by Dusty (link)
Genre slash/cest, drama, angst
Pairings Taylor/OFC, Taylor/OMC, Zaylor
Length 44 chapters
Status Completed (with sequel)
Along For The Ride was recommended to me a few years back, and it was my introduction to Dusty’s writing. There are things I really liked about it, and things I wasn’t so fond of, but overall I’m looking forward to rereading it and giving it a review.
Dusty pulls no punches with her writing, a fact that she’s obviously proud of. Although the story begins with a lot of exposition, it’s also full of expletives and quickly introduces the reader to a very unique version of Taylor. He won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s kind of the point. Zac is a little more himself–brooding, full of crude jokes and strangely asexual. The latter becomes a plot point, as you might have guessed if you paid attention to the story’s genre and pairings.
What starts out as dark humor eventually just becomes, well, dark. There are some pacing issues, both before and after the halfway point where things get so fucked up. Before, the chapters are short and what does happen (which is little of consequence) seems to take forever. After, the chapters are still short, and too much time is skipped over for some events to have their full impact. Still, the two big, dark moments are well rendered, even if Dusty’s writing is a bit of a pseudo-stream of consciousness mess.
If you can make sense of some of the strange turns of phrase, odd metaphors, fragments and run-ons, there is a good story in Along For The Ride. It’s a dark, twisted version of Taylor and Zac that few would recognize as the real boys, but Dusty creates an interesting, believable world–albeit one that needs quite a bit of editing.
Review by Bethany (website)