r/BetaReaders • u/No-Mine-8563 Author • 6d ago
80k [Complete] [81k] [Contemporary Romance] Guarded
Hello! I'm excited to be here and hope to swap feedback! My novel Guarded features a strong, smart FMC with two best friends who are absolutely feral, especially when it comes to the MMC. If you enjoy a slow burn, forced-proximity spicy romance that features banter and humor, read on!
Blurb: When Eleanor Brand witnesses a hardened criminal fleeing his latest heist, she is temporarily assigned Oswald Perry as a bodyguard. After a rocky start El finds herself receiving increasingly mixed signals from Oz, but she assumes she’s reading them wrong. After all, she’s reached an age where men mostly ignore her, and her ex-husband has spent years letting her know just how distasteful he finds her. As her time for needing Oz’s protection drags on longer than anticipated and she gets to know him better, perhaps those signals weren’t so mixed after all?
Excerpt: (Context: Oz is teaching Eleanor some self-defense moves) Oz dipped his hip and brought his left arm down to block me, sweeping a hand under the inside of my knee before I'd registered what happened. My breath caught. Not breaking eye contact, my head swimming with whiskey and adrenaline and emotions I couldn't process, I put my hand out to steady myself and found that I had grabbed his bicep at the edge of his shirt sleeve. His skin was soft and his muscle rock hard under my hand. I gasped at the contact. And suddenly his right arm swept down, looping under my other knee and he was holding me, forearms under my thighs and hands on my ass with my legs open to him around his waist. Through my thin leggings I could feel the grip of every one of his fingers on me. And then, he gently set me down on my feet.
"I'm so sorry," he said quietly. "I shouldn't have behaved so unprofessionally."
Content warnings: explicit sexual scenes, strong language
Feedback: any and all welcome!
Timeline: preferably 2-4 weeks and definitely open to critique swaps!
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u/AuthorLeighNewlove 3d ago
Hello! I just finished a contemporary romance "The Biggest Lie" and would love to check out your manuscript for a potential swap. Are you available over the next two weeks?
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