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!
Happy Friday everyone! I hope everyone’s week was lovely. We’re all over here healing up from a week long cold that had us all feeling icky. This is the time of year when we always get a little bit of a cold as we move from Summer into Fall/Winter. On top of that, this week was our back to school week and the kids had such a great time getting back into the swing of things. We keep our homeschool schedule very light with only one subject a day and plenty of time for play and learning.
My reading this week has been fantastic and I’m excited to share the first lines from the thriller mystery I’m currently finishing that releases next week. If you like to read stuff with super creepy vibes then you’ll love this one and just in time for Halloween!
Now onto FIRST LINES FRIDAY!
“Want a great deal on a house?
BUY ONE WHERE SOMEONE WAS MURDERED!
Here’s the killer truth: A brutal murder can slash the price by as much as 50%. But would YOU do it? Bestselling author Sarah Slade would!”
First Lines Friday reveal…….
The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin
This book has been SO CREEPY to read with all the “murder house” vibes it has going. Plus, the main character Sarah Slade isn’t everything she’s cracked up to be and maybe her and this haunted murder house are more alike than we realize! I don’t know yet for sure, but if you like to be a little bit scared and a lot intrigued by a thriller, then check this one out because it’s got me hanging on every chapter trying to unravel what’s about to happen. But don’t mind those sounds in the attic.. it’s nothing… right??
Most people wouldn’t buy an infamous murder house to renovate for fun . . . but Sarah Slade is not most people.
“This debut novel deftly explores our shadows—the dark parts of ourselves we don’t want others to see. I couldn’t stop reading.”—Julia Bartz, New York Times bestselling author of The Writing Retreat
A therapist and self-help writer with all the answers, Sarah Slade has just bought a gorgeous Victorian in the community of her dreams. Turns out, you can get a killer deal on a house where someone was murdered. Plus, renovating Black Wood House makes for great blog content and a decent distraction from her failing marriage. Good thing nobody knows that her past is just as filthy as the bloodstain on her bedroom floor.
But the renovations are fast becoming a nightmare. Sarah imagined custom avocado wallpaper, massive profits, and an appreciative husband who wants to share her bed again. Instead, the neighbors hate her guts and her husband still sleeps on the couch. And though the builders attempt to cover up Black Wood’s horrifying past, a series of bizarre accidents, threatening notes, and unexplained footsteps in the attic only confirms for Sarah what the rest of the town already knew: Something is very wrong in that house.
With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it, her sense of reality. But as she peels back the curling wallpaper and discovers the house’s secrets, she realizes that the deadly legacy of Black Wood House has only just begun.
Adventures in Literature 
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