFC
Length 20 chapters
Status Completed (with unavailable sequel)
New York City is a common setting for hanfics, and I think this can be attributed both to Hanson’s short tenure there as well as the popularity of tv shows like Sex and the City. At Twenty Five is likely influenced by the latter, since Hanson is nowhere to be found and the story is instead populated with twenty-something women trying to make their way in the big city and one trust fund baby also known as Taylor Hanson.
The story begins with a drunken wedding between Taylor and the narrator Piper, and gets no less ridiculous from there. Neither are particularly sympathetic characters, nor is Piper’s characterure of a southern debutante mother. I’m sure I’m supposed to feel some sympathy for Piper, having run away to New York to escape her mother’s plans for her life, but I just don’t. Everyone in this story behaves atrociously.
Including Taylor. For reasons that are never explained, he choses first to return to his ex-fiancee and then to insist on introducing Piper to his new, younger girlfriend. While the sex following an explosive fight with Piper is fun to read, there’s no resolution. No one apologizes or explains their behavior over the year that Taylor and Piper were quickly married and almost as quickly divorced.
Usually, I’m happy to at least see that a story ends happily, but it hardly feels like Taylor and Piper deserve this happy ending. Add in Leigh’s overblown writing and incogruous British slang, and At Twenty Five is a story that’s just really trying too hard.
Review by Bethany (website)