1999-2000
Again by Jamie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Jamie does manage to give the couple themselves fairly reasonable reactions that are never over the top and accurately show their conflict over what they want and what they think is right.
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Am, Is, Are, Was, Were by Katie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It all falls together just a bit too easily, even if it is the ending I was hoping for.
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Amazed by Serene (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Although Serene’s writing is beautiful, there’s just not enough exposition here for the story to fully work for me.
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Angels Unaware by Stephen (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Unfortunately, the crossover plot is back in full force.
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Angels Would Fall by Morgan (link)
review by Bethany (website)
While most of his character development occurs during the story’s numerous sex scenes, they are quite good scenes.
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As Yet Untitled by Jen and Raini (link)
review by Bethany (website)
As Yet Untitled is perhaps an ideal example of the sort of teenage drama romance that ran rampant in the fandom during these early years.
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The Best Kind of Alone by Stephanie K. (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Although I never quite cared as much about the characters as I would have liked to, the ending did tug at my heartstrings.
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The Best Things In Life by Kayla and Keryn (link)
review by Bethany (website)
This story isn’t such a good showcase for her talents, being packed to the gills with teenage relationship drama.
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Blame It On Me by Casey (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Her overall writing and character development have improved by this third and final part of Zac and Ruby’s love story.
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Bloody Midnight by Arielle Mark (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Arielle wastes no time piling on the drama, and while it’s more than a little over the top, I like Jess’s narrative voice.
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A Change of Grace by Sheryl and Karen (link)
review by Bethany (website)
With a few details changed, it’s the sort of story that would hold up as original fiction, not just as a hanfic. That’s a very rare thing indeed.
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Choices by Renee Ducharme (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Even an older, experienced author would struggle to keep this from being a cheesy plot, and I feel confident in saying Renee was a very young author.
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Coming of Age by Jamie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Jamie is a fairly mature, polished author, and other than the low key drama, I can’t find much fault with Coming of Age.
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Crash Into Me by Morgan (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I think I would have rather stopped with More Than A Feeling and just ignored the unresolved and rehashed drama here.
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A Cry In The Dark by Hattie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
That mystery never quite gets solved, though, and I’m not sure if it’s meant to be or if we’re always meant to wonder who the father of Genesis’ baby really is.
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The Dance by Julie T. (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Much like Reverse Obsession, Julie has some interesting ideas here that she doesn’t fully explore.
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The Day The Earth Moved by Taylor Quest (link)
review by Bethany (website)
In true late nineties, Nifty.org style, this is one crazy roller coaster ride of a fantasy.
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Devil Angel by Aspen (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Like most tried and true DA fans, I’ve reread the story several times throughout the years and occasionally find myself idly pondering just who the mysterious stalker could have been.
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A Different Point of Inspiration by NJ (link)
review by Bethany (website)
NJ has created one of the least realistic portrayals of the boys’ early career that I’ve read.
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Disaster In Paradise by Taylor Quest (link)
review by Bethany (website)
As the title suggests, another natural disaster strikes, and our boys are caught in the middle of it.
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Don’t Look Back In Anger by Bethany (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Since this one began four years down the line, with the prologue flashing back to the ending of the first one (a nice touch, I thought), I hoped the characters had matured enough for me to really enjoy reading about them.
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Driving Him Crazy by Tasha (link)
review by Bethany (website)
In fact, in spite of its title, this fic really doesn’t go anywhere at all, and that’s a shame.
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Emotion Sickness by Rachael (link)
review by Bethany (website)
As depressing as some of that sounds, the story really is a comedy, and it is absolutely comedy gold.
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Evaporated by Casey (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Despite the number of sex scenes and the fact that she has billed the story as quite adult, she often glosses over the details of the sex.
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Faithful by Alana (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I dismissed the one bit of foreshadowing Alana threw in, doubting anyone could write something so ridiculous.
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Falling by Sarah (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It’s not really everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s the sort of plot that when done right — as it is here — really works for me.
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Farther In by Sarah (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There isn’t much I can say about Farther In that’s different from what I said about Falling. They share the same faults, but also the same strengths.
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Fate Will Bring Us Together Again by Jandy (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There are hints of interesting ideas in Fate Will Bring Us Together Again, but Jandy’s writing isn’t strong enough to sustain so many ideas.
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Follow the Doorlight by Ashly (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Despite not being from the earliest era of hanfic, it hits nearly all of the “don’ts” I would expect to see in something from the very beginning.
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Hanson Fanatic by Jaxsper Finn (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The story ends rather abruptly, but does have a few good moments and bits of dialogue–at least, a higher percentage of both than the first two.
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Hanson Road Rules by Jaxsper Finn (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It isn’t, overall, a bad plot, but there are a few over the top elements.
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Happiness by Megan (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Whatever was meant to be foreshadowed, whatever happened between Zac and Abby… it’s never explained.
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Hush by Shelly (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There’s just something about Zac and Celia that has me hooked, and it’s not enough to necessarily overlook the story’s flaws, but enjoy… well, parts of it in spite of them.
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Hysteria, Bloody Hysteria by Stacy (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There’s something kind of charming about that sort of domestic drama, although in this case the attempts at humor often just make me roll my eyes.
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I Am by Lis (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The story becomes, I realize, more about mending the entire family than just mending Zac, and it provides a more well rounded picture of the situation to see more than just his perspective.
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“I love you,” they said by Graven Meyerr-Christie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Graven’s writing is strong enough that if she had kept up this story or tried another once she was a bit older, I think she could have had a real hit on her hands.
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If They Knew by Shelby (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Since it’s unfinished, so is a lot of the drama.
