First Lines Friday: December 12, 2025

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:

“Seraphine Marchant stood trembling beneath the storm’s blinding fury, reaching desperately for the sky.”

Do you recognize the line?

Here’s a hint:

It’s the second book in a romantasy series.

Still not sure? Here’s another hint:

It’s written by Catherine Doyle.

The First Lines Friday book is:

The Rebel and the Rose

Title: The Rebel and the Rose

Author: Catherine Doyle

Series: The City of Fantome #2

Page Length: 528

Pub. Date: Dec. 2, 2025

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Synopsis: The path of destiny burns with love, magic, and betrayal in this second book in the City of Fantome enemies-to-lovers romantasy series perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson and Caraval.

From a remote hilltop haven, far from the city of Fantome, Seraphine Marchant and her Order of Flames plot to eradicate shade magic with lightfire. But as Sera struggles to control her blooming powers, destiny calls her back to Fantome—and to the assassin who haunts her dreams.

Ransom Hale can’t get Sera out of his head. As their rivalry grows and he grapples with the responsibility of leading the Order of Daggers, he feels himself slipping further from who he wants to be. Is he doomed to a life in the shadows? Or can he forge another path?

Meanwhile, rebellion is stirring in the kingdom, and a dangerous prince grows in power. Forced to work together by order of the king, Sera and Ransom’s conflicted hearts are tested to their limits. And all the while, an ancient prophecy is unfolding that will change the fate of Valterre forever…

LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review

Have you read The Rebel and the Rose? What do you think of the first lines? Comment below!