𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐕𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄 : ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ sʜᴏᴘ [CLOSED]

ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ɪ ᴋɴᴇᴡ

↻ AUTHOR ࿐྄ྀ cloudistay
↻ REVIEWER ࿐྄ྀ astrxzaki

First Light :: 6/20

» Title :: 2/5

A title’s purpose is to give readers an overview as to what the book will be like. And since yours is titled ‘Before I Knew’, I’m guessing it has something to do with Mingi before he knew about the truth. Whilst it is pertinent to the book’s plot line, it’s unoriginal and common. There’s nothing wrong with it, but if you want your book to stand out against the rest, I suggest changing it to something more unique, more eye-catching, but still regains significance.

» Cover :: 3/10

The cover doesn’t quite fit the book’s storyline. Angsty stories are meant to have dark melancholic themes while books with pure fluff tend to be the exact opposite, so I was a bit perplexed when I saw your cover and read ‘angst’ in the book’s bio.

The editing in general, whilst not all that bad, isn’t better than decent either.

There is no clear color scheme, and whilst the background showed letters (which I know is somewhat crucial to the plot), it’s…unfitting, for lack of better wording. The font of the title and subtitle is too basic, and the cut out pictures of the two idols seem too rough and out of place too, seeming like the two photos were just hastily and carelessly edited onto the cover. It didn’t blend with the background at all, which is a bit unpleasant to the eye, if I’m being honest.

I advise sticking to an appropriate color scheme, like black and red or black and navy blue, and tweaking the background a bit so it’s more fitting. I also advise changing the title’s font to something less generic yet suitable.

» Blurb :: 1/5

A blurb, similar to the title, is meant to give readers an insight into what the book will be about. However, all I saw in your book’s bio― that is related to the story itself― is one quote from the book that, in my opinion, barely describes anything about the plot.

In order to garner more readers, I suggest summarizing the story into a few paragraphs (two or three will do, I suppose). You can briefly write descriptions about Yeosang’s disappearance and how it affected Mingi and his everyday life, seeing as those aspects were included in the story’s main plot. But make sure not to give out too much information (especially the important plot twists in the end), so the audience won’t be spoiled.

Oh, and this may just be me, but I suggest refraining from using fonts anywhere. Because of some circumstances, I had to read your book and write most of my review on my old laptop, so I didn’t get to read the quote properly until I got my new one back. I don’t think any kind of special fonts will show up in any old device screens so, like I stated, please refrain from putting fonts anywhere important.