“It all started with the red sneakers.”
First of all, I know it‘s not Friday, but I‘m a little late.
Second of all, this is technically not the first line in the book. There is a little blurb about the house that comes first, but it isn‘t labeled as a chapter, so I would count this line as the first line. It‘s a better first line anyway.

The revolution is in full swing. But will the new faction of rebels be able to abolish the practice of Unwinding for good? Or will they be captured and subjected to the practice against their will?
I really enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend it.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mitch‘s wife, Holly, has been kidnapped, and Mitch must scrounge up $2 million to save her. He is willing to go to the ends of the earth to bring his wife home. But how far is too far? What would you do to save the one you love?
I loved this book; it wasn‘t my favorite of his, but it definitely had twists and turns that I didn‘t see coming. It had me on the edge of my seat. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Detectives Carson O‘Connor and Michael Maddison must save the world from a band of monsters called the New Race, engineered by Victor Helios a.k.a. Frankenstein.
I haven‘t been enjoying this book series nearly so much as his Odd Thomas series. I do like the relationship between Carson and Michael but I don‘t think it‘s enough to sustain the series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was jam-packed with adventure and intrigue. It had me on the edge of my seat. The only criticism I had was that there was so much action that I sometimes got confused as to what was happening and to whom.

“A man begins dying at the moment of his birth.”

“You have never been so hungry; you have never been so cold.”

“It lived only to kill.”

“The gunman is useless.”

“An entire world hummed and bustled beyond the dark ramparts of the mountains, yet to Lindsay Harrison the night seemed empty, as hollow as the vacant chambers of a cold, dead heart.”

“Brightness fell from the air, nearly as tangible as rain.”

Dominick Corvaisis went to sleep under a light wool blanket and a crisp white sheet, sprawled alone in his bed, but he woke elsewhere - in the darkness at the back of the large foyer closet, behind concealing coats and jackets.

“‘How did you fall in love with her?‘ the boy asks.”
“‘She got lost in my heart, I think. Couldn‘t find her way out. Your grandmother always had a terrible sense of direction She could get lost on an escalator.‘”
“‘Never in my life have I asked myself how I fell in love with her, . . . Only the other way around.‘”

“Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space.”

The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years - if it ever did end - began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain.

I moved forward, out of the blackest sleep, to find myself surrounded by doctors . . . American doctors.

“In these dungeons the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind.”

“I still remember the day my father took me to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time.”

“In the dark, Joanna Rand went to the window.”

“The snow started to fall several hours before her labor began.”

“It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.”

“124 was spiteful. Full of a baby‘s venom.”

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

“I woke to the sound of a mosquito whining in my left ear and my mother screeching in the right.”

“This far below Emond‘s Field, halfway to the Waterwood, trees lined the banks of the Winespring Water.”

“My mother was raised on fairy tales, but I was raised on highways “

“Only four blocks from the furnished apartment in Philadelphia, with more than three thousand miles to drive before they joined Courtney in San Francisco, Colin began one of his games.”

The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call “out there.”

The cold snap of the previous week was over; the sun was shining brightly as Clary hurried across Luke‘s dusty front yard, the hood of her jacket up to keep her hair from blowing across her face.

A LITTLE LATE . . .

“Anthony Bridgerton had always known he would die young.”

While I was still in Amsterdam, I dreamed about my mother for the first time in years.

I read the whole trilogy and loved every second of it. You know the author‘s doing something right when your favorite character is a torturer working for the Inquisition. Somehow he made him sympathetic. I also liked the fact that Glokta was once tortured himself and is now doing the torturing. It has a certain symmetry to it. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Full of twists and turns that I won‘t go into here because I don‘t want to spoil anything. All I‘m going to say is, Who is holding the strings? 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

