First lines (#8) - Speak

Please check out the Guest Post/Interview I did at Chocolate Chunky Munkie. It's here!

What is the point of First Lines?

Well l hope to help you find new books you may not have heard of or interest you in books you may not have been interested in before. 

To find more out about First Lines click here.

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson

First few lines of :

Blurb

From her first moment at Merryweather High, Melinda Sordino knows she's an outcast. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops - a major infraction in high-school society - so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know glare at her. No one knows why she called the police, and she can't get out the words to explain.

First Page

Welcome to Merryweather high.

It is my first morning back of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate and a stomach ache.

The school bus wheezes to my corner. The door opens and I step up. I am the first pick-up of the dat. The driver pulls away from the kerb while I stand in the aisle. Where to sit?

My Thoughts

I was so glad when I got this one for a swap. It was released in 2008 so quite an old book so I haven't seen many reviews on it. I think it sounds awesome though.

What do you think of these 'First Lines?'

Have you read Speak?

Does it make you want to read Speak?

First lines (#7) - Holding Her Breathe

Please check out the Guest Post/Interview I did at Chocolate Chunky Munkie. It's here!

What is the point of First Lines?

Well l hope to help you find new books you may not have heard of or interest you in books you may not have been interested in before. 

To find more out about First Lines click here.

Holding Her Breath - Nicole Green

First few lines of :

Blurb

Whitney Jones's first priority is making partner at DC mega-law firm Gibson and Grey. She feels guilty for not seeing her family as much as she should, but she always make it home to River Run, Virginia, o spend Christmas with her mom, stepfather, and the rest of her large family. This is how she quite literally runs into Chace on Christmas night as she's rushing toward the 7-11 to buy a very last minute Christmas gift.

First Page

Whitney didn't know what the big deal was. All the potholders looked the same to her. But why stress  out her holiday-mode mother more than necessary?

"Okay,mum,these?" Whitney held up the red and green potholders. She was tired of digging through the giant drawer full of miscellaneous  kitchen gadgets, aprons, potholders, and Other such things.

My Thoughts

I felt so lucky when I won this book on GR! I can't wait to read this one. I think it sounds really good and I already want to get to know Whitney more!

What do you think of these 'First Lines?'

Have you read Holding Her Breathe?

Does it make you want to read Holding Her Breathe?

First lines (#6) - Stay With Me

What is the point of First Lines?

Well l hope to help you find new books you may not have heard of or interest you in books you may not have been interested in before. 

To find more out about First Lines click here.

Stay With Me - Paul Griffin

First few lines of :

Blurb

Fifteen-year-olds Cece and Mack didn't expect to fall in love. She's a sensitive A student; he's a high school dropout. But soon they're spending every moment together, bonding over a rescued dog, telling their secrets, making plans for the future. Everything is perfect. Until. Until. Mack makes a horrible mistake, and in just a few minutes, the future they'd planned becomes impossible.

First Page

"Bad news," Vics says.
"There's another kind?"
"I lost the restaurant."
"Another tough night at the online poker table?"
"Catastrophic." The old man saddles a flipped milk crate and clobbers garlic cloves with his hands. Says it makes him feel one with earth., expect there's not a lot of earth here in the city. Baked concrete, we got that. 

My Thoughts

I am on page 40 as I type this and have to say, 10 pages in, I thought I wasn't going to like this but after the first chapter I felt the writing really started to flow better and now I am really wanting to read more! 

What do you think of these 'First Lines?'

Have you read Stay With Me?

Does it make you want to read Stay With Me?

First lines (#5) - Raw Blue by Kirsty Eager

What is the point of First Lines?

Well l hope to help you find new books you may not have heard of or interest you in books you may not have been interested in before. 

To find more out about First Lines click here.

Raw Blue - Kirsty Eager

First few lines of :

Blurb

Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly café. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing ... and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago. Then she meets Ryan and Carly has to decide ... Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy?

First Page

1. Him

Friday Morning. I'm heading down to the break, feeling antsy because I slept in. I'd mean't to surf early, but maybe it's not such a bad thing. Getting there after nine means I miss the pre-work crew.

My Thoughts

I love that this book throws you straight into the beach, I think if you pick this book up then you are gonna want a book with beach, sun and surfing in. I also love that the chapter is labelled 'him'! Makes me really wonder .. who is 'him'?

