Title: First Loves
Author: TigerDragon
Rating: NC17 (probably - it's not pornographic, but a couple of the scenes are very explicit).
Genre: Romance
Status: Complete
Fandom: Spiderman
Pairings: Fem!Peter/Gwen
Summary: Penny can't let Gwen Stacy die.

She won't. A lot of people say they'd do anything to keep the person they love. Most of the time, they aren't asked to find out just how far they're willing to go or just how much 'anything' might cost.

Of course, most people aren't Spider-man. Most people don't have the options she does.

But there's deciding to resort to desperate measures, and then there's living with the results afterward....

Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1772110/chapters/3792904

I am not a huge Spiderman fan, but stories focused on romance within an established relationship do not get much better than this. Interpersonal conflict is handled well without resorting to characters holding the idiot ball, which is about the single most important requirement for romance to not utterly fail as a genre. Plus creepy aliens, done well.

4.5/5

 

I really enjoyed this. The relationship was adorable as hell, Sipder-Man's blabber-mouth was spot on, I really liked the characterization and interaction in general, I was really fond of this take on the symbiote and well, my only complaint is that it's way too short. I would have loved a longer exploration of their lives in England.

Yeah, I agree, 4.5/5. loved this.

 

It's very cute, but I can't help but wonder if it was actually going to go somewhere plot-wise. Also, despite the characters claiming to be creeped out by the symbiotes, they deal really well with it and the problems are soon resolved.

I'm completely unfamiliar with Spiderman but I did like the character's voices.

3.5/5, but I'll consider it a 4.

 

This. I was expecting considerably more in terms of development. The plot just seems to kind of fizzle out, with no resolution.

That would be gone it the romance had a plot to it, or if it was a shorter character piece, but at 30k words I want more development. Everything past the first few chapters is basically stagnant - Gwen and Penny are already a thing, they just add alien sex to the mix; the symbiotes go nowhere; and individually there's no discernible development. A lot of questions and issues are raised, but ultimately dropped.

The relationship and characters are well developed and portrayed, and it's a quick moving interesting piece. But don't go in expecting any changes, progression, or fulfilment of the author's claim that the symbiotes are lovecraftianesque.

All in all, 3.5/@5, rounding down.