Friday Fun - September 26, 2025

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 three books to share with you.

I started reading a novella collection titled, Every Life Treasured featuring three novellas about the value of life by Jennifer Q. Hunt, Hannah Hood Lucero, and Aubrey Reiss Taylor. I finished the first story, A Mother's Tender Hand by Jennifer Q. Hunt, and started the second story, The Missionary and the Marine, by Hannah Hood Lucero. This book releases on October 1st. 

I also started Danger in the Wilderness by Darlene Turner.

And I reread Innocent Lives by Julie Bonn Blank because I learned that book three in this Guardians of Grace series released recently. I've been waiting for the third book since I originally read the first two books. 

        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:

A Mother's Tender Hand by Jennifer Q. Hunt, the first story in Every Life Treasured:

"Alice Vogel stood before a mill cottage in need of fresh white paint and a new tin roof."

I wondered what Alice was doing at the cottage.

The Missionary and the Marine by Hannah Hood Lucero, the second story in Every Life Treasured:

"'. . . Happy birthday, dear Walt, Hppy birthday to you!' DuWayne Walters beamed at his makeshift family as they concluded the obligatory serenade."

The "obligatory serenade" wording made me think of how my daughter is not a fan of having us sing happy birthday to her. 

Danger in the Wilderness by Darlene Turner:

"Park Warden Dekker Hoyt tensed and scanned the area in Clovercross National Park after closing the news alert."

I wondered what had been in the news alert.

Innocent Lives by Julie Bonn Blank:

"They were no longer children, and finally allowed real fun."

Knowing what the book was about made this line really sad.

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.)
 *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:

A Mother's Tender Hand by Jennifer Q. Hunt, the first story in Every Life Treasured:

 

"Alice nodded, looking ready to cry, and Milly went into the bedroom to tell Ezra. He sat beside her on the bed, his one arm comfortingly around her. So, so much they'd been through together. Her mind flitted back to the story she'd told Alice last week."

The Missionary and the Marine by Hannah Hood Lucero, the second story in Every Life Treasured:

"In his hurry to beat Iris and Nadia back to her room, Walt strode right past the woman who had brought him into the world and threatened, on occasion, to take him out of it.

'Mom?' He skidded to a halt a few feet away from Nadia's door."

Danger in the Wilderness by Darlene Turner:

"'Anyway, to answer Blaire's question, same MO. Ripped tent, chairs knocked over. That sort of thing.' Quinton snapped his fingers. 'Oh, except for the bloody rock and note addressed to Dekker. That's new. Why would he add that? Does he have a vendetta against you?'"

Innocent Lives by Julie Bonn Blank:

"'I don't know. Just wanted to know. What's your real name?'
With the dim light from the very small window towards the top of the bedroom wall, Jasmine saw Amber sit up, glare at her, and then flop back on her pillow, pulling her blanket up to her chin. 'Teresa. Again. Why. Do. You. Care?'

Reviews:

Last week I shared two books in my Friday Fun post. I ended up having to set those aside. However, here's the review for the book I shared a couple of weeks ago:

Unexpected Danger by Penny Zeller

And here is the link to my updated review of Innocent Lives by Julie Bonn Blank.