Final Total: 4.5 (reshelved)

Reader 1:

Cover: 1.5/4 I. . . uh. . . what are those sparkly things? Snow? Fish? Magical critters? It's atmospheric, but are we above or below the water? That's also not clear.  And what is dragging on the lady's neck? It looks like she might be roped to a dead dolphin. I can't tell. I can't make heads or tails of what this cover is supposed to represent. It's got pretty colours, and the font of the title is attractive, but that's not nearly enough to earn the term "gorgeous". The author name at the bottom gets lost in all the confusing elements and is hard to find/ read. 

Title: 1/2  Interesting, atmospheric and we wonder how someone is going to steal an entire sea! Drain it? Turn it into a cloud?  (See how incorrectly that tile can be interpreted?)

Blurb: 3/4

Over all, a very well done blurb. We know who, where and what the main challenge to the MC will be. It's presented in an interesting fashion and know exactly what we're going to get for our money. There are a few places where the writing could be tighter, however.

For example: "Every morning, she takes off her seal coat, poses around as a human, and steals her dinner from the human markets. But one day, Tora's seal coat gets stolen. And, without it, she can't turn back into a seal and swim back to her family. When Tora finds the boy who took her seal coat, they strike up a bargain:..."

Here is an example of how you could economise for compactness and strength:"Every morning, she sheds her seal coat to steal her dinner from human marketplaces. That is, until the day the coat is stolen. Without it, Tora can't revert to her seal form and is trapped on dry land. When she tracks down the boy who took it, they strike up a bargain:..."

You may not like my phrasing, but you can see how much can be slimmed down to express the plot more directly and what the addition of some stronger verbs might achieve.

Total: 5.5 (I've put the book back on the shelf)

Reader 2:

Cover: 1/4 This is very busy and I am struggling to figure out what I am looking at, mainly because of the snow/bubble effect you have going on at the foreground. Is this underwater? The atmosphere would suggest so, but considering the person is holding a burning lantern, and the ship is in pretty good condition, I doubt it.

The title is a bit over the top. It reminds me of early 00s Disney shows. It could be the flourishes, it could be the bevelled edges... it looks too messy. I can't really tell you if I like the illustration or not, because it is difficult to make out.

Title: 1/2 I feel like you could do better. There is nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't really grasp my attention, which a good title should.

Blurb: 1/4 You had me at the start, lost me by the end.

This could do with a bit of reorganisation. Most importantly, the part where you mention that the story is inspired by Scottish mythology should be at the very end, after you finish telling your potential reader what the book is about. Where it is now, it disrupts momentum and brings me away from the story, which is a shame.

My other issue is that you go on about the setup for quite a bit, and then when you actually start describing the plot - you stop. The part about Tora stealing to feed her family could just be one paragraph really, which would give you more chance to entrance your reader with the meat of the plot: the big heist. I am assuming that the "boy" who stole her coat would be an important character for the rest of the story, but you tell us nothing about him. Maybe explain why he needs Tora's help with the Pirates (briefly?) that could bring more interest.

Total: 3 (I've put the book back on the shelf)

Reader 3:

Cover: 1/4 While it's colorful, I can't tell what anything is for all the snow/dandruff. The title, while the font is cool, gets lost against all the snow/dandruff. The seal... is it a seal? From the blurb I gather it's a seal, but it looks like a pile of poo. The resolution is pretty poor, too.

Altogether it's a good start. Lose the snow/dandruff, brighten up the title, fix the resolution, and make the seal clearly a seal, and you'll be going in the right direction.

Title: 2/2 Works for genre and is related to the story.

Blurb: 2/4 There's a lot of extra information cluttering things up in here. You can lose the second sentence. Move 'Inspired by Scottish mythology about Selkies' to somewhere at the end. Use the 'in the arctic land of Narenji' in your description of the setting. Keep 'As the eldest of three sisters, it is Tora's duty to hunt and kill to feed her family,' snuggle it up with 'Except there's one catch: Tora is scared of blood. She can't hunt.' The rest of the blurb is pretty good. You begin two sentences with 'and,' and one with 'but.'

Total: 5 (I've put the book back on the shelf)