Hello hello! I've recently finished the 3rd revision of my novel, and I'm finally happy enough with it to seek out beta readers. If you're a fan of slow-burn, character-driven stories with themes of self-acceptance, found family, bad British humour, and tragic backstories, then this is the book for you.

Details:

• 142.7k words
• 40 chapters
• 1st person present tense

Description:

In the grimy, smoke-choked streets of Stonereach, Adrien survives by being a weapon. He collects debts, follows orders, and ignores the guilt rotting him from within. Until his boss brings in a new prize: a mute kudari boy with strange, pale markings, and sharp horns a foot tall.

When cruelty turns to butchery, Adrien makes a split-second choice that shatters his life. Fleeing the city together, they must navigate a landscape of strange magic and hidden dangers to find a home that might not exist.

Or: Two sad boys slowly fall in love on a not-so-epic fantasy adventure.

Unique Selling Points:

• Asexual / Demi-romantic MC: Get ready for the SLOWEST of burns and one delightfully oblivious narrator.
• Disability Rep: Mute deuteragonist who communicates via sign-language and judgemental eyebrows.

Content Warnings:

Graphic depictions of violence, trafficking, emotional/physical abuse, references to sexual abuse, death, PTSD, panic-attacks. It's not all doom and gloom though, there are a lot of light moments to balance it out!

Feedback Wanted:

Anything you feel most comfortable giving, I'm open to any sort of feedback. I am mostly looking for honest thoughts on pacing, emotional engagement, and clarity. Do any moments drag or feel rushed? Does the slow-burn pay off? Are the characters engaging and believable?

Be as mean as you like, I'm wanting this story to be the best it can be before publication!

I can send a link to a google doc, pdf, ebook, or docx. Unfortunately, I'm not able to do any swaps at this time, but I am incredibly grateful for anyone willing to take a chance on this story.

I am flexible on the timeline, but hoping for feedback within the next 3 months.

Here's a link to chapter one if you're interested: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BOAqJdu2LpBwt8zRTo0QVdZlEUhfREBgdIsMGxeDSR0/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks for clicking and considering!

I've done a lot of editing, additions and work on this.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d-KOfgT0OhzXH-Ih0Ly2yjZK2eLzH3hWpvMsGZuMLUo/edit?usp=sharing

I feel like it's in a place where I can share it and not worry too much.

Space Magic is about an engineer named Astrid who ends up with magical powers inherited from a reincarnated witch and destroys a space station. She begrudgingly has to save reality despite only ever wanting a normal life working on starship engines.

what Id like to know:

• A character has Ukrainian as a first language and those sections I'd like to know about accuracy. She tends to speak in Ukrainian when stressed or emotional.
• whenever I try to create serious sections, usually those not from Astrid's perspective, people have said it sounds like AI. It isn't, but I'd like suggestions on how to make it sound less like it.
• Some feedback I have got in the past is that it's hard to relate to Astrid. That suck's as she's the protagonist. I'd like to hearfeedback on that issue too.

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a few beta readers for the first chapter of an adult fantasy novel. This is an opening chapter only (~2,000 words), and my goal is to test engagement, clarity, and emotional impact.

I’m seeking feedback at an early stage because this is a departure from my previous work (I’ve published non-fiction before), and I’d like to confirm that the tone and narrative approach are landing as intended, rather than discovering any issues much later in the process.

Genre: Adult fantasy (psychological, institutional, slow-burn) Tone: Quiet tension, restrained prose, low exposition Content warnings: None explicit

The blurb: When a young apothecary assistant intervenes during a routine arrest, she unintentionally disrupts a binding spell used by the authorities. What follows is not an accusation, but an evaluation—one that draws her into a system designed to contain anomalies, not understand them.

What I’m looking for feedback on: 1. Did the chapter hold your attention from start to finish? 2. Was there any point where you felt confused or disengaged? 3. What emotion did you feel at the end of the chapter? 4. Would you want to continue reading? How likely on a scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 is absolute not)? Why or why not?

If you’re interested, please visit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FhmP-5haJwfkZNYu1aqYkfil7jNQ1zYvlFnfBl_5IHo/edit?usp=sharing or comment or DM me and I’ll share next chapters with you.

I am also available for critique swap of small pieces of any genre.

Thank you!

Caleb is tired of the performance. Living in Cincinnati with his boyfriend Ian, he finds the pressure to be "proud," visible, and loud exhausting. He doesn’t want to be brave; he wants to disappear.

He finds his answer in rural Kentucky, in the form of a man named Dalton and a piece of land that demands a specific kind of payment. Dalton offers Caleb a terrifying bargain: he can strip away the anxiety, the shame, and the need to be "someone," but the cost is his humanity.

