Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Avalon (Avalon #1) by Mindee Arnett

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week:  Avalon by Mindee Arnett

“STEALING A SPACESHIP SHOULDN’T BE THIS EASY.

Jeth Seagrave peered around the corner and counted the number of sentries standing at the terminal into the docking bay. There were two of them, both sporting the tan uniforms of local guards, with matching bored expressions.

He slipped back before being spotted. Around him, Kordan Spaceport’s massive concourse, filled with restaurants, shops, and hotels, was mostly empty of people. Even in space, there was such a thing as nighttime.”

~ p. 1 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles #1) by Joseph Delaney

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney

“THE highest point in the County is marked by mystery. It is said that a man died there in a great storm. while binding an evil that threatened the whole world. Then the ice came again, and when it retreated. even the shapes of the hills and the names of the towns in the valleys were changed now. At that highest point on the fells. no trace remains of what was done so long ago. But its name has endured. “They call it – The Wardstone.”

~ p. 1 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: The Prey (The Hatchery #1) by Tom Isbell

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week: The Prey (The Hatchery #1) by Tom Isbell

“BLOOD. Purpling. Coagulating before his eyes.

Darkness presses against the outer reaches of his periphery, narrowing his vision. The world grows dim.

He reaches out a hand against the blood-smeared wall. Fingers squealing on tiles. Tries to call for help but the words get strangled in his throat. He collapses to the floor. Eyes land on a knife, its razor edge trimmed in red. Blood. His blood.

Darkness closing in. The world reduced to a pinprick. Fatigue washes over him like a summer storm.

My final moments, he realizes. All come down to this.”

~ p. 1 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: The Martian by Andy Weir

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week: The Martian by Andy Weir

“I’m pretty much fucked. 

That’s my considered opinion. 

Fucked.

Six days into what should be the greatest two months of my life, and it’s turned into a nightmare.

I don’t even know who’ll read this. I guess someone will find it eventually. Maybe a hundred years from now. ”

~ p. 1 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week:  Vicious by V.E. Schwab

“VICTOR readjusted the shovels on his shoulder and stepped gingerly over an old, half-sunken grave. His trench billowed faintly, brushing the tops of tombstones as he made his way through Merit Cemetery, humming as he went. The sound carried like wind through the dark. It made Sydney shiver in her too big coat and her rainbow leggings and her winter boots as she trudged along behind him. The two looked like ghosts as they wove through the graveyard, both blond and fair enough to pass for siblings, or perhaps father and daughter. They were neither, but the resemblance certainly came in handy since Victor couldn’t very well tell people he’d picked up the girl on the side of a rain-soaked road a few days before. He’d just broken out of jail. She’d just been shot. A crossing of fates, or so it seemed. In fact, Sydney was the only reason Victor was beginning to believe in fate at all.”

~ p. 1 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: How to Run with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week:  How to Run with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

“If Gordie Fugate didn’t hurry the hell up and pick out a cereal, I was going to bludgeon him with a canned ham.

I didn’t mind working at Emerson’s Dry Goods, but I was wrapping up a sixteen-hour shift. My back ached. My stiff green canvas apron was chafing my neck. And one of the Glisson twins had dropped a gallon jar of mayo on my big toe earlier. I hadn’t been this exhausted since doing an emergency rotation during my medical residency. The only nice thing I could say about working at Emerson’s was that the owner hadn’t asked for photo identification when I applied, eliminating an awful lot of worry for my undocumented self. Also, I usually dealt with less blood.

Unless, of course, I did bludgeon Gordie with the ham, which would result in a serious amount of cleanup in aisle five.”

~ p. 1 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week:  Brilliance by Marcus Sakey  

““The radio host had said there was a war coming, said it like he was looking forward to it, and Cooper, coatless and chilly in the desert evening, was thinking that the radio man was an asshole.

