Title: Climbing Everest
Fandom: Hollyoaks
Pairing: John Paul McQueen/Craig Dean
Categories: Romance, re-established relationship, slash, AU
Length: Medium (10,000 words)
Warnings: none

Summary:
It wasn't what I thought it was...

Review:
I've been looking out for good stories about Father Keiron Hobbs and his doomed relationship with John Paul McQueen for some while now. This isn't exactly what I had in mind, but it's far too good a story for me not to recommend to you all.

The plot is brief: Craig returns to Hollyoaks earlier than he canonically did, meets John Paul, and they rekindle their romance almost immediately. What is interesting is that we see this all through Keiron's eyes. In this story, he has literally just made his decision to abandon the priesthood for John Paul, hasn't even had time to do anything about it even, when Craig arrives and sweeps John Paul off his feet. The repercussions in the McQueen household and in Keiron's own heart are what really matter to us readers, and they are very well drawn. Myra's attempts to protect her son from the man who broke his heart are very much what I would expect of her, as are the sisters' varied reactions.

What I particularly liked was how well written Keiron himself is. A lot of people, sadly including the original script writers, have very little idea of what a priest does outside of church services. This Keiron is just right; thoughtful and pastoral, entirely capable of putting his own feelings aside to assess the rights and wrongs of the situation so that he can do his job and support his parishoners. He doesn't deny his feelings to himself, and yes they hurt, but it's enlightening rather than overwhelming. In fact, my one criticism of the story is that the meeting between Keiron and Craig is too mild. I was expecting Craig to be more defensive and abrasive, and Keiron to struggle more with himself, but neither really happens. What's there is still a perfectly good story, it's just a little nicer than I would have liked.

It's a shame that this story has been orphaned on AO3, because I really would like to have congratulated the author directly. As it stands, it's still a very good read.

Climbing Everest

Title: Reversal of Fortune
Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Categories: Romance, Role Reversal, Modern AU
Length: Medium (~7,500 words)
Warnings: None

Author on LJ:  mad_poetics
Author Website:  n/a

Author's Summary:
Wherein Arthur is not the rich boss, and Merlin is not the assistant. (Modern au.)

Review:  
It’s common, of course, for Arthur to be cast in the role of rich boss to Merlin’s poor (or at least not wealthy) assistant. It’s one of the closer analogues to their canon relationship one can find in the modern world, and has been done (and done successfully), many times. Nevertheless, it’s refreshing to see the other side of things once in awhile. This story would be well worth reading for this alone, but it’s so much more than that.

Arthur’s character is very well developed. His quiet loneliness, his inability to connect with others on more than a superficial level despite his fervent desire to do so — these are very authentic and believable. He still has just a little bit of a prat in him, for all that he’s had a very different upbringing than we are accustomed to seeing for him, and sparks fly when he first meets Merlin in a fun re-interpretation of something I’ve seen quite a few times — Merlin inadvertently introducing himself to Arthur by way of spilt coffee. Merlin himself is exactly as I would imagine him with a more privileged background — still Merlin, still down to earth, with humility and kindness right alongside his confidence and good humor. They’re a perfect pair, and the relationship is a slow build with a satisfying conclusion.

The swap of Gaius and Uther as father figures is a nice little detail, and the background relationship between Morgana and Gwen is sweet, particularly with the way they show their concern for Arthur, looking at him with sad eyes.

Reversal of Fortune is one of those stories that I can read over and over again, that I keep coming back to time after time. It never fails to make me smile.

Reversal of Fortune