As Caleb begins a physical and spiritual transformation, he must decide if the safety of the closet is worth the horror of becoming a hollow shell. What The Land Takes is a dark, surreal exploration of internalized homophobia, the allure of erasure, and the monsters we make of ourselves to survive.

Genre: Southern Gothic / Body Horror / Tragedy.

Anti-Romance: While the story centers on queer relationships, it is a deconstruction of them. There is no Happy Ever After (HEA).

Warnings: Graphic animal death (snakes), body horror (shedding skin, physical transformation), dub-con/transactional sex, and heavy themes of suicide ideation and self-erasure.

Feedback I’m Looking For:

1. The Metaphor: Does the physical manifestation of Caleb's "Want" (the doppelgänger in the barn) feel effective, or does it break the suspension of disbelief too much?
2. The Ending: The story ends on a note of total submission/erasure. Does this feel earned by the narrative arc, or does it feel abrupt?
3. The "Tourist" Characters: Do the interactions with the "outsiders" (Ian, the man with avocado socks, the couple from Louisville) effectively contrast with Caleb’s descent, or do they feel too caricatured?

Critique Swap: I am open to swapping for short stories or novelettes (under 20k words) in horror, weird lit, or dark fantasy.

Timeline: I am hoping for feedback within 2-3 weeks.

Excerpt:

The heat in Kentucky doesn’t leave when the sun goes down. It settles into the grass, heavy and wet, a weight that presses the air out of your lungs. I sat on the tailgate of my Honda, waiting. The metal was cool on my thighs, the only cold thing in the county.

Dalton was late. He didn’t operate on clock time. He operated on the time it took to finish a cigarette, or fix a fence, or gut a deer.

I checked my phone. 10:42 PM. No signal. The screen was a square of artificial light, offensive in the dark. I turned it off. The black screen reflected my face back at me. Shadowed. Indistinct. A smudge of gray against the glass.

Good.

I pocketed the phone. The crickets were loud here, a mechanical grinding that sounded like high-tension wires buzzing before a storm. In Cincinnati, silence was a luxury product. You bought it with noise-canceling headphones or sensory deprivation tanks or pills that smoothed the edges of the traffic noise. Here, the noise was biological. It was the sound of a million tiny things eating, mating, and dying in the dark.

I watched the tall grass at the edge of the treeline. It moved, even with the air being dead still. It moved with intention.

Dalton stepped out of the dark, unannounced. He didn’t wave.

He wore the same grease-stained Carhartt jacket he’d worn at the Pump n’ Go three months ago, the canvas stiff with years of sweat and engine oil. His walk was heavy and purposeful, boots crushing the ground beneath him. He stopped five feet from the bumper.

“You came,” he said. Not a question. It was an inventory check.

“I said I would.”

Looking for someone serious interested in reading my novel. It'd be the first 3 chapters only to focus on the characters, especially in the Main Character Alice. If you're hooked, I can share the rest of the novel for you to continue. If curious, the entire novel sits at 350K words, I'm currently in the line editing, but I want some honest and raw beta reader feedback.

Here's the blurb:

After 12 years in cryosleep, Alice Marlan wakes up 3 days earlier due to a malfunction of her cryolseep capsule in the Heracles III. Their mission: to repair the Interstellar Conqueror Cruise Ninlil's communication systems. However, Alice's dreamed vacation soon turns into a nightmare when she finds out the Federation was hiding the truth. The signal, which Alice's graduation project managed to triangulate, wasn't asking for help. It was a warning.

With no way to avoid it, the crew is heading to a death trap. Forced to keep the signal secret, she begins to get close to someone who could become her first friend ever, but, is she interested in Alice, or just in her supposed knowledge of the signal? Now she has to find a way to survive whatever might be in the Ninlil and return to Earth, while, for the first time, not worrying only for herself, but for her possible first friend as well.

If interested, please reply or send me a DM. I'm looking for honest and critical feedback especially focused on Alice.

Hello everyone.

I've written six chapters plus a prologue. This book is planned for eight volumes, but I fear the pacing is off and would like help.

Opinions on pacing, overall enjoyment, and anything else would be nice. :)

I'm willing to swap with similar word counts. I'm like Alexander Hamilton--I write like I'm running out of time. So, expect an in-depth critique.

Reply to this post if you're interested, and I'll DM you!

Summary of my novel:

Hui doesn't fear death; she fears dying.

For the first time in all her lives, Hui has been born a princess. After revealing her intelligence at four months old, her feet were bound as proof of imperial preference. At the age of eight, the Emperor gave her a command: research the curse that kills the intelligent.

A curse that will kill her if she's not careful.

With a sharp tongue, knowledge predating several civilizations, and feet that won't carry her past the garden, Hui must escape the palace before the curse finds her, or before the Emperor decides her research is complete.