He’d chased Vasquez for nine days now. Someone had warned the programmer just before Cooper got to the Boston walk-up, a brick rectangle where the only light had been a window onto an airshaft and the glowing red eyes of power indicators on computers and routers and surge protectors. The desk chair had been against the far wall as if someone had leaped out of it, and steam still rose from an abandoned bowl of ramen.

Vasquez had run, and Cooper had followed.”

~ p. 1 

“The heavy door of interview room four muffled the shouting within, rendering the words indistinct. But through the window Cooper could see Dickinson leaning over the table, one hand planted knuckles down, the other up and pointing, inches from the face of a man with the same cheekbones and brow line as Alex Vasquez. Dickinson was stabbing the air with his finger, jamming it back and forth as if he were pushing a button.

Using the shouting as cover, Cooper gently opened the door and slipped inside, catching it with one hand as it closed and easing it shut.

“—had better come clean with me, do you hear? Because this isn’t some speeding ticket. It’s not an eight ball of blow. You’re looking at terrorism charges, my friend. I will vanish you. Just,” Dickinson straightened, held his hands out in front of him and stared at them in mock bewilderment, “where’d he go? Wasn’t there a guy here a minute ago? Some twist lover? Poof, he’s gone, no one knows where, never seen again.” He leaned forward again. “Do you hear me?”

“I hear you,” Cooper said.

The agent whirled, one hand blurring to his empty holster. Man, he’s fast. When he saw Cooper, he looked briefly sheepish, but that faded quickly, buried by naked dislike. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Yeah? What?” Cooper spared a glance at Bryan Vasquez, saw no sign he’d try something stupid, so turned his attention back to Dickinson. “What exactly are you in the middle of? Which case? Who’s the target?”

Dickinson gave a wolfish smile. “Just following a lead. Never know where it’s going to go.” The other agent squared up to him. “Until I get there. ”

~ p. 56 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell  

“There was a boy in her room.
Cath looked up at the number painted on the door, then down at the room assignment in her hand.
Pound Hall, 913.
This was definitely room 913, but maybe it wasn’t Pound Hall—all these dormitories looked alike, like public housing towers for the elderly. Maybe Cath should try to catch her dad before he brought up the rest of her boxes.”

~ p. 1 

“Reagan was staring at Cath now, frowning. She was wearing tight black jeans and a black top. Maybe she was going out, not to work.
“Your trash can is full of energy bar wrappers,” Reagan said.
“You were looking through my trash?” Cath felt a rush of anger.
“Levi was looking for a place to spit out his gum.… So? Do you have an eating disorder?”
“No,” Cath said, pretty sure it was exactly what she’d say if she did have an eating disorder.
“Then why don’t you eat real food?”
“I do.” Cath clenched her fists. Her skin felt drawn and tight. “Just. Not here.”
“Are you one of those freaky eaters?”
“No. I—” Cath looked up at the ceiling, deciding that this was one of those times when the truth would be simpler than a lie. “—I don’t know where the dining hall is.”

~ p. 56 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: The 100 (The Hundred #1) by Kass Morgan

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week: The 100 (The Hundred #1) byKass Morgan  

“The door slid open, and Clarke knew it was time to die.

Her eyes locked on the guard’s boots, and she braced for the rush of fear, the flood of desperate panic. But as she rose up onto her elbow, peeling her shirt from the sweat-soaked cot, all she felt was relief.

“She’d been transferred to a single after attacking a guard, but for Clarke, there was no such thing as solitary. She heard voices everywhere. They called to her from the corners of her dark cell. They filled the silence between her heartbeats. They screamed from the deepest recesses of her mind. It wasn’t death she craved, but if that was the only way to silence the voices, then she was prepared to die.”

~ p. 1 

“But I still don’t understand.” Luke shot a glance over his shoulder at Camille, who had given up pretending that she wasn’t paying attention. “Why were you Confined in the first place?”

Glass looked away, unable to meet his eyes as her brain raced for an explanation. She couldn’t tell him, not now, not when he’d moved on. Not when it was so obvious he didn’t feel the same way for her.

