First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
The first lines of the book I am presenting today are:
If anyone told me I could bring down the president, and the Pure Movement, and that incompetent little shit Morgan LeBron in a week’s time, I wouldn’t believe them. But I wouldn’t argue. I wouldn’t say a thing.
I’ve become a woman of few words.
Tonight at supper, before I speak my final syllable of the day, Patrick reaches over and taps the silver-toned device around my left wrist. It’s a light touch, as if he were sharing the pain, or perhaps reminding me to stay quiet until the counter resets itself at midnight.This magic will happen while I sleep, and I’ll begin Tuesday with a virgin slate. My daughter, Sonia’s, counter will do the same.
My boys do not wear word counters.
*******
And the book is…
Vox by Christina Dalcher
Goodreads synopsis:
Set in an America where half the population has been silenced, VOX is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter.
On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed to speak more than 100 words daily, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial—this can’t happen here. Not in America. Not to her.
This is just the beginning.
Soon women can no longer hold jobs. Girls are no longer taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words a day, but now women only have one hundred to make themselves heard.
But this is not the end.
For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.
********
There was a lot of hype and controversy around this book when it was first published a year ago, similar to what seems to surround The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.
Is this book thought-provoking? Is it far-fetched? Is the book necessary? I feel I can only get answers to these questions by reading the novel and making my own opinion.
Have you read this book? If yes, would you recommend it?
The first rule of book club: You don’t talk about book club.
Nashville
Legends second baseman Gavin Scott’s marriage is in major league
trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea
has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation,
it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks
for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the
better of him.
Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.
Distraught
and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret
romance book club made up of Nashville’s top alpha men. With the help of
their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess,
the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it’ll take a lot more
than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his
inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.
( From the synopsis)
My thoughts:
Heart-warming… It’s great to know, or rather have a bookish confirmation of something I have always believed in, there are good men out there, who care about their families, wives and children, to the extent of doing whatever it takes to make their marriage work. Even if it is reading a Regency romance book.
I absolutely adored the characters in this sweet rom-com. Gavin is a professional baseball player who spends a lot of time travelling for work. Thea, his wife of three years, is understandably upset about the situation. She put her career on hold and has done her best to blend in and become a worthy member of WAGs – wives and girlfriends of the players of her husband’s baseball team. Thea feels she is losing herself and is forgetting the dynamic, non-conformist, independent, artistic, fun girl she used to be. Then, one night, after her husband’s greatest sports triumph, the big secret is out: Thea has been faking her orgasms, and Gavin refuses to speak to her for a month. Thea asks him to leave, which he does, adding fuel to her childhood fear of being abandoned by people she loves the most.
Gavin is distraught and ready to do anything for Thea to give him a second chance. His teammates approach him with quite an unusual solution. Gavin is to become the newest member of a secret book club for alpha male athletes who try to understand the mysterious language of women by reading and discussing romance novels. The bros already have the right book in mind: Courting the Countess, a cute Regency number that perfectly matches Thea and Gavin’s situation.
The Book club scenes were absolutely hilarious, with their witty retorts and serious deliberations on the merits of pumpkin spice lattes and the dangerous message of The Little Mermaid where the main character ‘has to literally change from one species to another in order to be with a man’. All the laughs aside, these men meet together and try to help each other learn to save their marriages and relationships by listening and communicating with their loved ones. A few times in the book, Gavin is surprised to find out things about Thea, and she asks ‘How come you didn’t know that?” Because I’m not a mind reader’. He keeps saying ‘Talk to me. Tell me what you feel , tell me what is important for you, help me to understand what I can DO to show my love’.
Gavin is such a wonderful mixture of sweetness, determination, willingness to learn and strength. Thea got pregnant very soon into their relationship, and although their twin girls are absolutely adorable and mean the whole world to them, becoming parents is a huge step in any marriage, and a big change in a couple dynamics. It helps if you have already addressed (or at least are aware of ) your issues with your parents’ dysfunctional marriage. It also helps to trust your partner to put your family and your relationship first, above anything else.
The Bromance Book club may be a sweet and entertaining rom-com, but there is certain depth to it, as it is also a very relatable tale of second chances and family dynamics. The second book in the series is going to focus on Liv, Thea’s little sister, who was fiercely (and annoyingly at times) loyal to Thea, and surely deserves her own Good Man. Will the Bromance Book Club help Gavin’s mate Mack win Liv’s ever-cautious heart and lead them to their own HEA?
Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Have you read The Bromance Book Club or is it on your tbr?
Do you think having children necessarily destroys the early days romance?
Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What is one topic or type of nonfiction you haven’t read enough of yet? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
*****
This is the first time I am participating in this one month long event, although I have always been interested in reading non-fiction. There is an old saying ‘Tell me what you do with your free time (however much or little you have of it) and I will tell you who you are’. To paraphrase it, look carefully at what non-fiction you choose to read, because it reflects your interests better than anything else.
Ths year I have read only 30 non-fiction books and they fall into several categories:
biographies and autobiographies – Maria Montessori, David Bowie, Ada Lovelace, Marie Curie, Conversations with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Leadership in War: Essential Lessons from those who made history
Books related to art and art appreciation- Art Masterclass with Claude Monet, Painting School, Process Art Handbook and other similar titles
Children’s non-fiction – Kitchen Science Lab for kids, My first fact file: oceans, My first fact file: Vikings, My first fact file: Ancient Rome and My first fact file: the weather, The Element in the Room, The Rocking Book of Rocks
and then there are some reads that I loved and would recommend the most, although they are difficult to categorize:
What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
What am I hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? Apart from giving myself a free rein and permission to binge on wonderful non-fiction titles I have recently seen, I would like to reflect on what I read, how and why I choose it and what I do with what I learn afterwards. I would also love to connect with other readers of this genre and get their recommendations.
Is non-fiction among your favourite genres?
Are you participating in Nonfiction November this year?
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Inara- Ray of light. My sister who had the power of the Paladin in her veins – and her eyes. When it became obvious that my father wasn’t coming back, my mother grudgingly named my sister – a hopeful name for a child that seemed to only bring shadows to my mother’s face- and finally took her to her breast.
I was the only one who looked into Inara’s face and smiled. Mother said it was because I had been too young to understand and that I grew up accustomed to her. But Mother was the one who didn’t understand, who paled when Inara looked at her, whose gaze dropped when her daughter’s burning eyes met hers. I knew Inara was different, I knew her eyes marked her.
But she was my sister, and I loved her.
And there was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect her. No matter what.
And the book is:
From the synopsis:
Zuhra and Inara have grown up in the Citadel of the Paladins, an abandoned fortress where legendary, magicalwarriors once lived before disappearing from the world―including their Paladin father the night Inara was born.
On that same night, a massive, magicalhedgegrew and imprisoned them within the citadel. Inarainheritedtheirfather’s Paladin power; her eyes glow blue and she is able to make plants grow at unbelievable rates, but she has been trapped in her own mind because of a “roar” that drowns everything else out―leaving Zuhra virtually alone with their emotionally broken human mother.
Forfifteenyears they have lived, trapped in the citadel, with littlecontact from the outside world…until the day a stranger passes through the hedge, and everything changes.
Have you read Sisters of Shadow and Light or would you be interested in reading it?
If yes, did you like it? Which part of this magical world was the most fascinating for you? Which character?
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
Here are the first lines from Chapter One of the book I would lke to present:
The new year was barely fifteen hours old in *********** *****, *******, when my pa adjusted the courting candle, setting it to burn for an alarming length of time.
Satisfied, Pa carried it out of our one-room log house and onto the hand hewn porch. He was hopeful. Hoping 1936 was the year his only daughter, nineteen-year-old Cussy Mary Carter, would get herself hitched and quit her job with the Pack Horse Library Project. Hoping for her latest suitor’s proposal.
In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.
Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government’s new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a powerful message about how the written word affects people–a story of hope and heartbreak, raw courage and strength splintered with poverty and oppression, and one woman’s chances beyond the darkly hollows. Inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek showcases a bold and unique tale of the Pack horse Librarians in literary novels — a story of fierce strength and one woman’s belief that books can carry us anywhere — even back home.
Have you read this book?
If yes, did you recognize the first lines? What did you think of Cussy and Pack Horse librarians?
If no, would you like to read it? Do you like books about libraries and librarians? Is historical fiction among your favourite genres?
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. If you’re continuing with WOW, feel free to link those up as well! Find out more here.
