It's cute. It's not normally the sort of thing I enjoy, but I really got into it. I felt some of the more emotional moments were a little too melodramatic (chapter 4 and 17 especially), there are some woefully saccharine moments with the kids, Abbey is definitely a Marmite character - I can see myself finding her less likeable if I were in a different mood, but I found her alright on this read through - and my God it's repetitive. On the other hand though, it's well written, emotionally smarter than the majority of fanfiction (although, I concede, not much deeper than the average rom-com) and I found myself caring about the characters. It's a fairly simple story, but it's very well told.

4/5

 

So I read this, it's not bad.

The characters are written decently, though both can be annoying at times. Honestly, I think I enjoyed reading about the kids more than I did the adults in this fic.

Shiny covered my thoughts pretty well actually, though I'd have to rate it a 3/5.

 

It's enjoyable and a comfortable read. The writing is solid and I'm particularly impressed with how the author's made each character have his or her unique voice and perspective. Given how many characters she's included in this, it's pretty impressive.

The pacing is a bit slow, unfortunately, and there's a fair bit that could be trimmed (many of the fluffy Harry/kids scenes, e.g., are superfluous) to make a tighter story.

4/5

 

I'll reiterate what everyone has said so far, haha. I liked it, the romance is believable, the kids seem to be well characterized, and while it's really fluffy, it comes across as very genuine to me. 3.5-4/5.

 

This is great fluff. I think the pacing is pretty on point for a slice-of-life/romance fic, with equal parts mindless fluff and slow romance. The best part is that all the characters have the appropriate brain development for their ages. The only problem I have is that Abby doesn't interest me, nothing about her character really grabs hold. But that also might be the point.

 

New chapter is out. I personally didn't like it. I wasn't interested in the details of Ginny's death nor did I care about her so the resulting drama made me annoyed. Felt like I had to work to get through the chapter. I wish we would get a chapter of the same length for the main plot instead.

 

A 17k word chapter in a fic that took 17/18 to get to 99k is mental too.

 

The writing is very good and the story itself is enjoyable, but I think a significant portion of the content should be cut out. I found myself skimming over several scenes that seemed irrelevant and uninteresting.

3/5

 

Decent enough update, but yeah, a little bloated. Just one, maybe two of the scenes with Ginny would have done, since they're all just variations on a theme. And while Harry's hero complex is well established, I thought it was a bit of a stretch for him to blame himself, even in the service of piling on emotional trauma.

 

That last update was supercharged with angst.
The author likely wrote this section after drinking the distilled tears of a thousand teenagers.

There's such a thing as too much drama, even in a slice of life fiction. Before this chapter, the author had only alluded to Ginny's death, and they should have continued to do just that.
I mean, we get it, it affected Harry badly, but 17k words on this is just way too much.
It probably won't even have a meaningful effect on the main plot, and it doesn't change Harry's character in any way. We already knew he was beating himself up for the death of his wife.
It's angst for the sake of angst. And it's unappealing.

I do hope this story doesn't continue in that vein, for I am seriously reconsidering rating it 3/5. A shame too, as the previous chapters lead me to expect better.

 

I read it all. I really liked Harry and his kids, even liked Abby to a certain extent. She didn't bother me as much as she seemed to bother other people. This may be because I really admire people who can stay energetic and enthusiastic about everything, because it's certainly something I can't do. My best friend is one of those kinds of people.

Anyway, I loved the writing and the story but I'm afraid it drags on quite a bit too long. It feels like a shoujo manga. All fluff and no substance.

3.5/5 Subject to change if the story stops moving at a glacial pace.

 

I liked the characters but the story itself is repetitive and dull. Technically perfectly fine for my tastes so I'll give it a 3/5.

 

Not really my cup of tea but I was pleasantly surprised by how readable this was. The writing feels genuine and I enjoyed the story, even though a lot of it could be condensed. Hope the author tones back on the angst.

 

Sooo...Harry and a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Whatever, I like it. Breath of fresh air really. Fandome could use more stories like this and Strangers at Drakeshaugh.

Author is good at giving every character a personality through its actions. Show, don't tell and all that. Abby is a bit too 'bubbley' at times for my taste, but so far I like the chemistry between her and Harry.

I'm yet to dive into this latest 17k-words-long angsty flashback, but I don't think it'll change my overall opinion about the story too much.


4/5

 

The story is written well and doesn't pretend to be something that it's not meant to be. It's supposed to be a family drama and rom-com-esque story. However there is so much extra fluff that really just bogs down the story. Do we really need 4 chapters of Harry's kids acting cute and Hermione being worried? Do we need to be told over and over again through other characters that Harry needs to move on?

Furthermore, the OC is super annoying. She's very invested into Harry immediately and seems over-the-top annoying. I don't really get anything from her internal monologue other than her feeling bad for Harry over and over again. Maybe that will change once there is more development.

Overall I'm too bored by the story to give it above a 3/5 but it is written well enough that I'll keep reading it since for some reason I like these slow burners from time to time.

 

Honestly, I find the story very enjoyable. Yes, the OC can be a bit over the top. Yes, there are too many scenes with Harry's kids being cute. But at the same time, you kind of get involved in what they're doing and then you forget you've been reading for twenty minutes. It's so incredibly simple that I can't help but respect it.

For DLPers: This is a family/hurt/comfort/friendship/romance fic. If you don't think you can read one of those and enjoy it, this isn't the story for you.

Personally, I feel the writing deserves a 4; the plot, a 3.

 

Story Review

This is not the usual type of fan fiction that I read, but I'm happy to say it turned out well. I love Abby as a character and she simply seems real. She is a complicated character with hints of a dark past. Harry is portrayed well for a man who goes through tragedy after tragedy in his life. Overall, 5/5.

 

I loved that story. The relationship between Harry and the OC felt fleshed out and not at all forced. I also enjoyed that the story didn't focus entirely on the romance, but also included aspects from the rest of Harry's life. My only complaint is that it updates slowly enough that it's difficult to maintain enthusiasm.

 

Are you joking? No, seriously, you must be joking, right?

The fic is okay after a certain point and I'll admit that I enjoyed reading about the two of them after a relationship was established, but the whole fic is based on forcing the relationship to form in the first place when it had exactly 0 reason to. Quite the opposite, in fact.

 

I'm new and haven't quite figured anything out yet, so forgive me if this is the incorrect way to reply. I know that the basis of the story is that Harry is forced into a relationship with Abby. I meant that the author didn't force the relationship to form unnaturally. It felt, to me, like a natural, if unlikely, relationship.