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I’m No Stranger To Your Dreams by Erica (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Erica’s writing style and execution almost make up for the cheesy plot.
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Is Yesterday Tomorrow Today? by Lorraine (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Lorraine clearly knew her genre well and she nails or nearly nails most of the tropes (although some seem a bit too close to stories I’ve read before).
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Keep It As Snow by Lorraine (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The plot is a bit thin in that way, but the writing is just as strong as in the first so that it holds the plot together.
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Listen To Your Heart by Bethany (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Like so many stories from this era, there’s something good in Listen To Your Heart, but it needs a lot of polishing.
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A Lot of Things Can Happen by Christa (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The basic love triangle plot isn’t so bad, even if I have read it a dozen times before.
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More Than A Feeling by Morgan (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It’s a distinction without a difference, but whatever you call them, Morgan packs a lot of action and emotion into them.
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My Father, Taylor Hanson by Laura Speidell (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The introduction for this story explains that it began as part of another story, but developed its own life.
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Neighbors by Emma (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I actually like that Emma was brave enough to have Corinne and Taylor’s relationship end–even if she did begin to write a sequel.
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Never Broken Promise by AJ (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I tend to like pre-fame stories, but AJ relies on all the cliches here, and the boys’ rise to fame really isn’t part of the story at all.
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No Reason To Die by Aitziber (link)
review by Bethany (website)
There’s a stilted quality to Zibbi’s writing, but that isn’t surprising given that I know English isn’t her first language.
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Once Upon A Tragic Time by Kerry (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It’s all pretty confusing and not really well thought out, but it is a unique idea.
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One Last Cry by Megan (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Zac takes over narration for this story, and his voice works for me much better than Abby’s did.
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The Photographer by J. Robinson (link)
review by Bethany (website)
While some of that doesn’t line up neatly with the boys we’ve gotten to know better since then, it’s all too easy to remember the way things were.
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Pretty Much Forever by Jane (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It paints a very poignant picture, though, of the boys rise to fame — one that is even more beautiful and bittersweet to read now than it would have been back when this story was new.
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The Project by Kayla and Keryn (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Epistolary stories are rare in this fandom but always fun to read. They challenge not just the author, but the reader, too.
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Put Your Kingdom Up For Sale by Phyllis Black and Nikki Briefs (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The entire story leaves a lot to be desired thanks to the sloppy writing and occasional teenybopper moments.
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The Quiet One by Krystal (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It’s that humor, I think, that keeps what ought to be a horribly heartbreaking story from being too much for me to read.
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Rehab My Ass by Emma (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It is an improvement over the original, with a bit more subtlety to most of the plotlines, in spite of what the title might suggest.
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The Second Coming of Camelot by Sarah (link
review by Bethany (website)
Taylor’s disappearance and reappearance are an interesting enough tale, if not quite as huge of a mystery as Sarah sets them up to be.
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Sessions at East 51st by Jenn (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It feels like a bit of a cop-out, and an easy way to “fix” Zac after everything he went through in the other two stories.
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Shall Be, Will Be, Can Be, Should Be, Could Be, May Be, Might Be… by Katie and Lisa (link)
review by Bethany (website)
As for Ashley and Taylor’s story… well, it’s fairly bland, too. Except, it’s a complete and total fake out.
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Shimmering by Julie T. (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The three romances are a big part of the plot, and they don’t get much more mature here even though all three brothers are engaged or married.
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So, There Was This Boy… by Stephanie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The thing I struggle to remember about these early stories is that they aren’t cliche. They created the cliches.
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Something To Talk About by Jenn (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It’s nothing deep or earth shattering, but more than competent for the era in which it was written.
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Surrealistic Emotions by Keryn (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The drama here is largely emotional and contained just within the minds and hearts of the characters. That doesn’t make it any less true or impactful, though.
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Sweet Serenity by Katie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Katie did attempt to add a little more depth to this sequel, but it happens pretty unsurprisingly.
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Teach Me How To Cry by Angel (link)
review by Bethany (website)
A more mature author might have been able to make something better out of such a drama-fest of a plot, but I can’t quite picture it.
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A Thousand Miles Away by Casey (link)
review by Bethany (website)
What plot there is feels fairly typical and predictable, and Casey skips over large expanses of time to get to the end of that plot.
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Three Days by Katie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Mostly, it just feels like Katie is trying a bit too hard, from the writing to the female character who is a literature lover and seems to bear quite a bit of resemblance to the author.
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Three Minds As One by Monica Geist (link)
review by Elizabeth (tumblr)
I do feel like Monica cut out a ton of big plot points as sometimes I was confused at what was happening.
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Through New Eyes by Kaylin (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Keeping it simple and not overdoing it helps balance out the rather Mary Sue-ish setup of the guys immediately being taken by Corey.
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To Look Within My Soul by Monica Geist (link)
review by Bethany (website)
I think this is one sequel that wasn’t really necessary.
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Unforgivable Sin by Nadine and Candice (link)
review by Bethany (website)
It’s a bit contrived and the ending leaves a lot unresolved, but the basic plot could be full of the sort of soap opera drama that so many people enjoy.
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Vindictive by Rosaline (link)
review by Bethany (website)
Eventually the mystery plot comes back, but with so much telegraphed early on, there isn’t much surprise to it.
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We Live Like Kings and Paupers by Jandy (link)
review by Bethany (website)
The setup is perfect for any young adult novel, let alone a hanfic, but the story takes a quick diversion.
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What If…? by Jordan Marie (link)
review by Bethany (website)
While it was brave of Jordan Marie to go with a bittersweet ending, I would have expected and appreciated a lot more smut along the way.
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