"This fanfic is about Vicki and Alec, it's a romantic comedy. Basically it's about a mistletoe tradition in the Zhao family, the guy who kissed Vicki when she was eight is destined to marry her when she turns 21 on her 21st birthday which is on the 21st of December! The story starts on the 19th of December... and she is left with 7 days to ruin her wedding which is on the 25th...... Alec on the other hand has 7 days to save his wedding and try to prove his isn't such a playboy as Vicki thinks... (99 girlfriends in 21 years)" 

Comments
This is the first fan fiction romance-comedy that I have ever read and frankly, I really do not know how to write this review, as requested by the author named Crystal. She sent me 21 chapters to post in my site, and for a moment I thought 21 chapters was it when the ending was no where near an ending and then I remembered she wrote that it is unfinished. As I changed the story's layout, page by page, chapter by chapter, and HTML by HTML, I discovered I was reading this story. In fact, I always make it a point to read through all the stories I posted, even if I had to skip. This story was one I did not really skip much, because from the first paragraph onwards, it was all fun fun fun all the way.

First of all, let me talk about the structure of this story. Each character is given a chance to narrate their view point. What could be confusing, as you can see in the story in this site is that there is the name of the character and then his/her thoughts, next name and his/her thoughts. I do not know how the author posted her story in another site but I decided to "bold & italic" the names of the narrators to avoid confusion. The truth is I really did not have to do that.

I will tell you the success of this story is that there is no wasted space, no wasted words and therefore no repetition whatsoever. One character may say something, but whatever the next character says is a connection paragraph to the previous character's thoughts, but there never was any repetition of what was said before. There was a certain flow to the story, a certain momentum and each thought but each narrator continues where the last one stopped.  I was unscrupulously trying to find such weaknesses but happy to say, there was none too glaring and too noticeable.

Of course, this story is a comedy right from the beginning. But towards the end of 21st chapter, there was something rather serious about it. I guess you can't stay a comedy for long, but it was a nice touch to introduce a rather serious stuff like relationships, love, romance, pride and prejudice. Yep, the story is almost like Pride and Prejudice, if you really look at it.

Vicki has a certain prejudice about Alec since he has, reportedly 99 girlfriends in such a short lifespan, and Alec doesn't seem to want to just tell her, "Hey! I love you girl, let me woo you !", so probably he has  a certain pride in him.

One thing that was very enjoyable about this story is the witty lines and banters, very very real and very very realistic. Since Vicki is 21 and if I am not mistaken Alec is 22, being so young I would expect them to talk the way they did. Vicki and her Plan A, B, C, D, E right up till Z is a riot to read. From trying to make Alec hate her to convincing her best friend, Ruby's brother, Jimmy to pretend to be a gay and seduce Alec because they reasoned that a man who has a trouble with commitment with a woman must be a gay (yes, juvenile conclusion), all her plans backfired and ultimately, something stirred in her heart. We know she is doubtful of Alec's sincerity, thinking perhaps he might have agreed to the wedding because of a silly mistletoe tradition, Alec was trying with all his might to convince her, through his many actions that he is a playboy simply because he hasn't got her yet. He went out with girls that has her qualities and the truth is he has been in love with her since that kiss when she was 8. Poor Alec.

Whilst all these were going on 7 days before the wedding, the author introduced to us two important characters, Ruby and Edison. Nope, you won't get Ruby bashing in here. In fact, everybody is nice, sweet and fun loving and all seem involved in their own plans about this couple. Alec had the help and loyalty of his cheeky and equally a playboy best friend Edison who becomes attracted to the very opinionated but nice Ruby, the best friend of Vicki. In the end, we have everybody trying to form a plan or two. Vicki wants to unite Ruby and Edison, at least somebody could wear her ugly and unwanted green wedding dress. Ruby wants to avoid Edison because she has a prejudiced mind against him, whilst Edison seems a bit blur that perhaps Ruby might feel something for him, if only he be a little bit more matured and serious. Alec is trying to convince Vicki to marry him and Vicki is trying to avoid marrying him. Jimmy is actually the spy for Alec and Edison and their parents are trying to unite all these couples in 7 days, for a wedding. 

All was quite funny. I was quite taken aback by the wit that the author injected into the story, because I never expected the story to be very funny. The truth is it isn't THAT funny, you won't see me laughing but I did manage a chuckle or two. What amazes me is the flow of the story and every chapter is not too long. I hope the entire story will not be too long either, though towards the end of Chapter 21, it has become a bit draggy, but still witty. I hope the author maintains this pace and try to make it shorter and give us a good ending, though we all know what the ending will be.

Now, what I don't getare these following few observations, which you can say is a criticism from me, because I don't see the logic in it.