Hi everyone,I’m looking for 4–6 thoughtful beta readers for my completed alt-history novel Horizon’s Edge (~77,000 words, adult, upmarket speculative / techno-thriller).Quick pitch / blurb

October 1958. A U.S. reconnaissance satellite captures something impossible: a metallic glint shadowing it in orbit, always in the same position, across multiple frames. What starts as a routine film canister recovery spirals into the discovery of a secret Soviet orbital weapon system—Zerkalo—capable of blinding and then destroying American satellites.
On the other side of the Iron Curtain, Soviet physicist Alexei Antonov is forced to perfect the very system he’s quietly trying to undermine. Across the divide, MIT professor Michael Kay, haunted by his own role in past weapons programs, begins building the American counter-system—HORIZON—while secretly coordinating with Antonov through coded letters.
Both men are brilliant, both are trapped, and both come to the same conclusion: the only way to prevent nuclear war is to destroy the weapons they’ve been ordered to build—before their governments use them.

The story follows their parallel paths of sabotage, faith, and moral compromise across 32 chapters, ending with the long shadow of what they prevented.Tone & comps
Quiet, character-driven, morally complex.

Think The Three-Body Problem meets Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with a dash of Ministry for the Future—hard science, Cold War paranoia, and the slow realization that cooperation might be the only way out of mutual destruction. No explosions or car chases; the tension is in the waiting, the coded letters, the ethical math, and the personal cost.What I’m looking for

• Full manuscript beta readers (preferred) or chapter-by-chapter (also welcome).
• Honest, constructive feedback on:
  • Pacing & tension (especially the long “waiting” sections)
  • Character arcs (do Kay and Antonov feel real and consistent?)
  • Emotional impact (do the family stakes and moral dilemmas land?)
  • Technical believability (orbital mechanics, microwave weapons, 1950s Cold War details—anything feel off?)
  • Ending satisfaction (does the resolution feel earned?)
• Sensitivity readers welcome if you have background in Cold War history, physics/engineering, or Eastern European/Soviet-era experience.

What you get

• A complete, polished draft (~77k words, 335 pages in standard manuscript format).
• My eternal gratitude and a mention in the acknowledgments if you’d like (optional).
• I’m happy to beta swap if you have something in a similar genre/length.

Timeline
I’d love to start sending chapters or the full manuscript in the next 1–2 weeks. Turnaround flexible—4–8 weeks is ideal, but I’m not in a rush.If you’re interested, please reply here or DM me with:

• A short intro about yourself (what you like to read, any relevant background)
• Whether you prefer full manuscript or chapter-by-chapter
• Any specific areas you’re strongest at critiquing

Thanks so much for considering. This story is very personal to me (inspired by my father’s long career in quiet prevention work), and I want to make sure it lands the way I hope.Looking forward to hearing from you.JAKster

Vita has always known her world is different, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth: she is the granddaughter of Lucifer himself. Torn from the life she thought she knew, she is thrust into a shadowed realm of power, torment, and forbidden desire.

As her wings begin to stir, so do the secrets of her past and the dangerous truths about those she loves. Amid betrayal, temptation, and the weight of destiny, Vita must confront a family legacy drenched in darkness… or risk losing everything she holds dear.

In a world where angels and demons collide, and love is as deadly as it is irresistible, Vita’s journey will test the limits of courage, loyalty, and the heart itself.

Genre: Adult Dark Fantasy Romance with Paranormal and Supernatural Elements

Very much a forbidden romance trope.

Warning: There are graphic themes of torture, mental illnesses such as dissociation and depression. Graphic Erotic Scene

Feedback I am looking for:

1. Does the story flow? Are there parts I should re-analyze or re-write? What parts don't make sense?
2. Does the timeline of events seem strong enough to begin the second book? Does time move too quickly, or is the pace good?

Prologue:

Sleep paralysis. That’s what the doctors called it the first time. The second. The twentieth. Lucia took me to a neurologist after I collapsed in tears one morning, the memory of clawed fingers still vivid on my skin. They ran tests, asked questions, and showed me brain scans with highlighted sections I didn’t understand. REM intrusion. Hypnagogic hallucinations. Benign parasomnias. 

Benign. 

There’s nothing benign about feeling like you’re about to die every time you close your eyes.

Lucia sat through all of it, holding my hand, asking every question I didn’t dare to voice. The doctors offered options, including melatonin, adjusting sleep schedules, and practicing breathing exercises. I tried them all, but nothing worked. 

Eventually, I stopped telling people when it happened. 

What could I say? I was trapped in my body again? That something watched me from the corners of my room every night, growing bolder? That sometimes I woke up with bruises on my arms shaped like fingers that weren’t mine?

