First Line Fridays: “Shelter in Place” by Nora Roberts

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature hosted by Hoarding Books.

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Well, hello there Friday! For a while I thought you wouldn’t ever come. It’s been a tiring week at work and what’s left of my already frayed nerves are getting even more hits. I expect this to continue until the first week of July, or maybe until this work-related thing gets cleared up.

Anyway, to get me out of the real world a bit, I’ll just go read book after book. I’m breaking out of my usual plate of sci-fi and fantasy and reading something by the great Nora Roberts.

On Friday, July 22, 2005, Simone Knox ordered a large Fanta – orange – to go with her popcorn and Swedish Fish. The choice, her standard night-at-the-movies fare, changed her life, and very likely saved it, Still, she’d never drink Fanta again.

 

 

 

 

I’m only 25% into this book, but the first part – the mall shooting part – chilled me to the bone. I had to stop to breathe and direct my attention somewhere else because imagining that kind of thing happening in real life – and sadly, it had numerous times – scares the life out of me. I don’t know and I’ll never understand how some people could just think to do such: kill, take lives and end stories.

I’m hoping to finish this book this coming weekend as I have 2 days off work (yay!) Then, on Sunday, I’m going to Randy Ribay’s book launch for Patron Saints of Nothing. Plans, plans – I will keep up to them.

Well, that’s it for me today. I wish you all a happy weekend full of reading and fun.

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Come and join in the fun. Visit Hoarding Books to see what other FLF bloggers have to share.

 

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First Line Fridays: “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” by Jenny Han

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature hosted by Hording Books.

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Hey! Congratulations! We’ve reached another Friday!

I actually debated whether or not I will be joining today’s FLF since this week has been a slow one for reading-wise. The good news is, I finally finished that damned annual health report and ready to submit it to HR, so they, in turn, could submit it to the Department of Labor and Employment. That out of the way, I’m expecting more reading time for myself. So, yay, for me! 😊

Today I’m going to be sharing the first couple of lines of a book I plan to read this month as part of the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge. If you haven’t yet, go check out Shealea’s post about it and sign up. There are very cute badges for every reading milestone. Plus, you get to immerse yourself into more Asian reads by Asian authors. Ain’t that fun?

 

 

Josh is Margot’s boyfriend, but you could say my whole family is a little in love with him. It’s hard to say who most of all. Before he was Margot’s boyfriend, he was just Josh. He was always there. I say always, but I guess that’s not true. He moved next door five years ago but it feels like always.

 

 

 

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I haven’t read any of Jenny Han’s books even though one of my friends, Lhea, has been pushing me forever to get her titles (starting with Burn for Burn because she’s just so in-love with that series.) I got around to buying the whole To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy in 2017, and it has been languishing on my shelves since then. (I swear my pile of unread books curse me every time I come home with a paper bag from the bookstore.) But its Netflix movie adaptation, which I loved,  reminded me about these books so I’m doing myself service and am picking them up now (kinda fitting too since it’s February.)

Anyway, that’s it for me today. I swear I’ll be working on my blog extra hard in the next week or so to compensate for the lack of posts the last couple of months. Here’s me wishing all of you a great weekend ahead. May it be filled with equally great books that make your hearts happy.

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Come and join in the fun. Visit Hoarding Books to see what other FLF bloggers has to share.

First Line Fridays: “Open Road Summer” by Emery Lord

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature hosted by Hording Books.

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If you’ve seen my most recent review, you know that I was not quite happy with the last book I’ve finished. I really just needed something happy after it, so I picked up an old favorite – Open Road Summer by Emery Lord.

 

 

The fans scream for her, but they don’t really know the girl on the magazine covers—the girl with the guitar and the easy smile. Her given name is Delilah, and they think she goes by Lilah. But anyone who really knows my best friend calls her Dee.

