
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
- Finally… reveal the book!
First Lines:
The knock at my door can mean only one of two things. I’ve finally been discovered and should prepare for my immediate shipment to a kortuga, a prison in the middle of a freezing wasteland. Or I’ve got another mission.
Neither sounds appealing.
Do you recognize the lines?

Hint: It’s a book by Jessica Rubinkowski.

Still not sure? Here’s another hint: It’s a new ya fantasy!

The First Lines Friday book is:
The Bright and the Pale by Jessica Runbinkowski

Title: The Bright & The Pale
Author: Jessica Rubinkowski
Page Length: 368
Publication Date: Mar. 2, 2021
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Valeria is one of the only survivors of the freeze, a dark magical hold Knnot Mountain unleashed over her village. Everyone, including her family, is trapped in an unbreakable sheet of ice. Ever since, she’s been on the run from the Czar, who is determined to imprison any who managed to escape. Valeria finds refuge with the Thieves Guild, doing odd jobs with her best friend Alik, the only piece of home she has left.
That is, until he is brutally murdered.
A year later, she discovers Alik is alive and being held against his will. To buy his freedom, she must lead a group of cutthroats and thieves on a perilous expedition to the very mountain that claimed her family. Only something sinister slumbers in the heart of Knnot.
And it has waited years for release.
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Have you read The Bright and the Pale? What do you think of the first lines? Comment below!
Ohhhhh those first lines are intriguing!!
I agree! 🙂
Sounds pretty good.
I’ve been loving YA fantasies lately!
Ooooo I love this! This book is on my TBR! Great post!
I hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
Those lines sound do interesting!!!
Totally. I love books that grip you from the first lines!
Those first lines sure hook a reader, Very intriguing.
I agree! 🙂
That definitely sounds very intriguing!
Right! I love the first lines!
I haven’t read it but it’s on my TBR!
Nice! I hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
This sounds so interesting! And I love the Schitt’s Creek gifs!!
Thanks! I love that show! lol
Ugh, I can’t wait to read this book. I’m still waiting for my copy to arrive 🙈
That stinks! I hope you get it soon!
I’m like, 99% certain its coming in a book box, so I really hope I’m right LOL otherwise I need to order a copy 😂 or i just need to download the audiobook. 🙈
That happened to me with ACOSF. I didn’t get it soon enough so I bought the ebook. lol
LOL me with JLA’s Blood and Ash series – I preorder the ebook so I can start it right away as I wait for the physical copy 🙈