Friday Fun - July 29, 2022

Welcome to my Friday Fun post. This is where I share with two different book parties that post on Fridays: Book Beginnings on Fridays and the Friday 56.

I needed to read a book that makes me cry for a couple of my challenges. So, I decided to read Jennifer: An O'Malley Love Story by Dee Henderson. I read the O'Malley series last year, but hadn't gotten a chance to read Jennifer before it was due back at the library. I was very glad to finally get a chance to read her story, but yes, it made me cry. Very emotional.

I started reading Shadow of the Storm by Connilyn Cossette for another one of my challenges. I needed a book that is set in the Middle East. I read the first book in the Out From Egypt series last month as I needed a book set in the Mediterranean. 

I also started To Steal a Heart by Jen Turano. This book was recommended when I asked for a book that would make me laugh. 

Book Beginnings on Fridays

(Please join Gilion Dumas for Book Beginnings every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.)

Here is my book beginnings for Jennifer by Dee Henderson.

"Her arms full of screaming, squirming boy, Dr. Jennifer O'Malley turned the corner of the Dallas hospital hallway and slammed open the ER doors with her shoulder. 'Watch his burned hands!' In order to be heard over the angry cries of the child, her order had to cut like a sharp blade, and she pitched her voice accordingly."

Well, this book opened with some action.

And here is my book beginnings for Shadow of the Storm by Connilyn Cossette.

"Wild drumbeats rumbled through the ground like distant thunder, pulsing in defiant rhythms and vibrating the hollows of my chest. My fingertips echoed the beat against my knee until a glare from my mother across the tent stilled the dance."

Being a sequel to Counted With the Stars, I was curious how much time had passed since the end of that book and what exactly was taking place right now.

Finally, here is my book beginnings for To Steal a Heart by Jen Turano

"It was quickly becoming evident that she, Miss Gabriella Goodhue, might very well be arrested in the not-too-distant future, and all because she'd convinced herself that sneaking into a high-society costume ball would be a relatively easy feat, given her past life as a street thief."

I had to see how this was going to turn out.

Now for:

The Friday 56

The Friday 56 is hosted over at Freda's Voice.

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Here are my Friday 56 selections.

Jennifer by Dee Henderson
 

"She felt trapped in a way she hadn't felt for a very long time. Church. He probably didn't even consider the whole thing a big deal. It was for him just church with lower-case emphasis, while for her it pretty much was an all-capitals word. 'Since I'll be dressed up for the occasion, we could have lunch somewhere afterward?'" 

Shadow of the Storm by Connilyn Cossette

"I let her imagine the births I'd seen were those of nice Hebrew women, slaving away at their looms or weaving baskets, grateful for every life that defied Pharaoh's bloody edicts; not hardened prostitutes who more often than not left the squalling infants out in the elements until their cries were swallowed up by the harsh cold."

To Steal a Heart by Jen Turano

"With how his evening had unfolded thus far, Nicholas couldn't claim to be overly surprised that he was now being ushered into a boardinghouse by a pistol-toting lady dressed in black. He, concerningly enough, had little doubt the lady was proficient with her pistol, given the expert way she handled it."