Congratulations to the winners!

There will be three placement winners and two honorable mentions, so five overall winners.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know, though I am not tolerating disrespect or hate.

Please read your review all the way through before asking questions since I sometimes take a while to explain, so your question may be answered by the time I finish up the review.

Remember you are the author, so just because something is clear and obvious to you doesn't mean it's clear and obvious to the reader. I am giving you a reader's perspective, please keep that in mind.

In case you do not know, I will say SPAG a few times throughout the reviews because it stands for spelling/grammar/punctuation. I honestly got lazy and didn't want to spell it out.

Like I said in the categories chapter, SPAG takes up a big chunk of this category as it is important to have good grammar/spelling for blurbs. This category is split 50% SPAG and 50% creative, so if you see an emphasis on SPAG, that's why.

This was a pre-planned chapter written in advance. I am currently on vacation and 16 hours away from my home state. Please give me more time than usual to reply, and please don't start any arguments while I'm vacationing for the first time in a long time. That will make me sad. Don't make me sad.

Next: Best presentation is what I am currently judging. More categories TBA since many people have been backing out and changing stories, so I need to evaluate my notes before making a solid decision, but likely best style is after presentation.

3rd Place

Formidable Love by excruzu

Review:

Here's the full blurb:

Luciano Montanari left his homeland after the tragic death of his mother. Pained by the memories of her loss and the desire to come back twice as strong as he was, he returns home after 9 years with the will to let those pay the price of his mother's death.
He now returns with vengeance and power that no one holds but the love from his past bounces itself back creating a havoc to the well laid plan infront of him. He drove away the thoughts of his love for her fearing that she might end up being a sacrifice to the consequences of his way of living yet couldn't hold himself back given the opportunity to marry her.

Alessia Medici played the role of a perfect noble daughter figure for soo long that she eventually lost herself in that process. Her dreams and ambitions on her father's hand ready to be crushed at any moment as she lives at his mercy.
No longer wanting to continue the path that her father programmed out for her she watches herself fall for the boy who shares the same traumatic event which turned her life upside down. She lost a part of herself and possibly could never get it back but being forced back to the same life that she fought soo hard to stay away from could lead to a much larger chaos that waits for her.

𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐍 𝐈'𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐈𝐓 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

"I will strip the world in two to get her"
Luciano Montanari will not back away until he gets what he wants. He has yearned for her for years and there will not be any going back from it. He could kill for her or die for her.

"He will crawl his way back into my heart"
Alessia Medici loved too hard but a love that was too hard changed the course of her life.She had every good in her while he consumed the very dark in him. She will choose him time and time again, is he willing to do the same?

The SPAG could use improvement, though I'll get into that later. As for the creative side of the blurb, who the characters are and what their motivations are are very clear throughout the blurb. I have no doubts in my mind about the direction the story will go once I click on it, and I think that's a good thing that you're setting up clear expectations from the audience so they know more about what they're going to read, therefore helping them decide if they want to spend the time to read it or not. You give us some sprinkles of worldbuilding as well without going too overboard in that sense, and the plot is easy to understand. I can even see hints at some themes regarding love and what it's going to look like in this narrative, so the core storytelling elements are on display here, which is great.

Moving into suggestions, there are SPAG errors throughout the blurb as I mentioned before, mostly with missing punctuation. Here's what I'd recommend:

Luciano Montanari left his homeland after the tragic death of his mother. Pained by the memories of her loss and the desire to come back twice as strong as he was, he returns home after nine years with the will to let those pay the price of his mother's death.
He returns with vengeance and power that no one holds, but the love from his past bounces back, creating havoc on the well-laid plan in front of him. He drove away the thoughts of his love for her, fearing she might end up being a sacrifice to the consequences of his way of life, yet he couldn't hold himself back when given the opportunity to marry her.

Alessia Medici played the role of a perfect noble daughter for so long that she eventually lost herself in that process. Her dreams and ambitions are in her father's hands, ready to be crushed at any moment.
No longer wanting to continue the path her father designed, she watches herself fall for the boy who endured the same traumatic event as her. She lost a part of herself and possibly could never get it back, but being forced back to the same life she fought so hard to stay away from could lead to much larger chaos.

𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐍 𝐈'𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐈𝐓 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

"I will strip the world in half to get her."
Luciano Montanari will not back away until he gets what he wants. He has yearned for her for years, and there will not be any going back. He could kill for her or die for her.

"He will crawl his way back into my heart."
Alessia Medici loved too hard, but a love that was too hard changed her life. She had every good in her while he consumed the very dark in him. She will choose him time and time again—is he willing to do the same?

If you'd like my completely honest opinion, I feel the blurb could be stronger with just this:

Luciano Montanari left his homeland after the tragic death of his mother. Pained by the memories of her loss and the desire to come back twice as strong as he was, he returns home after nine years with the will to let those pay the price of his mother's death.

He returns with vengeance and power that no one holds, but the love from his past bounces back, creating havoc on the well-laid plan in front of him. He drove away the thoughts of his love for her, fearing she might end up being a sacrifice to the consequences of his way of life, yet he couldn't hold himself back when given the opportunity to marry her.

Alessia Medici played the role of a perfect noble daughter for so long that she eventually lost herself in that process. Her dreams and ambitions are in her father's hands, ready to be crushed at any moment.

No longer wanting to continue the path her father designed, she watches herself fall for the boy who endured the same traumatic event as her. She lost a part of herself and possibly could never get it back, but being forced back to the same life she fought so hard to stay away from could lead to much larger chaos.

