Every summer from 1992 to 1996, the same families return to Blue Woods, a small coastal vacation community with a dock, a treehouse and their rituals that feel like they'll last forever. Leah, now 41, looks back on those five summers with Matthew and Jacob: the mixtapes, the sand dollars, the games that get a little smaller (as they get a little bigger) each year.
As the world around them changes, the summers, like all things, begin to end, and so does childhood itself. Some changes they see coming. Others they never see at all.

Told in Leah's adult voice, woven through with scenes from each summer, Summers Gone By is about growing up, the things we take that aren't ours, and how a single moment can split an entire life into before and after.

Details:
Prologue, 14 chapters, 7 interludes, epilogue
Content warnings: drowning, death of young people, grief, bullying, abuse, alcoholism
What I'm looking for: Big-picture reactions. Where you got bored or confused, which characters you cared about, and whether the ending lands or not. I have a questionnaire if anybody would like that kind of structure, but honest gut reactions are just as welcome truly.
Timeline: about 4–6 weeks, happy to share chapter by chapter or whatever works best for you.
Happy to swap
Comment or DM me if you're interested. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I'm a new author looking for a few Spanish-speaking readers to take a quick look at my first novel, LOBOS DE ACERO: El alfa que no recuerda.

It's a paranormal fantasy featuring werewolves, military mystery, and slow-burn romance.

I've published the prologue and first two chapters (approximately 8,000 words), and I'd love some honest first impressions!

I'm mainly wondering: Does the opening grab your attention? Are the characters interesting? Would you keep reading?

Please DM me if you're interested, and I'll share the story link privately.

Thank you! 🐺❤️

Editing the body since I can't edit the title, word count is 2880 without 'K' - apologies, I'm new to Reddit :)

Hi guys. I would really appreciate a brutally honest assessment of my first two chapters. Can you help me?

It’s a contemporary romance with a dual POV: a former Army captain who owns a small-town bar with his injured best friend, and a woman whose path leads straight to him. Chapter 1 is his POV and Chapter 2 is hers.

What I’d most like to know:

• Does Chapter 1 hook you? Where did you want to keep reading, and where did you start to lose interest?
• Do the two POV voices feel distinct from each other?
• Does Chapter 2 keep the momentum?

Content notes: mild profanity, and a physical altercation played for humor.

English is my second language, so please flag anything that sounds awkward or unnatural.

Please DM me and I’ll send you the Google Doc link

I'm happy to swap chapters if you would like feedback too! :)

I wrote my first series and my beta were friends and 2 random people who i became close with. I'm going straight for ARC with the first one [90k] words the second is also ready [100k] the series is long so what should i do? I can't have betas for book 2 who haven't read book1

Hello everyone! It's a medieval-coming of age fantasy written as a stand alone with the potential for a sequel. It is fairly straightforward as this was to be easy to digest for a first book debut.

The blurb/premise

Vixen an apprentice weaver moved to the town of Feathersong with her adoptive father, in the hopes of eventually succeeding her father's talents. But she is quickly set on a new path when she accidentally starts uncovering the secrets that lay beneath the sweet village facade.

After a chance encounter with a man suspected to be apart of a cult Vixen quickly has to decide who to trust, and who must be protected. With the other apprentices of Feathersong they discover a dangerous magic in the kingdom, one that could save them or put them all in grave danger.

With the shadows tormenting her at every corner, Vixen has to overcome her fears and discover what is lurking beneath the surface of the village, before it comes to get her, or for the people she cares about most.

In depth summary (mild spoilers)

Vixen moved to Feathersong with her adoptive father Wolf, due to a request from the head priest Eliza who sought Wolf's skills. Upon arriving and meeting the other weavers apprentices Unbrine, Dante, and Thorn, Vixen is thrown into a world she was not prepared for.

After she is attacked by a strange man she is left reeling wondering why, along with some strange new powers. Thanks to Unbrine and Dante they discover that a mysterious cult has been operating in Feathersong, desperate for answers Vixen sets out to discover more.

She is terrified that she will be attacked again, or worse her father whom she loves more then anything. And in doing so, she and the other apprentices uncover a dangerous magic, one that was better left to rot. Vixen has to keep a dark secret from everyone she loves and learn to protect them from a distance before she makes a grave mistake that could cost everyone.

Feedback:

I would love advice on characters, pacing, plot structure, prose and world building! Any and all feedback is welcome, absolutely no ai tools please. This is my first full attempt at a book with the intention of publishing it, it is a simple story to be easy to digest.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Feel free to dm or comment!

Hi all. I'm a first-time author self-publishing a memoir called Serrated Love. It follows a relationship from its early days through a spiral of anxiety into an OCD episode, a psychiatric admission, and recovery. The tone is honest, with some dark humour.

