TGIF! I hope all in the path of Hurricane Florence are safe and sound. Thinking of you all!
Today my first lines are from a book I am currently reading:
1905
For the rest of her life, Bella Rabishevsky would remember the day the K’hal Jeshurun temple burned as the day she lost her son. She stood over the coal stove that day in the cramped third-floor apartment on Essex Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side that she, her husband, and her six children shared. The heat wafting from the steaming pot, combined with the sweltering August temperature outside, was almost too much to bear.
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Morris, Sol, and Harry Rabinowitz grew up poor but happy in a tiny flat on the Lower East Side, until the death of their father thrust them into having to fend for themselves and support their large family. Morris apprenticed himself at twelve years old to a garment cutter in a clothing factory; Sol headed to college and became an accountant; and Harry, the youngest, fell in with a gang as a teenager and can’t escape. Morris steadily climbs through the ranks at the factory until he’s running the place and buys out the owner, and Sol comes to work with him. But Harry can’t be lured away from the glamour, the power, and the money that comes from working for mobster Louis Buchalter, an old bully from the neighborhood. And when Louis sets his sights on the unions that staff the garment makers’ factories, a fatal showdown is inevitable, and puts brother against brother.
This new novel is equal parts historical thriller, rich with the detail of a vibrant New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, and family saga, based in part on Andrew Gross’s family history, and will cement his reputation as today’s most atmospheric and original historical thriller writer.
Please share with me the first line(s) of the book you are currently reading! I would love to read it! Have you read The Button Man, or do you plan to? Happy Friday reading! ~ Jennifer THR
From that quote I can sense the phenomenal writing… I don’t think I’ve ever actually read a historical novel that’s also a thriller, so this sounds super interesting cause I love both genres!
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Isn’t it something, Ayunda? I believe all three of his novels are historical thrillers, which is a new genre to me, too. I cannot wait to get further into the book and experience it!
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Happy Friday. Awesome review. Cannot wait to read Button Man.
I am reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.
The first line is: Ma 1952
The morning burned so August -hot, the marsh’s moist breath hung the oaks and pines with fog.
I have not read that much but I am enjoying what I have read.
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Thank you, Virginia! That is a lovely book you have there- I hope you love it as much as I did. ♥️
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Happy Friday!! That’s an incredible first line.
It’s very early and too dark for me to share my first line right now. Sorry. 😔
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Happy Friday, Laurie! No worries! This book is off to such a delicious start! I am loving it! I hope you are having a good day! ♥️
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Great first line!! Sounds like you’re in for a very historically dramatic read. 💖👍
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Thanks, Nicole! I’m so excited about this one! A historical thriller sounds fab! ♥️
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This sounds really intriguing, Jen! Gangs! New York! This goes to my TBR! You sure know how to pick ’em. ❤
On my blog, I shared the first line of Alessandro D'Avenia's "White as Silence, Red as Song," but here I will share something from my current read, "Strange Grace" by Tessa Graton. I'm currently 25% into the story and I'm enjoying it! This is the first line of the current chapter I'm on.
"Three year ago, when Arthur was nearly fifteen, his best friend, Rhun, stopped the along the narrow deer path they'd been stalking along, and kissed him."
Hope you're having a great day! Enjoy the weekend ahead. 😀
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Thanks, Rach! This author is something else! I don’t think you’ll regret adding this one. I’m intrigued by your lines, too, and as always I will be watching for your reviews! I hope you having a lovely day and weekend, too! ♥️
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Over on my blog I’m sharing the first line from Magnolia Summer by Melanie Dickerson. Here I’ll share the first line from chapter 5 of the same book.
“The eastern sky turned pink as Celia dressed for the day.”
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I am so sorry I missed your share! It was in my spam box, and I just now checked it. I love that description- a pink sky is always beautiful! Off to see your FLF post. ♥️
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Happy Friday! I have this one to read already!! No adding to my TBR mountain today Missy!😂
My First Lines come from Season of Wonder by RaeAnne Thayne…..
“This is totally lame. Why do we have to stay here and wait for you? We can walk home in, like, ten minutes.” Daniela Capelli drew in a deep breath and prayed for patience, something she seemed to be doing with increasing frequency these days when it came to her thirteen-year-old daughter. “It’s starting to snow and already almost dark.”
