First Lines Fridays 15

There are two things that both readers and writers have in common: the love of words, and when we start a story, we don’t really don’t know where it will take us. That’s my rant for today. I was going to do a list of trans rep books I wanted to read, but as a friend mentioned, the fact that I’m losing followers and views thanks to a month full of LGBTI+ content, so I didn’t do that list, so I thought it would be cool to share a novel I thought had no representation until I googled it. First Lines Friday is a weekly feature for book lovers that was formerly hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
• Finally… reveal the book!

Note: The original host blog does not appear to be active any longer, but if anyone knows of a new host, please share the information!

First Lines:

Cassidy felt sick. Behind her lay everything she knew. Ahead of her lay an unknown world. She hunched her shoulders, feeling the backpack shift against her hot, damp dress: everything she now owned she carried on her back. The sun beat down as she blindly navigated the back roads, her hair sticking to her neck, her shoes already rubbing. Her feet moved by instinct. Her stomach ached. She did not know where she was going.

Her mind raced with furious words: the things she’d said, the things she should have said. The rage had sideswiped her with its suddenness. One minute she was quietly washing the breakfast dishes; the next, she was blowing up her entire life. She hadn’t even been aware of the fury building within her, but now, as she marched grimly along the road, sweat beading on her brow, she could see the way its roots had spread throughout her life, angry tentacles that strangled everything in its path.

The counter-reaction had been swift and merciless.

Goodreads Blurb:

Savannah Grace is on top of the world. She’s back to selling out stadium tours and winning Grammys, and she’s just arrived home from her honeymoon after marrying the love of her life… nothing could burst this bubble.

Except, of course, her estranged family.

When her younger sister Cassidy shows up on her doorstep, in need of help and thoroughly – inexplicably – pissed off, the whole household gets turned on its end. Where did she spring from and why the heck is she so damn mad?

Savannah’s nanny Lane has grown all the way up, from a cute punk kid to a classic handsome heartbreaker, a long trail of short flings in their wake. They don’t have a second to waste on Cassidy, after all she’s rude, ignorant, hot-tempered and kind of a brat. It’s just… does their boss’s little sister have to be so hot?

Of course things could always get worse. Cassidy has one plan and one plan only: for her sister to turn her into a star.

Goodreads Link Here

StoryGraph Link Here

Alex