FanficRecs Warning: Rant Ahead.
Because I'd heard so much praise for Bottoms Up, and because I love Spamano so much, I finally caved and read it. The plot is a bit far-fetched, the chapters are unnecessarily long (the length is mostly due to line breaks, not lengthy descriptions, which annoys me greatly), the style of writing was not suited for this type of story, and the characterization was just... horrendous. I feel as though the author purposefully made everyone in this fanfic some kind of flanderization of their original character. Romano is just completely annoying and one-dimensional, Spain is vapid and his love for Romano is unrealistic (like in the chapter where Romano says all those terrible things about Spain and his people, for no reason, and Spain forgives him instantly. That doesn't happen.), Hungary has been reduced to nothing more than a yaoi fangirl, Belgium has somehow been made into one of the bad guys (that Spain also instantly forgives, AND EVEN BLAMES HIMSELF, despite knowing that she was using him! THAT. DOESN'T. HAPPEN.), and even poor Feliciano got turned into an annoying and stupid character, who even the "ever cheerful" Spain is a jerk to. (For no reason!) As for the smut, which was really the basis of the story, I believe that it's the only reason that most people continued to read it. The smut was well done (save for a few mishaps here and there), and as such, it kept the readers coming back for more. For me, those were the only good parts of the story.
All-in-all, this fanfic was really not worth the 80 chapter read. It's essentially a stereotypical Spamano fic, but drawn out for 80 chapters.
FanficRecs Comment by v2113
This fic is amazing. Beyond amazing. The summary makes it seem like it'll be some everyday sick!Spain with mother hen!Romano… it isn't. It really isn't. Sunny Day in February takes Romano, and pushes his character so far he's hardly recognizable at the end. This fic can make you laugh, make you cry, and make you want to jump into the story and just give whichever character is having problems at the moment a hug. The character development is amazing. I've begun the process of rereading this 72 and counting chapter story, and I just keep noticing how much Lovino has changed, definitely for the better. And he is far from the only one. In my opinion, this is the Spamano fic to rule all other Spamano fics. Seriously, give it a shot.
FanficRecs Quite Lovely for a Smut Fic
This story... where do I even begin. Well, first of all it's RATHER LONG, almost 500,000 words, but don't be TOO intimidated, it honestly doesn't feel like all of that.
First off, I have to say this... THIS FIC IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. Not even remotely. If you can handle M-rated smut, albeit well-written smut in my opinion, then proceed on. It's not really simply written porn, there's a whole TON of meaning incorporated into it.
I have to disagree with one of the reviews on this. I found the characterizations quite unique while still somehow being very recognizable as those characters. And the character development is wonderful, it's overall not as serious or angsty as other fics out there but there's definitely moments of those as Lovino goes around Europe discovering more about Antonio's past. Even so, the tone overall is more lighthearted and it's beautiful and lovely to see the Antonio/Spain's and Lovino/Romano's relationship through each other's eyes. It's great to see the change in Lovi throughout the fic as he becomes more comfortable with himself and showing his actual self and being more open about sharing his feelings and thoughts. Who knew he could be such a sweetie? And his point of view is one of the most enjoyable I've yet to read. So unintentionally funny and endearing, you see why so many characters get around to adoring him. This is definitely not quite like other Spain/Romano fics I've read, or if it is it's the first one of that kind I've read and definitely the best. If you don't support the pairing, I can see why you may not enjoy it but then again you probably wouldn't be reading this fic.
There's a prequel story called "This Dance" and an in-progress sequel story called "And Three Makes Five", all three make for a great trilogy but it's not necessary to read all of them to follow the story.