She will choose him time and time again—is he willing to do the same?

I don't think the quotes at the bottom are needed, and you can shorten it. This is a really long blurb, and while there's nothing inherently wrong with having longer blurbs, I feel the quotes were unnecessary, and most of the bottom section was unnecessary since you gave us almost everything we need to know about the two main characters in the first part of the blurb.

All in all, Formidable Love has a creatively good blurb that gives us the four core storytelling elements: characters, plot, themes, and world. All the character motivations are established, and the blurb gets us ready to read. There were many SPAG errors throughout the blurb that could be improved. Other than the SPAG suggestions and considering downsizing on the blurb as I felt it was long, I had no other critiques.

2nd Place

Actually, No by BishGoSuckIt

Review:

This is the blurb:

In "Actually, No," we meet Angela, a promising music student whose dreams are shattered by a devastating setback. Struggling to cope with her failures, Angela finds herself plunged into a dark abyss of depression and despair.

As she battles her inner demons, Angela reluctantly turns to therapy despreately trying to find find solace and meaning in her shattered world. But when a crippling relapse threatens to undo all her progress, Angela is forced to confront the harsh reality of her own limitations.

With thesupport of her mother, her partner and the guidance of a compassionate therapist, Angela embarks on a courageous journey of self-discovery and healing. Along the way, she learns that true strength lies not in succumbing to defeat, but in the courage to say "actually, no" to the voices of doubt that threaten to consume her.

Promising music student? More like promising start to the story since this blurb does a great job setting up exactly what the story is going to be about in a description that doesn't overstay its welcome, but also isn't too short that we don't get any info about the plot. I like how the "actually, no" is included in the blurb at the end to show a solid connection from the title to the narrative. It makes everything feel more cohesive and understandable. I already thought the title was eye-catching, sorta like Peele's film Nope, so to see it emphasized at the end of the blurb was a nice finishing touch.

When it comes to the creativity, I think this blurb is good. You set up the character relationships, describe Angela as a person and what her struggles are going to be, and connect everything in one big bow at the end by stating what's going to come next in the narrative once we click on the book.

As for the SPAG, this is what I'd recommend:

In "Actually, No," we meet Angela, a promising music student whose dreams are shattered by a devastating setback. Struggling to cope with her failures, Angela finds herself plunged into a dark abyss of depression and despair.

As she battles her inner demons, Angela reluctantly turns to therapy, desperately trying to find solace and meaning in her shattered world. But when a crippling relapse threatens to undo all her progress, Angela is forced to confront the harsh reality of her own limitations.

With the support of her mother, her partner, and the guidance of a compassionate therapist, Angela embarks on a courageous journey of self-discovery and healing. Along the way, she learns that true strength lies not in succumbing to defeat but in the courage to say "actually, no" to the voices of doubt that threaten to consume her.

I tweaked the spelling of desperately and thesupport to the support, and I added/removed a few commas to make it flow better. Otherwise, the SPAG is good.

All in all, Actually, No has a good creative side that sucks the reader in and gets them ready to, well, read! The main character is clearly established, as is the plot, and there are clear remarks on what the themes will be as well. There are a few SPAG errors, like thesupport being noticeably spelled without a space and desperately being spelled the way it was, but the overall SPAG is good and definitely above average. Overall, this is a pretty solid blurb.

1st Place

Let's go on a Strange Date by shinhaari

Review:

Here is the full blurb:

Weekend dates are necessary for couples to share their love, even in the busy hours of their lives.

Jungkook did not take Y/n for having a meal amidst the golden flickering candlelight, surrounded by strewn red rose petals on the floor as they inhaled the musky smell of flowers, or snuggled up in a cozy blanket and savored the delicious popcorn during a movie night, which enticed an atmosphere of romance. 

They went to unusual places for a date and felt warmth, laughter, and love. Y/n realized that it does not matter where we go on dates. Spending time with our loved ones makes the place more unforgettable. 

What strange places would they have gone on a date?

The first thing that stood out about this blurb is the fact that I put it in Grammarly, and it had zero suggestions. Zero. This is the only blurb in this category that achieved this aside from one other, but that one had an obvious grammar error that Grammarly did not pick up on, so I do not believe that counts. In general, I only have one grammar suggestion, and I'll show the excerpt below:

Jungkook did not take Y/n for having a meal amidst the golden flickering candlelight, surrounded by strewn red rose petals on the floor as they inhaled the musky smell of flowers, or snuggled up in a cozy blanket and savored the delicious popcorn during a movie night, which enticed an atmosphere of romance.

It's the "or snuggled up" sentence. While my grammar checkers didn't mark it as incorrect, I feel it'd flow far stronger to make savored into an -ing verb. So it'd look like this: "...or snuggled up in a cozy blanket, savoring the delicious...". If you read the original out loud, the "savored" sounds a little awkward, but as an -ing, it sounds a bit more natural, hence why I'm recommending it.

But, for the rest of the blurb, the grammar and spelling is on point, and I have no recommendations for tweaking any grammar/spelling aside from the -ing thing.

