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First Line Friday — Shattered

19 Jun

Happy Friday! Today I am sharing Dr. David Jeremiah‘s end times novel, Shattered, book two in his Vanished series. Beginning two years following the Rapture, this novel is a thriller! Check out the book and the opening lines below.

Here are the first lines:

Prologue

New Era, Day 2

Tel Aviv, Israel

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”

Saul Katz whispered the holy words to himself, seeking comfort. Or peace. Or even a moment of solace within the chaos detonating the regular rhythms of his life since the previous evening.

In the gripping sequel to Vanished, a global power rises, and the ancient prophecies of the Antichrist are set in motion.

Two years have passed since millions across the globe disappeared in a heartbeat including John “Haggs” Haggerty’s own family. Haggs, a military expert in pandemics, warned his agency of growing patterns in deadly epidemics and other threats to security. Then the “Great Disappearance” and the nuclear destruction of the US changed everything. Now he is invited to join the powerful Trident Group, led by the wealthy Matthias Vilks.

Inside Trident, Haggs sees patterns that suggest a coordinated plan to control economies and governments. He is not alone. Israeli tech expert, Saul Katz, saw his colleague disappear before his eyes. Now the Israeli government confiscates his life’s work, a defense system for Israel. Li Fan, monitoring seismic anomalies, sees terrifying signals in the earth’s activity, but no one will listen to her warnings.

As the disturbing pieces fall in place, governments fall, and John and his best friend’s daughter, Abigail, begin to see those prophecies from scripture come to life–Israel is in danger, natural disasters rake the planet, and world leaders bow to one powerful man. The signs are clear: the end times are no longer approaching–they have begun.

New York Times bestselling author Dr. David Jeremiah returns with more apocalyptic action and emotion that’s infused with his signature perspective and compassion.

Dr. David Jeremiah serves as senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California. He is the founder and host of Turning Point, a ministry committed to providing Christians with sound Bible teaching relevant to today’s changing times through radio and television, the Internet, live events, and resource materials and books. A bestselling author, Dr. Jeremiah has written more than forty books. Dr. Jeremiah’s commitment to teaching the complete Word of God continues to make him a sought-after speaker and writer. His passion for reaching the lost and encouraging believers in their faith is demonstrated through his faithful communication of biblical truths. A dedicated family man, Dr. Jeremiah and his wife, Donna, have four grown children and twelve grandchildren. Connect with Dr. Jeremiah on Facebook (@drdavidjeremiah), Twitter (@davidjeremiah), and on his website (davidjeremiah.org).

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First Line Friday — South of Somewhere

12 Jun

Happy Friday! This week I am featuring South of Somewhere by T. I. Lowe, a book that’s on my Summer TBR list since my book club is reading it in July. I was thrilled to meet the author earlier in the year when she was a featured author at the book festival in my home town. Have you read it yet?

Here’s the first line:

I died once, and I didn’t find it all that unpleasant.

When Juniper Wilder’s grief spiraled into addiction, leading first to an arrest for drunk driving, then jail and court-ordered rehab, she lost the most important thing in her life: her baby girl. Now, sober and on probation, Junie is determined to prove she can be the mother Fern deserves. But she’s burned a lot of bridges, ones that can’t be easily rebuilt.

Not every road is closed to her, however. Exiled to her late grandmother’s South Carolina beach house, Junie starts over, ready to pay off her debts and prove to her brother that he can safely return custody of Fern. She works hard and finds surprising grace in an eclectic recovery community. There’s an unexpected friendship, too―and maybe more―with her neighbor, Henry, a quirky college professor who helps her believe in second chances.

Still, it’s hard for Junie to imagine ever forgiving herself, let alone receiving forgiveness from those she’s hurt . . . particularly when her past rears its ugly head and threatens to undo every bit of progress she’s made.


