I largely agreed with your review, even if I found some of the anti-Kataang logic faulty. For example, the author uses the typical argument that the age gap between Aang and Katara rules them out, when Zuko's also two years older than Katara. The author also makes up a completely non-canon crush by Katara on Bato (who's two decades her senior and probably married), to make the point that just as Katara didn't go out with the first guy she had a crush on, Aang shouldn't do the same with the first girl he had a crush on.
I also didn't like the idea that because Zuko hopes Mai will open up more, it means he doesn't accept her for who she is, and the same goes for her opinion of him. In Mai's case, her opening up more would essentially make her truer to herself. It's also important to recognize that people, including those close to you, change over time, and to be open-minded about the possibility of such changes, as well as the possibility that the changes are good.
In spite of this, the Zutara romance was largely well put together, but its glacial pace of advancement and lack of resolution were definite flaws.
I agree about the authors' notes being overly long and often redundant. I noticed that they often essentially summarized the chapter sometimes, which is what made liveblogging it somewhat difficult. For example, Katara might say, halfway through the chapter, something along the lines of "I think I'm taking a liking to Zuko, but I don't think I like him in *that way* just yet," and the author will say "Katara's taking a liking to Zuko, but not sure she likes him in *that way* yet" halfway through the author's notes.
For my fanfics, I tend to use bold for chapter titles. I use italics for character thoughts (since Katara references her own thoughts in her narration, and isn't a mind reader, this doesn't come into play here), and single words or phrases that characters emphasize. I only use all capital letters when characters are screaming at the top of their lungs. As such, I did find the frequent "double emphasis" and randomly bolding words like key terms in an RPG sometimes unnecessary.
I agree that it's good, even if it does have its flaws.
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Story is Good, Style Less So
This fic is excellent. The ideas are all very well done and the reasons Aang and Katara don't work out are deep and not just there to get her with Zuko. Frankly, the story on its own is very good with lots of Reality Ensues, political issues, and strong characters.
I doubly know this because the incredibly long author's notes tell me so. By "Not Stalking Firelord Zuko" the author's notes are so long they can be up to a fifth of the chapter or more. I can understand wanting to explain why you wrote what you did, but sometimes it feels like the author is either so unsure we understand where they're going or so worried of flames that they justify every single thing that happened in the chapter in detail. It can break up the narrative. I feel like they should be their own separate section, like, "go to my blog for the notes on this chapter" or something because they are seriously driving up the wordcount. And sometimes it's redundant because we can figure out how the author felt about something by what is in the chapter and seeing it again in the notes is...confusing.
Also I can understand needing to bold or italicize or both at certain times in a fanfic (I do the second and third when I need to), but it feels like it happens way too often here. Again, it slows down reading momentum and can really make a scene confusing since I start wondering how Katara's bold voice differs from her italic voice and so on. I wonder why something is emphasized instead of focusing on the story. Sometimes it's done well, but overall I think it's overused.
One style element that's done really well is when Katara relates events that were related to her (as she was not there for them) or that she eavesdropped on in script style, making it clear that she was not there/participating in a very strong way while still giving her opinion on what happened. I feel it adds tot he fic instead of detracting from it.
Overall, a very good story, but the style is its its biggest flaw and can potentially turn off some readers.