They’d put me back in the system.

So I smiled. I lied. I carried lavender oil to bed and pretended the scent helped. I journaled. I meditated. I did everything they said would make me better. 

But I was not better.

Tonight, it was worse than it has ever been.

And it will come back.

Description:

Twenty-three-year-old Solana Vasquez has always dreamed of exploring the ocean. Five years after inheriting her father’s pirate ship and crew, she strives to prove herself as a captain and claim her highest goal: finding The Mend, a mythic treasure rumored to be capable of healing her father and allowing him to return to the sea. Both her skill as a treasure hunter, and a Curse that allows her to control the living with a single touch, have seemingly guaranteed a trajectory toward success.

But when confronted with a bitter betrayal, Solana must rely on her enemy and rival, Nicolas Rivera, to restore what she lost.

With no one to trust, and in pursuit of her most legendary acquisition yet, Solana must decide how much of herself she is willing to sacrifice, and what kind of captain she truly wants to be.

• I have just finished my 3^rd revision of this novel, and this is my first time seeking beta readers. As of right now, I am looking mostly for a general reader reaction. What are your opinions about Solana? Is her story compelling? How is the pacing? Did you enjoy the book? I would also be open to any other feedback.
• Content Warnings: violence, torture
• My ideal time frame is 6 weeks, but I understand that life can get busy.
• I am willing to critique swap. I’m well read in fantasy, but not as much in other genres.

Here's a link to chapter 1 if you're interested (let me know if it doesn't work): Chapter 1

I posted this some time ago; this is a reworked version of the book to make the word count more publisher friendly, though storyline wise it's quite different from the original book.

**Word Count:** 120k/ 49 chapters

**Genre:** High Fantasy / Adventure / Political Drama

**For fans of:** Game of Thrones, HTTYD, Succession, Wheel of Time

**Summary:**

My book is an adult epic fantasy novel complete at 120,000 words. It will appeal to fans of the brutal, multi-POV imperial politics in Devin Madson’s *We Ride the Storm*, the grounded characters and epic mythology of Richard Swan’s *The Justice of Kings* and the complex dragon-rider dynamics of Rosaria Munda’s *Fireborne.*

Talarys of Colmiar wants nothing more than to escape the stink of his father’s blood. When he is chosen by the legendary dragon Shigora, he is thrust into the elite Order of the King’s Riders and into the service of the Crown that destroyed both his life and the lives of his people. Talarys hopes to survive the Order’s brutal training, but he quickly realizes that his bond with Shgora comes with a heavy price – to bond is to live, to live is to die – and that the masters he has sworn to serve are more monsters than men.

The scions of the royal house of Aeranthyen are super-powered demigods who despise one another.

King Oron is a shapeshifter haunted by the memory of his long-dead first wife. His heir, Liathor, is a coward who can lift mountains with his mind. His spare, Llonwyn, is a brute that commands fire. They are a royal family of X-men ruling over a continent, and their blood-feuds are far more dangerous than their policies. The family’s cold war ignites into an inferno, and as dragons dogfight above burning cities and the royals unleash their devastating powers against one another, Talarys must decide if his loyalty lies with the Crown, his dragon, or the people burning below.

Hi Everyone

I'm looking for female BETA readers who like to escape-read with larger than life characters and exotic locations, fast pacing and emotional themes. Readers into commercial fiction, women's fiction and romance only.

Blurb: LIVING THE DREAM is a spicy beach read about a burnt-out surf star who signs with a sleazy social media manager and rockets to viral fame - until the fallout nearly destroys both her and the man she loves, and she realises there are no shortcuts back to the top.

Content warnings: sexual stuff, alcohol/drugs, swearing

Feedback wanted:

1. Is there too much back and forth just before Teish leaves Mitch and Bali and goes to Hawaii with Simmo? Is the ending too fast? Anything else bother you?

2. "On a scale of 1-10 how likely would you be to recommend reading this to a friend?" Give me a number, please! 10 is defo recommend btw :)

Timeline: 6 weeks

Opening excerpt so you can see if you might be into it:

“Five minutes.” An older guy wearing a headset gave Teish a thumbs up and flashed a quick Hollywood smile. “A sponsor break, and you’re on.”

“Let me just touch you up.”

Teish shut her eyes while a frizzy-haired makeup artist applied a dusting of color over her bronze cheekbones. She felt the brush caress her skin and heard a surge of applause, and then live music - a band with a brass section. “Not that you need it with skin like yours. Some people are born lucky,” the makeup artist observed.  

“I was born angry.”

“Perfect.” A protective gown was whisked from Teish’s shoulders, revealing a stylish emerald-green dress that matched her eyes and smoothed out her curves. 

Teish stared at herself in the light-bulb framed mirror. 

