by Beth and Toni (link)
Genre cest, drama/angst
Pairings Isaac/OFC, Taylor/Natalie, Zac/Kate, Zaylor
Length prologue and 19 chapters
Status Unfinished
As I mentioned in another one of my reviews, eating disorders are a popular source of angst in hanfics. Combine that with a hancest plot, as Beth and Toni have done, and you have the recipe for a real dramafest. Whether that will turn out to be a good thing is yet to be seen.
The prologue is a cheesy, but fairly well written, summary of who Taylor is, as seen from Zac’s point of view. Right away, we’re told that Zac fell in love with him and that the rest of the story will tell us about their love. I despise this sort of telling, not showing, but the writing is strong, if flowery, so I’m willing to see if the rest of the story is less summary and more actual story.
From there, though, the story switches to first person, alternating between Zac and Taylor and later even Isaac. I’m also not a fan at all of authors who can’t decide whether they’re writing first or third person. The fact that Beth and Toni’s chapters are short and don’t cover a lot of ground, the end of one blending into the beginning of the next so that I feel like I’m reading one continuous chapter, doesn’t help, either. The writing is still fairly strong, albeit with a few random Britishisms, grammatical errors and details about Hanson’s life that don’t quite ring true.
As for the eating disorder plot, there are hints of it for several chapters before Zac finally discovers Taylor’s secret. The reasoning he gives Zac falls a bit flat, when it could have actually been an interesting premise. All of the characters are a bit flat and lifeless, making it hard to connect to what really isn’t a horrible premise, especially with the slow hints of a growing connection between Zac and Taylor to add another layer to the rest of the plot. The additional plots involving Isaac’s girlfriend and her family, Zac and Kate’s marriage, and so on sometimes add to the plot and sometimes just muddle it up. The connection between Zac and Taylor is the strongest part of Beth and Toni’s writing, and it’s a shame they gave up on the story before that relationship progressed very far.
Review by Bethany (website)