Tag Archives: First Line Friday

First Line Friday — Roots of Wood And Stone

29 Jan

Whew! What a week. TGIF! My girl is home for her wedding dress fitting — squee — and some other wedding chores. I’ve just gotten a few minutes to write this First Line Friday post. A few hours before it’s officially Saturday, but, hey, I made it. Today I am featuring a split time debut novel that released this week — Roots of Wood And Stone by Amanda Wen. This is a very personal story for the author, and I cannot wait to read it.

Here’s the first line:

Sloane Kelley stood in the lobby of the Sedgwick County Museum of History, the thick buffalo robe hanging warm and heavy on her arms.

 

 

This historic home holds the keys to their destiny . . . and their hearts

Abandoned at birth, her family roots a mystery, historical museum curator Sloane Kelley has dedicated her life to making sure others know theirs. When a donor drops off a dusty old satchel, she doesn’t expect much from the common artifact . . . until she finds real treasure inside: a nineteenth-century diary. Now she’s on the hunt to find out more.

Garrett Anderson just wanted to clean out his grandmother’s historic but tumbledown farmhouse before selling it to fund her medical care. With her advancing Alzheimer’s, he can’t afford to be sentimental about the family home. But his carefully ordered plan runs up against two formidable obstacles: Sloane, who’s fallen in love with both the diaries and the house, and his own heart, which is irresistibly drawn to Sloane.

A century and a half earlier, motherless Annabelle Collins embarks with her aunt and uncle on the adventure of a lifetime: settling the prairies of Sedgwick County, Kansas. The diaries she left behind paint a portrait of life, loss, and love — and a God who faithfully carries her through it all. Paging through the diaries together takes Sloane and Garrett on a journey they never could have planned, which will change them in ways they never imagined.

This warm, beautifully written split-time novel will resonate with readers looking for stories that reveal the beauty of God’s plan for our lives, and how our actions ripple for generations.

Amanda Wen is an award-winning writer of inspirational romance and split-time women’s fiction. She has placed first in multiple contests, including the 2017 Indiana Golden Opportunity Contest, the 2017 Phoenix Rattler Contest, and the 2016 ACFW First Impressions Contest, among others. She was also a 2018 ACFW Genesis Contest finalist.\

In addition to her writing, Amanda is an accomplished professional cellist and pianist, frequently performing with symphony orchestras, string quartets, and her church’s worship team, and accompanying high school and middle school choirs. A lifelong denizen of the flatlands, Amanda currently lives in Kansas with her patient, loving, and hilarious husband, their three adorable Wenlets, and a snuggly Siamese cat.

 

What’s the first line of your book this weekend?

 

Head to Hoarding Books for more first line fun!

 

 

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First Line Friday — Boo Humbug

18 Dec

Happy Friday! Only 7 more days until Christmas! It doesn’t seem real does it. I know a lot of your Christmas celebrations will be different this year. We are trying to protect my MIL by staggering family visits. We have friends grieving losses due to Covid and others who are fighting cancer and other chronic diseases. It seems too much somehow. I have been a bit emotional this week with all that is going on, and that leads to more distraction and less reading for me. After I hit publish, I am going to try to get my reading mojo back on and escape into a great book.

So do you read less or more during Christmas? Do you find relaxation in the pages of the book or do all the distractions of the season keep you from focusing? (I am not counting time with friends and family a distraction 😉 ). If you need a good escape, do I have a book for you! Actually, a whole series. You’re welcome! Rene Gutteridge is one of my favorite authors and her Boo series is so much fun. This week I am featuring the first sentence of Boo Humbug. It is such a fun Christmas novella. You need to read the whole series though. Again, you’re welcome. 😉

Here’s the first line:

“Think outside the box,” Mr. Watson implored as his gaze fell over his students, all clustered together on the stage floor, their backs erect with enthusiasm.

 

It’s Christmastime in Skary, Indiana, but the holiday season has been hijacked by maverick director Lois Stepaphanopolis as she attempts to bring her horror-ific vision of A Christmas Carol to life. But the holly-decked path from page to stage is a thorny one, as Lois attempts to rally her skeptical cast, including new father Wolfe Boone, and then she learns that her reluctant marketing director, Alfred Tennison, is truly a Christmas Scrooge.

Alfred’s grassroots marketing plan proves more than successful as the buzz builds that Skary should anticipate an overflowing audience for their opening night —  but a crucial miscommunication leaves the visiting theatergoers expecting of a very different Christmas production. As chaos ensues, can the actors pull off an improv miracle — and can the Skary community convince their own Scrooge to embrace the true meaning of Christmas?

