First Line Friday 56 || The Damsel in Distress We Deserve

Posted December 27, 2019 by Sammie in #amreading, Book Beginnings, First Line Friday, Friday 56 / 33 Comments

It’s time to play “guess that book” and also watch our TBRs weep.

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and is all about the first line of a current/upcoming read. Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda’s Voice, where you turn to page 56 (or 56%) in what you’re reading a find a snippet that jumps out at you.

First Lines



There is blood under my fingernails. I wonder how many of my people I’ve killed this time.


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56% Snippet



Every time something happens here, the stakes seem to grow larger.
Your family left us to that monster.
While I’m standing there staring at him with a dry mouth and trembling hands, the man is bleeding to death on the cobblestones.


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Book Reveal



Click To Reveal The Book
A Curse So Dark and Lonely

Fall in love, break the curse.

It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.



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Reasons to Read



✿ The damsel in distress we all deserve.
✿ You know, the one who swings a pipe on their would-be kidnapper,
✿ Because kidnapping isn’t cool, people. As if that has to be said.
✿ Beauty & the Beast retelling. But, you know, darker.
✿ Strong female lead who just happens to have cerebral palsy.
✿ Which obviously is not going to stop her from being bad-ass.
✿ Compelling slow-burn romance full of adorableness and stabbiness.

Chat With Me

What’s your first line (or a favorite line) from what you’re reading this week?

33 responses to “First Line Friday 56 || The Damsel in Distress We Deserve

    • It’s definitely a strong note to start on. xD Not exactly the opening I was expecting from a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but I love it.

  1. can I just say that I love the way you format your posts?? it’s so aesthetically pleasing 😍

    i’ve heard so many great things about this book and I need to just finally read it.

    • Thank you! I’m glad people seem to like it. xD I have such a hard time trying to decide how to format things, because I’m not very artsy haha.

      You really, really do! It took me foreverrrr to finally get to this (and honestly, I probably would’ve waited longer if I didn’t get an ARC of the sequel), but it was so good!

  2. I’ve heard so many different things about this book… love and hate not much in the middle. I tend to love those kind of books lol

    But this involves a prince…. grrr

    You’ll have to give me the romance vs darkness level lol

    • Okay, so, imagine a prince … of a desolate kingdom that’s falling apart, taunted by an evil witch, and with a level of cunning that’s just a few levels below Kaz.

      Also, a damsel in distress who waits for no one to save her because she’ll do it herself, thank you very much.

      As for the ratio … there’s death, death everywhere. And the romance is NOT what you would expect from a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I was pleasantly surprised.

      Read it.

  3. Happy holidays!

    Today on my blog I’m sharing the first few lines from The Perfect Christmas by Bell Renshaw: https://christianfictiongirl.blog/2019/12/26/first-line-friday-116/. I’m currently reading Veiled in Smoke by Jocelyn Green so I’ll share a line from there.

    “It was a lie, Meg had realized years ago, that the end of the war meant the end of suffering.”

    Hope you have an excellent weekend filled with awesome reading time. 😊❤📖

  4. I really need to move this book up higher on my TBR list. I love Beauty and the Beast retellings, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this one. And with those snippets you shared? Oh my! I’m hooked! Thanks for sharing! Hope you have an awesome weekend! 🙂

    • I hope you love it! I was lucky enough to get an ARC of it and dove in soon as I finished this one. It’s not quite what I expected (I don’t know what I expected), but I’m enjoying it so far.

    • This definitely was a heck of a lot darker than the original (which was Disney, so … fair). I loved it, though. The prince is in distress FOR SURE. xD

    • Thank you! I like to try to guess what sort of book it is from the first line, so I thought the reveal thing would be fun. :3

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