T. I. Lowe is an ordinary country girl who loves to tell extraordinary stories. She is the author of 21 novels, including the #1 international bestseller and critically acclaimed Under the Magnolias and her debut breakout Lulu’s Café. Her novel Indigo Isle won the prestigious Christy Award in the contemporary romance category and was subsequently named Christy Award Book of the Year. She lives in coastal South Carolina with her husband and family.

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First Line Friday — The Bookshop of 99 Doors

5 Jun

Happy Friday! A few days ago I mentioned that my book club is reading the gothic suspense novel, The Bookshop of 99 Doors by Jaime Jo Wright. I cannot wait to dig in, and the first lines are fabulous, so it is definitely calling me.

Here are the first lines:

A person hopes they can lead a quiet and simple life, one that isn’t shrouded in secrets and suffocated by lies. This is what I had hoped for. It was not to be. — Minnie Tipton, aged 91

The manor’s rumored one-hundredth door may conceal secrets hidden as deep as the estate’s bookshelves extend high . . . but the haunted past has a way of ensnaring curious souls. 

In 1888, Minnie Tipton finds herself beset by the dark superstitions that envelop the Pennsylvania mansion her father bought. Convinced the vengeful spirit of a Civil War captain haunts the house and worried by her father’s rapidly worsening illness, Minnie delves into the home’s fraught past in an effort to bring him peace. Yet the lingering impact of the war and the gruesome tale of murder she uncovers only foster more fear and threaten to unravel Minnie’s own sanity.

In the present day, Triss Bellamy eagerly steps into the role of bookshop manager in the mansion-turned-museum boasting ninety-nine doors. But Triss’s dream job turns into a nightmare when havoc breaks loose with the arrival of her brother’s team of self-proclaimed paranormal investigators. Their determination to find a rumored one-hundredth door–a dangerous portal to the madness long said to plague the mansion–results in calamity, leaving Triss no choice but to hunt down the truth or watch her brother slip forever beyond her reach.

An atmospheric dual-time Gothic suspense masterfully penned by acclaimed author Jaime Jo Wright with themes of a Civil War-era ghost, a possible hidden door, and unexplained mysteries at a historic mansion’s bookshop with a troubled past.

Jaime Jo Wright, multi award-winning author–including the Christy and Daphne du Maurier awards–is a coffee-fueled and cat-fancier extraordinaire. She has entwined her life with the legendary Captain Hook, residing serenely in Wisconsin’s rural woodlands. Her literary vocation involves penning chilling Gothic tales, a baffling change from that of Austenites, with a strong preference to the master of dark, Edgar Allan Poe. Two mischievous urchins adorn their family, who keep their mother on her toes – providing an exhilarating amount chaos.

Visit her at: http://www.jaimewrightbooks.com and listen to her podcast MadLit Musings on your favorite podcast player or at http://www.madlitmusings.com.

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First Line Friday — The Bachelor Spy

29 May

Happy Friday! Today I am featuring the final (boo hoo) book in the Freddie and Grace Mystery series by Pepper Basham. I am both excited and reluctant to read The Bachelor Spy. The series is so great, but I’m not sure I can bear not having a new book to look forward to. It’s a conundrum that only readers will understand. I have a lot of reading to do before I can begin this book, so I have a bit of time to savor the anticipation. LOL!

Here’s the first line:

Stephen Blake had been trailing the presumed spy most of the voyage — first to secure his target, and then . . . to strike.

Spies Infiltrate Havensbooke Hall. . .and Another Mystery Adventure Begins
 
Stephen Blake’s life goal is to protect people, especially those closest to him, but war in 1914 England doesn’t follow any rules. When Blake is informed that a noted German spy may have taken up residence at Havensbrooke Hall—his cousin Lord Astley’s estate, which is being used as a convalescent war hospital—he’s sent there to uncover the plot.
 
Lady Grace Astley has become a force to be reckoned with while Frederick is out on the war front. With Havensbrooke as a hospital, she’s shocked by the devastation the war is bringing home; but ever hopeful, she is determined to help these weary soldiers find some relief. However, not everything is as it seems inside Havensbrooke. Precious items soon start disappearing . . . and not just the kind that are worth a lot of money.
 