Moving into the creative side of the blurb, I think it fits in well with the story. Granted, I have an advantage where I've read the story in past contests, though it's been a while since I've read it and the blurb, so it is kinda like seeing it again for the first time. It tells us who the main characters are almost immediately, has an opening line that sets up the premise of the story and how it connects to the title, and doesn't overstay its welcome. It's short but not too short that the concept isn't shared. After reading it, I know the story is a romance about two lovers named Y/n and Jungkook discovering the true meaning of what dates are and how important they are to relationships. That's the concept of the book, so no need to extend the blurb unnecessarily, right? I'm not personally a fan of this kind of flowery language in blurbs; however, I'm not going to take off any mental points for that because it's a more prose-like book focused on themes. If anything, it makes sense for the blurb to be written in that way, so even though it isn't my personal preference, I think it objectively works and fits in with what you're trying to do. All in all, the creative side of the blurb is pretty good, and the SPAG is great, too.

As for suggestions, I have two. One is this part: "Y/n realized that it does not matter where we go on dates. Spending time with our loved ones makes the place more unforgettable." I would suggest combining these sentences to make the first sentence feel more impactful and like it connects more, leading to stronger flow. So maybe: "Y/n realized it doesn't matter where we go on dates—spending time with our loved ones makes the place more unforgettable." Or: "Y/n realized it doesn't matter where we go on dates and that spending time with our loved ones makes the place more unforgettable." There are many, many, many, many other ways to combine those sentences, but those are two examples, if you're interested. As for the changes and why I did them, I removed the "that" in the first part since it isn't needed. "That" is often a filler word and isn't needed in a good 70% of sentences. If you read the sentence out loud first with the "that" then without it, you'll notice it flows stronger without it and keeps the sentence grammatically correct. I also made does not doesn't, but either one works.

Two is this: "...delicious popcorn during a movie night, which enticed an atmosphere of romance." I would suggest removing the "which enticed an atmosphere of romance." I feel there's no need for it. Blurbs tend to be very matter-of-fact and telling over showing, though this moment of telling over showing felt unnecessary, in my opinion. We can tell the atmosphere is romantic as the example of the date is a classic romantic date everyone sees as romantic, so there's no need to repeat that. If you can save the words and make the blurb a bit more concise, I'd say go for it.

So overall, the blurb is pretty solid and does a good job getting the reader in the mood for the book. The SPAG and is great and is some of the best in the whole category, which is another great thing considering how important SPAG is to blurbs. All in all, this blurb is pretty solid and does what it needs to to get the reader invested.

Honorable Mention

The Ballad of Time and Moon by MiaKurenai_2009

Review:

This is the full blurb:

Alexiel Chisaka knew that falling in love with the crown prince would bring turmoil in her life... but being stuck in a loop of death wasn't her first thought.

Alexiel Chisaka, the loved daughter of Duke Chisaka, was known for her beauty and knowledge all over the lands. But when the crown prince, her dearest friend, chose Yui instead of her, it only did not hurt her pride but left her heart broken.

Death, however, was not the end for Alexiel. Awaking amidst the familiar blooms of the royal garden, she found herself entangled in a relentless cycle of demise.

From being his mistress... to being disguised as a boy and becoming a knight, from dying for him to being killed by him, she had tried all ways-- she could think of, but alas she tragically died every time.

But everything might change, when at the time of her tenth death, Benzaiten approached her, her heart lidded with pity, and offered her a solution.

To end her eleventh life peacefully, she would need to seek help from an unlikely ally. Only then can she hope to unravel the curse and embrace the tranquility of a final rest.

The SPAG throughout the blurb is overall okay, though there are some consistent issues I will mention once I get into the suggestions part of this review. However, I did not notice any spelling errors, only grammar errors, so that's good.

The creative side of the blurb is interesting and shows the reader what they're getting into. They clearly know who the main character is and the basic premise of the plot along with parts of the world. The blurb implies this will be a royal story with the rules of more high fantasy/royalty in place. It does a good job establishing setting and what the story's plot is going to entail. So the blurb has overall okay SPAG with no spelling errors and a solid creative foundation.

As for suggestions, I have a few grammatical suggestions. The punctuation is a little off here and there. For example, this: "From being his mistress... to being disguised as a boy...". You don't need the ellipse (...) after mistress and can remove it. It adds an unnecessary pause that's a little awkward to read, and it doesn't appear grammatically correct in this context.

Another punctuation error is the -- after "ways" in the same sentence I used above. I'd suggest changing it to "she had tried all the ways she could think of..." for stronger flow.

What I'd recommend for the first sentence: Alexiel Chisaka knew falling in love with the crown prince would bring turmoil into her life, but being stuck in a loop of death wasn't her first thought.

I removed the ellipse and changed the preposition "in" to "into" for stronger flow.

What I'd recommend for the third sentence: But when the crown prince, her dearest friend, chose Yui instead of her, it not only hurt her pride but also left her heart broken.

I changed a few things about this since the "it only did not hurt her pride but left her heart broken" was a little confusing, so I changed it to be clearer and have stronger flow.

The creative suggestion I have is to consider quickly saying who Yui is because the blurb kind of mentions them in a way that seems like it's expecting us to know who that is. I have two suggestions for how to take it: one is quickly describing who Yui is, and two is replacing the Yui with "someone else." So it'd look something like this depending on how you'd like to write it: "But when the crown prince, her dearest friend, chose someone over her..." or something similar. Whatever you feel will fit in with your style. Or quickly describing who Yui is.

