This looks interesting. Very ornate.
Are you trying to recreate handwriting, or revive a type style? Or something else?
I think that you are tending toward "handwriting" at the moment. But if you wish to do this, you will need to build in tons of contextual ligatures, and such. Because right now, some combinations just aren't working, and that is sad.
"lives" is very odd. "l-i-v" collide into each other. This should be handled more smoothly. And the tail of the e turns upward too much, unless it is the last letter in the word. the "e-s" combination feels like two separate words, they should be a fluid whole, I think.
In some letter combinations, the bottom of the "l" looks too stubby.
Paul Hunt could be able to offer a lot here as well, I think. I hope he drops in!