20180908_155603.jpgTGIF, everyone! First Line Fridays is a great way to show off and share a book from your current stack!

Today my first lines are from a book I am currently reading:

THE CENTER SQUATTED ON THE CORNER OF JUNIPER AND MONTFORT behind a wrought-iron gate, like an old bulldog used to guarding its territory. At one point, there had been many like it in Mississippi—nondescript, unassuming buildings where services were provided and needs were met.

I remember reading My Sister’s Keeper roughly fifteen years ago. It was a milestone year for me, which is why I can roughly remember the timeframe. I also remember it was one of the rare times I had the flu. So while those memories are stuck in my head, so is the experience of reading Jodi Picoult’s writing for the first time. Flu definitely aside, I’ve looked forward to her books each time she releases a new one, hoping for that same thought-provoking experience, and she has not let me down yet. Also, if you know me, you know I have a few of her books “saved” for later…including her last one, but hopefully I’ll read that soon, too. 😉

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.

Jodi Picoult—one of the most fearless writers of our time—tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced novel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Light will inspire debate, conversation . . . and, hopefully, understanding. (less)

Please share with me the first line(s) of the book you are currently reading! I would love to read it! Have you read A Spark of Light, or do you plan to? Happy Friday reading! ~ Jennifer THR