Open to Critique Swapping
Blurb:
Throw knives at a prisoner today, K-Pop concert tomorrow. For Bridget Cavanaugh, life is about balance.
Bridget enlisted in the Army in search of a fresh start, but her uncanny talent with a gun puts her on a fast track to the Special Forces.
After completing her training, she is placed on an ODA team known for its unethical methods for getting the job done. Bridget thrives in their world of risk, manipulation, and controlled violence, but the neat compartments in her mind begin to crack under the weight of what she’s asked to do.
As the lines blur and blood covers her hands, Bridget is forced to confront a question she can’t outrun: how much harm can she cause before the scales begin to tip?
TW: discussions of child abuse and DV, attempted SA, mentions of suicide, general violence
Ideal feedback:
- Character consistency - Bridget is not mentally healthy and is good at putting on a face. Do her different choices in some chapters read as mischaracterization or heavy compartmentalization?
- Plot clarity - There's some genre overlap and a few twists (organized crime subplot, unhealthy romance arcs, things left out by an unreliable narrator). Does it fit the theme, have enough foreshadowing, and make general sense, or does it feel like jumping the shark?
- Pacing - The book takes place over the course of 7 years. Not all time jumps are specified plainly as "X months later," though there are markers of the passage of time. Does the progression ever get confusing?
Timeline: I would love feedback within the next 1-2 months. If we swap, I can commit to that same timeline.