If anyone would be happy to read the first two chapters of my WIP and give their impressions, I'd be very grateful (and reciprocate now or as an IOU!) What I really want is to know whether you like the characters and would read on. This isn't a final draft so line-by-line edits aren't nessie-sary, but I'm happy to take any feedback. It's a contemporary romance. I don't mind if romance isn't your top genre but I'd like beta readers who at least don't hate it. It's set at Loch Ness. A skeptical research scientist with no patience for myths and legends is sent to the Loch for a study, where she's forced to partner with an unemployed layabout who swears he's seen the Loch Ness Monster.
I don't know if I'm qualified to beta read for anyone, but if you want honest feedback from someone who reads most genres, I'd be more than happy to check it out. That being said, I'd certainly understand if you'd want someone more experienced to give the feedback.
Thank you, both! I'll send it over shortly. Edit: Cross-post... thank you all three. The MCs are 32 and 33, so I suppose it's more a case of it that appeals to YA-aged readers?
It's definitely not a YA book, but would teenagers be interested in this book? I don't know--I can't remember how it felt to be 26 last month, let alone 17.
Firstly, happy belated birthday. I sort-of remember 27, but only because it was a big transition year for me (I gave up music and dove into acting that year). But I digress... Unless teens have changed a lot since I was one, they'll be eager to read anything that'll make them feel like an adult... whatever that means to each of them as individuals. So, your novel may very well qualify.
Happy belated orbit @Tenderiser! Well I would be interested in giving feedback. 10k is not too much to ask to read, also no editing (Yay). That and I would like to give Romance a second chance. I am sure your work is far more entertaining and less maddening than my first folly in reading the genre. (I remember 27 (2.7 years in the past now). It was the year I left my wife. Good times.)
@Cave Troll, I fear I would disappoint you. I've been compared to Ms Crusie, in style if not in content. But hey, she's a bestseller, so I can't say I'm crying into my pillow.
If you want me to give it a go, I'd be happy to. However, be warned ...I might scream (in a screechy harpy way) if the Loch Ness monster stuff is too goofy! But you know that. If you'd rather give it to somebody who has no opinion of the critter and has never been near the place, I'll totally understand.
Thank you! I've pretty much scrapped that 10k (thank you guys for the feedback) as I was starting too early. But I'm working on a new opening that I hope to have finalised in the next day or two. And don't worry, the heroine is a complete skeptic and has no patience at all for the monster myth. You'll be in good company.
Or maybe both? Maybe the answer is not what people expect, but there is something out there? That'd be pretty cool.
First off, I have that fridge magnet. I collect them after all. Secondly, I would be willing to beta read for you. I tend to have a romantic writing style at times. I like to consider myself a romantic realist. Head in the clouds, feet on the ground.