I say this because if you're not going to explain who Yui is, we don't know why this piece of information is important enough to be named but not important enough to be explained. From a reader's perspective, we have no idea who Yui is and why we should care, and it doesn't come off as mysterious, it comes off as vague. There is a major difference between being mysterious and being vague, and this felt a little vague for me. The blurb in general teeters between giving specific detail then general detail. It doesn't have to be all specific detail, though consider including more specifics a little earlier. For example, these two sentences: Death, however, was not the end for Alexiel. Awaking amidst the familiar blooms of the royal garden, she found herself entangled in a relentless cycle of demise. It's a little unclear what you mean here, and readers won't catch on until later in the blurb, though in a blurb, it's important to be clear and have the readers understand everything since this is our first look at the story. There's time to be mysterious and conceal information in the story itself, so don't be afraid to be clear in the blurb, is what I'm trying to say. You can still be mysterious and leave things open-ended, but what I'm recommending is being clear with things like who Yui is (or omitting it since then it wouldn't be important information and it risks confusing the audience) and what that concept of death means a little earlier (like maybe consider explaining the cycle of demise in that sentence).

All in all, The Ballad of Time and Moon has an interesting blurb that clearly establishes who the main character is, what their struggle is, and the world/time period they're living in. The SPAG is overall okay, though could use some tweaks, and consider fleshing out who Yui is at the beginning to make the name have more meaning and to not leave readers confused with why Yui is important enough to be mentioned by name but not important enough to be given any additional information. Overall, it's a good blurb, and I only had a few suggestions.

Honorable Mention

Strings of Serendipity by strawberry1d

Review:

Here's the blurb:

"We bloom until we ache'

-Serendipity-

A part of him started to react to this incredible human before him. His jaw dropped, his eyes began to blink, and his body started to tense up. They could not take their eyes off each other. Her gaze captivated him, and his heart began to beat faster than a drum.

My goodness! Jimin thought, feeling his mouth getting drier than a desert. He was unable to breathe correctly. What's going on? He feels as though an anaconda snake is wrapping around his chest. Before, he never had such a strong reaction to girls. He just liked and maybe kissed them here and there, but he never experienced this agonizing feeling.

It was this stranger who single-handedly caused his foundation to collapse...
...........

When a world-renowned superstar, Park Jimin, notorious for his flirtations and dating scandals, meets Ruby, an average Aussie girl known for her contempt toward the system on their 'Sydney Wings Tour' and falls madly in love at first sight.
How will he convince her to give him her fragile heart despite her past disappointments?

The SPAG throughout the blurb is overall good and only has a couple things I'll recommend later.

As for the creative side, I think it's good since it clearly establishes who the characters are, what their roles are in the story, and a general idea of where the book is going to take place. The core of the blurb after the excerpt isn't too long or too short, it sets up a question the reader knows will be answered in the story, and it gives the characters personalities as well. So it overall does a good job getting the reader ready for the book.

Moving into suggestions, there were a couple of SPAG things, and also, creatively, I think the blurb is a little long because of the excerpt. What I'd recommend:

"We bloom until we ache."

-Serendipity-

When a world-renowned superstar, Park Jimin, notorious for his flirtations and dating scandals, meets Ruby, an average Aussie girl known for her contempt toward the system on their 'Sydney Wings Tour' and falls madly in love [at first sight], how will he convince her to give him her fragile heart despite her past disappointments?

I put the at first sight in brackets because I feel it's optional.

I know I cut the entire excerpt out, but I felt the excerpt had a few writing issues and didn't need to be there. I combined the "how will..." sentence with the first one because if you read the "When a world-renowned superstar..." sentence out loud without it, you'll notice the sentence doesn't really go anywhere because of the use of the word "When." I feel it'd be more natural either as the alternative I provided, or as this:

A world-renowned superstar, Park Jimin, notorious for his flirtations and dating scandals, meets Ruby, an average Aussie girl known for her contempt toward the system on their 'Sydney Wings Tour,' and falls madly in love [at first sight].

How will he convince her to give him her fragile heart despite her past disappointments?

So that's what I'd recommend since the excerpt, in my opinion, didn't get me interested to read, but the blurb itself did its job to make me more interested. That's why I'd suggest having the focus on the blurb itself.

All in all, Strings of Serendipity has an overall good blurb that establishes the core storytelling elements in a short, clear way. There were a few SPAG issues, and the excerpt wasn't needed, in my opinion, but other than those two things, I think the blurb does a solid job introducing the reader to the narrative.

ALL REVIEWS:

Echoes of Euphoria by Etaereal3012

Review:

Here's the full blurb:

Embark on a journey of friendship, dreams, and love as Y/n and Saanvi, two Indian girls with big dreams, defy all odds to meet their idols, BTS. From the streets of India to the heart of Korea, follow their captivating story as they navigate cultural differences, chase their passions, and find unexpected romance with their Korean idols. This is more than just a love story-it's a testament to the power of dreams and the bonds of friendship. Get ready to be swept away in a tale of adventure, music, and the magic of destiny.

"The beauty of life lies in its unpredictability, where every twist and turn unveils a new chapter waiting to be written."

From a SPAG perspective, it's pretty solid. Some minor things with conciseness I'll go over in a minute, but there are no spelling errors, and Grammarly only showed a few suggestions when I plugged it in there.

From a creative standpoint, I like the blend of culture being made clear with the mentions of their cultural background and how it will impact them when they are in Korea. I like how it focuses on culture for that first part of the blurb, then moves into the dreams part and establishes that the book will clearly have themes surrounding dreams and destiny. There is diverse word choice within the blurb that makes it stand out from other blurbs as well.

As for suggestions, here's one suggestion for conciseness: Get ready to be swept away in a tale of adventure, music, and the magic of destiny.

