First Line Friday 56 || Spooky, Daughter-Stealing Tree, FTW

Posted July 24, 2020 by Sammie in #5OnMyTBR, #amreading, Book Beginnings, First Line Friday, Friday 56 / 17 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.

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Do naught wrong by the mulberry tree,
or she’ll take your daughters …
one,
two,
three.
In the dead of the night, spirited away,
never to see an eleventh birthday


Immy sat in between her parents and watched as the woman in the dark blue suit stacked a pile of folders on her desk.
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“Immy, do you see how carefully you’re holding the hoglets? That’s how you’ve got to hold your father’s heart right now. And then, one day, I think you’ll be surprised. I think that one day—hopefully soon—he’ll be ready to forgive himself for the part he played in what happened, and the world will be there waiting for him.”
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Click To Reveal The Book
The Mulberry Tree

Do naught wrong by the mulberry tree, or she’ll take your daughters … one, two, three.

Ten-year-old Immy and her family run away from their storm cloud of problems to a tiny village in Cambridgeshire, England. When they find an adorable thatched cottage to begin a perfect new life in, the only downside is the ancient, dark and fierce-looking mulberry tree in the back garden. And the legend that comes with it – the villagers say the tree steals away girls living in the cottage on the eve of their eleventh birthday.

Of course, Immy thinks this is ridiculous.

Then she starts to hear a strange song in her head…



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✿ Creepy, old trees are always lots of fun.
✿ Especially when they make little girls disappear.
✿ It has a creepy, foreboding rhyme, like all good spooky books.
✿ Australian protagonist who moved to England!
✿ Father who’s suffering from PTSD.
✿ A manageable level of creepy for us scaredy-cats.
✿ Fun, engaging mystery.
✿ Prose that’s both pretty and easy to get sucked into.

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5

This is a weekly meme hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook meant to take place on Mondays, but since Fridays tend to be my TBR-focused post, I’ve decided to combine them here. Next Monday’s prompt is: sequels.

There are a lot good ones coming up, no surprise, but I’m going to try to focus on ones I haven’t talked about 10,000 times. *cough*TristanStrong*cough*.

Network Effect     TRUEL1F3     The Memory of Souls     The Gryphon's Lair     Harrow the Ninth


I’ve been absolutely loving the Murderbot Diaries, but I have a couple more novellas to get to before I have the chance to read Network Effect, but I am sooo looking forward to it. From everything I’ve heard about it so far, I’m going to love it.

I was supposed to already have read TRUEL1F3 by now, but then life happened and I got flattened by a steamroller, the way 2020 does it lately, and so here we are. I’m planning on reading all the books back to back, and I’ll obviously love it because Kristoff.

I’m actually going to be reading The Memory of Souls soonish for a blog tour I’m on, and I’m so looking forward to it! Haven’t read the series yet, but I read the first few chapters of book one and immediately fell in love, so I knew this was going to be the one. Well … one of the many, if we’re honest.

The Gryphon’s Lair looked so stinking cute that I couldn’t pass it up. It’s a series I definitely need to read.

This last one is one I know I mention a lot, but it’s been a little while since I mentioned it, and I should be reading it soon, and I’m so freaking excited. That, of course, would be Harrow the Ninth, which I suspect will break me into a thousand pieces, but eh, life’s a sacrifice.

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Stay Fierce, Sammie

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17 responses to “First Line Friday 56 || Spooky, Daughter-Stealing Tree, FTW

    • Why are you nervous?! Wait, should I be nervous?! (I did hear several people who loved the first say the second wasn’t as good, but that happens sometimes with second books and “not as good” for a book I loved is still great, sooo … )

  1. I’m currently reading Georgana’s Secret by Arlem Hawks (a very cool name, btw). I’m on chapter 12, so I’ll share the first line from there: “Seawater made poor wash water.” I think I’d have to agree! Hope you have an excellent weekend. 🙂❤📚
    Nicole Santana recently posted…First-Line Friday #145My Profile

  2. Hi Sammie,

    Thanks for visiting Fiction Books today, it was great to ‘meet’ you and comments and discussion are always welcomed and appreciated 🙂

    You and I seem at first glance, to enjoy completely diverse reading genres, as fantasy is never going to be my ‘go to’ choice of story. However, every once in a while, a book will come along which grabs my attention and pulls me in, which is exactly what ‘The Mulberry Tree’ has done. I particularly liked the opening rhyme. The ratings and reviews for the book have been amazing and it is definitely heading for my list!

    Thanks for sharing and don’t trip over that TBR pile 🙂

    Yvonne
    xx

    • So nice to meet you, too, Yvonne! The rhyme is what really caught my attention about this book, too, and it’s light on the fantasy elements, I think. It actually had a ton of heart and read very much like a contemporary, with a few fantastical moments thrown in there. I really enjoyed it, though, and I loved how it handled the father having PTSD!

    • The book really wasn’t as creepy as I thought it would be! There are definite spooky moments, but it’s got a lot of heart and it’s more about finding a place and understanding mixed in with the creepy atmosphere, which I really enjoyed!

    • Creepy trees/forests do it for me every time. I’m not sure why. Probably because I’ve always had woods in my backyard, so it’s like an innate fear for me that the trees will, like, rise up and eat me or something. xD

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