Through a case of mistaken identity, a comedy of errors, a kidnapping, and a race for time within the crumbling subterranean passageways beneath Havensbrooke, can Blake and Gracie work together to root out the criminals, thieves, and spies before time runs out?

Pepper Basham is a best-selling author who writes romance “peppered” with grace and humor. Writing both historical and contemporary novels, she loves to incorporate her native Appalachian culture and/or her unabashed adoration of the UK into her stories. She is the wife of a fantastic pastor, mom of five great kids, a speech-language pathologist, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, hats, and Jesus. Pepper loves connecting with readers and other authors through social media outlets like Facebook & Instagram.

You can learn more about Pepper and her books on her website at http://www.pepperdbasham.com.

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First Line Friday — The Targeted

22 May

Happy Friday! I am always excited to add a new suspense novel to my towering TBR stack. One of the latest to hit my ereader is The Targeted by Cara Putman. The Targeted is the third, and I believe, final book in Putman’s Secrets to Keep series. If you like suspense with added romance and legal drama thrown in, then check it out. Each book in the series can be read as a standalone, but with 3 out in the wild, you may just want to schedule some book-binge reading time!

Here’s the first line:

The man towers above me, and I want to stand firm.

Can she protect her gym students before her past catches up?

When Chloe Ainsworth’s older sister reappears after fourteen years, she brings with her the news that Chloe’s abuser is back in town. Chloe is a coach at her childhood gym and fiercely protective of her young gymnasts. She won’t allow them to suffer the way she did, but she’s desperate for an ally—one who can help her make her case.

Law student Dare Shepherd works at the local legal clinic, where he meets Chloe and hears her out. He believes her case but can’t get the clinic director on board. As he learns more about her story, he finds himself bound by a deepening personal care for Chloe.

They band together in search of answers, and suddenly the stakes skyrocket. It’s clear they’re onto something, but will they be able to find the answers before it’s too late?

Cara Putman is a professor, an attorney, and an award-winning, best-selling author of more than forty novels, including the Cornhusker Dreams series, the Hidden Justice series, and The Vanished.

Connect with Cara by visiting caraputman.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

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First Line Friday — Mists over The Channel Islands

15 May

Happy Friday! My book club is discussing Mists over The Channel Islands by Sarah Sundin this month. It is a look at an unfamiliar (at least for us) chapter of WWII. It’s a fascinating story with characters you will love. Have you read it yet? We’d love to know what you thought.

If you haven’t, here’s the first line:

Words failed Dr. Ivy Picot, so she sketched her father with gray-flecked hair, packing to go to war.

Behind enemy lines, adversary and ally become impossible to distinguish. 

The German invasion of the British Channel Islands shatters Dr. Ivy Picot’s peaceful world, forcing her to shoulder the weight of her father’s medical practice and hold together a family unraveling under the strain of war. As conditions worsen in Jersey with the arrival of thousands of forced laborers, Ivy’s quiet allegiance to the Allies compels her to risk everything by providing medical aid to escaped workers–even as danger closes in.

Dutch engineer and resistance member Gerrit van der Zee volunteers to build fortifications for the Germans so he can secretly send maps and diagrams to the Allies. On his arrival in the Channel Islands, he crosses paths with Ivy, who shows him contempt for the uniform he wears. As tensions mount and their missions grow increasingly dangerous, Ivy and Gerrit must confront the cost of courage, the meaning of sacrifice, and whether love can survive in the shadow of war. Will their covert efforts turn the tide–or will they pay the ultimate price for defiance?

Renowned WWII fiction author Sarah Sundin crafts a compelling historical romance featuring enemies-to-lovers, wartime resistance, and medical intrigue–a tale of loyalty, resilience, and courage when love and duty collide.