 

 

 

 

I can’t believe it’s been four years since I read this book. 25-year old me certainly grinned and laughed and swooned a lot when I first read it, so it’s really no surprise that I still have the same reactions to it. Open Road Summer was just that cute!!! 😍😍😍

Still don’t believe me? Here’s one more line to further prove my point:

His eyes are somewhere between gray and blue, and his hair is somewhere between brown and blond, and I am somewhere between hostile and attracted.

Okay, one more (because I just can’t help myself) :

If we could capture feelings like we capture pictures, none of us would ever leave our rooms. It would be so tempting to inhabit the good moments over and over again. But I don’t want to be the kind of person who lives backwardly, who memorializes moments before she’s finished living in them. So I plant my feet here on this hillside beside a boy who is undoing me, and I kiss him back like I mean it. And, God help me, with the sky wrapped around us in every direction, I do mean it.

Swoon 😍😍😍😍😍😍

Sneak this book into your summer reading if you haven’t yet. I definitely recommend putting on some country-era Taylor Swift in the background while you read this book. Trust me, you need this!!!

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Come and join in the fun. Visit Hoarding Books to see what other FLF bloggers has to share. 

 

First Line Fridays: “Ghosted” by Rosie Walsh

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature hosted by Hording Books.

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Hello everyone! It’s Friday again and today I’m going to be sharing the fist line of the book I’m currently reading, Ghosted by Rosie Walsh.

Dear You,

It’s exactly nineteen years since that luminous morning when we smiled and said good-bye. That we would see each other again was never in doubt, was it? It was a question of when, not if. In fact, it wasn’t even a question. The future might have seemed as unsubstantial as the curled edge of a dream, but it unequivocally contained us both. Together.

 

 

 

 

It’s a beautiful line but it is quite misleading. I’m still reading this book, only about halfway through it and am still figuring out the story. Ghosted, from what I’ve read so far, mixes romance with a little bit of mystery. I will review the book once I’m finished.

See you again next Friday!

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Come and join in the fun. Visit Hoarding Books to see what other FLF blogger has to share. 

 

First Line Friday: “Eagle & Crane” by Suzanne Rindell

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature hosted by Hording Books.

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It’s Friday finally! I, for one, couldn’t tell you enough how relieved I am to have reached the work week’s end. I’ve been sick (cough + colds) but I still went to work the whole week. I’m just glad I have the chance to rest and sleep and read this weekend. I admit my body needs it.

This Friday’s line is from I book I finished reading the other day, Eagle and Crane by Suzanne Rindell.

 

 

 

They bump along the country road, rolling through golden hills that are punctuated with granite boulders and dotted with clusters of oak trees that appear blackish green from afar.

 

 

 

 

Eagle and Crane is a historical mystery circling around three friends – Ava, Harry and Louis – and their time with Ava’s stepfather’s barnstorming act. Main event of this book is set during World War II but other important precipitating incidents go as far back as the Great Depression.

I found this book really interesting albeit overlong. I’m going to try and write my review of it this weekend so you all could read what I think of it. Meanwhile, you can check it out on Goodreads.

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Come on and share the first lines of the book you’re reading and then head over to Hoarding Books to see other FLF bloggers.

 

First Line Fridays: “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature hosted by Hording Books.

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Today’s FLF line comes from one of my favorite books from one of my all-time favorite author, Neil Gaiman.

 

 

I wore a black suit and a white shirt, a black tie and black shoes, all polished and shiny: clothes that normally would make me feel uncomfortable, as if I were in a stolen uniform, or pretensing to be an adult.

 

 

 

 

It’s been five years since the last time I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane but still, the story hasn’t left. It’s about a man who comes back to his hometown after being away from it for so long. There he re-discovers things from his childhood which he had forgotten. It left me thinking just how this happens to most of us at one point or another. We grow old and we forget how happy and carefree we once were. We forget the magic we once knew as children.

If you’re interested to read it, here is the link to my review written in 2013. (Wow! It’s been so long. Time flies. 😄)

And, don’t hesitate to comment. I’d love to hear about the first lines of the books you are currently reading.

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