Final Total: 6.3 (we're opening the book and starting to read...)

Reader 1: 

Cover: 3.5/4  This is really nice! The composition is lovely, the fonts are well chosen, the photo makes sense with the title and the blurb. My only issue with this are the squiggly lines around "S" in saturday and "S" is nights, and the cover by: at the bottom - but I suppose that cannot be avoided. It does look a little bit like a movie tie-in cover, but it is a very nice job in any case.

Title: 2/2 Works well.

Blurb: 2/4 This is a good blurb, and it's making me quite excited to read on. The story line is compelling and you have presented it well.

However:

In the first paragraph about Allyson, the last sentence is a little long and mentions too many issues. I would suggest breaking it up into parts - one about the hidden-doors life, and one about having to decide who she is.

The paragraph about Daxson is a bit short and vague. It is revealing enough that it piques my curiosity, but not quite enough to make me keep reading. If you would elaborate a little on what it is his heart is telling him to do that is making him afraid, it would work much better.

Finally - in the last paragraph I feel like you are telling me the ending of the book. "Together, from the depths of guilt, they learn to trust again" and "find something beautiful and lasting" and "give one another courage to reach for their dreams" - I mean, I now know exactly what is going to happen. You have removed the suspense, unfortunately, which is a real shame.

Total: 6.5 (I'm interested in opening the book)

Reader 2:

Cover: 3/4

Not too shabby. The cover attribution at the bottom is nearly invisible, but other than that it isn't bad. A bit dark and dramatic for a romance, but it's nighttime, so I get it. Any reason the "Saturday" isn't white?

Title: 2/2

Brings to mind Saturday Night Lights for some reason. Which actually fits a bit given the fact that Daxson is an athlete. Appropriate for genre and descriptive. Good.

Blurb: 1/4

Grammar/Phrasing: Last sentence of first paragraph is awkward. 'Hidden behind closed doors, the guilt of being () part of such a hateful family and never being perfect enough eats away at her until she is left with *a decision: be who her parents want her to be, or be herself.*' (That's just a suggestion, it could be tightened up is all.) That's all I could find in the grammar department.

The bigger problem is that there is too much STUFF. I don't feel like I've got anything left to read about, I already know it all, especially about Allyson. There isn't much to explore. I've seen the little brother, and the hatred, and the racism and the guilt. What else is there? Hide something. You do better with Daxson. I don't know what trauma he's dealing with, at least.

Then in the last paragraph you go right on ahead and tell me the end of the story. You're not leaving any part of the resolution phase up for grabs, it's all right there. They learn to trust and find something beautiful amid the dark hatred. Great. Good for them. Why should I spend money on this when I know that already? There isn't any tension to draw me in, no uncertainty that makes me want to find out what might happen.

And ah... that brings me to... um... the racism and the hatred. I know, I know, but I'm gonna go there. I'm not saying it shouldn't be present in the book, don't get me wrong, but you're hitting me in the face with it here. Right now, it feels more like I'm reading a gigantic glowing sign, "THIS STORY IS ABOUT RACISM AND HATRED! And also romance and people." While it can definitely be a big part of the story, it would be a better slow reveal. Like boiling a frog. I haven't met many people who actively look for stories about racism, though I also don't get out much. But, if it's shown in the story rather than beaten upon repeatedly here in the blurb, it won't come across so much like a virtue-signal flag – which will narrow your audience to people who agree with you – and it will feel more natural to the story, which will broaden your audience to include people who may not think racism is as prevalent as it is (who should probably be the real target audience?) Maybe. Just a thought.

Total: 6/10 (I'm interested in opening the book)

Reader 3:

Cover: 2/4 The top part of this cover is great -- nice font, nice colours, Southern could use to be a tad bigger but that's just preference -- but the middle and bottom reminds me of a rural horror / lone-survivor-of-the-apocalypse story. The pic is so dark, I can't tell if that's crops at the bottom or evil alien boll weevils come to eat the flesh off of the post-collapse Adam and Eve. I could also see this being a story about Neanderthals and the dawn of history with the colour scheme and the sunset. Neither one of those goes with the title, but just alone, that's what I'd think. I'm not sure I'd pick this up to find out what it's actually about!

Title: 2/2 Like it. It's got atmosphere and the hint of drinking and partying at a local honky-tonk.

Blurb: 2.5/4

After having read the blurb, I feel as if I've already read the novel. It tells me everything, so I can safely put it back on the shelf and move on. Which you don't want, right? The problem here: You give us too much. A lot of the details you could cut -- let the reader discover them while reading -- and only give us what's going to get us in the door.

For example, at the very beginning, I'm hard pressed to connect a familial history of racism with Caleb's autism. Racism and autism are two totally different things, existing separately from each other. More, it seems like Allyson's family is very protective of their social standing and terribly concerned about how others see them. Racism doesn't come into it at this point plot-wise; it's a detail. (Or that's what it sounds like.)

That's what I'm talking about. I'll offer you an example rewrite of the start of the blurb, simply to demonstrate what angle you could take (and not that you'd like what I write at all). . .

Be perfect, or be who you really are? For Allyson Reed, the choice is far from easy. Her younger brother, Caleb, is autistic, a social blight on the family, and Allyson's mother has always demanded she make up for it by being more than perfect in the eyes of their small Southern community. But, of course, no one is perfect. When Allyson finally gets the chance to attend the University of Alabama, she hopes to build her own life away from the guilt and the family that suffocates her.

That's more the bare bones of the idea. With those details, the reader won't be surprised to discover in the story that the family are also racists (and probably hate Catholics and foreigners and liberals and and and...). What you have as the blurb now isn't bad at all, it just doesn't 'sell' the story by making us want more.

Total: 6.5 (I'm interested in opening the book)