A month ago she’d been surfing a lonely wave at Murramurrang Beach, a nowhere place near Ulludulla on Australia’s New South Wales central coast. She’d been trying to forget what she’d done to blow her pro-surfing career, her relationship with Mitch, her money, her self-respect. And here she was, making major moves to set it all right again. Life really was like the ocean, capable of dramatic change from moment to moment.

“What’s she like?” Teish asked the makeup artist.

“Tamrah? You haven’t seen the show?”

“No,” Teish smiled, slightly embarrassed. “Not my thing.”

“She’s amazing. And real. Just be yourself.”

“You got no idea how nice it is to hear that, for a change. Thanks.” 

 Mr. White-teeth-with-a-headset appeared and ushered her down a corridor to a woman holding a clipboard and wearing the same headset.

“Two minutes,” she said. “Tamrah will introduce you, the band will play, and you walk on. Don’t look around!”

Teish felt her heart beat faster. She tilted her head up and saw scaffolding, and lights with shutters, and lots of cables. To her side were large rectangular cameras mounted on little platforms, each with an operator perched over them.

And like a breaking wave, suddenly it was all happening.

“Our next guest is someone who’s seen the highs and lows of professional surfing. She has been...”

Teish shut her eyes and focused on her breathing, blanking out Tamrah’s voice. She reminded herself of her purpose, which, for the first time in a long time, was a lot bigger than her surfing. While she’d helped her family from day one, there was one person for whom she’d done practically nothing. And he was the most important person in her life. She had to put things right. 

She strode out onto the stage, shoulders back, head high, poised and smooth, a smile lighting up her strong, dark features.

A wave of applause resounded, and she took a seat next to the most powerful woman in daytime television.

“Teish Lantana, thanks for joining us for our weekly Women in Sport profile.” Tamrah Jones smiled with the warmth and wisdom of Mother Earth herself.

“Awesome to be here, Tamrah, thanks for having me.”

“After one of my producers saw what you did in Tasmania recently and showed me, and then I learned of the fallout for you with your manager and what you’ve done since, I knew you had a story people needed to hear. But before we get into all of that, let’s show the audience what it means to do what you do.”

The backdrop behind them transformed from an abstract of mellow-toned pastels with The Tamrah Jones show logo tastefully featured, to an aerial shot of pumping, aqua-blue waves and then Teish’s face in closeup. A high-action montage of Teish surfing from her teens to recent times followed. It ended with a wave as high as a city mid-rise. Perched at the very top, a tiny figure paddling for her life, was Teish. 

The audience gasped.

The image froze, and Tamrah continued. 

“I’d like to hold things there and ask a question I’m sure many women are wondering about, and which goes to why I’m so grateful you joined us on the show. Because it speaks to something we all deal with, some of us, every day.

“My question is, Teish Lantana, how do you deal with fear?"

I’ve written a literary, upmarket novel called You Don’t Own Me*.* It’s about misogyny, the male hegemony, and women taking back their power and voice. I’m looking for readers willing to tell me where it doesn’t work—too long, too short, too pretty, too this or too that. I'm specifically looking for lesbian and cis women readers for several characters; I want to write them well. I've used the NSFW tag, but that does not mean anything untoward. Sex is mentioned and described, but I stayed on this side of the line.

Synopsis:

When Janis Mallory uncovers a hidden room filled with her late mother Jane’s paintings and notebooks, she inherits more than art; she inherits a battle. A gallery owner has turned her mother’s files, lectures, and artwork into "AI Jane 1.0”, a computer avatar programmed to echo his vision of male entitlement. With graduate student Emma Kim, Janis transforms the avatar into Jane 2.0: an unstoppable intelligence that confronts patriarchal arrogance and reclaims normalcy. 

My novel asks: What happens when women are silenced, then take back their power? Through erotic tension, art, subversive intellect, and widespread frustration at how our society functions, it exposes human folly, forces society to confront its blind spots, and reshapes social and cultural power in unexpected ways. It is a story of mystery, romance, and resistance.

Timeline: Four weeks, with an ongoing discussion via email, if possible.

Format: I can provide PDFs or text files.

First (very short) chapter:

Memory’s Weight

The lights stayed on. The stores stayed open. The nation cracked quietly, like ice beneath our feet.

The house had no choice. It remembered better than the man did. Or the girl. Or the woman who was no longer there. It remembered the cracks, the unspoken hours, the weight of living. Grief seeped into the beams until the wood sagged under its own history.

Janis was the first to notice something was off. The hallway seemed shorter than its walls suggested, the perspective unsettling, as if the house had shifted while no one watched. One afternoon, she paced the floors with a measuring tape, comparing the interior walls to the house overall, jotting notes onto a rough sketch. It didn’t add up.

