Crit on "Wanted"

As I said earlier, one of my crit buddies finished her work on my manuscript "Wanted" and gave me some good food for thought. The revision process will begin soon (fingers crossed as I type), and I think it's one good re-write away from being submittable (publishable is not up to me). Anyway, things she pointed out to me included:

* My villain is very villainous (even likable in a villainous sort of way), but needs more specific motivation. I agree with this, and am going to emphasize the power rush he gets from his schemes. A prologue I am planning will also show this power hunger.

* My hero / heroine are role-reversed. The guy is the "damsel in distress" and the girl is Princess Charming come to save him. This is I did on purpose, probably influenced by my fandom of the X-Files, BTW. Anyway, she pointed out that there are a couple of times where I put them in traditional gender roles, and give them traditional sappy gender emotions (my interpretation, not her words) -- I need to tighten these spots so they are consistent characters.

* This guy, whom I portray as an average fella, has not one but two hotties falling for him in the course of this novel -- can you say "wish fulfillment?" So I need to explain why this is happening. I agree with this to a point, but this is coming from a female POV, so I need to take it seriously. I need to show him as the Ugly Duckling maybe, coming into his own . . . in the novel, he becomes more confident, maybe that helps, I don't know.

* My reader found the ending ambiguous -- she did not know the final fate of the male lead -- did he die or not? Now I had one specific ending in mind, and obviously I failed to clearly convey that, but maybe the ambiguity works, I don't know. I have to think about this one.

Those were the main concerns, and it gives me some things to think about. One more crit to come in, I hope in October.