Welcome to another opportunity to spark your enthusiasm and creativity by joining in for Book Beginnings, hosted by A Few More Pages, and The Friday 56, led by Freda’s Voice.
To participate, just grab a book you are reading (or are about to read), share the opening lines and link up; and then turn to page 56, and grab something there to share…and again, link up!
Today I’ve picked up Best Staged Plans, by Claire Cook, one of my favorite authors.
As a professional home stager, Sandy Sullivan is an expert at transforming cluttered rooms into attractive houses ready for sale. If only reinventing her life were as easy as choosing the perfect paint color. She’s eager to put her family’s suburban Boston home on the market, to downsize, and to simplify her own life. But she must first deal with her foot-dragging husband and her grown son, who has moved back home after college to inhabit the basement “bat cave.”
After reading them the riot act, Sandy takes a job staging a boutique hotel in Atlanta recently acquired by her best friend’s boyfriend. The good news is that she can spend time with her recently married daughter, Shannon, in Atlanta. The bad news is that Shannon finds herself heading to Boston for job training, leaving Sandy and her southern son-in-law, Chance, as reluctant roommates. If that’s not complicated enough, Sandy begins to suspect that her best friend’s boyfriend may be seeing another woman on the side….
***
Beginning: Okay. So I accidentally wrapped my reading glasses in one of the packages I mailed.
“It could have happened to anyone,” I said to my daughter, Shannon.
Ha-Ha…that sounds like something I could do. When I’m distracted. Already I’m wanting to read more!
***
p. 56: That first winter in our new old house I almost got pregnant again.
***
Now, I’m thinking I could have gone on, adding one or two more sentences, but I like just dropping this sentence like a bomb.
***
What exciting openers and excerpts did you find this week? I hope you’ll share them with the rest of us!
SNOW SPARKS 
Wow, I don’t envy her position.
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Oh, I agree, Tea. Thanks for stopping by.
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Beautiful 56! I hope she gets pregnant instead of almost.
Thanks for participating!
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I’m curious about this, too, Freda. Thanks for stopping by.
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Good teaser 🙂 and I really like that opener, too. I like the way she has to explain herself…
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Yes, that made me chuckle…Thanks for stopping by, Julia.
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That is a funny line about the reading glasses! Enjoy
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I like it, too, Helen…it’s the kind of absent-minded thing I can imagine doing….thanks for stopping by.
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I totally understand the bit about the glasses. My memory and attention span haven’t been the same since I had surgery. I could see myself doing something similar…
Here’s mine: http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2011/07/friday-memes_15.html
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Or putting dishes in the fridge, etc. LOL Yes, we do tend toward distraction when we’re leading busy lives…thanks for stopping by, Bev.
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That’s an unusual opening for a novel, it had my interest immediately. And I have to wonder how you almost get pregnant. Sounds like an interesting read, enjoy. I’ve done a BB post this week too.
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I know…I’m curious about that one, too, Sandra. Thanks for stopping by.
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I like the wit in that opening 🙂 and that sentence from pg56 really is a bombshell! I also wonder what a ‘new old’ house is…
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Oh, I know…I’m thinking that it’s “new” to the characters, but it’s “old” in terms of time. Thanks for stopping by, Between the Lines.
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professional home stager – interesting occupation.
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I thought it sounded like fun, too, wb…thanks for stopping by.
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Oooo these are good!
Great teasers!
Here is my BBF 🙂
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Thanks, Juju…Yes, I’m really excited about the book. Glad you could stop by.
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Thanks for visiting me. I had to laugh at that line……that would be awful. Hope the book is as good as it sounds.
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Yes, it is a funny opener….thanks for stopping by, Linda.
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oh, these are hilarious! discovered you thru friday 56 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by, aloi….I do enjoy discoveries, too.
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Well I have never sent my glasses, but I have lost them and then found them in the potatoe bin. I understand.
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Ha-Ha…love that one, Irene. I think my glasses should have some kind of device that can be remotely activated…to make noise or blink. Isn’t it funny that when we lose them, we can’t always “see clearly” enough to find them?
Thanks for stopping by.
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Nice! All of the lines you’ve shared have got me intrigued!
Thanks for participating in Book Beginnings!
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Thanks for stopping by, Katy…I finished the book Saturday and my review is up…check my It’s Monday post. I loved the book!
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