Friday Fun - August 19, 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 was given Never After: the Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz for Christmas almost two years ago, but I always had books that needed to be read for challenges or returned to the library so I had to read them before they were due. My daughter ended up reading it before me, and kept pestering me to read it. I finally read it this week as I used it to fulfill one of my books for the library's summer reading challenge. Now I just have to read book two. 

I also just finished Night Bird Calling by Cathy Gohlke. This is my first book by this author, and it sure won't be my last. What an awesome book. A lot deeper and heavier than anything I have read lately, but a very good story that kept me turning the pages. 

The only reason I read Night Bird Calling when I did, was that I read in some reviews of A Hundred Crickets Singing by Cathy Gohlke that it was a sequel to Night Bird Calling, though it could be read as a stand-alone novel. Me, I like to read books in order, so I quickly put Night Bird Calling on hold. Now, I am starting A Hundred Crickets Singing. Here's hoping it is just as good. 

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 Never After: the Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz.

"Once upon a time in the days of old, eleven fairies gathered at court before a child to hold. Only eleven, for the twelfth was dead and the thirteenth was missing."

Well, this sounded slightly familiar. Which was fine, I love fairy tale retellings and was curious to see where this author was going to take the story.

And here is my book beginnings for Night Bird Calling by Cathy Gohlke

"My mother was a beautiful woman, a magnificent and generous woman who loved music and poetry and literature and gardens. She loved to dance, though she only ever did so in the privacy of her room, with me."

Obviously Lilliana thinks highly of her mom. Knowing from the description of the book that her mom was going to die was sad.

And here is my book beginnings for A Hundred Crickets Singing, also by Cathy Gohlke.

"Despite the raging midnight storm soaking her to the skin, fourteen-year-old Celia Percy helped Chester, her eleven-year-old brother, drag a heavy tarp from the barn, through the house, and up the attic stairs, doing their best to shield nearly two hundred years of Belvidere ghosts and treasures from pelting ice and rain."

I loved that we get to see more of the community of No Creek, North Carolina, starting with Celia and Chester. 

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.

Never After by Melissa de la Cruz
 

"'You think you're smarter than us, huh?' Posy demanded.

'Um. . . " Filomena wants to tell them about the C-minus she got in Algebra One Honors, except it would only make them hate her more. She's already two math levels ahead of the rest of her grade." 

Night Bird Calling by Cathy Gohlke

"On the way home she muddled over all she'd heard. Miz Hyacinth's bringing Garden's Gate back to its former glory. Does she mean to sell? Who'd buy in these times? Does she think she's going to live a long while, maybe even regain her eyesight, that she wants everything fixed up so? Or is Miss Grace goading her on, thinking she'll inherit it all, like Ida Mae said?"

A Hundred Crickets Singing also by Cathy Gohlke

"Joe sobered. He didn't know if he believed in God or not, but he sure wouldn't be thinking about Him on his wedding night. That Marshall did reminded Joe of his friend's consistency, his constancy. He was a good man and deserved every good thing. 'Getting married shouldn't be this hard, Marshall. I'm sorry that it is for you and Ivy. I wish you both the best in everything.'"