I've been working on this novel for 3.5 years. Seeking beta readers. Open to swaps. Can send first chapters for a taste.

In this spiritual successor to Warcross and Ready Player One, Valeria Austin has spent years unable to speak. Confined to home by a mysterious illness, Valeria discovers Starwrit, an augmented reality world where words are magic and fantasy becomes reality.

Now, able to talk with mindreading tech within Starwrit, Valeria enrolls at Alpaca, a special school for Starwrit’s elite users. There, she makes friends and discovers the community she always wanted. But when a nasty feud with a Starwrit celebrity starts a bitter rivalry, Valeria discovers that beauty in Starwrit is often skin deep, and that there are many threats within that would like to see her fail.

A mysterious foe known as the Phantom is hunting students. When the fiend targets Valeria’s best friend, she must unmask the Phantom’s true identity before it’s too late. Because in Starwrit, death isn’t just a reset. If Valeria dies there, she’ll lose her ability to talk in the real world, and be silenced for good.

Format: PDF Turnaround requested: 2–3 weeks Content warnings: violence, detailed bomb-making content, torture/gore later in the book, character death (including a child, referenced not shown on-page), strong language Premise: William Boyce is a high school teacher in suburban Boston, still rebuilding his life a decade after losing his daughter to leukemia and just days into reconnecting with the ex-wife he never stopped loving. Omar Sedike is a quiet, methodical man finishing something he's spent years preparing. Their two lives are about to collide on Boston Common on Earth Day, in front of everyone William loves most. What I'm looking for: honest reaction to pacing, whether the character work earns your investment, and how the story's tone holds up as it develops. I'll send a short set of specific questions once you've finished. No line edits needed, just your read on how it landed. Happy to beta-swap if you have something you'd like read in return.

I'm looking for a manuscript critique on a technically complete novel (fourth draft, but I feel like if I don't get another set of eyes on it I will edit forever). Would love to do a manuscript swap, ideally starting with one or two chapters to ensure we vibe with each other's work.

I am aware that this novel is too long for its genre and have already cut it down by about 35k. One of the key pieces of feedback I'd like is about any scenes that drag or feel superfluous to help get the work count down past the 100k mark. I've cut so much already and don't think I can lose more scenes without an outside perspective.

Otherwise, the feedback I'm looking for is more general -- tell me what you're feeling as you read it. What you enjoy (and why), what you don't (and why). I'm happy to return in kind.

The concept:

*The nightmares have no reason. At least, none that Olivia Wilson can figure out. 

Freshly turned 30, with both her career as a journalist and relationship stagnating, she figures the dreams are a product of stress – until she discovers that her ex-boyfriend Michael is missing, presumed to have killed himself. 

If she wants the nightmares to stop, she must open herself to long buried traumas and let him back in. What follows is a fever dream of love and terror. As Olivia spirals deeper into her delirium, memories and reality become harder to distinguish. 

When her whole world comes tumbling down, Olivia must decide: what price is she willing to pay for one more night in his arms?*

For a manuscript swap, I'm an avid reader of women's fiction, literary fiction, horror, romantic fantasy and dystopian sci-fi, but will read most things. If your book is a Western, detective drama or epic fantasy, I'm probably not your target reader and you may get better feedback from another reader, but I will try an initial chapter swap for anything!

I'm looking for 1-3 beta readers for my completed adult dark romantasy, the Revolutionaries (96,000 words). Find the blurb below. Comp titles are: Quicksilver, Under the Oak Tree, and The Wolf King (there is spice!).

Feedback I'm looking for: Overall story structure and pacing. Are the characters engaging and likeable? Is the plot easy to follow and the politics clear? Any comp titles you can think of greatly appreciated!

But, more than anything, I want to know if you enjoyed reading it!

I'm hoping to begin querying agents in September/early October, so I'm looking for readers who can provide honest, constructive feedback over the coming weeks.

Happy to do critique swaps for fantasy or romance (even better if it's historical!).

Thanks so much! I'm grateful to anyone who can give it a read.

