by Hazel (link)
Genre het, romance, drama
Pairings Taylor/Natalie, Taylor/OFC
Length 28 chapters
Status Completed (with unfinished sequel)
Taylor’s marriage changed things for hanfic writers. It left us with a big problem. Do we try to write about his life with a wife and child, or do we ignore it and rewrite his history? The Divorce is probably one of the first stories to attempt to tackle his marriage — and a fictional divorce not long after.
This story attempts to balance Taylor’s dramatic story along with the story of an original female character, Jody, and for the most part, it’s successful. Jody does have a fairly dramatic background, but it doesn’t provide too much drama. It’s all handled fairly well so that we get to see both of them struggling to make their relationship work.
At some point, though, the pace begins to pick up. Weeks and months are skimmed over in just a few paragraphs. It’s hard to keep up with the story when so much is skipped over, especially when the characters have otherwise been pretty easy to relate to. Taylor is definitely going through a lot, but he isn’t all that easy to empathize with, and I think the faster pace of those chapters is part of the problem.
The story, sadly, ends rather abruptly. I’ve heard that the author lost interest in writing the story and wrapped it up just so it wouldn’t remain unfinished. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do get the sense that the ending came a bit too soon, especially after the last few, fast paced chapters. It isn’t a terribly satisfying ending, but not all stories can have a happy ending for everyone.
Review by Bethany (website)