The book I am waiting for is ‘Knock On Wood’ by Leslie Tall Manning. The expected publication date is November 15, 2019.
Book summary:
1978:
Fourteen-year-old Billy Baker is the first into the pond that early
summer day. Ten minutes later, his lifeless body is pulled from the
chilly water, his lips like two slivers of blue ice. Billy Baker
dies…but only for a little while. Thirty-nine days later, he emerges
from a coma.
But he is not alone.
1994:
Billy (AKA William) is turning thirty. He forgets some letters in the
alphabet. He can’t set a table properly. He still believes it’s the
disco era. And he can’t remember that day at the pond.
But the young boy William used to be has never left his side.
A brain-damaged hero. An unrequited love. A lottery windfall. A jealous brother. A memory hidden just below the surface…
Sharp contrasts of sunshiny music and life’s dark periphery are delicately mingled in this extraordinary tale, putting a new twist on the age-old question: Is it possible to find the way home again when one’s memory is nothing more than a blank slate?
For fans of Forrest Gump and The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
Why I am waiting for this book:
I fell in love with Leslie Tall Manning’s writing after reading her YA novel ‘I am Elephant, I am butterfly’. She has a wonderful writing style, elegant, sincere and heartfelt. The topics Leslie explores in her books are not the easiest to talk about, but she deals with them with outstanding sensitivity and thoughtfulness.
We all admired ‘Forrest Gump’ for its unrelentless optimism and humanity, so I’m intrigued about Billy Baker and his story. So, let’s ‘Knock On Wood’ and hope it is going to be as good as Leslie Tall Manning’s previous work.
Sixteen-year-old Clara Morris is facing an awkward summer with her father in the tiny upstate town of Redmarch Lake. Clara’s relationship with her parents—and with life in general—has been strained since she lost her twin sister, Zoe, when the girls were eight. As a child, her sister had been her whole world—they even shared a secret invented twin language. Clara has managed to rebuild herself as best she can, but she still feels a hole in her life from the absence of her twin, and she suspects she always will.
She soon finds that Redmarch Lake, where her father’s family has lived for generations, is a very unusual place. The townspeople live by odd rules and superstitions. The eerily calm lake the town is named for both fascinates and repels her. The town’s young people are just as odd and unfriendly as their parents. Clara manages to befriend the one boy willing to talk to an outsider, but he disappears during a party in the woods.
The next day, he is found dead in the lake under mysterious circumstances. The townspeople all treat this as a tragic accident. Clara isn’t buying it, but she doesn’t know what to do until she receives a mysterious note hinting at murder—a note written in the language she shared with her twin sister, Zoe.
(From Book Blurb)
My thoughts:
The People of the Lake is a fascinating mix of several genres. Recently I had a similar experience with the Whisper Man by Alex North where I started reading the book thinking it was a horror and later had to re-evaluate the story in the light of further revelations that put the novel into a different genre. Here I started thinking the book was a psychological thriller with some very spooky elements, but the second part and the ending were more in the fantasy realm.
Clara Morris, a sixteen year girl from Manhattan, decides to spend her summer holidays in a remote town of Redmarch Lake her father moved to after the divorce. The build up of tension in this book is spectacular. We know something is wrong with this town long before Clara sets her foot in it. I loved the descriptions of the unnervingly still lake and the surrounding woods. Add unfriendly town residents who very quickly show Clara that outsiders are not welcome in Redmarch Lake. Clara is a typical teenager. She loves her parents and would love to be able to communicate with them, but in the heat of the moment she just says things which are more snarky than she intends them to be. It doesn’t help that her father is a silent type who gives a lot of warnings about not going alone to the woods, but doesn’t find it easy to explain why. Similarly, he doesn’t want to talk about the divorce, or, even more importantly for Clara, he doesn’t even mention Zoe, Clara’s twin sister who drowned saving Clara’s life when they were eight years old. Clara befriends Neil, the only person in the town who is willing to talk to her in a welcoming way. Neil invites her to a party in the woods, but unfortunately, the following morning he is found dead under suspicious circumstances. When Clara finds a note written in the secret language she and Zoe invented, she knows she needs to investigate and break the wall of superstitious silence the town folk seem to have surrounded themselves with.