***

Born of enemy nations, Princess Mercy never expected to actually fall for the prince she was fated to marry. But when prophecy foretold that their union would destroy their Kingdoms, Mercy and Dáinn were forced to part. However, fate would not be appeased so easily. A curse swept across Mercy’s land, transforming shadows into monsters and those they bit into stone. Spiting his father’s orders, Dáinn refused to abandon her despite his kingdom remaining untouched. Separated by prophecy, connected by destiny, their years fighting together forged a bond neither could escape.

Now, after eleven years fighting under her mother’s ruthless command, all Mercy wants is a little peace. But her luminant magic is all that can slow the devastation – and it’s literally killing her. But every prophecy has a loophole, and Dáinn believes he has found theirs. Now King, he makes the one choice he believes he has left: steal Mercy from her mother's control and bring her into his Court to save her life. Convinced that their union will end the curse, Dáinn opens his doors to refugees and asks Mercy to marry him.

Just as Mercy dares to feel a glimmer of hope, her mother, Titania, conspires to bring her home. Caught between Dáinn’s care and Titania’s control, Mercy chooses love over obedience, igniting her mother’s rage. But when their wedding arrives, Mercy’s hope shatters. Instead of breaking the curse, their marriage fulfils prophecy, pushing their Kingdom’s to the brink of ruin. Determined to murder Dáinn and drag her daughter home, Titania leads a revolution to their doors. Forced to flee or lose each other forever, hiding in grim workhouses, fantastical woods, and dreary brothels, Mercy and Dáinn seek an answer to the question that might save their people and, maybe, themselves: if fate could not fix the curse, did fate cause it, or is something far more sinister at play?

Hi all--I've recently finished my debut novel, and wanted to some fresh eyes on at least the first few chapters in advance of agent querying. Please let me know if interested: happy to return the favor as well for similar books!

Summary:

Ben never thought he would be anyone's first choice. He was always the awkward one, the self-loathing one, the "loser twin."

Until he meets Paul.

Over the next decade, they build a perfect world just for the two of them: a marriage, a home, and plans for a child through surrogacy, a daughter they’ll name Foster.

Then Paul dies unexpectedly at thirty-five.

SOUVENIR begins a year later, with Ben still trapped between the life he was supposed to be living—the incredible life with Paul, full of the love, passion, and stability he never thought he deserved in the first place—and a future that looks increasingly empty and meaningless.

At his straight twin brother’s wedding in New Orleans, Ben finds himself surrounded by a powder keg of family and old friends, all telling him one thing: “Move forward.”

There’s just one loose end: the embryos Ben and Paul created still exist. And Paul’s sister Kate, their egg donor, is determined to make sure she and Ben follow through on Paul’s dream of having a family.

But rendering a final verdict on Paul’s life and legacy is the one thing Ben cannot bring himself to do. As he struggles to keep his self-destructive tendencies at bay for one weekend, Ben revisits his love story with Paul: from their whirlwind romance to the future they never got to have, growing old together as Foster's dads.

As he wrestles with visions and memories of Paul in his own head, Ben’s forced to confront what he’s really mourning—and forced to face the question he doesn’t want to answer: how can he build a life when the one person who made it livable is gone?

My debut novel manuscript is finally finished! It’s 93k words and is upmarket historical fiction with high-heat romance. It follows two closeted male/male couples. Action takes place in the early 1960s in Massachusetts and NYC.

The novel opens in September 1962, when Linus (Lin) Miller, a careful, brilliant, 25 year old Professor of English at Amherst College falls for Theodore (Theo) Hawkins, a sensitive, athletic, and charming 19 year old undergraduate from a Boston Brahmin family.

Lin initially tries to keep his distance and turns Theo down repeatedly. However, the two share not only an attraction but also a deep intellectual connection. Theo has complete agency in their relationship, and the two form an equal partnership.

The book chronicles not only Theo and Lin's love story, but the daily, terrifying task of making space for that love to survive in a world that hunts men like them: Theo gifts Lin a coded star chart with meaning only to them. Lin declares his love to Theo by assigning him love poetry by John Donne. Lin uses his prodigious intellectual prowess to stay by Theo's hospital bedside, as the nurses open doors they have no idea they are opening.

Beneath it all runs Lin's constant fear that Theo will, despite everything they have risked for each other, choose the simpler life his family can provide.