Looking for: 3 to 5 readers who'll read the full manuscript over 4 to 6 weeks and answer a short set of questions (where it dragged, where it confused, which scenes landed, how the ending felt). I'm not looking for line edits or typo hunting.

Content warning: graphic and detailed distressing thoughts involving harm to others, suicidal ideation, a psych ward stay, and explicit sexual content in multiple scenes. Please only volunteer if you're comfortable with that. You're free to stop reading whenever you like.

Format: PDF / Google Doc (will send via DM). Deadline: November 30, 2026.

Happy to swap: I'll read a chapter or a short piece of yours in return if you'd like.

If you're interested, comment or message me and I'll send a short sign-up form. Thank you!

Every summer from 1992 to 1996, the same families return to Blue Woods, a small coastal vacation community with a dock, a treehouse and their rituals that feel like they'll last forever. Leah, now 41, looks back on those five summers with Matthew and Jacob: the mixtapes, the sand dollars, the games that get a little smaller (as they get a little bigger) each year.
As the world around them changes, the summers, like all things, begin to end, and so does childhood itself. Some changes they see coming. Others they never see at all.
Told in Leah's adult voice, woven through with scenes from each summer, Summers Gone By is about growing up, the things we take that aren't ours, and how one moment can split a life into before and after.

Details:
Literary coming-of-age, about 96,000 words
Prologue, 14 chapters, 7 interludes, epilogue
Content warnings: drowning, death of young people, grief, bullying
What I'm looking for: Big-picture reactions. Where you got bored or confused, which characters you cared about, whether the ending lands. I have a questionnaire if you like structure, but honest gut reactions are just as welcome.
Timeline: [about 4–6 weeks, happy to share chapter by chapter]
Swap: [Happy to swap / Not swapping right now]
Comment or DM me if you're interested. Thanks!

[Discussion] Visiting the awesome prehistoric caves in France earlier this year inspired me to write a novel about them. I'm looking for a few advance copy readers. If you're interested, please DM me. Book description below.

SHE'S FROM TWO WORLDS. SHE CAN ONLY LIVE IN ONE.

​Fifteen-year-old Anna thinks she’s just exploring a cave in France — until she touches a prehistoric handprint and wakes up fifteen thousand years in the past. Stranded among hunters who seem to recognize her, she learns the truth: she was born here.

When the wall opens again, Anna must make an impossible choice. Go back to her own time. Or stay with the Ice Age family she never knew she had. She can’t have both.

Hi all,

First time poster and first time requesting a read.

Soul Star is about a grieving fifteen-year-old in the burning 1978 Bronx who teams up with a talking squirrel carrying a soldier’s soul from the future to stop an alien fire, and prove that destiny doesn’t decide who he becomes.

I wrote screenplays before and now taking a stab at a novel, naturally this story was one of my scripts.

Feedback: Does the story flow naturally? What confuses you? Do I get too wordy or "prose-y?" And any general feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Happy to swap! Happy to do a test run of a prologue and/or first chapter to see if it's something you would like to read.

Feel free to DM! Thanks!

Hello fellow readers/writers!

Hoping to find a beta reader who loves fantasy, and also gives good constructive feedback. Looking for general likability, but also notes on flow and plot issues.

Up for a trade, but would like to start just trading the first 3 chapters to see if we are a good match.

Back of book blurb:

Cassidy is an unattached woman doing her best to move through life the only way she really knows how, by instinct and impulse.

Swiping right and casual dates take a sharp turn when she agrees to a weekend trip and is thrust into a world that shouldn’t exist, rebuilt from the ashes after a virus has left its women unable to reproduce. A world held together by controlled magic and a fragile balance, reliant on a full moon to open a gate between their world and hers.

As the next full moon draws near, something in Cassidy begins to stir, the magic settling in her blood pulling at her thoughts, her memories, and the thin thread still binding her to home. Her only ally in this place is her designated match Caelric, who has spent his life choosing isolation and quiet rebellion.

Now Cassidy must navigate a society that wants to claim her, a man who refuses to cage her, and a moon that seems to be waiting for her decision. Stay and fall into a world that will reshape her, or fight her way back and risk the consequences not just for herself, but for an entire civilization that may not survive without sacrifice.

TRIGGERS: Violence, Abduction/kidnapping, murder, trafficking, Infertility

If you are interested please send me a DM!

When students start turning up dead at Metropolis Academy, nineteen-year-old Zack Argent starts investigating. The trail leads to Tyler Knox, a bullied non-bender who has stumbled upon an ancient weapon of terrifying power — and the soul of history's most dangerous killer waiting inside it.

Zack and his best friend Rirek must stop a resurrection nearly a thousand years in the making before their city becomes a graveyard.

The Last Hybrids: The Prime Gauntlet is Book 1 of a planned five-book fantasy series. I've been working on this story for years, and Book 1 now has a completed draft. I'm looking for beta readers to give me an outside perspective on the opening three chapters before I move further with revisions and publishing plans.

