First Lines: July 2012

The first words you read can often set the tone for the entire story.  I thought it would be fun to keep track of the first lines of the books I read each month and share them with you.  Below are the first lines for all the books I read in June.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

"By the time Jazz got to the field outside town, yellow police tape was everywhere, strung from stake to stake in a sort of drunken, off-kilter hexagon." 

The Kitchen Witch by Annette Blair

"Logan Kilgarven plucked a bright red leaf off the sleek black hearse in his neighbor's driveway." 

A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle

"The year began with lunch." 

Scarlett Dedd by Cathy Brett

"I am dead and there's nothing I can do about it."

Rape Girl by Alina Klein

"The police already knew about the party."

The Stone Girl by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

"It is September in New York City and Sarah Beth Weiss has just turned seventeen."

The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton

"This is a love letter.  And a confession." 

Even White Trash Zombies Get The Blues by Diana Rowland

"'So you hiding a body in here or sumthin?'"

 Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday

"There are three things you never want to find in your boyfriend’s locker: a sweaty jockstrap, a D minus on last week’s history test, and an empty condom wrapper."

 The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

"It was as black in the closet as old blood."

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

"Every town in England has a story."

Sh*tty Mom by Laurie Kilmartin, Karen Moline, Alicia Ybarbo, Mary Ann Zoellner

"Children. They want everything you have, and they want it now." 

 Hanging by a Thread by Sophie Littlefield 

 "They say our house is cursed, and maybe it's true."

My favorite line this month came from The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, not only did it provide an immediate reference as to place, but the comparison of darkness to old blood did a wonderful job of setting the tone for this novel.

My least favorite line came from The Stone Girl.  This one just didn't grab me.  However, a few pages in there was a line that would have been PERFECT for the opening:

"There are two things that are true about Sethie: one is that she is always hungry, a mean, angry kind of hunger that feels like a piece of glass in her belly; the other is that she is always missing Shaw." 

This one would have really caught my attention as well as providing an introduction to our main character and a two of her issues.

I would love to see some of your favorite lines for July in the comments below!