Book Recs

First Lines Fridays: December 30, 2016

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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!

First Line:

She didn’t know which hurt more – the ice or the fire.

Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!

The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine

Sixteen-year-old Elli was only a child when the Elders of Kupari chose her to succeed the Valtia, the queen who wields infinitely powerful ice and fire magic in service of her people. The only life Elli has known has been in the temple, surrounded by luxury, tutored by magic-wielding priests, preparing for the day when the queen perishes—and the ice and fire find a new home in Elli, who is prophesied to be the most powerful Valtia to ever rule.

But when the queen dies defending the kingdom from invading warriors, the magic doesn’t enter Elli. It’s nowhere to be found.

Disgraced, Elli flees to the outlands, home of banished criminals—some who would love to see the temple burn with all its priests inside. As she finds her footing in this new world, Elli uncovers devastating new information about the Kupari magic, those who wield it, and the prophecy that foretold her destiny. Torn between her love for her people and her growing loyalty to the banished, Elli struggles to understand the true role she was meant to play. But as war looms, she must choose the right side before the kingdom and its magic are completely destroyed.

The Impostor Queen was recommended to me by a friend, but I don’t know much more than the summary and their promise that I’d love it.

If you’ve read this one, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

First Lines Fridays: December 23, 2016

LeeLeave a comment

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!

First Line:

Novalee Nation, seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight – and superstitious about sevens – shifted uncomfortably in the seat of the old Plymouth and ran her hands down the curve of her belly.

Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts

Talk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with just $7.77 in change. But Novalee is about to discover hidden treasures in this small Southwest town – a group of down-to-earth, deeply caring people willing to help a homeless, jobless girl living secretly in a Wal-Mart. From Bible-thumping blue-haired Sister Thelma Husband to eccentric librarian Forney Hull who loves Novalee more than she loves herself, they are about to take her – and you, too – on a moving, funny, and unforgettable journey to… Where the Heart Is.

Where the Heart Is has been on my TBR for a while. I actually found it because I saw the movie. I have high hopes for it.

If you’ve read this book, I’d really love to hear your thoughts.

First Lines Fridays: December 16, 2016

LeeLeave a comment

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!

First Line:

Perhaps because it seems so appropriate, I don’t notice the rain.

Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!

Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

An ancient prophecy divides two sisters-
One good…
One evil…
Who will prevail?
Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tattoo-like mark, their parents’ deaths, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets.
Lia and Alice don’t know whom they can trust.
They just know they can’t trust each other.

This one has been on my TBR for at least a year, but I never seem to get around to it somehow. I’ve heard great things about it though and the summary intrigues me. I hope to get to it soon.

If you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

First Lines Friday: December 9, 2016

LeeLeave a comment

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!

First Line:

The shutters swinging in the storm winds were the only sign of her entry.

Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena’s world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie… and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

I’m rereading the Throne of Glass series, of which this is the second book. I needed to reread it to get my head in the world for Empire of Storms. I like Celaena quite a bit for a character I can only barely identify with.

First Lines Fridays: December 2, 2016

LeeLeave a comment

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!

First Line:

He knew from the first that this man would know how to hurt him.

Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!

The Tale of Oriel by Cynthia Voigt

The prospect of freedom is weighted with danger in this tale of high adventure, the third book in the Tales of the Kingdom series from Newbery Medalist Cynthia Voigt.

Oriel has always stood out as someone who would not bend. No matter how much he has had to endure, the Damall’s cruelty cannot corrupt him. Griff, a boy who has watched and admired Oriel, is the opposite. He has learned to keep out of sight, to bow in the face of force. Yet the two became friends, and together they escaped from the terrors of the island and take with them the Damall’s most prized relic—the beryl, a green gemstone engraved with a falcon, its wings unfolding. But as they seek a new life, it’s not as easy as they’d hoped, for ahead lie raiding Wolfers, rival armies, and unspeakable dangers…

Previously published as The Wings of a Falcon, this classic tale features a new look and a new title.

This is a reread, but I haven’t read it since high school so it doesn’t feel like one. It’s different from the others in the series in that the main character is a boy. He also thinks in a different way than the girls from the other three books. I really enjoy the way he thinks things out, simplistic but insightful, obviously young, but not at all stupid. Oriel is constantly thinking out how to make his life, and Griff’s better, how to secure their freedom and safety in any situation. And as with all the Kingdom novels, I love finding the references to things from the previous novels.

The Tales of the Kingdom books are a loosely-connected series of non-magical middle-grade fantasy.

First Lines Fridays: November 25, 2016

LeeLeave a comment

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!

First Line:

My lady and I are being shut up in a tower for seven years.

Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years because of Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.

As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. With the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors – one welcome, the other decidedly less so – the girls are confronted with both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.

With Shannon Hale’s lyrical language, this little known classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and reset on the central Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise.

This Friday’s book is a reread, several times over. I love Shannon’s approach to fairy tales and magic through language! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this middle grade fantasy.

First Lines Fridays: November 18, 2016

LeeLeave a comment

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!

First Line:

Minutes after the shootings, everybody’s cell phone rang.

Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!

After by Francine Prose

The shootings in Pleasant Valley were fifty miles away, but at Central High a grief and crisis counselor is hired, security is increased, and privileges are being taken away.

No one knows why.

If you break the new rules the punishment is severe. And the rules keep changing every day.

School feels like a prison.

It’s for their protection, yet fifteen year old Tom Bishop and his friends learn that things are far more sinister than they seem. Students and teachers begin disappearing.

There’s no way to stop it.

Nationally best-selling and acclaimed author Francine Prose has written a haunting novel about what happens when protection goes too far and what it means to have freedom extinguished in the name of safety.

Today’s book is one I’ve seen several times, but never had the chance to pick up. I recently checked it out at the local library and look forward to reading it soon. If any of you have read it, I’d love to hear what you thought!