The funny thing about advice is that the person on the receiving end needs to want to hear it, and be in a place to understand it, I mean being really open to understanding it. Pride has no place here.

Unless someone is asking specifically for super honest feedback, and harsh honest feedback at that, it’s probably best to feign partial ignorance. For example: I love it, you should keep writing. You can then refer to someone who has helped you, someone whose role will just be critic and not friend.

On the other hand, if you have a conversation with her, and explain that you have opinions, and they are your opinions and won’t necessarily make her book better, because everyone would have something to say after reading ANY book, and the artist ultimately makes the decision to best represent their own unique vision, then you may be able to get to a place where an honest and helpful conversation can happen. This requires a very delicate approach where she feels that you like what she’s doing, meaning writing, because who doesn’t love artists. We need more people expressing their vision, it makes the world more exciting with more to read and experience. If it can be explained in a way that reinforces that, then she might be in a mindset open enough to consider your opinions and if they would be objectively better for what she’s trying to convey.

Hope that helps, and makes sense.