Details:

• Book 1 is complete.
• Initial reading request: first three chapters, approximately 10,250 words.
• Genre: Fantasy.

What I'm looking for: Honest reactions to the opening. Did the story grab your attention? Which characters stood out to you? How did the pacing feel? Were there any confusing moments? What did you enjoy, and what could be improved? Most importantly, after Chapter 3, would you want to read Chapter 4?

I have an anonymous questionnaire for anyone who prefers structured feedback, but honest gut reactions are just as welcome.

Timeline: Ideally 2–3 weeks for the opening chapters, but I'm flexible.

Happy to swap.

If you're interested, please comment or DM me, and I'll share the view-only document privately. Thanks!

Here is a super super rough draft of the blurb (I am rlly bad at writing them so I will probably hire someone):

Molly’s life was perfectly planned out, school, uni, dating, career, husband, baby… but two years post a devastating car accident she is unfulfilled, her family either dead or estranged, and unable to reimagine her life now that she is an incomplete paraplegic. In a panicked moment she calls a sexworker.

Jackson is a nineteen year old having sex with people to feed himself and fill a deep void rather than because it’s what he wants. He has a terrible roommate and a family who abandoned him. With an undiagnosed learning disability he struggles to find a way out.

Jackson and Molly have a strained first interaction that turns into a deep codependent friends with benefits arrangement, together they work on their family issues, education, self depreciation, and work hard to build each other up.

Some trigger warnings:

- F slur

- R slur

- Sex scenes

- Self harm

- Depression

- Disability (wheelchair user)

- Sex work

- Drugs and alcohol

- Body dysmorphia

I'm a bit stuck on any major changes that need to be made. It has not had line or copy editing yet. There are likely typos and repetitive language (which you are more than welcome to point out) but it will go through more editing for that. 

My instagram: levithomas.writing

Hello!
I’m in search of a few beta readers, probably 2-3.

The blurb is:
“Maevis is a young woman born into slavery on a continent ruled by the Fae. She is the court songstress and spends her nights warming the bed of the crown prince, with whom she has a complicated relationship. As her friend and fellow slave, Rion, finds himself drawn into a growing rebellion, Maevis is forced to break out of her gilded cage.”

I would prefer you to be 18+ since some topics in the novel are one the darker side (think emotional/physical/sexual abuse, death, child loss) etc.

And I would LOVE if you’re able to start rather fast since I’ve already lost some time with other readers who don’t reply anymore. If you start this and for whatever reason decide to or cannot finish, just letting me know.

DM me if you’re interested. I’m happy to provide the first few chapters at first before you commit fully.

Please comment or message me directly if you'd like access to the form!

Story Blurb:

Sythia has spent ten years away from the only homeland she's ever known, wandering the world with little more than a horse, a pigeon, and the burdens of a past she'd rather leave behind.

But when word reaches her that the Blossom Queen of Thaletiah is holding a competition to find a partner in royal duty, Sythia knows she cannot stay away any longer. With a hundred kilometres separating her from home and the woman she once loved, she sets out on a journey that could change everything.

Her destination is Thaletiah. Her goal is to win the heart of its queen. Her greatest uncertainty is whether thee queen even remembers her.

For Avelani is no longer the young woman Sythia left behind. She is a queen, with a kingdom to lead and a future to build. And when the two women finally meet again, Sythia must face the possibility that the love she has carried across a decade may exist only in her memories.

Looking for critique on pace, story beats, and how to better the structure of my book.

I'm having issues with my computer, so I may look at your feedback every few days. If you were to leave a critique on my work, I'd love for you to message me, so I know to check the document.

Hi there!

I'm looking for beta readers for my complete 90k queer contemporary fiction. Happy to swap for literary/contemporary fiction, fantasy, or sci fi. I would appreciate beta readers who have experience reading romance (especially because I do not have much), but do not expect a genre-romance.

Description:

After a relapse leaves him with nowhere to go except the house of his sister he no longer speaks to and her daughter he's never met, Adrian returns to the site of something he's tried twenty years to get away from. He is quickly approached by Finn, a man in his twenties both completely uninvolved in and inseparable from what happened in Adrian's past. As the two grow closer everything, including each of the men, threatens to unravel.

Outsiders, Ingrained is a character-driven novel about addiction, being believed, and finding things (and people) to stay for. It is a close third-person mostly dual POV, alternating between Adrian and Finn.

Lots of content warnings that I can share as requested, but nothing very graphic.

What I'm looking for:

I am mostly looking for pacing, if any sections are repetitive, and character consistency. Where are readers hooked, and where are they very much not? If possible, a turnaround time of 6-8 weeks would be ideal.

DM me to discuss, and for the document.