Gripping First Lines || They Got Me Hook, Line, and Sinker

Posted September 17, 2019 by Sammie in chat with me, top ten tuesdays / 31 Comments

It may come as no surprise that I have a really short attention span, and so books have about 30 seconds to grab my attention between the blurb and first lines before I wander off to chase butterflies.

This is assuming, of course, that I find a random book in the wild, not one that came highly recommended or others have been talking about. Say I’m stalking the shelves, looking for a victim. I find one that I think maaaaybe. If the blurb sounds like something I’m interested in, and the first line is a doozy, I will pick it up 10 out of 10 times. Is this shallow? Probably. Also very time efficient.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is supposed to be favorite things to eat/drink while reading, but … I really don’t do either while I read, generally? So look at me, being a rebel and breaking the rules again.

If I’m honest, it’s the one thing I’m really good at! I’m obviously nailing it.

There are some books that capture my attention after a few paragraphs or a few pages in or after the first chapter, but today is dedicated to those rare unicorns that have a first line (or first paragraph) that immediately makes me go, “Yup, I’m gonna read the crap out of this.”

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The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind



The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind


On second thoughts, throwing myself out the window of a skyscraper may not have been the best idea.


Status: Read
Thoughts: Teagan pretty much lives up to her first impressions: impulsive, rash, and oh so deliciously sarcastic. This book starts on a bang, and there’s a lot of action throughout.

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A Study in Brimstone



A Study in Brimstone


The dominion of man is drawing to a close. The age of demons is upon us. This, I recognize, is largely my fault and let me take just a moment to apologize for my part in it. I am very sorry I doomed the world.


Status: Read
Thoughts: I mean, it’s very nice for Watson to start off by apologizing for dooming us all. It shows a certain amount of character. Of course I had to know how exactly he doomed the world. Have I prepped for this?! This is the case where I actually don’t know that it was fully satisfied by this book. I’d say it was half answered in this book, and the rest carried into the remainder of the series, but I do like my series with some sort of underlying thread between them. After all, it takes time to properly doom the world.

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Gideon the Ninth



Gideon the Ninth


In the myriadic year of our lord—the ten thousandth year of the King Undying, the kindly Prince of Death!—Gideon Nav packed her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and she escaped from the House of the Ninth.


Status: Read
Thoughts: From the moment that I realized Gideon’s dirty magazines were considered important enough to pack when running away sorry, storming off with grace and dignity, I knew we’d get along just fine. And we did! I love this line because it’s a perfect epitome of Gideon’s character, right from the get-go. The rest of the beginning was a little slow for me, but I stuck it out because of the promise of loving Gideon in the long run, and I so wasn’t disappointed.

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The Deal of a Lifetime



The Deal of a Lifetime


Hi. It’s your dad. You’ll be waking up soon, it’s Christmas Eve morning in Helsingborg, and I’ve killed a person. That’s not how fairy tales usually begin, I know. But I took a life. Does it make a difference if you know whose it was?


Status: Read
Thoughts: TL;DR: YES IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND MY FEELS HAVEN’T FORGIVEN FREDRIK BACKMAN YET. T_T I mean … how can you read that and walk away? Obviously, I had to know who this guy killed and why. This book was my introduction to Fredrik Backman, and I intend to read it again this year around Christmas, but I definitely fell in love with all the feels he delivers and the little twists and turns and developments he builds into his stories. When you find out whose life it was … well, I was surprised but also cried ugly tears.

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The Astonishing Color of After



The Astonishing Color of After


My mother is a bird. This isn’t like some William Faulkner stream-of-consciousness metaphorical crap. My mother. Is literally. A bird.


Status: Read
Thoughts: Spoiler alert: her mother is a bird. I just loved this because it’s set in the real world, yet the opening lines feel so fantastical, right? It begs the questions of why and how. It beautifully sets up the line that Emily X.R. Pan walks between realism and surrealism.

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Zero Sum Game



Zero Sum Game


I trusted one person in the entire world.
He was currently punching me in the face.


Status: TBR
Thoughts: ADULT SUPERHERO BOOKS! I mean, that’s what got me on the page in the first place, honestly. The blurb sounds interesting, but that opening? I absolutely love the juxtaposition. Plus, the tone makes me believe the main character will be skilled in sarcasm, and I’m all for characters like that.

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Duckett & Dyer: Dicks For Hire



Duckett & Dyer: Dicks For Hire


“Listen, it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever had. And it certainly won’t be the last,” Stephanie Dyer said, just moments away from her death.


Status: TBR
Thoughts: Already, the stakes are so high, right? I mean, I’ve had bad ideas, and then I’ve had worse ideas, but somehow I’ve managed to avoid fatal ideas. Stephanie doesn’t seem to be that lucky at this point. I just really want to know how they messed up so badly, honestly.

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Dead School



Dead School


Ever wonder what happens when you die? Try being stuck in a car with my parents. Or worse, try high school. I was dead by the tenth grade. On the inside, at least.


Status: TBR
Thoughts: Teenage angst alert! But in a fun way, because gosh, I totally feel this character. Also, it’s funny. Also also, I CAN SO RELATE. My parents are still annoying, and I’m obviously dead on the inside. Clearly, this character and I are going to have good times together.

