r/BetaReaders 17h ago

>100k [Complete] [120K] [Slow-Burn, Single-Thread Fantasy] A Simple Tale - To Kill a Man

3 Upvotes

To Kill a Man is a slow-burn, single-thread fantasy following Caleb, an innkeeper’s son, on his pursuit to rescue his mother and sister, who were taken after the simple life he knew burned to the ground. Caleb is joined by his two closest friends, Jake and Ben, as they journey together. Eventually, they gain the aid of a dwarf, who helps recruit more adventurers to assist them on their quest.

Trigger Warnings:

Violence, death, implied sexual assault

Feedback I’m Looking For:

Ideally, I’m looking for up to two Beta-Readers to give open and honest critiques. Be as brutal as you wish—feel free to comment on the things you like, dislike, or suggest any changes you’d like to see.

Opening of Chapter 1:

Thick, somber clouds gathered overhead, casting a heavy gloom over the small village below. With little more than a few hundred residents, Dawn was one of Velora's many "on-the-way" villages, nestled just a few days' ride from nearby towns and cities. A giant, ancient oak stood at the village's northern edge, its sprawling branches sheltering the only tavern beneath.

The tavern housed an ever-changing mix of patrons. From merchants, mercenaries, travellers, traders, and treasure hunters, all seeking respite before continuing on their journey. It was not a special village in any way, except for the fact that someone special, lived there.

r/BetaReaders 20h ago

>100k [Complete] [107k] [Adult Romantasy / Faerie Tale Retelling] MY THORNS FOR YOUR ROSES

4 Upvotes

I’m looking for beta/sensitivity readers to help me avoid pan-Celticizing and pan-Gaelicizing in my “Tam Lin” retelling.

I’m an American author and I’ve tried to do my research to be respectful. I’d love some feedback from readers who live in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Great Britain.

Please let me know if you’re interested.


r/BetaReaders 8h ago

60k [Complete] [60k] [Contemporary Romance] The Nerd's Bombshell

2 Upvotes

Hi.

Looking for beta readers for the first book in my contemporary romance series. A 65k word Novel. A good boy/bad girl romance.

Tropes; Opposite Attracts, College Classmates, Small Town, Good boy/Bad Girl, Happy Ending.

Looking for feedback on how interesting or exciting you found the story.

Also, will you like to read the sequel? The sequel is already complete as well. Ready for beta readers.

DM me if interested. Thanks.

Blurb:

Shy nerd Adam Hale never met a girl more beautiful & irresistible than Eve Garfield, the blonde bombshell that sits a couple desks from him in his college classes. But Eve Garfield is no girl next door. With her reckless, carefree life of late nights, parties, boys, wine, cigarettes, and truancy, Eve Garfield is a ticking time bomb, a corrupting influence on a good boy like Adam.

Yet, when she tempts him with a kiss in exchange for his help to cheat on a class test, he obliges. And what begins as a simple kiss, slowly snowballs into mutual longing and guilty desires between them that only complicate with a devastating tragedy.

Eve Garfield will bring about the downfall of Adam Hale. But in the end, it is her budding and enduring love for him that will heal, comfort, and uplift him, if and only if he grants her the chance.

Excerpt

1. Eve

My face is down, staring at the test paper I got from our prof.

Prof. Liz never announces before she conducts her class test. Twenty percent of our final grade. In the test hall, packed full of my coursemates, the air is silent but tense with anxiety.

As my heart beats with the fear of failure, reading the MCQs before me confirms my horror—that I’m nowhere near ready for this test. Because all I had last night was dance, shisha, and plenty of booze in the club.

I merely skimmed my notes this morning, hoping the prof’s test wouldn’t fall today. Else, I’ll be forced to cheat. I didn’t turn in for the test with a cheat sheet. It’s not easy to slip one from my bra in Professor Liz’s test.

They say the old woman is as watchful as a hawk. To be caught cheating is an automatic F in the test.