Rene Gutteridge is the author of 24 novels, including Misery Loves Company, Possession, Listen, Never the Bride (2011 Carol Award Winner), The Boo Series, The Storm Series, The Occupational Hazards Series, My Life as a Doormat (now a Hallmark movie called Love’s Complicated) and Love’s a Stage. She has a degree in Mass Communications with an emphasis in screenwriting and twenty years of experience writing, directing and publishing comedy sketches. She writes in both comedy and suspense genres. She is also a full-time screenwriter for The Skit Guys.

 

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First Line Friday — Echoes Among The Stones

13 Dec

Happy Friday! Today I am featuring a favorite author — Jaime Jo Wright. Jaime has a new book out, Echoes among The Stones, that will delight those of you who like time slip novels and suspense with some gothic thrown in. I hope to have my review up in the coming weeks, but in the meantime enjoy the first line!

For more first line fun, head over to Hoarding Books.

 

 

After Aggie Dunkirk’s career is unceremoniously ended by her own mistakes, she finds herself traveling to Wisconsin, where her grandmother, Mumsie, lives alone in her rambling old home. She didn’t plan for how eccentric Mumsie has become, obsessing over an old, unsolved crime scene — even going so far as to re-create it in the dollhouse.

Mystery seems to follow her when she finds work as a secretary helping to restore the flooded historical part of the cemetery. Forced to work with the cemetery’s puzzling, yet attractive archeologist, she exhumes the past’s secrets and unwittingly uncovers a crime that some will go to any length to keep quiet — even if it means silencing Aggie.

In 1946, Imogene Flannigan works in a local factory and has eyes on owning her own beauty salon. But coming home to discover her younger sister’s body in the attic changes everything. Unfamiliar with the newly burgeoning world of criminal forensics and not particularly welcomed as a woman, Imogene is nonetheless determined to stay involved. As her sister’s case grows cold, Imogene vows to find justice . . . even if it costs her everything.

Daphne du Maurier and Christy Award-Winning author, Jaime Jo Wright resides in the hills of Wisconsin writing suspenseful, mysteries stained with history’s secrets. Jaime lives in dreamland, exists in reality, and invites you to join her adventures at jaimewrightbooks.com!

 

 

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First Line Friday — Dark Ambitions

11 Oct

Happy Friday! I have a new book to read this weekend — Dark Ambitions by Irene Hannon! I am excited to finally dig into the third and final book in Hannon’s Code of Honor series. This talented author never disappoints with her action-packed romantic suspense. What about you? What are you reading this weekend? Please share your first lines in the comments. And don’t forget to head over to Hoarding Books to see what other bloggers are sharing today.

 

Former Army Night Stalker Rick Jordan usually has his camp for foster children to himself during the winter months. But someone has visited recently — leaving a trail of blood. One of the two clues left behind tips Rick off to the identity of his visitor, who soon turns up dead. The police deem it an accident, but Rick isn’t convinced. With the help of private investigator Heather Shields, he sets out to decipher the remaining clue. Except someone doesn’t want them to succeed–and will stop at nothing to keep them from finding the truth.

With her trademark psychological suspense ratcheting up the tension on every page, bestselling and award-winning author Irene Hannon takes you on a search for a cold-blooded killer with an ambitious goal and deadly intent.

Irene Hannon is a bestselling, award-winning author who took the publishing world by storm at the tender age of 10 with a sparkling piece of fiction that received national attention.

Okay . . . maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But she was one of the honorees in a complete-the-story contest conducted by a national children’s magazine. And she likes to think of that as her “official” fiction-writing debut!

Since then, she has written more than 50 romantic suspense and contemporary romance/women’s fiction novels. She is a seven-time finalist for and three-time winner of the RITA award — the “Oscar” of romance fiction — and a member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. She has also received a Career Achievement award from RT Book Reviews for her entire body of work. In addition, her books have won a Daphne du Maurier award, two Carol awards, three HOLT Medallions, a National Readers’ Choice award, a Retailers Choice award, three Booksellers’ Best awards and two Reviewers’ Choice awards from RT Book Reviews. She is also a two-time Christy award finalist.

Irene, who holds a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in journalism, juggled two careers for many years until she gave up her executive corporate communications position with a Fortune 500 company to write full time. She is happy to say she has no regrets!

In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, gardening and singing.  A trained vocalist, she has sung the leading role in numerous musicals, including “South Pacific,” “Brigadoon,” “Oklahoma” “The King and I” and “Anything Goes.” She is also a soloist at her church.

When not otherwise occupied, Irene and her husband enjoy traveling, Saturday mornings at their favorite coffee shop and spending time with family. They make their home in Missouri.

