11 Books that will hook you from the opening line

 
Opening line:
One year after the fire, my doctor removes my mask and tells me to get a life." 

Not only does the opening line hook the reader, the rest of the story about this survivor is hard to put down.

Opening line:

"It was my aunt who decided to give me to the dragon."

We think we know so much about dragons and how they horde gold and treasures. But what about the dragon who hordes shoes? Or poodles? 

 

Opening line:
"Morning light shimmers on the apricot horizon as I stand at the place where my baby boy rests."

Oh, my heart. 

Set in Philadelphia, in the middle of WWI, and right before the Spanish flu epidemic. There is so much beauty and pain in the sentences this masterful storytellers weaves. 
 

Opening line:

"A ten-point buck and a dead body make the same sound when they hit the forest floor."

 What the?? Yup. This is a great young adult whodunit told from the killer's view point and the the AG intern.

Opening line:
"The day I came squealing and squalling into the world was the first time someone tried to kill me."

I call this a Civil War alternate reality, where the soldiers turn into zombies and the slaves learn combat and how to put the dead down. 

(I listened to this on Audible and LOVE the narrator!). 

Opening line:

"The summer is made for stoop-sitting

and since it's the last week before school starts,

Harlem is opening its eyes to September."

I know a lot of people don't like a book in verse BUT guys! This one is amazing! 

  Opening line:
"It was raining the day Suki came to the Palace of the Sun, and it was raining the night that she died."

Shapeshifter, Samurai and demons...what's not to like??

Opening line:

"My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die."

Three things I loved about this book:
1. Relationships
2. Jonah Griggs
3. Ending

 

Opening line:

"I did not set out to ruin my sister's debut."

Basically, the main character meets family she's never met, makes friends with people she shouldn't have and finds herself in the middle of a revolution.

Opening line:

"The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit."

Oh man, that is a very visual opening. The whole book is visually written. And sometimes, being pretty isn't what you think it is.

Opening line:

"It took seven years to get the letter right."

My advice on this book: don't try and figure anything out, just read and enjoy. Then maybe reread once you figure everything out.

Do you have any suggestions for more amazing/jaw-dropping/stunning opening lines??

My top 10 favorite reads from 2018 (in no particular order)

2018 Reading Challenge

2018

READING

CHALLENGE

Congrats!

You have read 123 books of your goal of 65!

123/65 (189%)

 

 

 

 DREAD NATION by Justina Ireland

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever.

 

 Opening line:
"The day I came squealing and squalling into the world was the first time someone tried to kill me."

I loved this story!
And I LOVED listening to it! Bahni Turpin has the best voice for this story!

There is swearing and fighting and zombies.

 

 

 

 

 

AS BRIGHT AS HEAVEN by Susan Meissner

 As Bright as Heaven is the compelling story of a mother and her daughters who find themselves in a harsh world, not of their making, which will either crush their resolve to survive or purify it.

 

 Opening line:
"Morning light shimmers on the apricot horizon as I stand at the place where my baby boy rests."

AS BRIGHT AS HEAVEN is a story of family, love and death set during WWI. I became fascinated by WWI and the Spanish Flu a few years ago and I will be adding this book to my growing WWI shelf.
Told from the different perspectives of the Bright women, we get a unique view from different ages and personalities into their lives and what it was like to live through the worse pandemic in history.

 

 

SKY IN THE DEEP by Adrienne Young
Part Wonder Woman, part Vikings—and all heart.

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. 

 

Opening line:
""They're coming.""

Eelyn is the kick butt heroine of the story; she's strong, smart and loyal to her family and clan. But her character isn't in your face with how awesome she is. She fights because this is all she knows, because she is protecting her family and because this fight, or death, will bring honor. 

 

 

 

 

THE POET X by Elizabeth Acevedo
A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

 

 Opening line:
"The summer is made for stoop-sitting
and since it's the last week before school starts,
Harlem is opening its eyes to September."

What a great opening to a coming of age story told in VERSE.

Here are a couple of stanzas i LOVED:

...but she took all of the stereotypes
and put them in a chokehold
until they breathed out the truth.

but most importantly,
she should be remembered
as always working to become
the warrior she wanted to be

 

WARCROSS by Marie Lu

 For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life.

 

 

 

 Opening line:
"It's too damn cold of a day to be out on a hunt."

Emika is a hacker and a hunter and so will become a player...in Warcross that is. Her biggest hack catches the eye of billionaire, Hideo, inventor of the Warcross game. He's concerned about someone who has been messing up his game and he wants Emika to find out who it is.
I enjoyed this story more than I thought I would I started reading it. After about 20% of the way in, I was hooked. I can't wait for the next book, Wildcard.
I'm trying to get my son to read this book because I think he would LOVE it!

SHADOW OF THE FOX by Julie Kagawa

One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos.

 

 Opening line:
"It was raining the day Suki came to the Palace of the Sun, and it was raining the night that she died."

That's a fantastic beginning though I didn't know or appreciate it when I started reading. As a matter of fact, I almost quit reading because I could not figure out what or who or why this book was happening.
I'm glad I stuck it out.
I WILL read the next book to see what happens to our little clan.

 

 

 

 

 

FINDING US (Pine Valley #5) by Heather Moore

 
Opening line:
"Felicity Miner balanced the steaming cup of hot chocolate and the blueberry muffin with on hand as she unlocked the door to the bookshop."

Heather has a great way of writing romantic tension in her books! This is another great story in the Pine Valley series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 AS WIDE AS THE SKY by Jessica Pack
Amanda Mallorie wakes to the knowledge that her son Robbie is gone.

 

 Opening line:
"Two hours, forty-three minutes."

AS WIDE AS THE SKY is a heavy, enlightening, hopeful book about a mother and the ramifications of a single act of her son.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 VEINS OF GOLD by Charlie Holmberg
Desperate to save her siblings from poverty, a young woman discovers magic fueled by gold . . . and a love for the man who wields it. 

 

 Opening line:
"To the ears of Gentry's father, gold cried louder than his children did."

Charlie is an exceptionally talented writer. She can write about ANYTHING and it will be amazing and unique.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 FROM ASH AND STONE by Julie Daines

 Lady Margaret Grey of Hartfell wants for nothing. The daughter of a knight, she has a loving family, wealth, and even a secret romance with the blacksmith's son. But all that is torn from her one fateful night when her home is attacked and her family killed.

 

Opening line:
"Margaret laid on the ground with her eyes closed."

Margaret lives in the time of King Henry VIII and she lives in the path of men, on both sides of the border of Scotland and England, who raid homes with no thought to the people's lives they destroy except to take what they want.