SCARS LIKE WINGS by Erin Stewart BOOK BIRTHDAY!

Relatable, heartbreaking, and real, this is a story of resilience--the perfect novel for readers of powerful contemporary fiction like Girl in Pieces and Every Last Word.

Before, I was a million things. Now I'm only one. The Burned Girl.

Ava Lee has lost everything there is to lose: Her parents. Her best friend. Her home. Even her face. She doesn't need a mirror to know what she looks like--she can see her reflection in the eyes of everyone around her.

A year after the fire that destroyed her world, her aunt and uncle have decided she should go back to high school. Be "normal" again. Whatever that is. Ava knows better. There is no normal for someone like her. And forget making friends--no one wants to be seen with the Burned Girl, now or ever.

But when Ava meets a fellow survivor named Piper, she begins to feel like maybe she doesn't have to face the nightmare alone. Sarcastic and blunt, Piper isn't afraid to push Ava out of her comfort zone. Piper introduces Ava to Asad, a boy who loves theater just as much as she does, and slowly, Ava tries to create a life again. Yet Piper is fighting her own battle, and soon Ava must decide if she's going to fade back into her scars . . . or let the people by her side help her fly.

"A heartfelt and unflinching look at the reality of being a burn survivor and at the scars we all carry. This book is for everyone, burned or not, who has ever searched for a light in the darkness." --Stephanie Nielson, New York Times bestselling author of Heaven Is Here and a burn survivor.


Opening line: 
 

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??