Title: Backstreet Angels by randomlygore
Source: ᴬʳᵗⁱˢᵗⁱᶜ ᴱˣᵖʳᵉˢˢⁱᵒⁿˢ ᴬʷᵃʳᵈˢ by janefanfics
Category: Brushstrokes of Feelings
Mature: Y (addiction, toxic relationships, strong swearing, drug use, violence, blood, explicit sexual content, mentions of sexual assault/rape, murder, emotional/physical abuse, eating disorder, self harm, loss of a loved one)
LGBTQIAP+: N
Status: Ongoing
Special note (judging): I had five books from this category, and the other judge, Saramitra_, had five books.
Score: 96/100 (2nd place)

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*****

Rubric:
- Blurb: 5
- Creativity & Practicality: 5
- Grammar: 5
- Plot Development: 5
- Style, Tone, & Feelings Factor: 70
- Component Compatibility: 5
- Overall Rating: 5
- Total /100

*****

Total score: 96/100

Blurb: 4/5
My only problem with this blurb is the quote at the beginning. It's not really necessary, and I think the most important thing to see first is the tagline after the quote—which I really like, by the way. Not everybody does a short tagline followed by a more detailed blurb, and even fewer do it well, but this is a great first peek for someone glancing through, and a great section of more detailed info for someone whose curiosity has been piqued. You tell just enough without giving too much away, balancing detail with mystery to hook a potential reader.

Creativity & Practicality: 5/5
Yep. There's heavy Fast & Furious vibes here, which there's supposed to be, but this is definitely unique and definitely creative. Characters, backstory, descriptions—the way you hit every sense effortlessly is just fantastic. Every detail oozes creativity, and I wish I could elaborate more, but today would be the day for a migraine that casts the same fog over my head that Raisa gets from her drugs. Except with far less fun.

Grammar: 4/5
Oh, I love reading such clean writing. It's such a breath of fresh air. There are errors here or there, but they're so inconsistent that I know they're just missed from proofreading, and you'll catch them when you edit for draft one. Chapter two has the most errors I've seen thus far—a missed letter in a word, an accidental word swap that's very close in spelling, a period where it should be a comma to close out dialogue and lead into the dialogue tag—but it's all really simple stuff, and usually, it's no more than one or two errors per chapter. There's some awkward or clumsy phrasing here or there, more in chapter one than the rest, but, again, this is draft zero, and I know you'll smooth it out in the next draft.

Plot Development: 5/5
This is a stellar example of showing and not telling. There are no info dumps at inopportune times, no obtrusive flashbacks breaking the flow of the story. It's all smooth and intuitive, leading the reader to deduce and tie the threads together on their own, making clear and obvious what's best left not to chance. Raisa's troubled youth unfolds as the story proceeds, explaining her present struggles and choices in the moment and making sense of the fatal attraction to Rafael. The pacing is perfect, and the girl's in trouble. Whether it's worse trouble than what she's already faced or just a different kind of bad is anybody's guess, but it ain't gonna be pretty.

Style, Tone, & Feelings Factor: 70/70
I can't personally relate to Raisa, but I'm drawn into her mind and her emotions immediately, and I stay there as long as I'm reading. She's in a dark place, fighting for every step forward and losing ground faster than she can make it, and Rafael's the dark temptation luring her further into the pit. The animosity between her and her parents comes through clearly, even though the reader hasn't really met them yet, and the love for her grandma combined with the guilt eating her alive comes through clearly, too. She wishes she could be the girl her grandma thinks she is, but she's lost hope that will ever happen. Every thought, every action, everything is explained with her inner dialogue, and the connection with the reader just gets stronger as the story proceeds.

Component Compatibility: 5/5
I think I've pretty much hit everything above, but everything ties together for a seamless experience. Plot, characters, descriptions, emotions, dialogue, grammar, writing style, tone—however you dissect it, it works.

Overall Rating: 3/5
This is tricky, because on the one hand, this is a breath of fresh air for me. It's really, really good writing. On the other hand, it's so ridiculously dark, with gangs, drugs, addictions, sex, abuse, toxic relationships, and that's just not my kind of story. I don't mind mature themes, but this isn't a redemption story, and there will be no happy ending for anybody. So, yeah, not my cup of tea, but for people who relish in dark, gritty tales with heavy themes, they'll love this.