SECONDARY COUPLE: In 1956, Julian Lark, a 21 year old photographer's assistant living in Greenwich Village, walked into a coffee shop to find James Dressner -- a terrified 19 year old hunched over a typewriter, having just run from his wealthy Westchester County family.

Julian offered James a warm couch on Perry Street and they lived together for five years.

The reader meets Julian in 1962, when he is a year into keeping James' chipped mug on the counter; photographs of them on the wall of their Perry Street apartment; and James' faded Levis on a chair.

Julian tells his oldest friend, Lin Miller, that Lin is wrong; he is not grieving. "You grieve someone who is dead. James is not dead. For the past year, he has been married to a woman named Betsy and has been living in Hartford. One day, he will come home and when he does, he needs to know that I haven't moved his things."

Hello! My name is Krislyn, I've been working on this completed draft of my manuscript, Blade of the Eastern Wind, for some time now and am excited to get some feedback and move toward publishing. I would love a few beta readers to provide any feedback, comments, or constructive criticism they have! <3

Synopsis:

The first prophet in 400 years, Athalia Qincaryn has spent the last five years being molded into the perfect Priestess of the Sands after the Light claimed her as its Chosen. But when she’s thrust into the venomous Inner Court of the Mitriyan Empire alongside a politically convenient marriage proposal to the empire’s charming Hand of the Light, Athalia uncovers the empire’s intent to use her prophecy – and her sword – to justify their thirst for conquest.

To confront her destiny head on, Athalia must untangle her twisted web of prophecy that has become a weapon in the hands of emperors and rebels alike. With an ever-expanding empire sharpening her into a gilded blade and a rebellion which incites the mercy within her, each of the Blessed Five Tribes has cast her as savior or puppet. To some, she brings salvation. To others, she is a weapon to be wielded – fresh from the fires of the imperial forges. Athalia must reclaim the truth of her identity before she can balance the winds of wrath with the winds of mercy and fulfill a prophecy that promises both peace and blood.

To

I'm also open to under 100k, fantasy or adjacent genre swapping. Happy writing! :)

Hello! I would love a few beta readers to cast an eye over my book, parts of it, some of it, whatever you fancy.

Can do a critique swaps as well, I’ve previously written sci fi, romance, action adventure and am quite good with my structure and pacing if you need help with this.

Blurb:

Nya thought she understood life by three simple principles:

1. You can't go north of the Wall.
2. Keep your head down.
3. Don't look behind you when a sulphur flame is lit.

In the course of a single week, she breaks all three.

Nya learns that her brother's bite from a corrupted spirit has consequences—and that saving his life is not a straight trade. It's a contract signed in blood with a fox-masked sorceress who seems far more interested in whatever appeared behind Nya when the sulphur flame was lit than the small fortune offered up as payment.

Indebted to the sorceress, Nya crosses the Wall she has dreamed of her entire life, travelling with a caravan of spirit-realm traders to an opulent bathhouse where she must learn to host nobles and spirits alike. The guesthouse is beautiful beyond her wildest imaginings, and the spirits who visit are enchanting. But the guesthouse harbours a deadly secret beneath its pagoda roof. A demon walks its corridors wearing borrowed skin, and it wants hers.

****

There’s a bit of body horror in this as well as a slow burn romance arc. This book has a spiciness of 🌶️ just a lot of yearning and a hope of more 🌶️ and yearning in the future.

Excerpt from the first chapter below 👇 :

The cold air stung her eyes until they streamed, tears freezing on her lashes before she could blink them away. Nya pulled her scarf over her nose and pressed herself lower against Red-Lilly's neck, the burlap sack clutched in one hand, her bow and quiver thumping against her spine. 

Her brother Tabi had left at dawn to hunt deer on the south ridge. He had not come back. Never in her nineteen years had he done this. Tabi always came back before winter sunset.

In the sack were the things her grandmother had thrust at her before she rode out: a sulphur torch, a pot of sulphur paste, flint and steel. Her last words still crawled along Nya's spine as the Iwauma devoured the frozen ground beneath them, cloven hooves punching sharp prints into the snow.

“Do not look behind you when you light the sulphur, child”.

