Questions With Which To Torture Myself

1.) Have I ruined the book trying to improve it?

2.) Is meeting Death incarnate and recieving a Magic McGruffin actually more cliche than what I had before?

3.) Are Books 1 & 2 the weakest in the series, and if so, why would anyone want to read the rest of the series? Is the tone consistant across the series?

4.) Am I handling the hero's story all wrong? Is he drool-worthy?

5.) Should I keep in the explicit lovemaking scene or tame it down?

6) Does my plot make sense or is it completely nonsensical?

7) Is it okay that the book ends on a cliff-hanger -- with the heroine's magic unrevealed and the question of what to do with the Magic MacGruffin unresolved?