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 Lines:
“He was too pretty to die. Not technically true, but who gave a tinker’s damn about truth when one’s brain matter was jostling about like a poorly sprung carriage?”
Do you recognize the lines?
Here’s a hint:
It’s a new historical romance.
Still not sure? Here’s another hint:
It’s written by Manda Collins.
The First Lines Friday book is:
A Wallflower’s Guide to Viscounts and Vice
Title: A Wallflower’s Guide to Viscounts and Vice
Author: Manda Collins
Series: A Wallflower’s Guide #1
Page Length: 320
Pub. Date: April 22, 2025
Publisher: Forever
Synopsis: A sunshine spinster and a grumpy viscount use their fake engagement to solve a murder mystery in the first book of a new series from Manda Collins.
A wallflower by choice, wealthy Lucy Penhallow would rather sit out the dancing all season than listen to false flattery from the fortune hunters who pursue her. But when she and her best friend’s brother witness a crime in progress, they’ll need to put every skill Lucy’s learned from reading detective stories to the test in their hunt for a missing woman. And if Viscount Gilford happens to be handsome as sin and clever to boot? Well, that’s no hardship for her.
Viscount Gilford needs a wife to save him from financial ruin, and there’s only one heiress who’s off limits. So when he and Lucy find themselves inextricably linked in the tabloids, it’s a disaster. As their investigation progresses, their once unwelcome alliance becomes something more—a love match neither will give up. But there’s a killer watching their romance from the wings who’s only too happy to keep these meddlesome sleuths together . . . in the afterlife.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
- grumpy/sunshine
- friends to lovers
- sister’s best friend
- fake engagement
- murder mystery
Manda Collins grew up on a combination of Nancy Drew books and Jane Austen novels, and her own brand of Regency romantic suspense is the result. A former academic librarian, she holds advanced degrees in English Lit and Librarianship. Her books have been favorably reviewed in Entertainment Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Bookpage, and USA Today. A native of Alabama, she lives on the Gulf Coast with a very stubborn cat and more books than are strictly necessary.
This first sentence is a hooker!!
Right! lol Definitely made me want to read more.
Omg, this sounds fun! 😍
It is!! i love Manda Collins!