To: Prepare to be swept away in a tale of adventure, music, and the magic of destiny.

It's a small change, but it makes the word choice slightly stronger and removes one word. It doesn't seem like a big deal, and in the grand scheme of things it's not, but it helps a little with conciseness and keeping the text flowing smoothly.

As for the creative suggestions, the blurb could use some strengthening to its memorability and specificity. The blurb is very general and gives give general details without going into the specifics. Unexpected romance? Captivating story? Cultural differences? Chase their passions? Testament to the power of dreams? All of these are examples of very general details, but nothing concrete. How is the romance unexpected? Is it because it's forbidden? Is it because they weren't meant to meet their idols but somehow did anyway, as implied by the "defying odds" line, and if so, how? How is it captivating? What kind of cultural differences? What passions do they have? What dreams do they have? You don't have to answer all of those questions or even half of them, though giving more specific details tells the reader what they're going to read. I have no idea what specific events are going to happen or what the core of the plot really is. Beyond that, I don't really know anything about the characters. Why are they in Korea? Why did they meet their idols and how? So that's what I suggest: consider giving more specific details because specific details will almost always be stronger than general details. I think I speak for most readers when I say we'd prefer one or two very specific details as opposed to five or more general details because the specific details are what make us want to click on the book, and they're also what makes us remember the blurb. I.e., maybe in that first sentence you tell us how they defy the odds, or in the second sentence you mention why they're in Korea. Those are two ways to add specific details, but I encourage you to play around with it and find what works for you!

All in all, the Echoes of Euphoria blurb has great SPAG, which is one step ahead of many blurbs I see where they have a bunch of glaring grammar issues. I liked how it had a cultural element to it with the differences between India and Korea being mentioned, and I also like how it hints at the themes that will be present throughout the novel. My suggestions were mostly creative by suggesting more specific detail instead of general detail as the blurb is meant to tell the reader almost exactly what the story will be about in a clear way. Not every blurb, of course, but it is, in general, a good idea to be as clear and specific as possible since the blurb is the reader's first impression of the story. So that was my main suggestion, but the blurb is still all in all good with the highlights being the strong SPAG and the cultural elements.

The Race for His Heart by Dark_Ghostie

Review:

This is the full blurb:

It was the time of the year, when Spring is at its height, bringing about a time of joy, renewal, and love.

The Festival of Eros was back, but this time it wasn't just any noblemen looking for a wife, but the Crown Prince of Camelot. The eligible ladies of Eden scramble to enter and only a few candidates will be shortlisted. They must compete against each other to win the affection of Prince Henry before the start of the next Festival.

In terms of creativity, I think the blurb has an interesting sense of world that informs the readers that they'll be transported into a new world unlike anything they've seen before. I'm curious to know what the festival is, and it makes me want to read further to imagine what I'd do if I was suddenly transported to said festival. It sets up an intriguing world that will most likely be very descriptive and engaging for the reader, and I got all that just from a short blurb, which is pretty good.

There are a few SPAG issues throughout the blurb. Here is what I'd recommend:

It was the time of year when spring was at its height, bringing about a time of joy, renewal, and love.

The Festival of Eros was back, but this time it wasn't just any noblemen looking for a wife, but the Crown Prince of Camelot. The eligible ladies of Eden scramble to enter, and only a few candidates will be shortlisted. They must compete against each other to win the affection of Prince Henry before the start of the next Festival.

I changed the capitalization of spring, changed the word choice in the first sentence, and made punctuation corrections.

As for creative suggestions, while I like the implications the blurb has about the world and what kind of universe the readers are getting into, I'd suggest expanding upon this blurb a little more. What kind of competition are we looking at? Who are the main characters? Why is it so important to win the affection of Prince Henry? We don't really get a sense of what's at stake. So I'd suggest expanding upon this blurb by adding maybe just one or two sentences, or adding more to the sentences currently available by explaining what the affection would bring, if there are any specific competitions that are going to happen or if it's just them trying to get his attention, and/or adding more info about who the main characters are going to be.

All in all, the blurb has an interesting sense of world and atmosphere. It gives the reader a solid idea of the genre of the book without them needing to look at the cover, title, or tags to figure it out for themselves. My suggestions were to tweak some of the SPAG and to consider expanding upon the blurb to give more detail about the stakes and give readers more incentive to read. I hope those suggestions made sense!

Yadavi:The Name Of Yearning by dwarkaratna

Review:

Here is the full blurb:

Arjun, the valiant son of queen Kunti was on exile for twelve years as he had disturbed the privacy of his brother Yudhishthir with their common wife, Empress Draupadi. In his exile he got two glorious princesses as wives. He had been blessed with the company of sages which contributed towards his wisdom in a colossal way. Even after getting all those, he had been waiting for his yearning, Yadavi to grace his life.

Yadavi was a mystery to everyone as being the incarnation of Goddess Yogmaya, the divine illusion herself. So, more than the discussion about her mesmerising beauty and maturity around Arjun, the fact of she being a mystery had attracted him towards her making him fall for her, gradually.

His yearning for her continued to increase in all those years of his exile. After all, the rage of love for the girl who was sister of Krishn, the greatest lover of universe wasn't easy to be relaxed without getting united with her.

"My yearning isn't my agony. It's the aspiration of my life which is leading me towards getting your love," Arjun sighed followed by a smile of content.

On the other hand, Subhadra aka Yadavi, the virtuous princess of Yadav clan was curious to meet Arjun after being influenced by his praising around. She had assumed her curiosity as an obvious tendency, but little did she know about the feeling which kept flourishing in her heart along with curiosity.

