Category: First Line Friday

2 August 2025

First Line Friday #402 | Never Say You Need Me by Amanda Deed

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m sharing from Never Say You Need Me by Amanda Deed, the latest book in the Trinity Lakes Romance series.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About Never Say You Need Me

What does a carefree Aussie larrikin have in common with a bookish office assistant from Trinity Lakes?

Amelia Jones never thought Mud Murchison would notice her, until they are thrown together by a hit-and-run accident. But as they grow closer, some of his behavior reminds her of a past she doesn’t want to revisit.

Mud returned to Trinity Lakes to seek support from his friend Nick Gordon, instead finding himself supporting Amelia through the mystery surrounding the hit-and-run. However, his own tragic secret threatens to take over and ruin their fledgling relationship.

Can they both sort through their differences and make a future together?

Find Never Say You Need Me online at:

Amazon | 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!

25 July 2025

First Line Friday #401 | The Lines Between Us by Amy Lynn Green

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 Lines Between Us by Amy Lynn Green, which shares the story of conscientious objectors in the USA during World War II, and their essential contribution as smokejumpers in the Pacific Northwest.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About The Lines Between Us

A WWII novel of courage and conviction, based on the true experience of the men who fought fires as conscientious objectors and the women who fought prejudice to serve in the Women’s Army Corps.

Since the attack on Pearl Harbor, Gordon Hooper and his buddy Jack Armitage have stuck to their values as conscientious objectors. Much to their families’ and country’s chagrin, they volunteer as smokejumpers rather than enlisting, parachuting into and extinguishing raging wildfires in Oregon. But the number of winter blazes they’re called to seems suspiciously high, and when an accident leaves Jack badly injured, Gordon realizes the facts don’t add up.

A member of the Women’s Army Corps, Dorie Armitage has long been ashamed of her brother’s pacifism, but she’s shocked by news of his accident. Determined to find out why he was harmed, she arrives at the national forest under the guise of conducting an army report . . . and finds herself forced to work with Gordon. He believes it’s wrong to lie; she’s willing to do whatever it takes for justice to be done.

As they search for clues, Gordon and Dorie must wrestle with their convictions about war and peace and decide what to do with the troubling secrets they discover.

Find The Lines Between Us 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!

18 July 2025

First Line Friday #400 | Catching the Cowboy by Theresa Thompson

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 Catching the Cowboy by Theresa Thompson (who also writes as Tia Souders), a new-to-me author. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About Catching the Cowboy

He’s a cowboy widower with wounds in his past. She’s a brokenhearted city slicker, seeking refuge. Can rancher Rhett Montgomery overcome his bitterness and loss for a second chance at love?

When Danielle Roberts discovers her husband of three years is cheating on her, her life falls apart. On a whim, she retreats to the small town of Cedar Falls, freshly divorced, and hoping to lick her wounds at Montana Wilds Ranch Resort.

Rhett Montgomery works himself to the bone, burying the sorrow of his past in his business and avoiding his sister’s attempts at pushing him back into the dating pool. So when one of his ranch hands is injured and a long term visitor with clear blue eyes and long dark hair offers to take his place, he refuses her help. But his sister intervenes, and before he knows it, he’s stuck with a female ranch hand.

Why does he have a feeling this is just another one of her set-ups?

Too bad he’ll have to squash any hopes of a blooming romance between him and the newcomer. Yet somehow, the more he pushes Danny away, the more she softens his heart of stone.

Find Catching the Cowboy 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!

11 July 2025

First Line Friday #399 | The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr

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 the brilliant Becoming the Pastor’s Wife by Dr. Beth Allison Barr, and there were some references in there to her previous book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth.

So now I want to read the “prequel”. I’ve just picked a copy up from my local library.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About The Making of Biblical Womanhood

It is time for Christian patriarchy to end.

Biblical womanhood–the belief that God designed women to be submissive wives, virtuous mothers, and joyful homemakers–pervades North American Christianity. From choices about careers to roles in local churches to relationship dynamics, this belief shapes the everyday lives of evangelical women.

