Welcome to some bookish fun today as we share Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader; and as we showcase The Friday 56 with Freda’s Voice.
To join in, just grab a book and share the opening lines…along with any thoughts you wish to give us; then turn to page 56 and excerpt anything on the page.
Then give us the title of the book, so others can add it to their lists!
If you have been wanting to participate, but haven’t yet tried, now is the time!
What better way to spend a Friday?
Today’s featured book is an ARC from Amazon Vine: Crooked River, by Valerie Geary.
Beginning: (Sam)
We found the woman floating facedown in an eddy where Crooked River made a slow bend north, just a stone skip away from the best swimming hole this side of anywhere. Her emerald green blouse was torn half open and her dark, pleated skirt was bunched around her waist, revealing skin puckered and gray, legs bloated and bruised. Her hair writhed like black snakes in the current.
***
56: I was halfway up the ladder when he (Bear) said, “Did everything go okay with Deputy Santos today?”
I missed the next rung and almost slipped off. I balanced, found my footing again, and kept climbing.
***
Blurb: With the inventiveness and emotional power of Promise Not to Tell, The Death of Bees, and After Her, a powerful literary debut about family and friendship, good and evil, grief and forgiveness.
He is not evil. I am not good.
We are the same: broken and put back together again.
Still grieving the sudden death of their mother, Sam and her younger sister Ollie McAlister move from the comforts of Eugene to rural Oregon to live in a meadow in a teepee under the stars with Bear, their beekeeper father. But soon after they arrive, a young woman is found dead floating in Crooked River, and the police arrest their eccentric father for the murder.
Fifteen-year-old Sam knows that Bear is not a killer, even though the evidence points to his guilt. Unwilling to accept that her father could have hurt anyone, Sam embarks on a desperate hunt to save him and keep her damaged family together.
I see things no one else does.
I see them there and wish I didn’t. I want to tell and can’t.
Ollie, too, knows that Bear is innocent. The Shimmering have told her so. One followed her home from her mom’s funeral and refuses to leave. Now, another is following Sam. Both spirits warn Ollie: the real killer is out there, closer and more dangerous than either girl can imagine.
Told in Sam and Ollie’s vibrant voices, Crooked River is a family story, a coming of age story, a ghost story, and a psychological mystery that will touch reader’s hearts and keep them gripped until the final thrilling page.
***
What do you think? Do these excerpts grab you? Intrigue you? I know that I am eager to read this book. I hope you’ll stop by and chat.
***
I’m not sure wether it’s my kind of book, but I hope you enjoy it!
My Friday memes
LikeLike
Thanks for stopping by, Sofia…enjoy your pick.
LikeLike
I saw the cover and thought, not for me. Then I read your tease and thought, maybe it is. Good job. Have a great weekend.
sherry @ <a href="sherry @ My Friday Memes
LikeLike
Thanks, Sherry….sometimes our excerpts are just not enough, are they? Glad you decided to give it another glance.
LikeLike
Hadn’t heard of this one before. It definitely piques my interest. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
My Friday post: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2014/09/friday-focus-friday-56-book-beginnings.html
LikeLike
Thanks for stopping by, Catherine…I thought this one sounded good, too. Hope to start it soon.
LikeLike
This definitely sounds intriguing. I look forward to reading your review of this one!
LikeLike
Thanks, Katherine, hope you enjoy your book choice, too.
LikeLike
This one sounds really interesting! I love the morbid descriptiveness of the beginning, about how the body looks! I wonder what happened between the beginning and the F56! Thanks for sharing 🙂 Have a great weekend!
My Friday Post
Juli @ Universe in Words
LikeLike
Yes, that did pique my interest too, in a gruesome way…LOL. Thanks for visiting, Juli, and enjoy!
LikeLike
I’m not sure if I’d enjoy this story or not! I’ll wait for your review to decide. Hope you enjoy it.
Thank you for leaving a comment on my Friday post.
Sandy @Texas Twang
LikeLike
Thanks, Sandra…glad you could stop by, and enjoy your pick.
LikeLike
Makes me think of John Grisham’s books. How there’s much more than just the crime to hurt people. The ripples that spread out and touch others. Very interesting blurb.
Here is my 56 – http://fuonlyknew.com/2014/09/19/the-friday-56-37-eating-sarah-by-jaret-martens/
LikeLike
I agree, Laura…and that reminds me that I’ve been wanting to catch up on Grisham books. Thanks for visiting.
LikeLike
These excerpts DEFINITELY grab me.
I have a review copy and am looking forward to getting to it after I read your post.
THANKS.
ENJOY your reading weekend, and thanks for stopping by my blog.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Book Beginnings
LikeLike
I’m glad you liked the excerpts, Elizabeth…and I hope you love the book. Thanks for stopping by.
LikeLike
The excerpt didn’t grab me as much as the blurb did, comparing it to other books I’ve enjoyed or know readers who enjoyed. It does sound suspenseful and my kind of book, so click…onto my Goodreads wishlist 🙂 Enjoy when you read it!
LikeLike
I liked the blurb more than the excerpts, too…that happens quite a bit for me, Rita. Thanks for stopping by.
LikeLike
Kind-of suspenseful… I like it!
Happy weekend!
LikeLike
Yes, I am eager to read it. Thanks for visiting, Freda.
LikeLike
This one sounds really good. Have a great weekend!
LikeLike
Thanks, Yvonne…hope you do, too!
LikeLike
Sounds like a murder!! Funny how your book is about a river, and my beginning sentence talked about a river. Thanks for stopping by my post earlier!
LikeLike
I love rivers! I lived right next to a river for thirteen years…and beneath a giant dam, too. Thanks for stopping by, Lisa.
LikeLike
Wow! What a gripping introduction, this is a brilliant way to start a story! I’d like to hope that justice and resolve is met at the end. Enjoy your read and have a wonderful weekend!
LikeLike
Thanks, Claudia…I hope so, too!
LikeLike
The Book Beginning really sets the reader up for a mystery.
LikeLike
I agree, Anne…and I’m eager to dive in. Thanks for stopping by.
LikeLike
I loved that excerpt! I think I have to read that book! Wait a minute…I think I might even have that book!
LikeLike
I got it from Vine for All. You probably do have it, Patty…enjoy!
LikeLike
That beginning certainly has made me curious! Lovely descriptive writing, and I love the cover too!
PS. I know you’re using WordPress but in case one of your blogs is on Blogger (or someone you know is using Blogger), I have a Blogger template giveaway on my blog right now. Hope you come by to check it out, and maybe join in 🙂 Here’s the link:
http://guiltlessreading.blogspot.ca/2014/09/bloggiesta-blogger-template-giveaway.html
LikeLike
I do have two blogs on Blogger…I don’t use them often, because I don’t like some of the issues there…LOL. Thanks…I will check out the template. Glad you could stop by, Aloi.
LikeLike