"Though I have only hope of meeting you yet that hope has a firm hold over my heart," Subhadra smiled as same of Arjun.

What will happen when yearning meet curiosity?

Will their love bloom simply or will have to face barriers before that?

When it comes to the creative side of the blurb, I have no suggestions since I think this idea is interesting, and I could see it going somewhere in the book itself. I like how you focus on the yearning side of the characters and give a little background about who these characters are so everyone, regardless of if they're familiar with the source material or not, can understand what the story is going to be about. I also liked how you clearly established the clans and parts of the world, that way readers can see the worldbuilding before they even click on the book, but at the same time, you don't overwhelm them with too much world and bring the focus back to the characters after saying their connection to the world around them.

Most of my suggestions are about the SPAG. There are consistent spelling, grammar, and punctuation issues throughout. Here's what I'd recommend:

Arjun, the brave son of Queen Kunti, was in exile for twelve years as he had disturbed the privacy of his brother Yudhishthir with their common wife, Empress Draupadi. In his exile, he got two glorious princesses as wives. He had been blessed with the company of sages, which contributed towards his wisdom in a colossal way. Even after obtaining those, he had been waiting for his yearning, Yadavi, to grace his life.

Yadavi was a mystery to everyone as she was the incarnation of Goddess Yogmaya, the divine illusion herself. Her mystery had attracted him towards her, not just her mesmerising beauty and maturity.

His yearning for her continued in all those years of exile. After all, the rage of love for the girl, the sister of Krishn [did you mean Krishna?], the greatest lover of the universe, wasn't easy to overcome.

On the other hand, Subhadra, or Yadavi, the virtuous princess of the Yadav clan, was curious to meet Arjun after being influenced by his praise. She had assumed her curiosity as an obvious tendency, but little did she know about the feeling which kept flourishing in her heart along with curiosity. (This last sentence is really confusing, and I would recommend rewriting it. Did you mean something like: "She assumed her curiosity was natural, but little did she know feelings were flourishing underneath"?)

What will happen when yearning meets curiosity?

Will their love bloom, or will they fall apart?

I removed both of the quotes since I felt they were unnecessary and made the blurb longer unnecessarily. This is already a long blurb, so if you can trim it, I'd recommend doing that. That's why I removed the quotes: to trim it and focus on what the blurb is saying. I made various punctuation fixes, spell checks, and rearranged certain sentences to strengthen the flow.

Those are pretty much all my suggestions, which means all my suggestions are related to SPAG. However, since SPAG is super important to blurbs, I strongly recommend making those changes and potentially using grammar editing software such as Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and/or QuillBot to help with grammar/spelling for blurbs in particular. Having clear blurbs with no grammar errors is essential for getting readers to want to read the story, which is why I'm suggesting it. I hope that makes sense.

All in all, the blurb has its moments that works for what the story is going to be about. It could just use some major tweaks to the SPAG to make it more understandable and clearer so those unique ideas are easier for the readers to get attached to. I hope those suggestions make sense.

The Strings of Fate by midnight_breezee

Review:

Here is the blurb:

Not all love stories are written with threads of gold and silver.... some r written with iron blades and thorns.

In the late 15th century, emergered two greatest dynasties... the Mins of South and the Jeons of North. Both Emperors fell in love with the same princess marking the beginning of one of the greatest wars in History.

I'm working on the best fanfic category for the Fairy Night Awards, so I have already judged this blurb, therefore this is my second time seeing the blurb, and I'm seeing it from a newer perspective as Strings of Fate was one of the first stories I judged. I started judging a bit ago, but huge categories take a long, long time, so it's been over a month since I've seen it. Seeing it again is interesting, and I'm a strong believer that seeing something twice can enhance your opinion.

I say all that because seeing this for the second time was interesting with the context of the story. I judge titles/blurbs/covers first to give the author a clue at the first impression someone has of their book, so judging it now with the context, I think it does a good job setting up the premise of the narrative since it tells you pretty much everything you need to know. There are two dynasties, the emperors fall in love, and war happens. Pretty much sums up the entire plot right there. While you could probably expand on it by giving us character names and giving us more reason to click (while the war is intense, we could use more in terms of stakes—AKA: why should we care about this war?), it still does a solid job introducing the reader to the core concept of the book, and it also clearly establishes a time period and a little bit of the geography.

Here are my recommendations for the SPAG and sentence structure:

Not all love stories are written with threads of gold and silver; some are written with iron blades and thorns.

In the late 15th century, two great dynasties emerged: the Mins of the South and the Jeons of the North. Both Emperors fell in love with the same princess, marking the beginning of one of the greatest wars in history.

I made many changes to the SPAG, like adding punctuation, changing the r to are, correcting spelling, etc. I believe all of these changes help make the blurb clearer.

All in all, the blurb for The Strings of Fate sets up the premise in a short yet accurate way that pretty much tells you everything you need to know, including the time period. While there could be some expansion on it with who the main characters are and more stakes so we know why we should care about the war, I think the overall creative side of it is interesting. The SPAG is the main issue here and could use some tweaks to make the blurb clearer. Overall, the blurb has a solid foundation and could be made even stronger with tweaks to the SPAG.

Denying Love by LAJoyner

Review:

Full blurb:

All the signs are there, but is he the only one who can't or won't see them?

"Deny it all you want, Yoongi. You're in love with my sister."