 

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First Line Friday — Ever Faithful

14 Jun

Happy First Line Friday, everyone! Today I am winding down my bucket list trip to Alaska, so I thought it fitting to feature a book that is set at another bucket list destination, Yellowstone National Park. Ever Faithful by Karen Barnett is an historical romance set in the early days of the park and is a great choice for you summer reading. This book releases in a few days, but you can pre-order it now! 😉

Please leave a comment with your first line and then head to Hoarding Books for more Friday fun!

 

Vibrant historic Yellowstone National Park comes to life in this romantic mystery about a man hiding the truth, braving the west to become something more – and the woman who must confront his deception.

A man who can’t read will never amount to anything–or so Nate Webber believes. But he takes a chance to help his family by signing up for the new Civilian Conservation Corps, skirting the truth about certain “requirements.” Nate exchanges the harsh Brooklyn streets for the wilds of Yellowstone National Park, curious if the Eden-like wonderland can transform him as well. 

Elsie Brookes was proud to grow up as a ranger’s daughter, but she longs for a future of her own. After four years serving as a maid in the park’s hotels, she still hasn’t saved enough money for her college tuition. A second job, teaching a crowd of rowdy men in the CCC camp, might be the answer, but when Elsie discovers Nate’s secret, it puts his job as camp foreman in jeopardy. Tutoring leads to friendship and romance, until a string of suspicious fires casts a dark shadow over their relationship. Can they find answers before all of their dreams go up in smoke?

Karen Barnett is the award-winning author of The Golden Gate Chronicles(Out of the Ruins, Beyond the Ashes, and Through the Shadows) and Mistaken. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two kids, and three mischievous dachshunds. When she’s not writing, Karen enjoys photography, hiking, public speaking, decorating crazy birthday cakes, and dragging her family through dusty history museums. Oregon Christian Writers (OCW) honored her with the Writer of Promise Award in 2013 and a Cascade Award for her debut novel, Mistaken, in 2014. In 2016, she was named Writer of the Year by the prestigious Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Karen is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Oregon Christian Writers (OCW) and has been published in Guideposts and other national magazines.

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First Line Friday — A Passionate Hope

9 Feb

Yay, it’s Friday! Many of you are probably saying finally! With that being said, what’s a better way to start the weekend early than with First Line Friday. Please leave a comment with the first sentence in the book nearest to hand, then head over to Hoarding Books to find out what other bloggers are spotlighting today.

 

This week I am featuring the first line of Jill Eileen Smith‘s newest release, A Passionate Hope. I loved this book! (You can read my review HERE.) If you like Biblical fiction, then this novel is a must-read!

 

 

Hannah and her husband, Elkanah, share a deep and abiding love, for each other, for their God, and for his tabernacle at Shiloh. Greatly disturbed by the corruption of the priests, they long for restoration and pray for a deliverer. But nothing changes as the years pass. Years that also reveal Hannah to be barren.

Pressured by his family to take another wife, Elkanah marries Peninnah, who quickly begins to bear children. Disgraced and taunted by her husband’s new wife, Hannah turns again to prayers that seem doomed to go unanswered. Do her devotion and kindness in the face of Peninnah’s cruelty count for nothing? Why does God remain silent and indifferent to her pleas?

Travel back to the dusty streets of Shiloh with an expert guide as Jill Eileen Smith brings to life a beloved story of hope, patience, and deliverance that shows that even the most broken of relationships can be restored.

Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling, award-winning author of the Wives of King David series, the Daughters of the Promised Land, the Wives of the Patriarchs, and The Loves of King Solomon series. Her research has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times.

When she isn’t writing, she loves to spend time with her family and friends, read stories that take her away, ride her bike to the park, snag date nights with her hubby, try out new restaurants, or play with her lovable, “helpful” cat Tiger. Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan.

Contact Jill through email (jill@jilleileensmith.com), her website (http://www.jilleileensmith.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jilleileensmith), or Twitter (https://twitter.com/JillEileenSmith).

 

What’s your first line?

 

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First Line Friday — A Song of Home by Susie Finkbeiner

29 Dec

This week’s First Line Friday’s theme is the New Year, so I decided to share the first book I will be reading in 2018, Susie Finkbeiner‘s newest release, A Song of Home. This book concludes Pearl Spence’s story and takes place in the mid 1930s. I have enjoyed all the of the books in this series, and just know that I will be glad and sad when I finish the last book.

Leave me a comment with the first line of the closest book to you, then head over to Hoarding Books to check out other bloggers’ first lines.

 

Pearl Spence has finally settled into a routine in Bliss, Michigan, far from her home in Red River, Oklahoma. Like all the other kids, she goes to school each day, plays in the woods, and does her chores. But there’s one big difference: Mama is still gone, and doesn’t seem to have a thought for the family she’s left behind.

