Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly feature for book lovers 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? Here are the rules:
- 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!
First lines:
“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. He’d been dead for ten days before they found him, you know.”
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
*drumroll please!*
Aurelia is a princess, but they call her a witch.
Surrounded by spirits and burdened with forbidden magic, she lives in constant fear of discovery by the witch-hunting Tribunal and their bloodthirsty mobs. When a devastating assassination attempt reveals her magical abilities, Aurelia is forced to flee her country with nothing but her life.
Alone and adrift in an enemy kingdom, Aurelia plans her revenge against the Tribunal, desperate to bring down the dark organization that has wrought terror upon her people for hundreds of years. But there’s something deeply amiss in her new home, too, and soon she finds herself swept into a deadly new mystery with a secretive prince, the ghost of an ancient queen, and a poison vine called Bloodleaf.
Aurelia is entangled in a centuries-long game of love, power, and war, and if she can’t break free before the Tribunal makes its last move, she may lose far more than her crown.
Donna Tartt’s books have been widely praised and I’m ashamed to admit that the one book of hers that I’ve ever tried reading, I have still yet to finish. That said, I’ve heard very positive things about The Secret History and so when I saw it at the airport bookshop I couldn’t stop myself from scooping it up! This opening has my curiosity piqued and I actually can’t wait to start reading this!
Have you read The Secret History or is it on your TBR?
dinipandareads 
I just finished reading this the other week! I hope you enjoy it when you get the chance to read it 😄
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Omg! Did you enjoy it? I’m kinda worried the writing will go over my head but I’m looking forward to give it a try 😛
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I did! I had that same fear too😆It did take me a little while to get into it, but then I couldn’t put it down!
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I hope you enjoy it! I’ll be looking forward to hearing how your thoughts on it!
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Thanks Ali! I’m kinda worried Tartt’s writing will overwhelm me but I’m keen to give it a try lol
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Aww, guessed it! Doesn’t happen that often. Great choice!
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Ooh nice! It really doesn’t happen often for me too 😀 Did you enjoy it?
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The story was very unusual and it did put me off the academia world😁 The writing is very clever.
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Haha well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not all too keen on the academia world 😂 Good to know!
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Oooh, I’ve actually never heard of this book before! But that opening is just … *chef’s kiss* Immediately grabs my attention and sets up a really dark atmosphere that I’m loving.
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It does, doesn’t it? I think Tartt’s writing is full of dark and morose atmosphere. I’m excited to give this one a go eventually 🙂
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I had know idea what this book was but I’ll admit that is one heck of an opening line! 🙂
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