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 farmer is dead, he is dead and all anyone wants to know is who killed him. Was it an accident or was it murder? It looks like murder, they say, with that gunshot wound to the heart, so precise, it must have been intended.”
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
*drumroll please!*
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
“The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.”
📖 SYNOPSIS
Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.
As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.
A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.
I have to admit, this one is slightly out of my comfort zone because I loathe love triangles. Sometimes I think to myself “what have you done?” but the hype really got me good, so I had to give it a go. It’s still on my TBR though! 🫣 Have you read Broken Country or is it on your TBR too?
dinipandareads 
I knew this one!!! I loved that book
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I’m kinda nervous going into it tbh cos of the love triangle. I gotta wait for the right moment when I want all the angst that I’m sure is to come 😂
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I initially DNFed this book, and after reading a review from a blogger-friend, I gave it another chance. It’s messy and very emotional, but the author did a great job with it.
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Ooh wow, okay, good to know! I sorta knew what I was getting into when I bought it but let’s see how I get on with it now 😂 Definitely think it’s a ‘right read, right time’ book so I’ll have to wait for the right mood!
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I felt like I knew this one but when I got the reveal I had never even heard of the book 😂 Very strong first lines though!
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These first lines pinged my brain and immediately made me want to keep reading! 🤭
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I should have got this one. I loved Broken Country. So well written and deep characters.
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So many seem to love it that’s why, even though I strongly dislike love triangles, I felt the pull to give it a go. 😂
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Wow that first phrase sounded like a Vera wong novel!
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Ooh, interesting. I still haven’t read one of them although I do have at least one on my TBR!
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Oh, I like that opening! I have this book on my TBR too, and have done anything about it… but I’m more interested now that I’ve seen how it starts!
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Same! These first lines really had me wanting to keep reading. I think we’re in for a very emotional, turbulent and angst-filled ride! 😅 I hope we both enjoy it whenever we get around to reading it.
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[…] First Lines Friday: 31 July 2026 […]
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I actually recognized this one! 😀 I’ve heard really good things about this book, and I can’t wait to get a chance to read it myself.
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