"The hell I am!" Shouts Yoongi.

After a heart-stopping moment, when he almost lost you to the depths of the water, Yoongi is forced to confront what he had vehemently denied.

In a short amount of time, the blurb manages to capture the audience's attention and make them curious to know what the story will be about. I'm a strong believer in quality over quantity, so I'm glad you used the short runtime of the blurb to establish who the main character is and the feelings that are going to be confronted in the narrative. The SPAG is overall good aside from one error I will talk about below.

I have two critiques of the blurb. The SPAG is good except for one thing: the dialogue tag. It should be: "The hell I am!" shouts Yoongi. Dialogue tags are continuations of the dialogue, therefore they always need to be lowercase unless they are a proper noun, even if the end punctuation is ? or !. Some examples:

"How are you?" he asked.

"I missed you," he said.

"Go away!" he shouted.

Same in present tense, I'm just a past tense writer, so I naturally wrote it that way. So that's why I corrected the Shouts to shouts. For stronger flow, "Yoongi shouts" could work better, though I don't think it matters either way and that isn't something I'll factor into the placement of the blurb. It also depends on the context of the quote in the book.

As for the second critique, I wanted to say the blurb is very vague. There's a difference between being mysterious and being vague, and I think this blurb is a little too vague for my liking. It doesn't give the reader much information about what's going to happen in the story. I have absolutely no issue with short blurbs since sometimes you can say everything you need in only one short sentence; however, for this blurb, it almost feels like it needs just one or two more sentences to give the reader stronger incentive to read. For a oneshot, I wouldn't suggest making a long blurb since you can sum it up real fast, though I still feel one or two more sentences could suffice to give the reader more incentive to read as the blurb ends rather abruptly with no lingering question about the stakes. I'll explain more below with specific suggestions.

For a blurb category, I'm not going to read the story, so all these suggestions are just speculation about what could happen in the book, so please adjust according to what actually happens in the narrative.

I really mean it when I say I don't think you need to add much to this blurb, like one or two sentences tops. Maybe you can add a setup question at the very end of the blurb, like: Can he finally admit the truth, or will his stubbornness cost him everything? Or you can rearrange it so the blurb flows more smoothly, so instead of going blurb quotes blurb, it goes quotes then blurb. What I'm suggesting is possibly taking the "All the signs are there, but is he the only one who can't or won't see them?" and moving it to the end, so: After a heart-stopping moment, when he almost lost you to the depths of the water, Yoongi is forced to confront what he had vehemently denied. All the signs are there, but is he the only one who can't or won't see them? However, I understand not everyone likes ending their blurbs with questions, so that's just one idea in case you're interested. I suggested those two since they maintain the core of the blurb while also giving a hooking ending that sets up more expectations for what the reader is about to read.

Moving into other strategies, consider adding another sentence or two of information to set the scene more and give us a stronger idea what the genre is. Maybe: In the heart of Busan, Min Yoongi meets [insert whatever you'd like here], the sister of his childhood best friend, [insert name here]. Yoongi never cared for love, but upon meeting Y/n, something snapped in him, yet he refused to admit his change. But after a heart-stopping moment, when he almost lost you to the depths of the water, Yoongi is forced to confront what he had vehemently denied. I added two sentences to give a location, clarify the relationships and how Yoongi knows who "you" is, and gave a character background to Yoongi. I'm not saying it's perfect, especially since I haven't read the story so I could be completely wrong about some of the things I mentioned, but it does give a little more info. I hope all those suggestions are helpful and gets the creative juices going, and I encourage you to play around with it and find what works best for you.

All in all, Denying Love's blurb inspires intrigue in its short runtime and gives the reader a lot to think about. The SPAG is also pretty solid. My main suggestion was to consider adding more detail so the blurb gives readers more to work with, but otherwise, I think it's an interesting blurb that will capture people's attention.

Sweet Tears by IR3NIC

Review:

Here is the full blurb:

"She is my wife, you bastard!"

The rugged prince, the competent commander Kim Taehyung of Baekje set out to ruin Silla, only for her. The great Arkae himself, could not tolerate the taunting of a woman. When he found the maiden of his illusions came alive, covetous greed for supremacy sparked in his mind. His pride and greed made him capture anything impeccable, including what could never be his.

Min Yoongi would rather bring his life to an end if the Baekje empire were to collapse. Yoongi knew, he knew that the tales of Maehwa weren't just a myth. They were the reflection of the tragic future, but what he didn't know was that the women he is bound to encounter have the answers to the actual doom.

Foretold the tales of Maehwa, can the indestructible dynasty be brought down to its knees by an insignificant number of women?

Sweet Tears has an atmospheric blurb that sets the reader in the mindset of the characters and overall vibe of the narrative. It's clear this story will have a darker aura based on the intense subject matter the blurb sets up, and the overall SPAG is okay, though I have some recommendations I will get into in the next section. Sticking to the creative side of things, I like how the blurb uses adjectives in the first sentence to give a stronger impression of who Taehyung is, and the first sentence is probably my favorite line in the whole blurb as it inspires intrigue and gives the readers a clear idea of who Kim Taehyung is, and encourages them to think about what or who this Silla is.

When it comes to suggestions, there are a few SPAG errors throughout the blurb, mostly with punctuation. Here's what I'd recommend:

"She is my wife, you bastard!"

The rugged prince, the competent commander Kim Taehyung of Baekje, set out to ruin Silla—only for her. The great Arkae himself could not tolerate the taunting of a woman. When he found the maiden of his illusions came alive, covetous greed for supremacy sparked in his mind. His pride and greed made him capture anything impeccable, including what could never be his.

