by Phyllis Black and Nikki Briefs (link)
Genre romance, drama, angst
Pairings Isaac/OFC, Taylor/OFC, Zac/OFC
Length 23 chapters
Status Completed
I remember this story from years ago, although I’m quite certain I never got around to reading it. The title caught my eye when I was scanning the list of nominees for the very first awards I received a nomination for, though. A few months later, I found out that it came from a Fleetwood Mac song. It’s funny how those small memories stick with you. That has little to nothing to do with the actual story, though, about which I’ve formed no preconceived notions except that I do love the title.
My first impression of the story itself is that it’s rather poorly formatted, with no line breaks between paragraphs except to indicate scene changes. The first chapter is short, although they do get longer after that. The scenes are fairly short, but it almost works, since some of them are just quick glimpses of a girl who seems to be stalking Zac.
The writing remains rather sloppy, though, and the quick scene changes make it difficult to develop much of an attachment to any of the characters — especially Zac. Even with his justifications, it’s hard not to hate him for cheating on his girlfriend with Eve. For several chapters, the drama revolves around that and only that. I’m sure at some point, he’ll have to discover that she’s his stalker, but frankly, I’m getting a little tired of waiting for that moment.
As the plot advances, a lot of time is skipped over and only rarely are clues given to tell just how long has passed between chapters. That’s pretty frustrating. When the truth starts to come out about Eve, it’s pretty cliche; Taylor and Isaac’s wives find her secret shrine to Zac, of course. What did surprise me was the action Eve took before knowing she’d been discovered. It seemed totally against her entire plan to suddenly turn into a runaway bride. It became less of a surprise when the following chapter revealed that she’d stolen a chunk of his money before vanishing.
Not surprising at all, given the story’s title, is that in her absence, Zac develops a drug problem. I was wondering whether the song would prove to have any relation to the story, aside from the strange scene when a room full of drunk women have a serious emotional reaction to it. That part is never really explained, but it is a pretty emotional song. Not surprisingly, either, the story doesn’t have a happy ending. It’s not an unsatisfying ending, but the entire story leaves a lot to be desired thanks to the sloppy writing and occasional teenybopper moments.
Review by Bethany (website)