First Lines Friday | 7/5/24 – Adventures in Literature

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!

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Today’s First Lines Friday book is one that is near and dear to my heart. I read this book back in 2021 and loved it so much that I fell in love with every book from this author. It really hits all the key notes of a wonderful romantic story and the characters are impressively written. It’s easy to get lost in this one and it’s part of a series of stand alone novels that you can enjoy each one. There are easter eggs from the other books in each subsequent one, but you can also them read them as stand alone if you prefer.

Question of the Day

How is your reading going so far this year? Got any favorite books to recommend?

Let me know in the comments below!

Now onto FIRST LINES FRIDAY!

“The second he walks into the lake house, I notice him. Not because he is a sight to behold, with his short hair the color of mesquite and angular jaw that could’ve been carved from marble, although I admit those traits are enjoyable. No, my attention has been capture by my response to him: the lurch of my stomach, the erratic beating of my heart, the goose bumps covering every inch of my flesh. Is this what magic feels like?”

First Lines Friday reveal…….

The Patriot by Jennifer Millikin

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Author Jennifer Millikin delivers an emotional and riveting small town, second chance romance about a broken man and the woman who can fix him, if only he’ll let her.

I’m a soldier.
A cattle rancher.
A Hayden.

My family’s legacy is spread out in front of me, just waiting for me to seize it. If it weren’t for one outdated rule, I’d be the owner of the Hayden Cattle Company and my aging father could retire.

When Dakota Wright shows up to buy and develop twenty acres of Hayden land, I see more than a pretty mouth and strawberry blonde hair. I see a way around the decree keeping me from getting what I want.

And, as luck would have it, Dakota has a big problem of her own. We strike two deals: one for the land, and a second that’ll make both our problems a distant memory.

It isn’t too long before I realize I’m in over my head. I’ve convinced myself the ends should justify the means, but everything begins to fall apart when my birthright is no longer all that I’m after.

I never thought there’d be anything I could love more than my ranch and my country.
I was wrong.

Turns out, I want it all.
Including her.