Min Yoongi would rather die than lose the Baekje Empire. Yoongi knew the tales of Maehwa weren't just a myth. They were a reflection of the tragic future, but what he didn't realize was that the women he was bound to encounter had the answers to the actual doom.

Foretold the tales of Maehwa, can the indestructible dynasty be brought down to its knees by an insignificant number of women?

From a creative perspective, you could benefit from narrowing your focus and not being as vague. There is a difference between being mysterious and being vague, and I believe this is a little vague, especially these lines: When he found the maiden of his illusions came alive, covetous greed for supremacy sparked in his mind. His pride and greed made him capture anything impeccable, including what could never be his.

That part didn't feel like it told us much about the story. I feel it raised 2x more questions than answers, and while it is useful to raise questions in the blurb the audience wants answered, if you're raising too many, now it becomes confusing and doesn't make us want to click on it anymore. Keep in mind blurbs are meant to have preferably no SPAG errors and are meant to be clear. So lines like "covetous greed for supremacy sparked in his mind" are unclear and hard to get invested in. What is Maehwa, and why should we care about it? What I recommend is giving the reader more reason to care by briefly explaining what some of these terms mean. What/who is Silla? What does Arkae mean? Why is the Baekje Empire so important, and who is Min Yoongi in relation to that? You don't have to answer all of these questions, and you can leave some of them open-ended, but consider answering some of them so it's less vague and more along the lines of mysterious. All the terms in this blurb aren't explained, so we don't know what any of the sentences truly mean. As the author, you know everything, but readers only know what you tell them. That's why I'm suggesting considering fleshing out the blurb a bit more. The names of these things are honestly super cool and I like them, so that's why I'm curious to see more, and would love to see you expand on it since this blurb has a lot of potential! I'm a geek for these kinds of worlds, so I hope I get a chance to read the full book in the future.

All in all, Sweet Tears has a blurb that sets a strong vibe for the rest of the story. It has a nice tone that gives the readers a chance to guess what themes and subject matter the narrative will include. The blurb's SPAG is overall okay, though could use some tweaks, and some tweaks could be made to the clarity so the readers know more about these worldbuilding elements you set up. I hope those suggestions made sense!

Kaliyug: Too Soon by KanhaiyakiSakhi9112

Review:

Here is the full blurb:

Dharma teaches us each and every soul has an unique gift to share with others, it is through embracing individuality, then we'll be able to invite serenity into our lives, by utilizing our gift to help and serve others we'll not only bring joy to their lives but also contentment within ourselves.

But how exactly can we live our life in a Dharmic way? It means living a life of right actions and righteous deeds, it freeing our thoughts from the toxic environment around us, living a life without judging others.

Sadly the world currently is deviating itself from Dharma and Adharma, unrighteousness is rising rapidly enough to poison our minds with jealousy, selfishness, lust and anger. These four emotions are enough to pull people out of the path of salvation. In the past, when Dharma was declining Lord Vishnu manifested himself as Lord Rama and Lord Krishna, and enlightened us.

He once said to dear friend, "O Arjuna whenever there's an decline in Dharma and increase in unrighteousness, I manifest myself on earth. "

However, the problem arrives, Adharma is increasing rapidly because of an demon named Kalasura, and Lord Vishnu needs to manifest on earth to restore balance, but if he does the wheel of time across all the other dimensions will be thrown under major chaos. That's when Varalakshmi steps in, to bring an end to Adharma.

Will Varalakshmi be able to put an end to Kalasura and restore balance?

I like the idea to introduce the story by talking about a concept that's honestly really uplifting. The idea of embracing individuality is cool and pretty heartwarming. Even if people choose not to click on the book further, at least they still have a message to take away from it, and I think that's a really awesome thing, and I applaud you for having that uplifting message as early as the blurb. It's inspiring, truly. So I think the creative side of the blurb is intriguing and engaging, and my only criticisms have to do with the SPAG since there are frequent issues with it throughout the blurb.

This is what I'd recommend:

Dharma teaches us each and every soul has a unique gift to share. By utilizing our gift to help and serve others, we'll bring joy to their lives and contentment within ourselves.

But how exactly can we live in a Dharmic way? It means living a life of right actions and righteous deeds, freeing our thoughts from the toxic environment, and living without judging others.

Sadly, the world is deviating from Dharma and Adharma, unrighteousness rising rapidly enough to poison our minds with jealousy, selfishness, lust and anger. These four emotions are enough to pull people out of the path of salvation.

In the past, when Dharma was declining, Lord Vishnu manifested himself as Lord Rama and Lord Krishna enlightened us. He once said to a dear friend, "O Arjuna, whenever there's a decline in Dharma and an increase in unrighteousness, I manifest myself on earth."

However, the problem arises, and Adharma is increasing rapidly because of a demon named Kalasura. Lord Vishnu needs to manifest on earth to restore balance, but if he does, the wheel of time across all the other dimensions will become chaos. That's when Varalakshmi steps in to bring an end to Adharma.

Will Varalakshmi be able to put an end to Kalasura and restore balance?

I made various punctuation changes, word choice changes, and rearranged some sentences to make the flow a bit neater.

All in all, Kaliyug has a blurb that gives the reader a solid idea of what the story is going to be about and has a cool concept, though it could be improved with SPAG tweaks to make it easier to read. I hope those suggestions made sense!