Yet biblical womanhood isn’t biblical, says historian Beth Allison Barr. It arose from a series of clearly definable historical moments. Barr presents historical insights and shares a better way forward for the contemporary church by:

● giving context for contemporary teachings about women’s roles in the church
● explaining why biblical womanhood is more about human power structures than the message of Christ
● interweaving her story and experiences as a Baptist pastor’s wife
● shedding light on the #ChurchToo movement and abuse scandals in Southern Baptist circles and the broader evangelical world

This book moves the conversation about biblical womanhood beyond Greek grammar and into the realm of church history–ancient, medieval, and modern–to show that this belief is not divinely ordained but a product of human civilization that continues to creep into the church.

Find The Making of Biblical Womanhood 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!

4 July 2025

First Line Friday #398 | Faithfully Devoted, Jacob (Scripted Love #6) by Emily Dana Botrous

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m sharing from Faithfully Devoted, Jacob by Emily Dana Botrous, the final book in her Scripted Love contemporary Christian romance series.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About Faithfully Devoted, Jacob

He has no memories. She fears the things he can’t remember. Can a lost past become the key to their future?

When Jacob Halverson wakes up in the hospital, he doesn’t know where he is. Worse yet, he doesn’t know who he is—or the woman claiming to be his wife of forty-two years. But when she’s at his side, he feels like everything will be okay.

Arlene Halverson never imagined her husband could forget her. Now she is tasked with filling in the blanks of an entire lifetime for Jacob, reminding him of their life together, the family they built, and the love they share.

With the help of old love letters, Arlene journeys through time at Jacob’s bedside, visiting memories both painful and poignant. Together they search to find the reason Jacob hid his illness from her while Arlene finds the courage to share her greatest mistake in hopes Jacob can forgive her a second time.

Will Jacob choose to trust God with an uncertain future? And can Arlene trust Jacob with the past—again

Find Faithfully Devoted, Jacob 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!

27 June 2025

First Line Friday #397 | His Surprise Return by Kayla Tirrell

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from His Surprise Return by Kayla Tirrell, a new-to-me author. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About His Surprise Return

Ever since her husband died, Erin’s been doing her best to make ends meet and provide a normal life for her children. She thinks she might be getting close until a familiar face from her past shows up and sends everything crashing back down.

Logan ran away from his hometown years ago with no intention of ever returning. Now, he’s back to fix up the house he grew up in and get it ready to sell before leaving for good. He never thought he’d find Erin living there—a shell of the woman she used to be.

Spending time together for the first time in years, Erin and Logan reminisce on happy memories while creating new ones. They both feel a pull toward one another but with such different plans for their futures, can they find one together?

His Surprise Return is a faith-filled romance that will make you believe in second chances and remind you of God’s faithfulness even in the darkest of storms.

Originally published under the title Their Second Chance at Love.

Find His Surprise Return 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!

20 June 2025

First Line Friday #396 | The Billionaire’s Nanny by Elizabeth Maddrey

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 Billionaire’s Nanny by Elizabeth Maddrey, the first book in her Billionaire Next Door series. I’ve read (and loved) most of the others, so don’t know how I managed to miss this one …

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About The Billionaire’s Nanny

When I convinced my friends to join me in a scheme to play the stock market, it paid off beyond our expectations. Honestly, most days I don’t even remember that I’m a billionaire. But it was big news for my family. In fact, my cousin made me guardian of her son in the event something happened to her.

At face value, it sounds kind of nice.

But I never really knew my cousin.

And I only found out about her decision a week before the kid showed up on my doorstep.

Thankfully, the woman who brought the boy out to me on the plane is willing to stay and be his nanny.

Since all the local daycares have a waiting list, I don’t have the luxury of being picky. Maybe I have reservations about sharing my home with a beautiful woman, but it’s a completely professional relationship.

She’s going to look after the kid.

I’m going to look after my heart.

Find The Billionaire’s Nanny 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!

13 June 2025

First Line Friday #395 |The Backpack Bride by Dulcie Dameron

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from The Backpack Bride, a modern marriage of convenience story by new-to-me author Dulcie Dameron. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About The Backpack Bride

Marry a stranger, adopt my nephew. Sounds easy enough…right?