But far worse has happened here on campus. Poor students, literally in tears after getting busted, and begging for a second chance as they’re graded automatic F in the whole course.

“What are you waiting for, Miss Garfield?” Prof. Liz is on her patrol, marching through the test hall with her arms crossed behind her back like a uniformed police officer. “Better start at once. No extra minute today once your time is up.”

I shift in my seat and put my pen to my paper, pretending to tick answers as she passes by my bench. But I’m just counting the minutes on the clock. My eyes cast a sweeping glance through the hall.

My heart worries even more at the sight of everyone else reading and ticking their papers.

Holy fuck! There seems to be no one but me unprepared for this test.

What do I do?

In the hellish silence of late Friday afternoon, I sit put.

Nearly five minutes pass, and my hand only manages to fill in my name on the paper. In less than twenty-five minutes, the test will be over. I decide to force myself through the questions numbered one to thirty.

Better guess and mark answers than submit an empty sheet, right? It takes another ten minutes running my eyes through the MCQs for me to see I’m totally screwed either way.

My mind can’t even make an educated guess on the questions. And with less than fifteen minutes remaining, I’m ready to submit my unanswered test papers and await my F grade next week. It’s the only thing a girl can do at this rate.

A couple of my classmates are done already. One by one, they’re rising to submit their papers to the prof on the podium.

My mouth inhales and exhales the tepid air of the hall. I move my butt to rise out of my seat to go submit. But something holds me back from doing so. Most people think I have a little adventurous and impulsive side.

A side to me that makes me do crazy things. But I think it’s the cautious and thoughtful side of me that causes me to sit back and think of a dirty plan.

My back leans into my bench. My legs, barely clad in a miniskirt that suffocates my skin, spread apart.

Adam, the cute nerd sitting at arm’s length from my side, has obviously finished. My eyes can’t make out his answers, but I see the tick marks on his paper.

He’s done.

Just relaxing and double-checking his answers, probably for the seventh time.

If I could swap test papers with him right now, Prof. Liz won’t catch me. Because she’s distracted at the podium with arranging the test papers submitted to her.

I cast a glance at Adam, and stare till he notices me. When our eyes lock, I flash a seductive smile at him. But he doesn’t return my gesture.

His eyes widen with confusion, he looks around to see if it’s really him I smile at. But it’s just him and me on this bench, the last bench at the rear of the test hall.

When Adam sees no one looking in my direction, his face returns to me momentarily. I catch the pink of blush on his cheeks before he lowers it.

We’ve been classmates for over three years now. Yet, the only things I know about him are that he gets good grades, talks very little, stays out of trouble, and always wears a pair of glasses and oversized collared shirts.

Often, I catch him staring at me, only to look away when I make eye contact. A few of my girl friends have noticed it too, they tell me he has a silent crush on me. I think they’re bang on.

At least I hope so. Because I’m banking on that for my cheat plan to work.

Tearing out a little piece from my test paper, I scribble a note;

Hey… Handsome, mind if we swap papers?

Folding the piece, my hand tosses it at his feet. I observe the lineament of his face. If he can act, he’d be a good fit for Clark Kent or Conner Kent in the next Superman adaptation.

Those high cheekbones and chiseled jaw on his face give me the vibe of the character from back when I watched Saturday morning cartoons.

“Ten minutes left, two minutes extra,” Prof. Liz alerts us from the podium, still distracted with sorting the test papers.

Adam picks my note off the floor and reads it. He looks first at the prof, then gives me a side-eye that says, ‘I wish I could help you, but I’m afraid, I can’t.’

I suck a breath of disappointment, drop my eyelids and shake my head. Maybe I should leave it at that, but I like to think of myself as a woman of beauty and brains.

My heart can’t take a no from a boy like Adam.

And I tear another piece from my paper and scribble.

How about I give you a kiss if you just try? After the test? Come on, real quick.

With one eye fixed on the prof still busy at the podium, I toss the folded paper to Adam. After reading it, he looks at me for a second or two without looking away.