Have an awesome weekend and happy reading!💕📚
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I think I finally added this one thanks to YOUR nudge! I have always wanted to try RaeAnne Thayne! I love those first lines, Sus! Happy Friday and happy weekend! 💗
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Button Man sounds really good. I haven’t read it, but I have read other books by Andrew Gross. He has a great writing style.
One of my current reads is The Other Sister by Sarah Zettel. First line: “Twenty-five years ago, I killed my mother.” That’s a heck of an opener.
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I am really loving his style, Darinda! I enjoyed the book you are reading- I hope you enjoy it too!
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Great and phenomenal 💕💕
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Thanks, Priyasha! 💕
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Happy Friday Jennifer, hope your not having too much trouble with the storm! 🌧 Here is my first Line…
“Nicholas Young slumped into the nearest seat in the hotel lobby, drained from the sixteen-hour flight from Singapore, the train ride from Heathrow Airport, and trudging through the rain-soaked streets. His cousin Astrid Leona shivered stoically next to him, all because her mother, Felicity, his dai gu Cheh— or “big aunt” in Cantonese— said it was a sin to take a taxi nine blocks and forced everyone to walk all the way from Piccadilly Tube Station.”
From Crazy Rich Asians. 💗 Have a safe and wonderful weekend!🤗
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Hi Lana, I hope you’ve had a great Friday! Our internet has been wonky. It’s super gusty and raining hard, and my yard is a mess, but we are safe and sound. The problem is it will continue like this for a couple days because the storm is supposed to stall over us. It’s been like this already for 24 hours now. I loved your first line, and I hope you are having an amazing weekend! Are you camping? ♥️ xoxo
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Glad you are safe, that sounds scary to me! I’ll send good thoughts your way, hopefully you don’t lose power… I can’t imagine being in a storm like that!
Yes, we just came in from sitting by the campfire. No kiddos this weekend!😍
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I like the blurb of your book more than the first lines this week. It sounds like it might be my kind of thing, so I’ll wait for your review with anticipation! Here’s mine…
“The nearest iceberg looked firmly grounded. Waves, with the whole fetch of the Atlantic behind them, exploded upon it, just as they would upon solid rock. Further out there were other large bergs, also stranded by the falling tide, and looking like sudden white mountains.”
It’s from The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham.
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That definitely sounds good, FF! I am interested in your thoughts on that one! This author has two other books that were bestsellers. I’m not sure I’ve ever read any historical thrillers, but that’s his forte. I’ll keep you posted!
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Looks so interesting! Cannot wait to see your review!
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Thank you, Berit! It’s so good! I wonder if you might like this genre- historical thriller! Hmm!
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I think by the time I saw this book I wasn’t taking any more September or October books! I’m so over loaded as we all are!
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Oh, I am definitely adding this one to my TBR! I love, love mobster stories set in the 20s-40s. I used to be obsessed with the Godfather and Boardwalk Empire…which were *probably* not stories a 16 year old should have been obsessed with, but I just really love the fedora/jazz aesthetic. 😂
And this one’s hands-down my favourite line out of all the books I’m reading right now (from Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink):
“Why did the chicken cross the road? Because the dead return, because light reverse, because the sky is a gap, because it’s a shout, because the dead return, because footsteps in the basement, because footsteps on the roof, because the sky is a shout, because it’s a gap, because the grass doesn’t grow, or grows too much, or grows wrong, because the dead return,
because the dead return.”
Happy Friday, Jennifer! ❤
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Yay, Kathy! I’m glad this one appeals to you- the author is an amazing storyteller. I look forward to your first lines every week- always something new for me, and always so inspiring! Yeah, I’ll be waiting for your thoughts on that one, too! 💗 xo
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Just discovered your blog, and I look forward to following it. I’m on the waitlist for Button Man at the public library.
I just finished reading The Dream Daughter, by Diane Chamberlain. The first line in that novel is: “No one wanted to work with the man in the wheelchair.”
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Hi Janet and thanks for the follow! I followed you back. I hope you enjoy The Button Man when you get to it. The Dream Daughter is such a good read. Love Diane Chamberlain and her magical writing!
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