Clara is brave and tenacious. I liked the way she never gave up on reaching out to Ashley, Neilìs ex-girlfriend, who blamed Clara for upsetting the town’s delicate balance and causing Neil’s death. Clara’s grief over her lost twin sister, who used to be her whole world, is probably one of the most fascinating aspects of the novel. There is a love interest as well, as you would expect in a YA novel, but I didn’t find his character as well-developed as that of Zoe, Clara’s deceased sister, who appears to be loyal and mischievious at the same time.
The People of the Lake was a perfect October read for me, as the book relies a lot on the reader to fill the gaps and imagine spooky, scary things happening in this little isolated town and come up with one’s own theories of what is and has been happening there for centuries. The historical excerpts are short and relevant and represent ‘close escapes’ different outsiders had with the town and its dark secret.
There was one major twist that I didn’t see coming and this is where the book started picking pace, perhaps a bit too much. I did enjoy the build-up of characters, atmosphere and tension in the first half of the book, while the second part and the ending, although original, appeared a bit rushed. The fantasy world the author created could have been expanded and described in more detail.
Overall, it was an entertaining debut novel and I would definitely like to read more books by this author.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher (Sky Pony) for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Have you read The People of the Lake or is it on your tbr?
Are there any other books about twins written in a similar genre that you would recommend?
Do you enjoy a small town setting in thriller/ horror books?
At twenty-seven, Shannon Murphy has just discovered that she has two sisters she never knew. Now, through Shannon’s loving persistence, the three of them are moving in together above her dance studio in Bridgeport. Shannon is excited to make a home with her sisters and to grow her budding business. Then she meets her newest client–he has all the right muscles, a perfect smile, and a lot of attitude. Will Shannon be able to keep things professional with this charming stranger?
Dylan Lange has a lot on his mind.
He’s just been assigned a new partner at his job with the Bridgeport
Police, and while he’s busy striving to protect and serve his town, he’s
also trying to keep his baby sister out of harm’s way while she heals
from her own trauma. And on top of everything else, he’s gone and lost a
bet with his buddies, forcing him to take dance lessons. But
when he walks into the dance studio to meet his instructor, a young and
beautiful brunette with a sweet southern drawl is the last person he
expected to find.
Get ready to fall in love again as Shelley Shepard Gray takes us back to Bridgeport, Ohio, where nobody gets left behind and a powerful community helps ordinary men and women to find extraordinary strength inside themselves.
My thoughts:
This is my first book by Shelley Sheppard Gray, but I do love reading series set in small towns and it appears that Bridgeport, Ohio, has already got a fair number of fans. No wonder! Its inhabitants appear to be friendly, sympathetic, honest and hard-working. They also have a fantastic bookstore whose owner can make a mean cup of tea? Tempted to visit it? I know I am.
You dance love, and you dance joy, and you dance dreams.
Gene Kelly
The premise of the book is unusual andmoving. Shannon Murphy, an accomplished ballroom dancer from Spartan, West Virginia, and an only child of loving parents who made a lot of sacrifices to help her make her dancing dream come true, discovers that not only was she adopted at an early age, but she also has two sisters. Shannon has a wonderful idea of bringing them all together for a year to live in Bridgeport and share a home together. Traci,a police officer, gets a transfer, while gorgeous Kimber, despite being a New York City girl and a successful model, doesn’t mind moving to a small town in Ohio, if it means the three sisters can get to know each other better. I really enjoy reading books centred around loving families and these girls’ mutual support and understanding was really touching. Not that they didn’t have quite a lot to discover about each other – their common stubbornness to begin with as well as a shocking lack of cooking skills!
Shannon opens her own professional dance studio, which she is determined to make a success with her hard work and passion. When a local police officer becomes her newest client, she wants to convey her serious attitude to dancing lessons straightaway. Dylan Lange is a bit skeptical. You can’t blame him. Dancing lessons are his punishment for having lost a bet, although he is willing to do his best to learn, not only because he finds his instructor exceptionally attractive, but also because he believes in doing things wholeheartedly.
When a body moves, it’s the most revealing thing. Dance for me for a minute, and I’ll tell you who you are.