Sarah Sundin enjoys writing about the drama and romance of the World War II era. She is the bestselling and Christy Award-winning author of Mists over the Channel Islands (February 2026), Midnight on the Scottish Shore (2025), Embers in the London Sky (2024), The Sound of Light (2023), Until Leaves Fall in Paris (2022), When Twilight Breaks (2021), and several World War II series.

Sarah’s novels have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Until Leaves Fall in Paris received the 2022 Christy Award, The Sky Above Us won the 2020 Carol Award, The Sound of Light was a finalist for both the Christy Award and the Carol Award, and When Twilight Breaks and The Land Beneath Us were finalists for the Christy Award.

A mother of three, Sundin lives in Southern California and enjoys speaking to community, church, and writers’ groups. Sarah serves as co-director of the West Coast Christian Writers Conference.

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First Line Friday — Miss Beth Bettencourt

8 May

Happy Friday! Today I am featuring Eva Marie Everson’s newest novel, Miss Beth Bettencourt, which releases later this month. So you are getting a sneak peek! The book is billed as a Bynum, Georgia novel, so if you read The One True Love of Alice-Ann (I did and loved it!), you will again be swept away to this charming South Georgia town.

Here’s the first line:

Why do all the bad things happen at night?

Will an unlikely romance tear down Beth’s walls of indifference?

It’s 1962 in Bynum, Georgia, and Beth Bettencourt’s world is turned upside down when she wakes to a man snoring in the guest bedroom.

She’s home alone; her parents are traveling abroad, grieving her twin sister’s unexpected death. Instead of accompanying them, Beth stayed in Bynum to tend to her kindergarten and closely guard her own heart.

A beautiful and beloved member of the community, Beth is an unusual specimen for her time as she nears thirty and remains unmarried. She holds deep-seated unforgiveness toward her twin, Elise, who ran off with Beth’s beau. To make matters worse, Elise took their grandmother’s ring, which had been promised to Beth.

But now a stranger enters her home and her world. David Patrick Martin seems ready to break down her walls of indifference and find the core of Miss Beth Bettencourt. But can he be trusted with Beth’s past, her present, and more importantly, her future?

Eva Marie Everson is an ECPA bestselling and multiple award-winning author and speaker, including an ECPA Gold Medallion. She is a Christy finalist, and a Silver Medallion winner. She has won a Carol, several Maggie and Golden Scroll awards, and an Inspirational Retailers Choice Award. Born and reared in Georgia, Eva Marie and her husband make their home in Central Florida where they are owned by one very spoiled cat and two hearts full of grandchildren.

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First Line Friday — Della’s Song

1 May

Happy Friday! Today I am pleased to feature Della’s Song by Donna Jo Stone, part of the Apron Strings Tea Tales series. A standalone, this 1930s-era novel gets its inspiration from the fairytale The Six Swans. How fun is that! I’ll be reviewing Della’s Song in a few weeks, but in the meantime, here’s the first line:

Traces of green and yellow bruises marred her father’s face, and black railroad stitches tracked along his hairline, curving down toward his left ear.

A tragic loss, a silenced song, and a scattered family … one North Louisiana tea room offers an unlikely reunion.

In the wake of a devastating train accident, Della Swan’s world is shattered. Her father and brother are forever changed, and the Swan Family Gospel Singers have no choice but to depend on the charity of formidable Aunt Leticia, proprietor of the Hotel Fairwood.

Of Della’s six brothers, only two remain with her at the hotel: Quiet Max, the youngest, and Frank, the pianist who lost his arm—and his heart for music. The rest are sent away to school or work. Aunt Leticia believes the children must learn to make their way in the world, effectively banishing them.

During Father’s recovery, the repercussions of his head injury make one thing clear. Life as the Swans knew it, traveling the south and sharing music, may never return. Yet Della clings to the belief that God isn’t finished with her family or their calling and sets a plan in motion to bring them together again.

When she develops an unexpected bond with Clayton Miller, the hotel’s reserved, long-time employee, his steady presence reminds her there is often more to people—and situations—than meets the eye.

