So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Opening Lines (Best, favorite, funny, unique, shocking, gripping, lines that grabbed you immediately, etc.)
Who doesn’t love a good opening line?! I certainly do and I usually share some first/opening lines every Friday for my “First Lines Friday” posts! Since this week’s prompt is open to interpretation I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do since it’s so hard for me to choose “favourites” — there are always so many, how do I choose?!
(Also, my memory is really not that great 😂)
So I decided to keep things simple, especially as I’m writing this during one of my quick work breaks lol, and look at the opening lines from my last ten ★★★★★ (5 star) reads! Yes, some of these might be more than just the first line, but opening lines plural, right? 😂

“Celeste san Marina dug a grave that night.”
Incendiary, Zoraida Córdova
“Lines. I am good at lines. I am good at lines because you don’t have to think in them, just stand in them, and this line is easy because now only a few people are in front of me, and easy because I understand the reason I am in it, and it’s a good reason, and I am good at lines.”
They Went Left, Monica Hesse
“The journalists arrived before the coffin did.
The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1), Jessica Townsend
They gathered at the gate overnight and by dawn they were a crowd.
By nine o’clock they were a swarm.”
“I open my eyes at midnight to the sound of the ocean and my brother’s breathing. It’s been ten months since Cal drowned, but the dreams still escape.”
Words in Deep Blue, Cath Crowley
“I’ve been told I have a temper.
Only When It’s Us (Bergman Brothers #1), Chloe Liese
I prefer to be called tempestuous. Big words for a soccer jock, I know, but work in a bookstore for as many summers as I have, and you can’t help but broaden your vocabulary.”
“Flipping down my visor mirror, I apply one last coat of gloss and then tousle my hair for a little volume. I spent hours this morning picking out the perfect dress, before bronzing some of the morning sickness out of my complexion. Somewhat satisfied, I smooth my hand over my dress, caressing my bump.”
The Guy on the Left (The Underdogs #2), Kate Stewart
“The night Marcella died, she made her husband’s favorite dinner.”
Vengeful (Villains #2), V.E. Schwab
“On Sunday I work in sans serif.
Love Lettering, Kate Clayborn
Boldface for all the headers, because that’s what the client wants, apexes and vertexes flattened way out into big floors and tables for every letter, each one stretching and counting and demanding to be seen.”
“I didn’t choose the wench life. The wench life chose me.”
Well Met (Well Met #1), Jen DeLuca
“Quinn Caine may have traveled all over the world, but she still thought nothing was more enchanting than springtime in Vienna, Virginia, especially driving with the windows down on Church Street.”
To Kill A Mocking Girl (Bookbinding Mystery #1), Harper Kincaid

Have you read any of these books?
Did any of your last five star reads have great opening lines?

