Hooked on Books discussion

📖 First Page Friday

Happy Friday, Hooked on Books! 🎉

There's something magical about opening a new book. A single sentence can make us laugh, raise an eyebrow, send a chill down our spine, or have us instantly adding another title to our ever-growing TBR.

Welcome to **First Page Friday!**

Share the **first sentence or first paragraph** from the book you've most recently started. (Please keep it to a short excerpt and avoid spoilers.)

When you post, tell us:
📚 **Book Title**
✍️ **Author**
💭 **What made you pick it up?**

**Bonus Questions**
✨ Did the opening hook you?
✨ Would you have kept reading based on the first page alone?

Feel free to browse everyone else's openings, chat about them, and maybe discover your next favorite read!

Whether you start one book a week or one book every few months, every new reading adventure begins with a first page...so let's celebrate them together!

Happy reading! 📖💙

"Is this the wife?
“Have a seat in my cruiser,” he says to me Someone is on the ground behind what was once our silver Corolla There are sensors and straps on the body on the ground Someone is pushing up and down and up and down CPR Is my CPR up to date? Please don’t make me use this, please don’t make me use this is always my mantra when I recertify each year I am taller than the officer He does not know me I look across the crowd, and find my son Alex He is standing in a daze—alone but standing I say, “I’m strong I won’t collapse Tell me what’s happening ” But I feel my face muscles betray me, crumple, tears splash on my chin Somewhere in my mind I know Not the details—the story of this gruesome cinematic disaster scene—but enough to know he is gone I can feel Bill is gone."

Book Title:
Habits of Widows

Author:
Rondalyn Whitney

What made me pick it up:
I was searching for books that help with self-identity struggles and it struck me that grief plays a lot into that, so I decided to give this book a try. Rondalyn is an occupational therapist but she is also a poet. As you can read above, she has a great way with words.

Did the opening hook me?:
Yes, I was hooked instantly. I knew this would be a hard subject to face, especially since my husband is my best friend too but he is still alive. But I felt it important to keep reading to know how Rondalyn handled the worst day of her life and was able to move forward in life.

Would I have kept reading based on the first page alone?: Absolutely! The book is written in sort of a journal-style, so we get a lot of Rondalyn's inner thoughts throughout the book and the first page really showcases that well. I knew it would be a worthwhile read from the first page.

I highly recommend this book for those suffering through grief and even if you have never experienced grief or loss. The tremendous amount of courage Rondalyn has is inspiring and gives a lot of hope.

"I'm afraid," said the little girl sitting on the bed. "Grandfather, can you stay with me?"

📚 **Book Title**
Clockwork Princess

✍️ **Author**
Cassandra Clare

💭 **What made you pick it up?**
2 reasons
1) I have been wanting to continue the series
2) It fits a challenge task

✨ Did the opening hook you?
I was curious why she was afraid but I wasn't quite hooked yet. I am just starting the book so I am looking forward to it.

✨ Would you have kept reading based on the first page alone?
No, not based on the 1st page. I always give the book at least halfway before deciding whether to keep going or not. Some books start off slower. I am not expecting that with this one.

"I could see the headlights cut through the dark enveloping the cemetery.

📚 **Book Title** - My Darkest Prayer
✍️ **Author** - S.A. Cosby
💭 **What made you pick it up?** Because it's S.A. Cosby. He could write stereo instructions and I would buy it and read it. His novels are gritty, set in the south, and are always a fun ride.

**Bonus Questions**
✨ Did the opening hook you? It would have. People messing around in a cemetery always catches my eye. I need to know what they are doing.
✨ Would you have kept reading based on the first page alone? Yes,. See above question and the answer for it. Plus people in a cemetery at night usually are up no good and I need to know why.

Patricia wrote: ""Is this the wife?
“Have a seat in my cruiser,” he says to me Someone is on the ground behind what was once our silver Corolla There are sensors and straps on the body on the ground Someone is pu..."

I love this series.

“Every year Mama has baked her a strawberry birthday cake. And for two decades now that cake has sat on the sunshine-yellow Formica counter for one week in June unsliced, the plump pink roses atop the creamy home-churned icing with powdered sugar-coated berries, beckoning another year for Patsy to return home, mocking her silence, her absence.”

📚 **Book Title** - The Sisters of Glass Ferry
✍️ **Author** - Kim Michele Richardson
💭 **What made you pick it up?** I've been doing an informal "read a book set in every USA state". This one is set in Kentucky.

**Bonus Questions**
✨ Did the opening hook you? Yes! Who is Patsy and why is she not present for her mama-baked strawberry birthday cake??
✨ Would you have kept reading based on the first page alone? I did! (I've finished it.) Story was sadder than expected but it held my interest for the entire novel.

I'll take the first sentence from Chapter One:
"For most people, 1973 was the year the Westward Women began their migration. But for Aimee Wallace, it was the year no one came to her college graduation."

📚 **Book Title** - Westward Women
✍️ **Author** - Alice Martin
💭 **What made you pick it up?**
1. Science Fiction
2. set in 1973 (I remember 1973!!!!)
3. Joyce Carol Oates blurb on the cover compares this debut novel to the novels written by Margaret Atwood

**Bonus Questions**
✨ Did the opening hook you? Yes! 1973!!!
✨ Would you have kept reading based on the first page alone? I did! I'm about a third of the way through. More speculative fiction than science fiction -- very original (so far)

“David pulled up to the haunted house ten minutes before he was expected, because arriving late was for amateurs and getting there too early was for interns.”

📚 **Book Title** Evocation
✍️ **Author** St. Gibson
💭 **What made you pick it up?** I think the cover and summary, I can’t quite remember since I picked it up like a month and a half ago lol

**Bonus Questions**
✨ Did the opening hook you? Heck yes!! Especially since the book I had been browsing through prior’s opening was much weaker comparatively.. TvT
✨ Would you have kept reading based on the first page alone? Why yes, I would have and I did. Tore through just under a quarter of the whole book the very afternoon I bought it in fact!

"Because he had to get up unusually early on Saturday, Jake Lovell kept waking up throughout the night, racked my terrifying dreams about being late. In the first dream he couldn't find his breeches when the collecting ring steward called his number; in the second he couldn't catch any of the riding school ponies to take them to the show; in the third Africa slipped her head collar and escaped; and in the fourth, the most terrifying of all, he was back in the children's home screaming and clawing at locked iron gates , while Rupert Campbell-Black rode Africa off down the High Street, until turning with that hateful sneering smile, he'd shouted:
'You'll never get out of that place now, Gyppo; it's where you belong'"


📚 **Book Title** - Riders
✍️ **Author** Jilly Cooper
💭 **What made you pick it up?**
A book club choice, not something I would have chose myself

**Bonus Questions**
✨ Did the opening hook you?
Yes, it builds sympathy for Jake immediately and already introduces the main antagonist. There is already a lot of horse riding terminology that I am not familiar with but I was looking forward to learning more

✨ Would you have kept reading based on the first page alone?

Probably not, it took me a while to put my modern tastes aside and enjoy a nostalgic romp