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Nevernight



Nevernight


People often shit themselves when they die.


Status: TBR
Thoughts: This feels like a very Kristoff way to open a book, which makes me love it all the more. First, we’re obviously dealing with lots of stabby, stabby, and that makes me happy! You know, just in case you couldn’t glean that from the assassin on the cover and the mention of assassins in the blurb. Kristoff is obviously pulling no punches in this book. I’m going into this series expecting darker, and this first line definitely gives me hope on that front.

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Sworn to the Night



Sworn to the Night


Carolyn had been kidnapped twice in the past month, which was twice more than most people in a lifetime. Still, she didn’t complain. With a burlap sack over her head and the muzzle of a very large gun pressed against the back of her skull, she didn’t think her latest abductors were interested in hearing her grievances.


Status: TBR
Thoughts: The blurb definitely caught my attention on this one, and the opening just sold it for me. I like the muted sarcasm, the quiet bitterness disguised as acceptance of the situation. Anyone who’s that calm in a situation like that has either, A, been through some stuff (which I would like to read about, please) or, B, prioritizes sarcasm in all situations. Or both. Either way, I definitely want to find out more about Carolyn.

Chat With Me

What are some opening lines that you love, and have you read the book yet or not?

31 responses to “Gripping First Lines || They Got Me Hook, Line, and Sinker

  1. Love these! And I completely agree with the books I’ve read. I knew as soon as I read the first sentence of The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t that I was going to be in for a crazy ride😁

    • Yes! I love when you can tell just from the first line that you’re going to love a book. It doesn’t often happen for me, so it’s extra special when it does.

    • It really is! It’s not a linear story, but it’s just a novella and is written sort of as a letter to this man’s son. So as long as you don’t mind that, it was a super quick read, and I will always forever recommend everything of Backman’s anyway.

  2. Omg Sammie these are ALL AWESOME! The Astonishing Color is obviously big love. And YO, YOU NEED TO READ NEVERNIGHT! Sorry, all caps. Can you tell I’m excited? You’ve got no idea how much stabstabstab you’re in for with this series! It’s amazing haha I also now really want to read all of these books because their opening lines have definitely snagged my attention, especially the Backman book! What an opening 😱

    My TTT post

    • I KNOW I DO, BUT I REFUSE TO DO SO UNTIL I HAVE DARKDAWN IN MY GRUBBY PAWS BECAUSE I REFUSE TO SUFFER WAITING FOR IT. I’m also excited, and my birthday is at the end of the month, so I’m hoping hubby will take the millions of hints I’ve dropped him and buy it for me. xD

    • Please doooo. Steal them all. The more, the merrier. 😉 I’ve seen First Line Friday posts, but I guess I never really knew what the meme was about or anything like that. xD

    • I’m going to be honest and say I didn’t pick them off the top of my head. xD I sort of thought of my favorite books and then thought about whether they had good first lines. And that got me about three books. The rest, I winged it and checked Goodreads LOL.

      • LOL, okay that makes sense! 😀 Still, I want to be better at thinking about whether a book’s first line is good — and a good fit for the book! Sometimes a great first line just doesn’t fit the rest of the book.

        • That’s also true, and I find that so frustrating! Luckily, I haven’t come across it too often, but sometimes the beginning just doesn’t quite match the rest, and then I feel cheated, like it was almost just a ploy to get a reader’s attention and then here’s the real story I wanted to tell instead.

  3. Love this post of course! My favorite first lines are the ones that are a bit sarcastic or sort of grim so Zero Sum Game has caught my attention now.

    • Ahhh I should! Maybe. I actually don’t know anything about First Line Friday except that I see it around, and I guess I always assume it’s for, like, your current read or an upcoming read? And I don’t know about you, but I read a lot of stuff with dull beginnings LOL.

  4. I so enjoyed reading this post! Loved it!
    I haven’t read any of these books yet but I’m looking forward to get a copy of Fredrik Backman’s The Deal of a Lifetime. I’ve read two of his works before and both got 5 stars from me. 🙂
    I would really love to read Dead School, as well. It’s a really gripping first line!

    Anyways, some of the books that got me hooked by their first lines (and was continuously hooked to the end) are:
    The Sympathizer – “I AM A SPY, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces.”
    Memories of My Melancholy Whores – “The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin.”
    Cain – “When the lord, also known as god, realised that adam and eve, although perfect in every outward aspect, could not utter a word or make even the most primitive of sounds, he must have felt annoyed with himself, for there was no one else in the garden of eden whom he could blame for this grave oversight, after all, the other animals, who were, like the two humans, the product of his divine command, already had a voice of their own, be it a bellow, a roar, a croak, a chirp, a whistle or a cackle.”

    • I so recommend everything by Backman! I don’t know which books of his you’ve read, but his novellas are a little less structured than his novels, in that they tend to have more fluid and non-linear timelines.

      Oh, those are some great first lines! Who’s Cain by?

  5. I am a sucker for a good opening line, too. A couple of mine are from Daughter of Smoke and Bone:

    “Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.
    It did not end well.”

    Happy reading!

    • OMG I LOVE THAT! I still haven’t read that series. T_T I’m hoping to get to it in December, though, since I have, like, no ARCs for that month (thank goodness) and can hopefully catch up on some things. :3

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