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The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most

by Kristin (link)

Genre het, drama, romance
Pairings Taylor/Natalie, Zac/Kate, Zac/OFC
Length 22 chapters
Status Unfinished

If Kristin has written anything other than this story, I’m not familiar with it, but this story has always stuck out to me thanks to its title. Using a song as a title gives you a lot to live up to, as not everyone’s interpretation of a song is the same. Within the first chapter, though, I can see that the main character, Jolyn, fits the title The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most very well.

Kristin’s chapters are long, and often filled with a bit too much exposition. That’s strange, considering the fact that sometimes there are obviously things she’s leaving hidden, only to finally reveal them a few chapters later. At the same time, she sometimes seems to leave out words or phrases so I have to read passages a few times to understand them. Her writing is a little weak at times, but her dialogue is fantastic and flows very, very realistically.

In spite of some gratuitous description of clothing and the typically ridiculous hanfic character names, the characters of The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most feel well rounded and realistic, and their story progresses at a believable pace. Even when the characters are stubborn and far from perfect, I find myself hanging on the edge of my seat, waiting for the inevitable. There’s a clear trajectory here, but Kristin manages to write it in a way that leaves me unsure just how things will play out.

Unfortunately, I don’t get to see how everything plays out, because Kristin never finished writing the story. She does, however, mention vague plans to write a sequel, so I can assume a happy ending here and a continuation of Zac and Jolyn’s story. They’re two characters I’ve grown very attached to and I’m glad that I at least got to see them be happy together before The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most was abandoned.

Review by Bethany (website)