Category: First Line Friday

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #422 | Claire Holloway is Winging It by Angela Ruth Strong

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m reading Claire Holloway is Winging It by Angela Ruth Strong, which is about a new-on-the-job flight attendant who doesn’t quite know what she’s doing … which means the title is very clever.

Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

Passengers mistakenly assume I know what I'm doing simply because I'm wearing a flight attendant uniform.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About Claire Holloway is Winging It

Claire Holloway is Winging It by Angela Ruth StrongAfter Claire Holloway’s dream of becoming a ballerina plummets, she’s left with her boyfriend as her only support. . . until she decides to become a flight attendant for the free travel. Based out of state, she moves into a crash pad with a gaggle of other flight attendants, and her fear of losing Wyatt seems to become a reality.

First Officer Nathan Stuart — a bit cynical since he and his fiance broke up — meets a somewhat frazzled Claire on her very first day in the Seattle airport. When they end up on the same crew, he takes her under his wing, and they quickly bond.

When Claire’s once-supportive boyfriend’s attitude sours into resentment, she’s left wondering whether her newfound joy is the right way to go. Pulled between two men and her new career, Claire must learn to listen for God’s direction the same way her flight crew follows air traffic control.

In this hilarious rom-com, readers will lift off into the turbulent skies of romantic adventures as Claire navigates God’s plan for her life.

Find Claire Holloway is Winging It online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #421 | Lake Shore Renewal by Jennifer Rodewald

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m reading Lake Shore Renewal, the sixth book in Jennifer Rodewald’s Redemption Shores series. The clue is in the name: these stories are full-on Christian fiction, showing realistic characters finding forgiveness, redemption and life in God. I’ve loved them all so far, and I’m sure I’ll love this one just as much.

Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

It had been a delusion to believe whiskey would drown the bitter heartache.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About Lake Shore Renewal

Sometimes the roughest roads in life lead to the most beautiful places. But to get there, one needs faith to let go.

Lake Shore Renewal by Jennifer RodewaldCharlee Jensen walked herself straight into heartbreak. Now she is left questioning her ability to make good choices—especially since she’s not only not married to Mason, the man she’d planned her forever with, but she’s also the joint owner of the Creek View Inn—a run-down hotel in Luna, Montana that needs way more work than she’d anticipated. The best part of that disaster? Her partner in this misadventure is the very same man who broke her heart.

Yeah. In two short years, Charlee had made a real mess of her life. Now she’s back in Luna—the small, picturesque mountain town she grew up in, failure and shame her new companions. Somehow, she needs figure out how to make the Creek View Inn something that doesn’t summon Bates Hotel vibes—and to pay off the debt to her ex.

Noah Newellen’s life plans were hijacked the moment his fiancée returned the diamond he’d given her. But that wasn’t the worst day ever. Nope, not by a longshot. The absolute worst was a beautiful fall evening in Montana when he watched her marry another man—and he has the viral video to memorialize it. A video in which he’s giving a drunken, spiteful, country-song-inspired toast to the bride. Thanks to that drunken folly, and social media, he can never go back home.

Starting over in Luna, Montana isn’t logical. But as one door opens to another, Noah finds it might be exactly the grace he needs. A quiet, small town. An opportunity to pursue an old passion. Gracious, friendly people who help him to hold onto the goodness of God.

And a woman named Charlee, whose friendship sooths the wounds in his heart and inspires him to believe in second chances.

A tender story of love after heartbreak, hope beyond failure—and grace that doesn’t quit.

Find Lake Shore Renewal online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #420 | Not What We Pictured by Becca Kinzer

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from Not What We Pictured, an upcoming rom-com from Becca Kinzer, who also wrote Dear Henry, Love Edith, Love in Tandem, and First Love, Second Draft (which I loved). Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

You want the facts? Okay, well first off, I didn't kiss him.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About Not What We Pictured

This is absolutely not how they pictured their summer going.

McKenna Boston is feeling stuck. She’s spent years growing her photography skills only for her career to hit a wall. She’s ready to move on, and she will, just as soon as she helps her sister’s boyfriend stage the perfect proposal. But when her best laid plans go awry and a handsome stranger accidentally ends up with the heirloom ring, McKenna hops on a flight to retrieve it. Piece of cake, right?

Nate Lambert was hoping to enjoy a relaxing summer before starting his new job as a literature professor, but he arrives in Tennessee to discover his mom’s bed and breakfast is struggling and there’s a long list of repairs to be tackled. The last thing he needs is a gorgeous, determined photographer searching for a ring he doesn’t have since the airline lost his luggage somewhere on his route from Nebraska.

With the ring nowhere to be found, all McKenna can do is wait and use the time to build her portfolio and plan her next career move. But she also can’t help getting swept up in Nate’s bed and breakfast renovations and in planning a community concert with the townsfolk. As both await news of Nate’s suitcase, it begins to seem their serendipitous meeting, and the proposal gone wrong, could actually be everything going right . . . and that this may be their chance at a love neither could have pictured.