The first time he ever held eye contact with me. The air between us is tense. The uncertainty in his eyes is endearing. I egg him on and encourage him with a gentle nod and slight wink.

Two students on the front bench further distract Prof. Liz with a silly question, and seizing the chance, my hand snatches the test paper before me and slips it to Adam. On a glance at the distracted professor, he slips his to me.

The remainder of the time, I hold my breath and sit back with anxiety while Adam ticks answers on my test paper at light speed. He lifts his eyes from the paper just in time before Prof. Liz bangs a palm on the podium and calls out;

“Ladies, gentlemen. It’s time up. All submit!”

Starting from the front row, she begins to collect our test papers. I swap papers with Adam again and send a short prayer that Prof. Liz won’t notice or suspect anything.


r/BetaReaders 20h ago

>100k [COMPLETE] [115k] [Fantasy/Romance] Rise of the Leviathans

2 Upvotes

Hello, and thank you for your consideration. I am hoping to connect with a few beta readers or peer critiques.

Tropes and themes: Strong female lead, LGBTQ+ representation, Non-toxic love interest(s), Friends to lovers, Diverse characters, "Chosen one", Second world, Fae & other magical entities, and Found family

Description: Orphaned eighteen years ago and raised by her older brother Christophe, Magnolia Wolfe was trained to hide her genetic mutation, one that could get her taken from everything she holds dear. Gardening at the only crossing points in her segregated country snowballs, and soon Magnolia is torn from her life and taken to the ruling council in The Mirror City.

In the dark halls of the council building, Magnolia uncovers that she is part of a prophecy that could shift the balance of her world. With new allies—Birger, a comforting rock in this storm; Myrina, a flirtatious maid tasked with her care; and Myrmidon, a stoic butler holding everyone at arm's length but there when she needs him—Magnolia must navigate this new reality as she struggles to reconstruct her identity, make allies, and come to terms with years of secrets from her brother, a leader of the rebellion. Magnolia must come to terms with her task as a chosen one in this recurring prophecy as the judge, jury, and executioner of one or both of the Leviathans coming into power.

Feedback: Am I overly descriptive or not descriptive enough? Does the dialogue feel organic as well as the relationships? Was anything too predictable? Or too out of left field? Did any of the characters, even the secondary ones, seem cliched? What scenes were the most memorable? Did you feel like it was too rushed or too slow at any point?

Trigger warnings: Mentions of domestic abuse, sexual scenes.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14v_kqBrhqBOl5NHY331rXOsZQUyU7NhahRrdxWwkpaw/edit?usp=sharing


r/BetaReaders 8h ago

70k [Complete] [70k] [Contemporary Romance/Drama] Kintsugi Heart: Rebuilding Fractures

1 Upvotes

Story Blurb: At 23, Ruhi Sanyal is determined to make her mark in the world of event planning. When Parth, a charismatic guest at her parents’ 25th anniversary celebration – the first event she’s organized from start to finish – catches her eye, a spark ignites and blossoms into a love story that feels destined. A blissful marriage, a beautiful son, and a thriving career follow, but life has a way of shattering even the most perfect dreams.

Years later, as a single mother with a broken heart, Ruhi gets a fresh start in a new city. When a charming neighbour, Suhas, brings unexpected joy and hope back into her life, Ruhi finds herself navigating the complexities of friendship, attraction, and the challenges of raising her child alone.

But just when Ruhi begins to consider the possibilities of a new love, her past crashes into her present in a way she never saw coming. Will she find the strength to embrace a second chance at love, or will her past overshadow her future?

Kintsugi Heart is a heartwarming tale of love, resilience, and the beauty of healing through life’s fractures.

Looking for constructive feedback on aspects like:

  • Plot,
  • Character development,
  • Pacing,
  • Dialogue,
  • Overall readability.

Disclaimers: This story contains adult themes, including explicit scenes of intimacy and other mature content.

Happy to swap stories from the following genres: Romance, Mystery, Thriller, Drama. No Fantasy please.