The Wine Reading Reviews [OPEN]

Reece

Hi there, Kittysquid88 , the Merlot you requested is now ready. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy!

To start things off, first impressions...

The cover is gorgeous, yet it doesn't reflect the mood and tone of the story. Personally, I prefer the previous cover (the pink one) you had.

The summary is too vague. You gave a brief description of two people who are alike and different, which is basically every other couple out there, and frankly, not very original. Try to see if you can build on what you have by giving more details about your plot and characters, and how it stands out from other books in the romance genre.

Now on to the story...

The first chapter kicks off with a day in the life of Reece Michael, a nineteen-year-old girl living with bipolar disorder who meets a seventeen-year-old boy by the name of... wait for it... Reece. Reece McAlister. There are two good things I like about this chapter: 1) a steady pace for readers to ease into the story, and 2) a well-written, detailed description on Reece Michael's personality and internal struggles with her disorder. Unfortunately, all of that went down the drain in the following chapters. All of a sudden, you're in a hurry to speed things along. There's hardly any description on Reece McAlister, which makes him look like a minor character, and the storyline feels as if it has gone into warp speed. It turns me off a bit because it feels like a chunk of the story is missing, making it hard to keep track of the events in the story.

One thing that bugs me is the way Reece's bipolar disorder is presented. Writing about bipolar disorder can be challenging given its complexity, and I applaud you for having the courage to do so. However, from what I've read, it looks like you've only skimmed the surface on the topic. Keep in mind that you will have readers who aren't familiar with bipolar disorder, so the last thing you want is to make Reece Michael look like a lunatic who's off her meds. I suggest you delve deeper into the subject by talking to psychology professionals or people living with bipolar disorder. This will better help you to write about the disorder without misleading your readers.

Some notes on your grammar/spelling/punctuation...

There are some grammatical errors and sentence fragments, along with some run-on sentences, which at times disrupt the flow of the story. You also refer to Reece as Reese in some parts of the story. Not sure if that's intentional, but it comes across as weird to me. You may want to find time to edit your story or find an editor to help you.

Final thoughts...

You wanted to know if you're writing a romance story correctly. I'd say there's no such thing as doing it right or wrong. Rather, it's all about what you wish to express through your story. Other than setting a steady pace and doing more research on bipolar disorder, your story has a great deal of potential. So keep writing, because you've got a good thing going on here.

Good luck with your writing. :)