Roxy:

After my brother’s untimely death, I’m left brokenhearted and fighting for a teenage nephew who doesn’t seem to care whether he’s out on the streets or tucked into bed at night.

Maybe I’m not the most responsible person to raise Axel, but I’m all he has left. I would do anything, even sacrifice my future, in order to gain permanent custody of him. Which is why I take Christian Price up on his crazy offer.

But I never could have known that agreeing to a marriage of convenience with my hot billionaire boss would also satisfy my year-long crush on the biker boy of my dreams.

Christian:

Aside from my online alter ego, all I’ve ever wanted to do was take over the family business. So why, when that goal is finally within reach, does my dad slap me with some manipulative bogus contract?

No loving father in his right mind would tell his overqualified son that he can’t inherit their family’s legacy until he’s settled down with a wife and gives proof that he’s committed to providing an heir to pass the company on to someday.

Then I find the solution herself crying in the supply room at work, and everything falls into place. There’s just one complication: my contractual marriage to Roxy quickly turns into way more than I bargained for…and something I don’t think I can give up.

Find The Backpack Bride 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!

6 June 2025

First Line Friday #394 | How to Kiss a Guy in Ten Days by Liwen Y Ho

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from How to Kiss a Guy in Ten Days by Liwen Y Ho. It’s the first book in her Young Adult Edenvale Arts Academy series … which apparently released in 2020, yet I’ve only just discovered it.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About How to Kiss a Guy in Ten Days

I never expected a fake relationship to give me a chance to be loved for who I really am.

Hannah

When my family went broke, I lost everything. My friends. My school. Even my “perfect” boyfriend suddenly decided that now was the perfect time to take a break.

But I have the ultimate opportunity to show him just what he’s been missing. And maybe even win him back.

I just need a little help from the cute new guy at school.

Seth

When Hannah Mitchell asks me to be her fake boyfriend, it’s impossible to say no. Yes, she’s the most beautiful girl at Edenvale, but this could also be my chance to leave my past behind and make a new name for myself.

I’m going to do everything possible to help her forget about her ex—because she deserves so much better.

Ten days. Two secrets. And one chance to turn a fake relationship into something real.

Find How to Kiss a Guy in Ten Days 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!

30 May 2025

First Line Friday #393 | My Achy Broken Heart by Meredith Resce

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m currently writing my third Trinity Lakes romance, which means I’m reading some of the earlier books to remind myself what the other inhabitants of Trinity Lakes have been up to. It’s called research, right?

Today I’m sharing from My Achy Broken Heart by Meredith Resce, which released this week. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

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

About My Achy Broken Heart

How quickly things can change.

Last week Lucy was full of joy and hope, having finally met a Christian man who seemed to be crazy about her. One minute, she is full of heady passion and hope that a proposal is imminent—the next she is coming to terms with being alone, pregnant, and not understanding where he’s gone.

Her ‘dream’ man has turned into a nightmare, hiding behind his status as a worship pastor in a large church and his influential parents, denying he’s ever had anything to do with Lucy. And she’s fully aware that she’s stepped way outside her own moral boundaries—a fact that is being ruthlessly thrown in her face from some of the people she’d expect to have supported her. Only her close family are willing to stand by her in this difficult time. But the pressure is so great she decides to fly Downunder to visit her brother in Australia.

Will Phillips has finally found some hope after having lost the family farm and his long-term relationship. The small-town pastor, Caleb Kennedy, is proving himself to be not only a spiritual mentor, but a good mate. And then his sister arrives from the States. She’s attractive and seems nice, but he’s not interested in starting a new relationship—still smarting from the last one.

But she seems sad, and Will’s caring side wonders why, despite himself. When he finds Lucy on the side of the road after an accident, he finds out her secret and all of his intentions to stay distant seem to have disappeared.

A small town, romance that spans to both sides of the globe. Reconnect with Caleb and Alanah, and Matt and Arianne from earlier stories in the Trinity Lakes Romance series.

Find My Achy Broken 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.