First Lines Fridays is 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?
- 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!
And here’s the line.
A howl echoed through the trees, and I ran faster, my feet kicking up dust from the moonlit trail, heart pounding, breath heaving.
I love a first line that plunges the reader straight into the action.
Scroll down for more.
A howl echoed through the trees, and I ran faster, my feet kicking up dust from the moonlit trail, heart pounding, breath heaving. It was only Roman, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be caught. My werewolf lover would be in wolfman form; his magic wasn’t strong enough to go full wolf, but he’d be deadly all the same. He wouldn’t hurt me, of course, but the game was “keep away,” and grown Othersiders played a little differently than human children.
Okay, so the situation isn’t as deadly as the first line suggests. 😉 But don’t worry, the real threat shows up on the next page.
Does anyone recognize this opening? Keep scrolling for the reveal.
It’s from Eldritch Sparks by Whitney Hill.
The deal that secured Arden Finch a measure of freedom came with strings, and now everyone wants to pull them.
Arden has carved out a place for herself in Otherside—at a price. Pressure mounts as she juggles her day job as a private investigator with her new obligations, fraying relationships, and growing elemental powers. If that wasn’t enough, a lich has appeared in the Triangle, sowing violence and raising zombies. Everyone wants Arden to get rid of it, including the gods.
But the lich offers something Arden has always wanted: enough power to stand alone. All she has to do is put herself first for once…and betray everyone she cares about.
I should’ve included this book in my gallery of green urban fantasy covers. What was I thinking?!😖
In all seriousness, this novel is excellent, and I highly recommend the Shadows of Otherside series. What do you think of the first line? Share your thoughts in the comments!
The Shadow Journals 