Newly Written Reviews

Loving Minuet

This review by MeganRBooks is based off of the first three chapters. I am not a professional reviewer, so please feel free to take what works for you and ignore the rest.

Cover: 8/10

Your cover is beautiful and eye-catching. It features an attractive woman in what appears to be a wedding dress, surrounded by roses. It gives a very distinct "romance" novel feel, but I also appreciate the inclusion of "a paranormal romance" at the bottom to avoid being mistaken for a typical contemporary romance.

Summary: 6/10

Your summary is short, sweet, and straight to the point. I want to recommend a clarification of the importance of the role of the cat, Minuet. In the line about the stakes, I want to suggest removing the word "young" before girl, as it gives the impression that she's a child rather than the 22-year-old adult she is.

Title: 6/10

Without the summary, your title is a little confusing—after all, the cat's name is Minuet, but the title and cover makes it appear as though the girl is named Minuet. But that's a minor thing. The best thing you've got going for your title is that it's memorable, and that's truly the most important thing.

Grammar/Spelling: 5/10

There are some issues with grammar, but the unique word combinations, poetic writing style, and excellent pacing distracted me enough from most of the issues. I pointed out a few issues with sentence mechanics and wrong word use in the in-line comments.

The single biggest issue that you need to focus on is POV. You've written the book in third person, but it flows back and forth between limited and omniscient (often referred to as "head hopping"). I do not recommend that non-professional writers attempt omniscient simply because it's extremely difficult to do well. I recommend sticking with a third person limited POV that focuses on one character at a time—Dominic in the prologue and Nouvel in the rest of the novel. We should not be reading Dominic's thoughts/feelings when we're supposed to be observing the world from Nouvel's eyes.

Plot: 7/10

Without giving away too much, this story has a unique paranormal take on the animal "familiar" concept. It's a romance at heart, but it takes the trope of two very different people finding one another and turns that trope on its head, offering a unique tale that's different from any other story I've read.

Characters: 7/10

This book has some fantastic names! Nouvel, Dominic, Ares, Gamma, Landon, Minuet, etc. Nouvel's a 22-year-old going through typical life struggles—figuring out her future, conflicts with her mom, arguing with her twin brother, and having fun with her (extremely hot) friend Ares. And, of course, Dominic... mysterious, hurt, handsome Dominic. You have a way of creating interesting, dynamic characters that are fun to read about.

The dialogue is funny and interesting, but sometimes it feels a little bit stilted, mostly due to a lack of contractions. People usually speak with a lot of contractions unless they're emphasizing their words.

Additionally, I'd like to see a brief description of Atticus and Ophelia, even if it's simply something unusual about them to set them apart outside of their unique names.

Overall: 7/10

Your book begins with a prologue. You'll probably hear that agents hate prologues and will often reject manuscripts with prologues. Ignore that advice and go with your gut. Personally, I'm on the fence about your prologue. I love getting the insight into Dominic's past and why he's hurt, but at the same time I can't help but wonder if it would be better to unveil that history over time in dialogue. I'm not sure if there's a "right or wrong" way to do it... but if you decide to keep it, I don't think it takes away from the story.

Your chapters open up with beautiful prose, which is not necessarily the best way to draw your audience into your work. The first few sentences are crucial to capturing the attention of your reader immediately. The first four paragraphs of your prologue are philosophical musings on pain with no context, which makes them unnecessary to the story. I suggest beginning your story immediately with Dominic's painful rejection.

The pacing is incredibly well done. Even with longer chapters (for Wattpad standards), it didn't feel as if the story dragged at all. Your book moves with just the right pace, interweaving dialogue, action, and description with finesse. The paranormal concept is unique enough to be appealing to a variety of readers, and you've offered breadcrumbs that entice the reader to want to know more about the past of these characters as well as what the future may hold for them—which I suspect includes a lot of romance!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review your book!