by Becky and Natali (link)
Genre het, drama, romance
Pairings Isaac/Marit Larsen, Isaac/Nikki, Taylor/Alex Greenwald, Taylor/Michelle Branch, Taylor/Natalie, Zac/Kate, Zac/Marion Raven
Length prologue, 17 chapters (in parts) and epiloque
Status Completed (with in progress sequel)
I feel like I should start this by saying that I wasn’t much of a Michelle Branch fan back in the day. I can’t explain it; she rubbed me the wrong way. Now I love her music and find myself very, very fascinated by the hidden history that I only knew tiny hints of back then. A fic that attempts to reveal some of that history seems right up my current alley.
Becky and Natalie have made some changes from reality for Are You Happy Now? that I find a little difficult to swallow. I understand that, as fanfic authors, we’re allowed to manipulate reality all we want, but when so much is based on reality, I think it’s helpful not to make changes just to fit your plot. If your plot doesn’t work without altering large parts of accepted canon, in a story that’s meant to be close to canon, there may be problems with your plot. However, I’m willing to concede that others aren’t the sticklers for canon that I am.
That said, I think Becky and Natali do some interesting things with their characters, of which they have quite a few to juggle. I find Alex and Taylor’s strange, not-quite-relationship with him, incredibly compelling. Even Natalie is an interesting character who doesn’t get enough screen time; although she isn’t really a “love interest” here at all, her perspective as something of an innocent bystander could have been very, very interesting. And although the authors do incorporate music into the chapters, I think even more of a focus on how Taylor and Michelle’s music tells their story could have made Are You Happy Now? even stronger.
Ultimately, I see a lot of potential here. Are You Happy Now? comes so very close to telling the story as we fans assume to know it. With a bit more canon, and a little more attention paid to tense shifts (not to mention the random switch to first person), this story could be the sort that many fans accept as their version of canon. I’m curious to see what happens in the sequel, which veers further away from canon in ways that could be very interesting.
Review by Bethany (website)