Find Not What We Pictured online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #419 | Reclaiming Hope (Greener Gardens #3) by Carolyn Miller

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m currently reading Carolyn Miller’s republished Greener Gardens series, and Reclaiming Hope is next in line.

Here’s the first line of Chapter One:

Check, check, check, check, check. Was there anything more satisfying than checking off items on a list and seeing just how productive one had been?

 

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Reclaiming Hope

Opposites attract—but can they last?

Callie Steele might be a bit…focused on work, but despite what her employers say, she enjoys her well-ordered, productive life. When she’s sent to meet the owners of an estate requiring post-hurricane landscaping, Callie meets their son, Kai Brody, a super-chilled pro surfer, who is as opposite from her as they come. Though initially smitten, Callie knows a relationship with Kai is a bad idea—a very bad idea.

Kai, however, can’t help but be intrigued by someone who challenges him to make something of his life again. He’s determined to pursue her, if she’ll give him half a chance.

The more time they spend together, negotiating the challenges of work, illness, and family, the more their opposing outlooks clash and connect. What do these unlikely friends really want from life? Is it best to focus on work or recreation?

As Kai and Callie seek answers from the Lord, they also must consider if such complete opposites have enough in common to make a relationship last.

Reclaiming Hope is the third of the Greener Gardens romance series, where true love grows.

Find Reclaiming Hope online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #418 | A Promise For Her Heart by Elizabeth Marie

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’ve recently finished reading A Harbor For Her Heart by Kiwi author Elizabeth Marie, and next on my list is the second book in the Seacliff Romance series: A Promise for Her Heart. Here’s the first line of Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About A Promise for Her Heart

She’s holding fast to the life she loves. He’s forgotten how to need anything for himself.

Claire Chandler has always believed in showing up for her family, her café, and the seaside town that shaped her. Her roots run deep, her heart generous, and her sense of responsibility unwavering. But loyalty does not pay overdue bills. With the Seabean Café slipping further into debt and a local real estate agent circling with offers she is not ready to consider, Claire begins to wonder how long she can carry everything on her own.

The café was meant to be a legacy. Now it feels like the weight she carries alone.

Elliot James came to Seacliff Shores with a clear sense of purpose. He is there to serve the community as a pastor, drawn to a life of service rather than ambition. A man shaped by loss and hard truths, Elliot knows how to endure. Trusting his own heart, however, feels far riskier than caring for everyone else. When a phone call pulls him back toward a painful past and an estranged, dying father, Elliot is forced to face questions he has avoided for years about forgiveness, family, and what it means to move forward.

Drawn together through quiet moments and shared purpose, Claire and Elliot discover that healing often begins in ordinary places. Late night coffees. Honest conversations. The courage to let someone see the cracks. But as Elliot’s past resurfaces and Claire’s carefully balanced world starts to unravel, both must decide whether opening their hearts is worth the risk.

Set against the charm of a close knit coastal town, this is a clean, emotionally rich romance about loyalty, forgiveness, and the quiet courage it takes to begin again. The story concludes with a deeply satisfying, hope-filled happily ever after.

Find A Promise for Her Heart online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #417 | The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Beth Moran

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by English author Beth Moran.

Here’s the first line of Chapter One:

I'd spent the last few hours trying to convince myself that this couldn't be happening.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Mary never planned to stop running.

With a past she’s desperate to leave behind and a baby on the way, she’s found a new home, deep in the forest, hidden from the world. But when the time comes to go to the hospital, she has no idea that Beckett, the quiet, steady taxi driver who braves the blizzard to reach her, will change everything.

As Mary adjusts to life with her newborn, she finds herself drawn into a local close-knit community she never expected to be part of. Beckett is always there ­– dependable, patient and offering a friendship she doesn’t know how to accept but slowly comes to rely on.

In a place she thought she’d only ever be passing through, Mary finally learns what it truly means to belong. And as Christmas approaches, she begins to believe that maybe, just maybe, she doesn’t have to do this alone, and that this could be the start of something wonderful…

Find The Most Wonderful Time of the Year online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #416 | Marrying the Accidental Groom by Tara Grace Ericson

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from Marrying the Accidental Groom by Tara Grace Ericson, another one of the Redemption Ranch stories. Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

Juliana stood at the top of the airplane steps, clutching her leather-bound itinerary to her chest.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About Marrying the Accidental Groom

She color-codes her planner. He barely plans the next fifteen minutes.
Neither planned on getting married.

When Juliana Emerson finds herself dumped days before her dream honeymoon, she goes anyway—armed with an iron-clad itinerary and determined not to let her ex-fiance dictate her life.