I can‘t say much about this book, because I don‘t want to ruin the twist for anyone who hasn‘t read it yet. I will say that the book is about Miles, a teenage boy who enrolls in boarding school in search of the “Great Perhaps.” He makes friends, falls in love, and is forced to navigate through the labyrinth of life and loss. This book was also made into a TV series on Hulu. Love the book; love the series so far. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is about a boy who travels with his grandmother to the Amazon to investigate the legendary Beast. There, he becomes friends with their guide‘s daughter Nadia and a local Indian tribe and discovers a plan to exterminate the Indians. It was boring in parts, but the end was well worth it. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

This book is actually a compilation of short stories; I tried to finish it. I really enjoyed the first story, and I loved Margaret Atwood‘s book Alias Grace. After the first short story, though, it went downhill for me. At certain points, I was bored, and at others I was horrified by how the characters interacted with one another. I guess I should have figured; the subtitle of the book is Nine Wicked Tales. ⭐️

I enjoyed the premise of this book where a widow comes to terms with her husband‘s death through letters he wrote her before he died. I just don‘t think the writing was very good and the main character Holly‘s wallowing and lack of sensitivity for her friends‘ lives annoyed me. Looking forward to watching the movie though; at least Hilary Swank and Lisa Kudrow are in it. ⭐️⭐️

On clear winter nights, I have stood on mountains just to be closer to the stars.

I really loved this book. Despite the potential cheesy romance factor, I thought it was actually very well written. It kept my interest until the very end. I was really rooting for Alex and Brittany to get together despite all the obstacles in their way. Do they? Well, you'll just have to see for yourself. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get into it. I think the best part was the first sentence, the one I posted for First Line Fridays. After that, things quickly went downhill from there. Phoebe Somerville is a spoiled little rich girl basically disowned by her father, and I could drudge up little sympathy for her character with the exception of the scene in which she was raped and the aftermath when no one believed her. I'll pass! 🌟

Phoebe Somerville outraged everyone by bringing a French poodle and a Hungarian lover to her father‘s funeral.

I enjoyed this book in parts; I know that it was made into a movie which I am planning on watching tomorrow. It was a really heartbreaking and unbelievable story. I just found it somewhat boring; the narrator, Solomon Northup, spent way too much time describing picking cotton and harvesting sugar cane. I know that that was his life, but I think shortening the description would have been more beneficial. 🌟🌟🌟

I really enjoyed this book. It was boring in parts, but every time I was about to set it down for good, it would get really exciting again. It also hit a little close to home, what with the global pandemic we are having to deal with right now. But that didn't really bother me. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I thought that this book was okay, but I found myself getting very confused. The book kept going from present day to six years earlier and three different trials took place throughout the book and I couldn't keep track of who was on trial for whose death. And, while the ending was quite the twist, I don't think that it made up for the confusion and mediocrity of the rest of the book. 🌟🌟🌟

I read the e-book that comes before this book, The Strange Case of Finley Jayne and I really enjoyed it. This book, however, just bored me. I could never really get into it, and it had several grammatical errors that I felt compelled to correct. I found myself spending more time correcting the errors than just enjoying the book. And reading, after all, should be a joyful pastime. 🌟🌟

I loved this book. The book was about a young woman, Adah, during the Great Depression who marries a man named Lester Branch only to find out that he is a very abusive man. In an attempt to protect herself one night, she ends up killing him during a terrible rainstorm. She dumps him in the river and tells her in-laws that he was washed away by the river. She realizes with her in-laws that her horrors are only just beginning. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Dawn streaked along the horizon like the burning wick of a candle, and the night dripped waxen into the sea.

I thought this was a very good beginning to The Steampunk Chronicles series. It was a quick read, since it is just a short e-book, so if you are looking for something fast and entertaining, then I would highly recommend this book. It is of course in the steampunk genre, so it combines elements of technology and industry with science fiction elements. I would check out the series. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

For those who don't know, this is actually a play. It centers around Nora and Torvald, a couple who are happy on the surface, but underneath carry secrets that could destroy their relationship. I thought it was pretty good; I just thought Nora's view of her marriage changed quite drastically very quickly. It was quite progressive for its time, though; at that time, you didn't often see unsatisfactory marriages or any mention of divorce. 🌟🌟🌟