Escaping from her worries is another part of Pearl’s new routine, whether that’s running to Aunt Carrie’s farm, listening to the radio with Ray, or losing herself in a book. In fact, a chair in the stacks, surrounded by books, might be her favorite place on earth–until she discovers swing dancing. The music transports Pearl to a whole other world.

When Mama unexpectedly returns, it isn’t the happy occasion Pearl had imagined. Mama is distant and Pearl can’t figure out how to please her. And the horrible way she treats Daddy is more than Pearl can bear. Seems life would be better if Mama would just stay away.

Finkbeiner’s portrayal of both tragedy and everyday life in times of great change is charged with a raw beauty that will haunt readers. Fans of the two prior Pearl Spence novels won’t be disappointed! 

(From Amazon) Susie Finkbeiner is a story junkie. Always has been and always will be. It seems it’s a congenital condition, one she’s quite fond of.

After decades of reading everything she could get her hands on (except for See the Eel, a book assigned to her while in first grade, a book she declared was unfit for her book-snob eyes), Susie realized that she wanted to write stories of her own. She began with epics about horses and kittens (but never, ever eels).

It takes years to grow a writer and after decades of work, Susie realized (with much gnashing of teeth and tears) that she was a novelist. In order to learn how to write novels, she read eclectically and adventurously (she may never swim with sharks, but the lady will jump into nearly any story). After reading the work of Lisa Samson, Patti Hill, and Bonnie Grove she realized that there was room for a writer like her in Christian fiction.

Her first novels Paint Chips (2013) and My Mother’s Chamomile (2014) have contemporary settings. While she loved those stories and especially the characters, Susie felt the pull toward historical fiction.

When she read Into the Free by Julie Cantrell she knew she wanted to write historical stories with a side of spunk, grit, and vulnerability. Susie is also greatly inspired by the work of Jocelyn Green, Rachel McMillan, and Tracy Groot.

A Cup of Dust: A Novel of the Dust Bowl (2015), Finkbeiner’s bestselling historical set in 1930s Oklahoma, has been compared to the work of John Steinbeck and Harper Lee (which flatters Susie’s socks off). Pearl’s story continues with A Trail of Crumbs: A Novel of the Great Depression (2017) and A Song of Home: A Novel of the Swing Era (2018).

What does she have planned after that? More stories, of course. She’s a junkie. She couldn’t quit if she wanted to.

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First Line Friday — Blind Spot by Dani Pettrey

20 Oct

Thanks to the folks at Hoarding Books (don’t you just love that name?!) for hosting First Line Friday. To participate, just leave a comment with the first line of the closest book to you and then head over to Hoarding Books to check out what other bloggers are up to.

 

This week I am featuring Blind Spot by Dani Pettrey. The third book in the Chesapeake Valor series, Blind Spot is my next great read!

 

FBI agent Declan Grey is in the chase of his life — but isn’t sure exactly what he’s chasing after. Threatened by a terrorist that “the wrath is coming”, Grey fears something horrible is about to be unleashed on American soil. When his investigation leads him to a closed immigrant community, he turns to Tanner Shaw to help him. She’s sought justice for refugees and the hurting around the world, and if there’s anyone who can help him, it’s Tanner.

Tanner Shaw has joined the FBI as a crisis counselor . . . meaning she now has more opportunity to butt heads with Declan. But that tension also includes a spark she can’t deny, and she’s pretty sure Declan feels the same. But before anything can develop between them, they discover evidence of a terror cell — and soon are in a race against the clock to stop the coming “wrath” that could cost thousands their lives.

Dani Pettrey is a wife, homeschooling mom and author. She feels blessed to write inspirational romantic suspense because it incorporates so many things she loves – the thrill of adventure, nail-biting suspense, the deepening of one’s faith and plenty of romance. She’s a huge fan of dark chocolate, is always in search of the best iced mocha and her dream is to one day own a little cottage on a remote stretch of beach. She and her husband reside in Maryland with their two teenage daughters. Visit her web site at http://www.DaniPettrey.com!

 

What is your first line?

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First Line Friday + Giveaway!

13 Oct

Welcome to First Line Fridays hosted by Hoarding Books! I am so excited to join in on the fun! To participate all you have to do is grab the closest book handy, open it to the first page, and share the first line in the comments, then head over to Hoarding Books to find other participating blogs (look for the linky in their post). Easy peasy!

 

I am featuring a contemporary Christmas romance for my first foray into FLF — The Gift of Christmas Past by Cindy and Erin Woodsmall.

 

To sweeten the experience I am giving away a copy of The Gift of Christmas Past and a copy of Cindy’s final book in the Amish of Summer Grove series, Gathering The Threads! Your first line comment will enter you in the giveaway. The winner will be notified next Thursday (10/19/17).

 

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