I haven’t read most of those books but I totally agree with the one from Nevermoor. It kinda makes me wanna read the book again, just for that line. 🙂
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It’s a great MG fantasy that I didn’t expect to love but it was just too good! 😀
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What a great way to begin Vengeful. Wow!
Thanks for stopping by my post earlier today.
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Right? That series is just wonderful *chefs kiss*
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Great list! Well Met is so fun and I’m so glad Incendiary was a 5 star read for you – I’m hoping to cross it off my TBR soon. 🙂
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Okay, I cheated a bit. It was 4.5 stars but… it deserves some love so I added it 😂 Haha I hope you enjoy it, Jess!
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Reading the first line of Well Met has me wanting to read it all over again. 🙂
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Right? It’s so good! Haha I can’t wait for the next book in the series ❤
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I loved Nevermoor and I enjoyed Wunderstruck even more!! Such a great series. I love the opening line for Vengeful. When I read it, I was like wow! I forgot about it for my post though, haha.
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I can’t wait to read Wunderstruck. Tempted to read it right now but I have so many blog tour reads to power through and I’m doing a terrible job of reading 😂 Vengeful was so great! Reading the opening lines made me want to read the series again lol
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Haha! I feel like I’m about to head into a slump with all that’s going on in real life! So, I hear you on the reading front! Good luck on the blog tours! Do you have a bunch left??
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I haven’t read any of these, but now I want to. What great opening lines. Incendiary, The Trials of Morrigan Crow, and Well Met were my favorite lines. Thanks for sharing.
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I thought they were all really great books 😀 Thanks for stopping by!
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Yesss Well Met has such a good opening! I just got Nevermoor from my library!
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Aah, I hope you enjoyed it Joanna!
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I kind of did the same thing you did with this one and chose the opening lines of my most recent reads. But your opening lines are awesome. Makes me want to read so many of these books. 🙂
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Well, I can definitely recommend these as I enjoyed them so much 😀 Haha I hope you do too whenever you pick them up!
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I haven’t read any of these yet, but several are on my tbr. The opening lines to Vengeful are making me very curious! 🙂
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I hope you enjoy them whenever you read them, Dedra! I loved Vengeful but if you haven’t read Vicious I’d recommend reading that first 😉
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I love the opening line for Vengeful! And this list has definitely got me thinking I need to add some of these to my TBR:)
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Haha yay to making the TBR even longer 😂
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Great list! Nevermoor and Incendiary are on my TBR, and I love their first lines!! 🙂
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I hope you enjoy both books! I didn’t expect to enjoy both so much but I really did 😀
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I like the darker ones! Really grabs your attention right away. Like what the $%& happened here? Digging a grave?! 😅
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I do love the darker first lines as well — definitely feel like they grab my attention more (although the funny ones are pretty great too)! 😀
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Nevermoor made my list too! I love that book and am impatient for the next one in the series.
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I know what you mean! I ordered my copy of the second book ages ago but it still hasn’t arrived yet thanks to the pandemic. I’ve decided to stop waiting and just bought the ebook so I could continue with the series. Too good!
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I LOVE the Well Met one.
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Well Met is so great. I can’t wait to read the next book 😀
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Me, too. I requested it from NG, so crossing my fingers.
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Words in deep blue is the only book I’ve read out of this list, but that opened to they went left… DANG that’s a good one. I’m super curious to know more about it. Definitely one that would make me keep reading 😊😊😊💛💚💜💙
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I really enjoyed They Went Left. It was a very different historical YA perspective and I appreciated that a lot. I hope you enjoy it if ever you pick it up, Emer ❤ ❤ ❤
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I’ve really got to read the Villains series! And I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Incendiary!
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Omg YES you do! I hope you enjoy the series and Incendiary as well 😀
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words in deep blue is amazing ❤
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Such a great book ❤ So many feels@
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Cozies have some of the best opening lines sometimes. 🙂
And great job for doing this on a work break!! 🙂
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I really need to read more cozies! Lol
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I haven’t read any of these books, but They Went Left, by Monica Hesse, makes me want to know more about the story. Here’s my TTT!
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They Went Left was such a heartbreaking but powerful read (imo). If you decide to pick it up, I hope you enjoy it!
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That first line from Well Met makes the book sound so interesting and hilarious! Not sure what it is actually about, but I’m sure it’ll get me hooked 😉
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Well Met is a romantic comedy and it is SO good! It’s not overly sappy or sexually explicit if those aren’t your thing. But it’s such a great book 😀 Would definitely recommend it 😉
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I liked Well Met and Love Lettering — the first one I didn’t know about and the line definitely makes me want to know more, and the second, the letter-talk weirdly enough just made me more curious about it!
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There’s a whole bunch of lettering and font talk in Love Lettering (unsurprisingly) and I also found it really awesome — haha I guess it just really spoke to my inner nerd! But that book… Didn’t expect it to win me over so much but it stole the show ❤
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Oh! So many good books on here 😍😍😍 I adored Love Lettering and really want to try The Guy on the Right (that’s the first book, right? It’s on my TBR) and Well Met. Fab choices in this post Dini!!
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I hope you enjoy all the books, Jen! Yep, guy on the right is book one of the series and I hope you enjoy it! The banter is on point lol
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I love Well Met–it does have a really great opening, haha.
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It gets me every time! 😂
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That opening line for Well Met make me laugh every time I read it, lol.
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Haha it’s so good isn’t it?! I can’t wait for the next book in the series 😀
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Been wanting to read ‘Deep Blue’ for a LONG time, and “Well Met” sounds darling. Must read both soon! 🙂
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I really hope you enjoy both, Rissi! They’re so good ❤
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[…] OPENING LINES FROM FIVE STAR READS […]
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I’m definitely going to read Nevermoor one of these days. What a fascinating start to a book!
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