For example;

Why would Vicki go all out to ruin a wedding that could not have happened? I mean were they engaged since young? NOPE, there was no clear answer on this I think. It all started with a silly tradition. Alec never once pursued her, he never once wooed her, she never once considered him, life was good when she 8 right up until 7 days to her 21st birthday, when her parents made arrangements for  a wedding, believing in the silly old illogical tradition. She admitted herself her parents never once forced her into a marriage. So why can't she just march up to her parents and tell her parents; "Mom, Dad, please butt out of my business!"? Why can't she just tell Alec; "Hey, I can't marry you. I don't love you. It was just a silly old tradition, you don't think I would be serious about it?!". From Alec's viewpoint, he seems serious in wanting to marry her but Vicki was consistent throughout, she didn't want him. She acknowledged that it was just a tradition, and YET she goes all out with her Plans A B C to ruin her wedding, when all this could just be ended with a simple; "mom, dad, I am going for a holiday on my 21st birthday" and just disappear. I believe though the author may not think so, I think that Vicki actually thought of the tradition as something serious and she herself wants to marry Alec but she is in denial. If not I do not know how to reconcile the fact that she does everything to ruin the impending wedding and that it was just a tradition. And there was an engagement party, but I can't remember there was one. Maybe I skipped. Now I couldn't understand, why she even agreed to the engagement? Can't she simply say NO?

I find it very funny of all the plans that the author thought of, but I was thinking why don't Vicki go for Plan D like bring a guy home and says he's her boyfriend? In fact, shouldn't  a pretty girl like Vicki have a boyfriend? What makes her parents and Alec think she will be single and available? Just an observation.

Well, there is a problem with this story. It's the age and the timeline.

For example;

"Alec waved his hair back with his hand. “Well… this is really embarrassing ok. But so every 21^st of December my ex-girlfriends would come and find me, and try to get back together.”

Then I looked at Alec. “Why the 21^st of December? Why the 21^st of each month?” I demanded. 

Alec amazingly turned a bit pink. “Remember on the 19^th I kissed you. On the 20^th our engagement was set.”

“Uh huh…” I said nervously, somehow knowing the answer but I didn’t want to believe it.

“And on the 21^st… you broke the engagement.”"

This is the part I do not get. Who broke the engagement? What engagement? When? 

And some more...

"Ruby! My silly parents have already bought my wedding gown for the wedding – I will not go! And that irritating Alec who kissed me under the mistletoe when I was eight years old is going to be my husband! Help me ruin my wedding!” I said one more time, this time I was rather out of breath."

Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but if I was right, these 2 paragraphs are inconsistent. You see, Vicki was kissed by Alec when she was 8, and I assume he was 9 or 10. And then the last chapter, you will discover that Alec had 99 girlfriends, all of whom will try to persuade Alec to get back with them on the 21st because he kissed Vicki on the 19th, engagement was on the 20th and so, on the 21st, he ( I assume Alec broke the engagement with his 99 girlfriends because Vicki broke their engagement on the 21st) broke up with his girlfriends. It isn't logical you know. She was after all 8 when she was kissed, was she engaged when she was only 8 years old? And he being 9 or 10? And so when Alec grew up, he broke off engagements on the day that Vicki broke their engagement years before? Was he so affected by what an 8 year old girl did to the point it became his flaw in his character? I don't get it?! Maybe I got something wrong because all these doesn't add up. 

And one thing I couldn't buy is Vicki has yet to start her career, she is only 21 and her parents would want her married?! And the reasons for the marriage is also illogical without a concrete engagement because I was so confused when I came to Chapter 20 and Alec's 99 girlfriends! And to make Alec so young, about 22 or somewhere near there AND a billionaire, wow! This guy must have had  a very active social life since he was like 10 or something. The problem is making Alec so rich, successful and so many ex girlfriends when he was barely out of his uni education, if there was one. Alec was simply much too young. I can't buy that. In fact I can't buy the fact that this guy was so busy with Vicki and he had no career to start with. Like his life is to pursue her and her life is to avoid him. I guess rich people really have a lot of time in their hands to waste.

But since this is a comedy, it's a small illogical point in the story. You can be over the top with comedies, and this story is one with out of this world plot, but you know what, I liked it, because it was all so corny, so popcorn, so cute and very witty.

I hope however the author will clear up the confusion and make this story end when it should end and end it with a bang.

Funn's Recommendation
This story has a rather childish plot that may not appeal to all. The character Vicki may be a bit juvenile with her Plans ABC, in fact she may a bit low on the IQ department because all her plans were doomed for failure but you know what? I enjoyed the story, however confused I was. It's all pure fun, nothing serious, nothing dramatic, nothing inspirational, just pure silly fun. It was easy to read, not too long until it will bore you, the author stops at the right place. Just take away all the over the top plot and illogical reasoning and just enjoy it as it is, a romance-comedy, you might actually like this story and be charmed by the witty banters, and quite a colourful bunch of characters, who has personality and very well introduced. However illogical the story may be, however childish it may seem, I think this is a well written story, and I would recommend you to read it.