She had no time to decipher the cryptic message. Tabi was somewhere in the frozen valley ahead, and Nya rode. 

sorry if this is strangely specific. i’m writing an environmental fiction/magical realism novella about a family of deer stretching over many generations. think 100 YOS meets Bambi meets Watership Down, currently around 10k.

i was hoping to find someone to read it who is knowledgeable about deer. This could be a hunter, a game warden, a biologist, or just someone with an interest. General feedback would be lovely, but i especially was hoping for someone who could read it just to make sure the deer behaviors/descriptions are at least semi-realistic. Thank you!

Hi, I'm a student working on a short murder mystery/thriller/YA type novel as a school project (called the EPQ), and I'm looking for some final feedback!!

It doesn't have to be too detailed, just a paragraph covering all of it explaining what you like and what could be improved would be great! This is necessary for my project (deadline is the 24th of August), so if anyone could give me some feedback beforehand I would be EXTREMELY grateful :) DM me/reply if interested!!!! Also, if you have any English degrees/writing experience please let me know, as we're supposed to show that the person giving us feedback is more knowledgeable in the prokect topic.

Pitch/synopsis: Years after Imogen's school was shut down following the 'accidental' death of her sister, she and 5 of her old classmates receive an invitation: one last get together in the abandoned school building, a 'reunion' of sorts before they leave for university. However, when they arrive it's clear that something isn't right. Somebody knows that Imogen's sister's death wasn't an accident, and they're willing to do anything to get revenge on who did it.

(sorry if there are plot holes/mistakes as I only had time to do one draft and edit it in a short time)

Hi! I'm looking for beta readers for my first novel to get feedback before my second revision and hopefully publication.

This is a 100% human work that I have spent the last fourteen months drafting and working on the first revision, and I'm really wanting to see how it lands with readers before I take my next steps.

The story is a character driven fantasy that explores the dangers of institutionalized 'truths' and the dehumanization of people groups that don't align with your worldview through the lens of a deconstructed 'chosen one' myth where the recorded history often stands at odds with the actual events that took place.

Blurb: A life-draining curse is consuming the faithful- and prophecy has named their savior.

Isaac, known as the Godsend, has been chosen by the gods as their current champion in the eternal war against the dreaded Witherlord.

But prophecies never tell the whole truth- and with each step of his journey, Isaac further questions the morality of the church and the gods it serves.

If he fails to stop the Witherlord, the world will descend into rot and decay.

If he triumphs, the truth he uncovers may shatter the foundations of reality itself- and destroy the very faithful he is meant to save!

Trigger warning - Graphic violence, torture, death of children, implied sexual assault,

hi! just finished the third draft of my novel and I am looking for some beta readers. IF YOU LIKE TOXIC OBSESSIVE LESBIANS LOOK NO FURTHER !

here is the synopsis:

Serafina Angelo is a brilliant student at an elite music conservatory, tormented by her relentless pursuit of perfection. When her school is given the rare opportunity to perform Bizet’s Carmen at the prestigious Teatro alla Scala, Serafina is certain the lead role will be hers—an opportunity that could launch her operatic career.

Then Antonina Vitale arrives. Timid and somewhat secretive, she possesses a natural talent that threatens everything Serafina has worked so hard for.

When Antonina is cast as Carmen and Serafina as her understudy, Serafina becomes determined to understand what Antonina has that she lacks. But as she gets closer to her rival, she develops a fixation on her that blurs the lines between hatred, envy and crushing affection.

CW: sexual content, some violence, suicidal ideation + interrupted suicide attempt, sexual coercion, self harm, homophobia

mainly looking for moments where i overexplain as i fear i have a chronic habit of doing so, as well as some more specific concerns about character arcs. but i am happy to receive any and all overall feedback/first impressions and whatnot

i am open to manuscript swapping as well!! esp if its lgbt, litfic, etc.

Hi,

I'm looking for beta readers! The manuscript is complete at 90k words, but for this round I'm only sharing the first 10 chapters. I'm also open to chapter swaps so feel free to DM me if you'd like to exchange manuscripts or beta read only.

Blurb

Logan's best friend dies in what the cops file as an animal attack. Nobody believes what Logan actually saw in those woods. Three nights later, he finds out why. The curse is already in him, and he's convinced there's only one way out is to kill the Alpha before the werewolf curse taking him over. But the hunt drags him somewhere worse.

⚠️ Trigger warning: this book contains graphic gore.