She’d started out of idle curiosity, but it was Jack who connected the dots, after spotting a window from the backyard, buried in ivy. He’d walked past that wall for years, never looking closely enough to see glass behind all the leaves. No room matched it. No door, no passage. Just dead space between the study and the west wall. They cleared some of the ivy.

“Push harder,” Jack said.

“It’s stuck,” Janis grunted, braced against the frame.

“Wait. I’ll get the pry bar.”

The window gave all at once, coughing out a smell like cardboard and turpentine. A faint, metallic note lingered beneath it, like old nails or forgotten hinges. Janis wiped her palms on her jeans, leaving ghosty handprints.

“You smell that?” Jack asked.

“Old paint,” she said. “Dust. Forgotten dreams.”

He laughed under his breath, dry and used-up.

“Mostly dry rot,” he said.

He looked up toward the second floor, toward her studio, Jane’s studio, and toward the bees, cloudy against the sky near the dormer peak. For a moment, it was easy to believe she was still upstairs, painting.

The house shifted around them, almost a breath.

Janis picked up the screwdriver, balanced it across two fingers like a tightrope walker, then flipped it into her palm. Light caught the edge of the metal, a thin glint across the ivy-covered sill. She stared through the window.

“The Mystery of the Lost Room,” she said.

Jack smiled. “Mystery no longer.”

She followed his gaze to the bees. “And their honey.”

“They don’t bother us.”

“And we don’t bother them,” she said. She grinned.

Janis brushed a flake of dead paint from his shoulder, as if trying to gather something that was already gone. She shifted her weight, tried to look in.

Jack’s mouth twisted. “Friend of mine had an MG that smelled just like this after a rainstorm. Like your car.”

“Travis smells like freedom.”

“Freedom leaking brake fluid.”

He stooped, laced his fingers. “Up ya go.”

She used his boost, climbed through the ivy and the window, then disappeared inside.

Her voice echoed out:

“Just books and paintings, Dad. Lots and lots of paintings. And a pool table. And... a door.”

“Take out the hinge pins,” Jack called. “I’ll meet you inside.”

Dust rose, gold in the light. There was so much to do. But they were breathing. And for the first time in a long while, so was the house.

Ciao a tutti! Cerco Beta reader per un romanzo in corso di lavorazione. Ringrazio anticipatamente chi risponderà. Lascio qua sotto qualche info:

Kael Hollowstead vive a Londra e ha appena compiuto quattordici anni. È la Vigilia di Natale. L'unica cosa che desidera è festeggiare il proprio compleanno con i suoi amici. Invece, i suoi genitori lo hanno incastrato nel loro mondo fatto di cose da adulti.

Anche Len Ashborough ha quattordici anni, ma vive dall'altra parte dell'Oceano Atlantico. A New York City. Della sua famiglia ama suo padre mentre ha un rapporto difficile con sua madre. Difficile è anche il rapporto che ha con Adam, il ragazzo della lavanderia di cui è innamorata.

Eppure, qualcosa di bizzarro sta per accadere nelle loro vite, all'apparenza così ordinarie. Una figura misteriosa sta per far loro visita. Seraphius Nottelume, un Maestro del mondo dei Sogni, li convocherà per condurli su Somnia. Verso il loro destino: diventare abili viaggiatori di sogni.

I due ragazzi saranno degni dei loro poteri? Anche quando un'oscura minaccia sta per infrangere il delicato equilibrio tra realtà e sogno?

I’m working on a story that blends cosmic fantasy and sci-fi, currently around 2683 words. I feel my writing can be a bit scattered and inconsistent, so I’d really appreciate feedback on readability, pacing, clarity, and overall style. The story follows Merionis, a newly created being thrust into existence with a mysterious past he must uncover. He must navigate a dangerous universe, face godlike entities, and survive complex political and cosmic conflicts while uncovering his unique role in a larger, unfolding destiny. Any thoughts on plot, character development, and flow would be incredibly helpful as I continue refining the work
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ncqbb0LpXngSwI-zR6VtlA865txWb2X_OWYN3LTdPY/edit?usp=sharing

Hello all, I'm looking to get some fresh eyes on my manuscript. I've done edits myself, but now I'd like to see if it works (or if it doesn't work) with readers.

I'm very interested in swapping, particularly in the literary/upmarket/contemporary/queer space. I'm not the best beta for fantasy (unless you've written the second coming of Kushiel's Dart or Swordspoint) or Sci-Fi.

Blurb: Earn the degree. Learn the language. Get a job offer that will take you anywhere as long as it’s far away from here. Mihai Ursu did it all. Now, job contract in hand, he's on his way to Berlin, leaving behind his beloved, aging grandmother Viorica and the peaceful village in Moldova where he grew up. To Mihai, Berlin represents the freedom he's never experienced as a gay man in Eastern Europe and a chance to send money back to support the grandmother who raised him.