The Swan Family Gospel Singers are separated by tragedy, Della’s brothers scattered to the wind. With needle and thread, faith, and a song, she finds a way to stitch them together again.

A touch of fairy tale, a spoonful of history, and a teacup of hope.

Della’s Song is a stand-alone novel in the Apron Strings Tea Tales multi-author series, and a 1930s historical with romance retelling of “The Six Swans.”

Donna Jo Stone is an award-winning author of historical, contemporary, and young adult fiction.

Life is messy and beautiful. In everyone’s story, there is truth and hope. Donna Jo’s novels are about common struggles and finding the faith to carry on through those battles.

When she’s not writing, she loves to read and talk about books, poke around in old bookshops and museums, and spend time with her family.

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First Line Friday — Secrets Chase Her

24 Apr

Happy Friday! Today I am featuring Secrets Chase Her, the second book in the Deadly Justice series by Rachel Dylan. The first book was super-twisty, with a cliffhanger at the end. I can’t wait to dive into this suspense/thriller! It releases on May 19, but you can pre-order your copy now. hint, hint

Here’s the first line:

Quinn Kelly looked at her smart watch again for the third time in five minutes.

A brutal murder. A deadly secret. A lawyer who won’t back down.

When high-powered attorney Quinn Kelly finds her protégé brutally murdered, she’s plunged into a nightmare—one that points directly to a ruthless serial killer. FBI Agent Samira Haddad takes over the case, but her complicated past with Quinn threatens to cloud the investigation.

Blackmailed by a powerful tech mogul who holds incriminating evidence against her, Quinn is forced to take on his defense to keep him silent. But she refuses to sit on the sidelines while Samira hunts the killer who took her friend’s life. Quinn’s search for answers uncovers a chilling truth: someone close to her is in the crosshairs—and she may be the reason why.

The killer is watching and lying in wait. With trust in short supply, both women must decide how far they’re willing to go for justice—and survival.

Rachel Dylan is an award-winning and bestselling author of legal thrillers and romantic suspense. Rachel has practiced law for almost two decades, including as a litigator at one of the nation’s top law firms. Rachel lives in Michigan with her husband and three furkids—one loveable Labrador and two senior cats. Rachel loves to connect with readers.

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First Line Friday — Trail of Danger

17 Apr

Happy Friday! Today I am in one of my happy places, and what better way to relax is with a book set just a few miles (as the crow flies) down the road. Trail of Danger by Hope Welborn is action-packed right from the beginning — I love a fast-paced suspense!

Here’s the first line:

Scott Hutton, Jr. Sloshed through the shallow waters at the edge of the Chattahoochee River and trudged up the bank to dry ground.

A mysterious toxin leads to a deadly pursuit along the Appalachian Trail

Scott “Huck” Huxton, Jr. has returned to his hometown, a place full of painful reminders of his troubled childhood. An urgent plea from his sister spurs him to find the cause of the puzzling illness plaguing her and her infant son. Utilizing his skills from the Army’s Environmental Command, Huck discovers toxic waste in the Chattahoochee River.

Forest Ranger Jenna Davenport thought she would never see Huck again, after her mistake destroyed his family. But when he asks for help, she can’t turn him down. This could be the second chance she’s hoped for, as long as he doesn’t discover the terrible secret she has carried for over a decade.

Targeted by the criminals behind the contamination, they escape along the Appalachian Trail. But danger follows them, leading them on a perilous journey through the national forest. As Huck and Jenna fight for survival, they must also face their past and the secret that could destroy their future.

Hope Welborn writes spine-tingling suspense, sprinkled with romance, and saturated with faith. Her manuscripts have won the ACFW Genesis Contest and the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Foundations Awards in romantic suspense.

As a #writerwithadayjob, she spends her lunch hours creating small town characters who face big suspense with faith in a big God. By day, she masquerades as a digital content marketing technology specialist, and by night, she stays up too late putting words on the page.

Hope also serves as editor and web manager for Spark Flash Fiction and is a member of the Suspense Squad.

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