Happy Friday! Yesterday was my birthday — the big 6-0! It was a bit different than what I had expected. This morning I was supposed to awake from a flight to Dublin. At first we thought my cancer diagnosis would cancel our plans, but all my test results were great and I had a green light to go. Until all that’s going on right now (code for pandemic here in the South) destroyed my hopes and dreams. Okay, that’s a bit too dramatic 😉 . Let’s just say I was disappointed.
So my birthday consisted of a backyard social distancing get together with a few close friends. I got to see two of my three kids last weekend, so I have been very blessed. And a quick trip to the grocery store for a couple of forgotten items resulted in LYSOL SPRAY! Yes, a birthday miracle. LOL!
This week’s First Line Friday is courtesy of Bethany House book mail. How did they know it was my birthday? I met Kimberly Duffy last year at the Christy Awards and have been on the lookout for her debut novel, A Mosaic of Wings. So Lysol and a long-awaited book — big birthday wins for me! To learn more about Kimberly and her writing journey, check out the podcast A Rough Draft Life hosted by Lindsey Brackett and Kristi Ann Hunter. They are hosting debut authors and are offering a fantastic giveaway!
Here is the first line, fitting for the subject matter:
Nora Shipley’s ears buzzed as though a thousand bees were trapped inside her head.
It’s 1885, and all Nora Shipley wants, now that she’s graduating from Cornell University as valedictorian of the entomology program, is to follow in her late father’s footsteps by getting her master’s degree and taking over the scientific journal he started. The only way to uphold her father’s legacy is to win a scholarship, so she joins a research expedition in Kodaikanal, India, to prove herself in the field.
India isn’t what she expects, though, and neither is the rival classmate who accompanies her, Owen Epps. As her preconceptions of India–and of Owen–fall away, she finds both far more captivating than she expected. Forced by the expedition leader to stay at camp and illustrate exotic butterflies the men of the team find without her, Nora befriends Sita, a young Indian girl who has been dedicated to a goddess against her will.
In this spellbinding new land, Nora is soon faced with impossible choices — between saving Sita and saving her career, and between what she’s always thought she wanted and the man she’s come to love.
Kimberly Duffy is a Long Island native currently living in Southwest Ohio. When she’s not homeschooling her four kids, she writes historical fiction that takes readers back in time and across oceans. Her books feature ahead-of-their-time heroines, evocative settings, and real-life faith. Kimberly loves trips that require a passport, recipe books, and practicing kissing scenes with her husband of 20 years. He doesn’t mind.
You can find Kimberly at:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKimberlyDuffy/
For more fabulous first lines, head over to Hoarding Books.
Happy Birthday!! This story sounds absolutely fascinating! My current read is Meant for Her by Joy Avery Melville. I will share the first line from Chapter 3, which is where I’m at right now. “The scent of grassy hay, sweet feed, warm horse flesh, and leather tack calmed Candi when she stepped through the main door of the stable.” I wish you a wonderful weekend!
Happy birthday, Beckie! I’m sure that Dublin is somewhere in your future.
A Mosaic of Wings sounds like an amazing novel. I’m definitely going to order it.
The first line of the book I’m reading now–Before I Called You Mine by Nicole Deese–reads “If Obsessive Email Checking Disorder were a disease, I was likely already in the final stages: trigger thumb, mindless refreshing, aimless scrolling, and, of course, an inability to focus on anything else in the entire world.
Thanks! Deese’s book is on my TBR shelf.
Thanks for sharing about A Rough Draft Life and Kim’s debut! I hope you love it. Want to team up? I have a copy available for giveaway.
Happy Birthday to you! Mine is today ! 71.
My first lines are from The Lost Lieutenant by Erica Vetsch:
Seaton Estate Berkshire, England January 4, 1813
“You’ll do as you’re told if you know what’s good for you. I won’t be humiliated again.”
Just finished this phenomenal book!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Friday! Today, I’m sharing the first line from Secrets of the Pastor’s Wife by Christina Ryan Claypool: “When Cassandra Martin first moved to Maple Grove, the silence in the middle of the night seemed eerie.”
https://moments-of-beauty.blogspot.com/2020/05/first-line-fridays-secrets-of-pastors.html
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Happy Friday! 🙂
On my blog I’m sharing from Until the Mountains Fall by Connilyn Cossette. I’m currently on chapter 20, so I’ll share from there.
“My family and Hakim’s family, along with Baz and his wife and daughters, were gathered around the long table in the courtyard, oil lamps flickering joyfully along its length.”
Hope you have a great weekend filled with awesome reading time. 😀❤📚
Thanks for sharing!
Happy Friday! My first line is from “More Than Friends” by Autumn Macarthur:
“Catriona Maclean returned the phone to its niche, slumped onto the worn oak bench in the entrance hall of the manse, and groaned out loud. She needed a man.”
The last sentence make me chuckle!
Happy Birthday! I read this book recently and really enjoyed the reading thereof.
My first line is from The Bridge to Belle Island “Benjamin Booker sat in the Old Bailey, pulse pounding. His most important case to date had finally been called to trial–his chance to prove himself to the firm’s partners.”
Happy Friday!
I am so behind on Klassen’s books. Enjoy!
Happy Birthday! 🙂
Thx! 🙂
Happy Birthday! I’m about to turn 63 so I hear you! This does sound like a good book, too. Thanks!
Thank you!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎂
🙂
Happy Belated Birthday Yvette. That first line intrigues me.
Thx!