Hi there!
I'm looking for a beta reader for my 90k word YA speculative romance, THE DRUMMING SONG. In a reader, I'm hoping for someone who will identify parts of the MS where the pacing is off, unneeded scenes, and if the characters are well developed. Also, I just want to know if they like the story!
I'd be happy to swap manuscripts, as long as it's YA or MG. The genres I'm best at critiquing are fantasy, sci-fi, and romance, but I'm open to reading something outside that.
To see if we're a good fit, I'd want to swap the first two chapters, then decide from there. A summary of the story is below, and if you're interested, send me a PM.
Summary:
The night seventeen-year-old Drea Rune moves to a new town, a drumbeat pounds in her head—one that makes her skin tingle, her blood race, and gives her a high she thought only drugs made possible. Hoping to rule out insanity as the cause, she traces the music to a shack at the edge of a meadow, and four teenagers who believed the drum only called to them.
The drummers make it clear Drea must treat the drum as a gift, and reveal strange rules, like not to go near the fog-filled forest mentioned by a local myth. Drea’s happy to obey, mostly because Otto, the perpetually barefoot, wild-haired drummer, teaches her to drum. Pretty soon, she’s ditching thoughts of her culinary future and spending evenings ravine diving with Otto and indulging in musical bliss. The high he gives her is almost as delicious as the taste of his lips.
But Drea can’t accept that the drum’s powers are unexplainable, especially when she researches the myth and uncovers rumors of a creature’s slaughter—one whose hide might be on the drumhead. The more she learns, the more she questions the drummers’ carefully hidden world, and the thrilling relationship with Otto she might be addicted to.
Because it turns out the drumming song isn’t a gift. It’s a curse.
I'm looking for a beta reader for my 90k word YA speculative romance, THE DRUMMING SONG. In a reader, I'm hoping for someone who will identify parts of the MS where the pacing is off, unneeded scenes, and if the characters are well developed. Also, I just want to know if they like the story!
I'd be happy to swap manuscripts, as long as it's YA or MG. The genres I'm best at critiquing are fantasy, sci-fi, and romance, but I'm open to reading something outside that.
To see if we're a good fit, I'd want to swap the first two chapters, then decide from there. A summary of the story is below, and if you're interested, send me a PM.
Summary:
The night seventeen-year-old Drea Rune moves to a new town, a drumbeat pounds in her head—one that makes her skin tingle, her blood race, and gives her a high she thought only drugs made possible. Hoping to rule out insanity as the cause, she traces the music to a shack at the edge of a meadow, and four teenagers who believed the drum only called to them.
The drummers make it clear Drea must treat the drum as a gift, and reveal strange rules, like not to go near the fog-filled forest mentioned by a local myth. Drea’s happy to obey, mostly because Otto, the perpetually barefoot, wild-haired drummer, teaches her to drum. Pretty soon, she’s ditching thoughts of her culinary future and spending evenings ravine diving with Otto and indulging in musical bliss. The high he gives her is almost as delicious as the taste of his lips.
But Drea can’t accept that the drum’s powers are unexplainable, especially when she researches the myth and uncovers rumors of a creature’s slaughter—one whose hide might be on the drumhead. The more she learns, the more she questions the drummers’ carefully hidden world, and the thrilling relationship with Otto she might be addicted to.
Because it turns out the drumming song isn’t a gift. It’s a curse.
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