First Lines Friday 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 Line:
“The flickering torchlight twisted my fellow villagers’ faces into furious masks, but it was the sanguine glisten of blood that caused my stomach to knot.”
Do you recognize the line?
Here’s a hint:
It’s a new romantasy.
Still not sure? Here’s another hint:
It’s written by Jessie Mihalik.
The First Lines Friday book is:
Silver & Blood
Title: Silver & Blood
Author: Jessie Mihalik
Series: Silver & Blood #1
Page Length: 448
Pub. Date: Jan. 27, 2026
Publisher: Avon
Synopsis: On a deadly mission to kill the mythical beast that has been haunting her woods, a desperate mage finds her fate intertwined with the handsome and powerful man who saves her.
There’s something in the woods…
Untrained and barely armed, Riela reluctantly agrees to enter the forest and kill the deadly beast that has been attacking her fellow villagers as she’s the only mage available—or so she thought. When one beast turns into two, she fears her death is at hand, but unexpected aid from a scarred, strikingly handsome man with dangerous moonlit magic means a second chance at life—and an opportunity to learn more about her own fickle power.
After being rescued and healed from her fight in the forest, Riela awakens in a magical castle complete with a gorgeous library, a strange wolf, and the surly man who saved her life. Riela soon learns Garrick is not a mortal mage at all—he’s a powerful Etheri sovereign who has been locked out of his kingdom in Lohka for nearly a century, and his powers are weakening.
Trapped in his castle and surrounded by the treacherous woods, the spark of attraction between Riela and Garrick slowly ignites into fiery desire. But the more they discover about Riela’s magic, the more suspicious Garrick grows of her identity. As they unravel the secrets connecting Riela’s past to Lohka, the tenuous threads of trust between them begin to fray because Riela’s life—or her death—might be the key to regaining everything Garrick has lost.
LiNKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
Have you read Silver & Blood? What do you think of the first line? Comment below!