What do you think of these 'First Lines?'

Have you read Raw Blue?

Does it make you want to read Raw Blue?

First lines (#4) - Dark Ride

What is the point of First Lines?

Well l hope to help you find new books you may not have heard of or interest you in books you may not have been interested in before. 

To find more out about First Lines click here.

Dark Ride - Caroline Green

First few lines of :

Blurb

A shiver crawled up my spine. It felt like the loneliest place in the world. For a second I thought I caught a snatch of music in the air, but it was just the wind whistling through cracks in the fairground hoardings. My instincts screamed, "Run away, Bel! Run away and never return!" But instead my fingers closed around the ticket in my pocket. ADMIT ONE.'

First Page

Welcome to Slumpton
That's what the sign's mean't to say but some of the letters have worn off. So all you really see is Welcome to Slum.
Hilarious, right? Or it would be, if you didn't have to live here. 

My Thoughts

When l picked this up and read the first page I straight away warmed to the main character, Bel, and her sense of humour. Also 'the voice' of the character in a book is really important to me and l straight away loved how this was written.
Review of this is coming within the next 2 weeks. Great book!

What do you think about the first page and blurb?

Please note, most of these are typed up by myself so there may be small errors.

First Lines (#2)

My second post for my new weekly post, First Lines! - I have decided to only do one book a week so l can get your thoughts on the book. 

~

What is the point of First Lines?

Well l hope to help you find new books you may not have heard of or interest you in books you may not have been interested in before. 

To find more out about First Lines click here.

~

The Bleeders - Michaela Haze

First few lines of :

Blurb

Sophia Taylor knew that her life had gotten pretty surreal when she woke up on her sofa, bleeding from the head, with her boyfriend Henry smoking her cheap cigarettes (which he never hesitated to complain about before). 

Why was this surreal? 

1- Because she was only bleeding because he had effectively pushed her down the stairs.

Click here to carry on reading the other two reasons!

First Page

A faint smell of vomit and ammonia lined the long hospital corridor and various pictures, which looked like blue peter competition entries, dotted the walls. I could hear the sound of shoes clacking  against the linoleum, which stretched not only the length of the wall but half way up the walls as well. 

Want to read more of this book? You can get a sample of this book from Amazon. 

Amazon UK/USA

My Thoughts

This week, for me, it's the blurb that draws me into this book more than the first few lines of the book. It actually took me a few pages of this book to understand enough to get into it. But l found this kind of good as you are wanting to find out more due to being confused as to what's going on!

Please let me know your thoughts. 

Does the blurb and first lines of the 1st page draw you in and push you away?

First lines - New weekly post!

I mentioned last week how l am taking a break from Paperback vs Hardback and if this new weekly post goes down well l will be swapping between the two. Mainly l will be doing PB vs HB for 2ish months and then First Lines for 2ish months and so on.

What is First Lines?

First lines is a post where l will list two books and type out the first few lines of both the blurb and the first page.

I came to think of this after not being sure whether to buy two books and after reading the first few lines decided to do so. I feel the first lines are so important.

What is the point of First Lines?

Well l hope to help you find new books you may not have heard of or interest you in books you may not have been interested in before.

~

Skin by Adrienne Maria Vrettos

First few lines of :

Blurb

I think back on things that happened. And I think about how if you were to tell stories about us, about our family, you might raise your eyebrows and you might say, 'Well, no wonder.' I bet you can pinpoint where it started for her. 

Read the rest of the blurb here

Or visit the goodreads page for a different blurb

First Page

These are the things you think when you come home to discover your sister has starved herself to death and you have to drop to your knees to revive her :

1. My sister is flat like a board. There's fat guys in the locker room with bigger books than she has.

2. When l scream my sister's name into her face, l can hear my father's voice in my own.

3. Where is it you're supposed to press? In the middle, on the side? Left or right?

My thoughts :

This blurb doesn't really give much away about the book at all and l found this a big plus and it really worked with this book. I found myself opening the first page and reading the first few lines and wanting to carry on reading.

What do you think about the first page and blurb?

Please note, most of these are typed up by myself so there may be small errors. 

This week l am only doing one book because of having to explain at the top of this post about this new weekly post but next week l will be doing two.


If you don't like this post l won't carry on with it!

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