Friday Fun - January 23, 2026

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

This week I have two books to share with you.

I'm finally reading Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins.

I'm also starting The Royal Nanny by Melody Carlson.

        Book Beginnings on Friday    

 

(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.)

and

First Line Friday

(Please join Carrie for First Line Friday.)

Here are my Book Beginnings/First Line Friday selections:

 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins:

"'Happy birthday, Haymitch!'

The upside of being born on reaping day is that you can sleep late on your birthday. It's pretty much downhill from there."

I had to share more than just the first line this week. Poor Haymitch. 

The Royal Nanny by Melody Carlson:

"After two years of teaching missionary kids on a remote island in the South Pacific, Meredith Cardwell was ripe for change."

I wanted to learn more about her teaching the missionary kids and why she needed a change. 

Now for:

The Friday 56 

The Friday 56 is normally hosted over at Freda's Voice. But Anne from My Head is Full of Books is taking over for a while. 

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
(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:

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins:

"Then I get it. Around this time every year, a couple of Booker Boys take bets on the Hunger Games tributes. Like how old will the kids be, Seam or town, the number of tesserae they carry. The betting continues through the Games, with odds on deaths and districts and the ultimate victor. It should be illegal, but the Peacekeepers don't care."

The Royal Nanny by Melody Carlson:

"After dinner, Meredith asked if the children would take her on a tour of the grounds. 'The gardens look so pretty, and I noticed you have a swimming pool as well as a pond out there.'

Katerina still seemed to be studying Meredith with a dubious expression, but she agreed to take her outside. Perhaps with a diabolical plan to take her into the woods and leave her there?"

Reviews:

Last week I shared one book in my Friday Fun post. Here is the link to my review:

Braving Fiery Waters by Sarah Hanks 

Two weeks ago, I shared one book. Here's the link to my review:

Deadly Secrets by Penny Zeller

Three weeks ago, I shared two books. I already shared the link to the one review; here's the link to the other:

In Books & Battlefields by Heather Tabers