Beta Read

by Aspiring Author

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[jaycee ann (to the man on the middle cross) · Rating 3 out of 5]

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This review contains a few random statistics, my personal thoughts, and a content review! ♡
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• Book - Darkness Will Fall
• Author - Noëlle Stevenson
• Genre(s) - YA fantasy, Christian fiction
• Published - Not yet lol
• Recommended time to read - Summer
• Cliffhanger - No
• Vibe - 🪽🗡️👑🌱🧝‍♀️
⇢─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───⇠
→ Setting - 3/5
→ Characters - 3.5/5
→ Writing - 3/5
→ Vibes - 4/5
→ Plot - 3/5
→ Pacing - 4/5
→ Romance/Ship - 5/5
→ Overall - ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
⇢─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───⇠
Recommended to fans of-
✔︎ Elves
✔︎ Christian themes
✔︎ Forgiveness
✔︎ Found family

♫ Now Playing - Love Broke Thru by TobyMac ♫
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╰┈➤ My thoughts (spoiler free)
♫ ”Had to be the last thing on my mind, when love broke through.” ♫

Using this for my bestie’s first draft that I read! Omg it was so nostalgic. I actually helped write some of this like what, two years ago maybe? I remember it was during my kotlc phase, so literally EVERYTHING was a romance moment, but reading it now, it’s hardly even there 😂

I love the vibes and aesthetic of this. Think “Kingdom Dance” from Tangled. There’s elves, and princesses, and a creature called Alatus that Noëlle made up herself. They’re like humans, but they have feathery wings! Alatus is latin for “winged” and most of the main characters are Alatus.

This definitely needs some work, but it’s a first draft and Noëlle started writing it when she was pretty young, so I already know she’s improved since then. I’m so excited for the day this is shared with the world!
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╰┈➤ Characters
♫ ”You found me in the darkness, wandering through the desert.” ♫

Crest - She has a good foundation, just needs some more depth. I do like her character development. (Fancast: Madelyn Keys)

Viviana - Her storyline needs to be a bit more believable, but I do really like her. (Fancast: Alex Hook)

Evander - My baby 🥹 I love him so much. Ever the gentleman. (Fancast: Louis Partdrige)

Uriah - Evander’s twin brother! I love that they’re twins. I never see that in books, especially for the mmc (which is Evander)! He’s very sweet and I love his relationship with Vivi. (Fancast: also Louis Partridge)

Archenora - Her character needs to be more consistent, but I love her. She’s so cool. (Fancast: McKenna Grace)

Queen Angel - She’s nice 😊 I think her grief should be more detailed, but overall I like how she cares for both Crest and Vivi. (Fancast: Emma Watson)

Lyli - Awwww we love the sunshine character. Seriously, she and Atlas need to be in this more. They’re so fun. (Fancast: Hannah Dodd with red hair)

Atlas - He’s so cool, I love him. More than Evander? Possibly 👀 (Fancast: Timothée Chalamet)
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╰┈➤ Spoilers below!
♫ ”I was a hopeless fool, now I’m hopelessly devoted, my chains are broken.” ♫

Shhhh no spoilers! The book isn’t out yet! 😉
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╰┈➤ Content review
♫ ”I did all that I could to undo me, but You loved me enough to pursue me.” ♫

➸ Age Rating - 10/11+

➸ Language - None.

➸ Romance/Sexual - Two non descript kisses, a little bit of talk about feelings.

➸ Violence - Some killing and death in a battle, an attempted assassination, characters are kidnapped, a character is whipped (off page), stumbling across a dead body.

➸ Religious/Spiritual - Mentions of God and other Christian themes.

➸ Magic - None (I don’t think?)

➸ LGBTQ - None.

➸ Alcohol/Drugs - Characters are drugged once I think.

➸ Other Notes/Possible Triggers - Death of a father, two characters were orphaned at a young age.

[Jacquelyn 💐 {This Rapunzel Reads} [Jesus Christ, my Living Hope]]

Beta Read a book for Bella P Stanton!

😭😭😭😭😭

[Keira Mueller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Eccentric Faulkner Bones by Finch Vasquez

First and foremost, thank you so much to the amazing Finch for allowing me to beta-read her novella! She is an amazing author friend, and I love chatting about our stories and hyping each other up! She's always been one of my biggest cheerleaders, so I was super excited to read some of her work.

The premise is unique, sort of a mix between the plot of The Inheritance Games but with characters reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes. I really loved the English setting and the cozy manor house, and my main regret was that I didn't get to spend more time there. Faulkner was a charming MC, and my highlight of the book was certainly Beaufort, his even more charming dog. I really enjoyed the nods to interests like horseback riding, chess, Shakespeare, and geography.

In this story, you can tell that Finch has such a poignant pull toward the outdoors and many hobbies, and she expresses that in her writing. However, it felt more like I was reading the bare bones of a story than an actual story (though that may be because I'm used to novels instead of novellas). There were a lot of overused words and phrases that, combined with grammatical errors, detracted from what could have been a very atmospheric book. Finch is a good editor, so I was quite surprised to find those in TEFB.

Overall, I felt like I was...missing something, like some explanation of what happened to Faulkner's life or depictions of how he closed himself off. The ending plot twist was...unexpected. I couldn't really see how the pieces fit together or make sense of it. As far as plot twists go, it came out of the blue. And I was never really captivated by the dialogue or descriptions.

And I'm very happy to round out my summer of beta reads! We had The Elemental War by Jaycee Ann in May, Grimalka by Emily Marie in August, and The Eccentric Faulkner Bones in early September. However, I think I'm going to need a break from beta reads after this 😅

Language: None! (Other than bloody because he's English)
Romance: None!
Violence: None!
LGBTQ: None!
Other: Mentions of parents' deaths and a late wife

[S. J.]

Map to Chrystlehale 🧭

[Katja Labonté · Rating 4 out of 5]

~ Beta read “All the King’s Men” for Cate VanNostrand

[Maloree Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor person’s deal

[Julianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

DH by VMM

[Tania Ibrahim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Endorsement read!!

[Tasha's Book Journey · Rating 5 out of 5]

ER - Crossover

[Shelby Joy]

Beta read a YA book for a friend and it was giving Gone x Lord of the Flies! I can’t wait to see where it goes!

[Alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing second book in a serious by one of my friends. She took a whole new road with this story, and took me by surprise, but I absolutely loved every single minute of it

[Rowan]

CB2, ES

[Meredith Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lily’s book!

[Emily]

Beta dark romance for TTH

[❁]

- S (horror)
- Warlock by Jam Pascual (poetry)
- FWP submissions (various speculative fiction)
- Illustrated History of Egypt: Pocket Book by Farid Atiya
- TAoFW (science fantasy, reread)
- OMS (historical fantasy)
- B (dystopian romance)
- Tamagotchi 30th Anniversary Official Fan Book
- TBR (horror)
- TLoLT (historical fantasy romance epistolary)
- ARVF (crossover dark fantasy, reread)
- Between Panels by Scott Lee Chua and Ren Galeno
- The Floodwater Maiden by Lilyresh
- The Keeper by TRNZ
- Folk of Lore (art zine)

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anything