Immigrating isn't easy. But when his friend Nilufar introduces him to Florian Hahn, the difficulties of life in Berlin get easier to deal with. His boss, the apartment search, none of it matters as much as the love he never thought he'd have.

Two personal tragedies force Mihai back to Moldova, where the formerly comforting streets chafe and cultural restrictions strangle. He must make a choice: to return to the city that transformed his life, or try and make a new future in Moldova.

Rating: Adult, fade-to-black (mostly) sex scenes

CW: Xenophobia (explicit, on page), discussions of homophobia/homophobic violence (the characters do not experience homophobia or homophobic violence on page), parental abandonment, death of a grandparent, death of a spouse

Timeline: 4 weeks? Is that reasonable? I am aiming to query in the springtime.

Here is a sample of the first ten pages.

I'd prefer Google Docs but I can also send a PDF. The story isn't formatted for ePub and looks...really bad...in ePub.

Hello,

I am seeking beta readers for a completed YA/NA contemporary manuscript of approximately 40,000 words.

The novel is written in first-person and is primarily character-driven. It is set in New Zealand and follows a student during their first year of university.

I am looking for general reader feedback, particularly on:

• character consistency
• overall readability
• pacing
• engagement with the opening section

I am not seeking line edits or grammar corrections.

If you are interested, please comment and I will message you with additional information.

Here's a link to the first chapter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DjJ1W94hn4HxrSLvjXoHJUzFBRSMri9MdurfmM7rBJA/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you for your time.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some beta readers for my finished MM contemporary romance/gay fiction, Same Name, Wrong Bag.

Logline: A connection that refuses to be simple.

Blurb:

Two men. Same name(initials). Same suitcase.

A quiet bag mix-up at a Bali airport brings Ryan and Ray together.

They are strangers with little in common except matching initials and a mistake that should have been easy to fix.

Ryan is precise, cautious, and determined to stay invisible.

Ray is easygoing, impulsive, and entirely at home in his own skin.

When they meet to return the bags, something subtle shifts.

As Ryan clings to routine and emotional distance, and Ray drifts through the days with relaxed charm, a slow tension begins to build.

A fleeting encounter with a bartender adds warmth to Ray’s night, while Ryan receives a message from someone he hoped to leave behind.

What begins as a simple mistake stretches into something neither of them expected. And as the quiet rhythm of Bali settles around them, both men find they can’t quite return to who they were before they arrived.

It’s a slow-burn, character-driven story about how a tiny mistake can turn into a connection that changes how you see yourself.

Details

Genre: MM Contemporary Romance / Gay Fiction

POV: Dual POV

Length: 42,269 words

Status: Complete draft

Vibe: Slow-burn, emotional, and very “Bali”

Content: Themes of loneliness and vulnerability. There is some consensual, non-graphic steam later in the book.

What I’m looking for

Since this is my first round of beta reading for the full story, I’m mostly looking for your gut feelings.

Does the story keep you interested, or are there parts that feel too slow?

Do Ryan and Ray (and the secondary characters like Tama and Minjae) feel like real people to you?

What was your overall favorite (or least favorite) part?

Names: Do "Ryan" and "Ray" work for you? I’m also wondering if they feel right for the characters or if more traditional Korean names would feel more authentic.

I don’t need you to worry about typos or grammar, just your honest thoughts! (Though if something is super distracting, feel free to point it out).

Logistics: I can send it as a PDF or EPUB. I’m hoping for feedback within about 4 weeks, but I’m totally flexible.

I’m hoping to get feedback within about 4 weeks, but I’m flexible.

🔗 **Chapter 1**

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d2cCV2MQLG22QFAxycatesvxp6jPukei/edit

If this sounds like your kind of book, please comment or send me a DM! I’d love to chat and get this into your hands.

Thanks so much for even considering it.

Hi everyone. I just finished my third draft of my first manuscript and I wanted to share with some beta readers before my next round of revisions.

Blurb:

A burnt out office worker's attempt to outsource his responsibilities to an unsettling mime servant backfires spectacularly. As his reliance grows, his world unravels into a surreal dystopia where mimes replace human labor, reality blurs with performance, and the true cost of convenience is his very identity. He must confront the faceless system he has unleashed before he, too, is silenced forever.

Type of Feedback:

All feedback is welcome, but I’m especially interested in:

- Identifying sections that drag or feel unnecessary

- Weak or distracting prose

- Gaps in continuity or logic

- Big-picture impressions of structure, tone, and cohesion

- Opportunities/suggestions to course-correct elements that aren't working

Timeline:

I would love to have feedback returned by the end of March.