“I can’t talk about it,” she said quietly. “You wouldn’t underst—”

“It’s fine.” Luke cut her off sharply. “You’ve made it clear that there are lots of things I can’t understand.”

For the briefest of moments, Glass wished she’d stayed on the dropship with Clarke and Wells. Although she was standing next to the boy she loved, she couldn’t imagine feeling any lonelier on the abandoned Earth than she did right now.”

~ p. 56 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week: Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano 

“Most scientific laws can be boiled down to a simple mathematical if-then equation. If you follow the rules, then you get the desired result. If you deviate, then there is a consequence. The rules of law don’t concern themselves with why.

My mother really only had three rules: A) no bad grades, B) no trouble, and C) no touching. A + B + C = admission to a good college. In her mind, this was an incontrovertible direct mathematical proof. It wasn’t a theory. It was the only possible outcome.

I used to believe that too. But that was before I started to wonder why. Sometimes, the only way to find a solution is to break the rules.”

~ p. 1 

“Oleksa’s clear gray eyes revealed nothing as he glanced at their faces, then at the cash. “Deal,” he said. He didn’t move. Simply inclined his head and gestured with a quick curl of his long fingers. “Give to me.”

Eric withdrew a Rubik’s cube from the pockets of his baggy shorts. He grinned, twisting the sides of the puzzle until it was a jumble of random colors. Another boy drew up a sleeve and poised his watch in the air, fingers twitching over the stop mechanism. Oleksa’s eyes met theirs. He didn’t blink.

“Ten seconds,” the timer said, shuffling from foot to foot. “Starting . . . now!”

Oleksa caught the cube and his fingers flashed over the surface in quick successive turns, each pass aligning the colors with increasing accuracy. My heart sped up as I counted down in my head.

“There’s no way . . .” Eric clenched his hands, glancing at his money. “The world record is just under seven.” I rocked forward, inching up on my toes for a better look. The timer looked from Oleksa to his watch. “Five . . . four . . . three . . .”

Oleksa gave the cube a final turn and slammed it down on the desk between them.

“I win,” he said.” 

~ p. 56 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds #1) by Alexandra Bracken

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week: The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken 

““GRACE SOMERFIELD WAS THE FIRST TO DIE.

The first in my fourth grade class, at least. I’m sure that by then, thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of kids had already up and gone the same way she had. People were slow to piece it all together—or, at least, they had figured out the right way to keep us in the dark long after kids started dying.”

~ p. 1 

“Sam called it “forced recess”—they let us out of our cabins, and the work wasn’t difficult or tiring like it was in the Garden, but no one wanted to be there.

Especially when bullies came to the playground.

I knew he was standing behind me long before I heard him start counting the finished, shiny shoes in front of me. He smelled like spiced meat and car oil, which already was an unsettling combination before a whiff of cigarette smoke was added to the mix. I tried to straighten my back under the weight of his gaze, but it felt like he had taken two fists and dug the knuckles deep between my shoulder blades.” 

~ p. 56 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

“XTC was no good for drowning out the morons at the back of the bus.
Park pressed his headphones into his ears.
Tomorrow he was going to bring Skinny Puppy or the Misfits. Or maybe he’d make a special bus tape with as much screaming and wailing on it as possible.”

~ p. 1 

“Eleanor looked like her mother through a fish tank. Rounder and softer. Slurred. Where her mother was statuesque, Eleanor was heavy. Where her mother was finely drawn, Eleanor was smudged.
After five kids, her mother had breasts and hips like a woman in a cigarette ad. At sixteen, Eleanor was already built like she ran a medieval pub.” 

~ p. 56 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Flowers for Algernon

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event, hosted by Rose City Reader:

Rules

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

"The Friday 56" is a weekly event, hosted by Freda's Voice:

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post to Freda's Voice's Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.


My Pick This Week: 

Book Title: Flowers for Algernon

Author: Daniel Keyes

Genres: Classic, Science Fiction

Release Date: May 1, 2005 (first published 1966)