by Abby Young (link)
Genre het, romance, drama
Pairings Taylor/Natalie, Taylor/OFC
Length prologue, 13 chapters and conclusion
Status Completed
This is the first hanfic I’ve read (and finished) in a very long time. Probably over a decade, to be honest. I doubt that it’s one I usually would have been drawn to but a recc from KT piqued my interest.
The story centres on Taylor’s uncanny stalking ability. A fan has caught his attention online, and he spends countless hours during downtime on tour following her every move across nearly every social media platform. Inevitably she eventually comes to a show, and inevitably they finally meet. Emotional chaos ensues.
The format of the story is produced with short (sometimes long) journal entries written from Taylor’s POV, and some of the timeline initially doesn’t make sense. Why does he need a new heading for an action that’s continuing only two-five minutes later? Surely if he’s writing an entry about events on a Walk he’d recap the whole thing and not cut it up into entries before/during/after? But despite my reservations about the formatting, it does gladly make sense in the end. This certainly isn’t a clear-cut story to begin with.
Considering I’m not usually interested in reading anything that surrounds a sexual (or romantic) relationship, I was surprised by what a page turner this fic was. I started reading when I got up this morning, took a short break, and finished within a couple of hours much to the dismay of my eyes. I still can’t quite see properly because of it. Was the ride worth it? Definitely.
As for the ending, I actually thought it would end darker and I’m undecided on what I preferred. There were definite hints throughout at least the second half of the story, but I was led in a slightly different direction to where it ended up. It did make the ending a surprise though which is not often a bad thing. In this case it left me with a lot of ‘what if’s.
I do recommend this story for anyone wanting to get sucked into a mystery without realising you’re getting sucked into a mystery. For a good while you forget that something’s coming and you wonder how this can possibly be anything but boy-meets-girl-and-cheats-on-wife. But I promise you, it’s definitely there and it’s definitely worth it.
Review by Aimster (tumblr)