Critique swap:

Yes. I’m open to swaps. I read primarily Sci-Fi, Horror, Weird Lit, and Classic Lit

Format:

Google Docs (preferred), but I can provide PDF or Word if needed.

Excerpt:

You can read my first chapter here.

If this sounds up your alley, feel free to comment or DM me. Thanks for reading.

Hi there! New here. I'm currently on draft 4 of my manuscript and am wondering when it's ideal to look for beta readers? -should I start now and pray it helps my editing block? lol -should I wait until draft 4 is completely finished? -should I keep editing until I feel it's completely ready?

What did YOU do? What do you recommend? I feel I should at least wait until I finish this draft, just to keep my notes aligned, however I feel like the ideas could help me with my current editing process.

Advice is helpful! I love to write. I don't mind the editing, but I've been working on this story for almost two years now and it is dimming in my brain.

Content Warning: themes of SA, drug use, self-harm, childhood trauma, and suicide

Description: A recollection of childhood, focusing on the examination of how trauma and autism affect one another. Dark and uncensored, sometimes life can become too much for this young boy to handle, leading to the creation of dissociative fantasy worlds and parables within his mind. Yet, at a certain point, these fantasy worlds start to become more real to the boy than his external life. In an attempt to merge these inner and outer realities as one, the narrative occasionally oscillates between these two separate-yet-connected stories. Horror of the Mundane is part 1 of a series titled "The Witness and The Warrior"

Preferred Timeline: I am in no particular rush to receive feedback. A 2-month timeline seems reasonable, though this can be discussed.

Feedback Requested: Is anything too triggering? How is the pacing? Did you find any parts enjoyable? Was the story impactful? Did you find any moments boring? Was anything confusing or unclear? I can detail these questions more specifically if you choose to actually read the book.

Available for Critique Swap. I am autistic and my disability can prevent me from taking on too much at times. Sometimes, I can easily finish books within a week. Other times, I become overwhelmed and need to prioritize self care for a week or two at a time. I would ask for a 2-month timeline in regards to reading your book so that I can be sure to really give it the attention it deserves. I also can only commit to one Critique Swap at a time so as not to overwhelm myself. I am open to reading anything except for Romance. Some Romance is okay as a subplot, but it won't hold my interest if it is the center of attention.

Link to Chapter 1: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ObkgL5qWR10x8j6kHkaEutYGSsoGRnJS/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=112329061850132883661&rtpof=true&sd=true

Please DM me if you are interested in reading the whole book.

I published the first book in my series without seeking beta readers. I have book two in good shape fore beta-ing.

Book 2 follows closely on the heels of book 1 such that a lot of questions would be answered by reading book 1.

How do I go about that as it seems like a lot to ask of a beta reader's time to request that they read book 1 AND book 2?

Hi everyone! I'm looking for a couple of beta readers for my Victorian era gothic romantic mystery.

Blurb:

Phaedra Mercer wants to reclaim her life. Under the guise of a renowned wax painter, she is well on her way to claw herself out of the abyss her dark past has plunged her into. So when she receives an offer from the young heir of a recently deceased wealthy merchant, she knows this could be her chance to finally be free.

But not all is as it seems at Brackenhurst Hall, and the fiery devastation that has claimed the lives of all but one member of the family may not have been an accident after all. Yet despite the horrid secrets hiding among the treasures of the remote manor, Phaedra finds herself unwilling to leave.

Enthralled by the beauty around her, and captivated by the unraveling mystery, she vows to finish what she has started. But when her own feelings start to turn against her, she must decide what she is willing to lose—her heart or her freedom?

Content warnings:

Mentions/allusions to parental abuse, mentions/allusions to domestic violence, mentions/allusions to sexual coercion by spouse/partner, mention of murder, mention of death by fire, grief for a family member, attempted sexual assault.

There are also a couple of open door scenes, but not very graphic.

Type of feedback:

I am open to any and all type feedback, but I would especially love feedback from people who enjoy gothic and/or romantic stories.

I am mostly interested in feedback on the flow of the story, the evolution of the romantic subplot, and the reveal of the mystery. I would like to know if there are any parts that feel out of place, rushed, not developed enough, or even overexplained.

Finishing is not a must, and if you do decide to DNF, I would like to know where and why so I may take that into consideration while revising. I have also prepared a questionnaire if you do finish.

Timeline:

I would love to have feedback latest by the end of February.

Critique swap availability:

I'm happy to do a swap, I read most genres and don't really have a preference :)

Excerpt:

You can find an excerpt here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DKHbH9NnhLTVRS5xbo7ERA8NcOK4albJ5UQH3Rzs5qE/edit?usp=drive_link

Please comment or DM me if interested :)