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Dylan is a complicated character. On one hand, he is a good man who knows what is right and wrong, and knows that in Shannon he has met somebody special. On the other hand, Dylan tends to be overprotective of his sister Jennifer, who is a survivor of a horrific attack and assault. Even two years after the event, she is still unable to leave the house alone, let alone talk to strangers. Jennifer knows her life will never be the same, but she is working hard to regain her strength and independence. It is never easy for family members to help and support victims of crimes like this, and it has been quite hard for Dylan to find the right balance.
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain
Vivian Green
It is always difficult to create tension andconflict in a book where almost every character is a good decent person. Dylan makes a hasty judgement and speaks in a very harsh way to both Shannon and Jennifer. While Jennifer’s reaction and decision how to proceed seem absolutely right and natural to me, Shannon’s appear a bit rushed. I would have prefered to see more interaction between Shannon and Dylan to uderstand the development of their feelings and their relationship.
Dare, dream, dance, smile, and sing loudly! And have faith that love is an unstoppable force.
Suzanne Brockmann
The main characters are well-developed and it is clear that the other sisters are also going to get their stories told in the future. Although I felt really partial to Jennifer, I would love to know more about Traci and Kimber, their past before coming to Bridgeport and their new life. We know that Traci was never adopted and went through the foster care system. She is a tough police officer who is adjusting to working in a small town, which is quite different to what she did in her previous job. Kimber remained a bit of a mystery to me, although I liked her sense of humour and easygoing personality.
One of the features that I liked the most about this feel-good book was a wonderful selection of quotes on dancing and how it relates to real life. I find it hard to pick one favourite, as all of them are entertaining and thought-provoking.
A sweet and heartwarming story of three sisters who are making their life in a new community, Shall We Dance? is an easy and entertaining read which feels a bit like a Hallmark movie. Grab your hot chocolate, get cozy and enjoy!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Have you read Shall We Dance? or is it on your tbr list?
This wonderful meme is originally hosted by Hoarding Books. The idea is to share the first few lines of a book you are reading or have recently read and then present it.
The first lines of the book are:
She had tried to return the book. As soon as she realized it had been left behind, she’d picked it up and rushed after its extraordinary owner. But he’d gone. He moved surprisingly swiftly for someone so old. Maybe he really didn’t want to be found.
It was a plain, pale-green exercise book, like the one Monica had carried around with her at school, filled with details of homework assignments. Her friends had covered their books with graffiti of hearts, flowers, and names of their latest crushes, but Monica was not a doodler. She had too much respect for good stationery.
On the firont cover were three words, beautifully etched in copperplate script: The Authenticity Project. In smaller writing, in the bottom corner, was the date: October 2018.Perhaps, thought Monica, there would be an address, or at least a name, on the inside so she could return it. Although it was physically unassuming, it had an air of significance about it.
She turned the front cover. There were only a few paragraphs on the first page.
How well do you know the people who live near you? How well do they know you? Do you even know the names of your neighbors? Would you realize if they were introuble, or hadn’t left their house for days?
Everyone lies about their lives. What would happen if you shared the truth instead? The one thing that defines you, that makes everything else about you fall into place? Not on the Internet, but with those real people around you?
Perhaps nothing. or maybe telling that story would change your life, or the life of someone you’ve not yet met.
That’s what I want to find out…
And the book is ...The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley.
Book Synopsis:
Everybody lies about their lives. What would happen if you shared the truth instead?
This is the question that Julian Jessop, an eccentric, seventy-nine-year-old artist writes in a pale green exercise book labelled The Authenticity Project, before leaving it in Monica’s Café on the Fulham Road.
Monica gave up her career as a high-flying lawyer to run her own café, but it isn’t going as well as she hoped. On finding Julian’s notebook, she in turn writes her own truth about her desire for a baby before passing the Project on. But having read his story, Monica’s immediate plan is to find a way to bring Julian out of his loneliness.
Hazard is the next to pick up the book – he is an addict who is desperate to finally part from his vices but cannot quite face his own truth yet. Instead, he becomes determined to find Monica her dream partner, so she can have the baby she longs for.
The Authenticity Project weaves its way between six characters, who all share unexpected truths about themselves in its pages and are slowly brought together.
Their lives become intertwined as they discover both the power, and the danger, of honesty.
Are you intrigued by the first lines of this book? Would you like to know more about what happens to Monica after she picks the mysterious green exercise book?
Or have you already read The Authenticity Project? If yes, did you like it? Would you recommend it?
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