Gideon Reynolds is all charm, chaos, and mountain-man grins. Crashing Juliana’s vacation wasn’t in his plans—and neither was participating in a symbolic island wedding ceremony.

Now, months later and just before Christmas, Juliana shows up in Colorado at Redemption Ridge Ranch determined to fix their symbolic marriage that turned out to be very real. But between his unpredictable nature, a calendar full of holiday events, and a growing attraction that wasn’t part of anyone’s plan, “fixing it” might not be so simple.

As sparks fly and tempers flare, both will have to confront what they believe about control, commitment, and the kind of love worth surrendering to.

Find Marrying the Accidental Groom online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #415 | This Life (Murphy Brothers #4) by Jennifer Rodewald

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from This Life, the fourth book in Jennifer Rodewald’s Murphy Brothers series. I’ve found the others to be compelling Christian romances, so I have high expectations.

Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

The emptiness had weight. Solid, sinking and familiar. Kate Murphy hated it.

 

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About This Life

They’ve been stripped of everything but a refurbished bus and each other. And it may be the best thing that’s ever happened to them.
Driven by jealousy, he’s determined to prove himself.

Jacob Murphy always felt like the invisible brother, until he fell in love with and married the woman who’d dated his younger brother. Then he became the despised brother. Driven to prove himself worthy of respect, he gambled everything on becoming the successful brother, but with his property speculation business falling apart, he’s ready to admit defeat. He’s lost nearly every worldly good, and after years of disappointments and heartache, it looks like his marriage is about to go the same way.

Ashamed of her background, she will do anything to keep it a secret.

Kate Murphy lied her way out of life in a trailer park—a life she felt both trapped in and ashamed of. Only Jacob knows the truth about her background. But keeping up appearances has strangled her life and relationships, and even her marriage is troubled. In desperation, she makes a plan to escape from it all—ironically, in a skoolie. But there’s still a tender place in her heart for the man she married, and in a moment of compassion, she offers to take Jacob with her.

Stripped of pride and pretension and struggling to adjust to their new 160-square-foot mobile lifestyle, Jacob and Kate are forced to confront the deception, hurt, and loneliness that have plagued them both.

Will their strained circumstances be the death knell for their marriage, or will they allow humility to usher in the healing they need to rebuild?

Find This Life online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #414 | Snowed in at Jingle Falls by Kaylee Baldwin

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from Snowed in at Jingle Falls by Kaylee Baldwin. Isn’t that a great location for a Christmas romance?

Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

Harper Larson hated Santa. It hadn't always been this way.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About Snowed in at Jingle Falls

A heartwarming, holiday romance where the path to love is covered in snow…

Snowed in at Jingle FallsHarper Larson has always loved the cozy charm of Jingle Falls, especially her job at Narratives bookshop. Surrounded by books, she can forget the embarrassing mistake that drove her away from New York and the life she thought she wanted.

But then Nolan Fox, her broody yet brilliant former boss, shows up unexpectedly at her shop, and Harper is less than thrilled.

Nolan’s struggling to complete the final book in his bestselling series and can’t finish it without Harper.

When a sudden snowstorm traps them in Jingle Falls over Christmas, they strike a deal: she’ll assist him with his book if he’ll set aside his Scrooge tendencies and help her save the town’s winter festival.

As they work together to bring holiday cheer back to Jingle Falls, the chemistry sizzles brighter than the twinkling lights decorating town.

Sometimes life writes its own plot twists—and love might be just the ending they both need.

Find Snowed in at Jingle Falls by Kaylee Baldwin online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday #413 | Waves of Endless Love by TK Chapin

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from Waves of Endless Love by new-to-me author TK Chapin. Here’s the first line of Chapter One:

The last nine months felt like someone had thrown a bucket of hand grenades in the center of Samantha's life.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About Waves of Endless Love

Be swept away to North Carolina’s Emerald Isle with this romantic beach read…

Samantha Richardson bolts from Orlando, her life a tangle of hurt, seeking refuge in Emerald Isle at her sister Janet’s house. In this poignant Christian romance, the sunset over the waves soothes her restless soul—until Chase steps into her path, stirring echoes of what she thought she had outrun.

Chase is reeling. Word of his old friend Lance serving far-off in Africa twists something deep, pulling him away from the life he knows and to the family beach house in Emerald Isle. This inspirational fiction tale finds him off-balance, haunted by what’s been lost—until Samantha’s presence cracks open a part of him he thought was closed.

She didn’t expect his quiet strength to steady her. He didn’t think her nearness would wake old hopes. In Waves of Endless Love, a stirring Christian coastal beach romance, the coast becomes more than a hideaway—faith glimmers, grace calls, and a second chance whispers through the salt air.

Is this God rewriting their story? Perfect for lovers of Christian romance and second chance romances, this tale of broken pasts and tender possibilities beckons you to the water’s edge.

Find Waves of Endless Love online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!