First Lines Friday #14

Hey There, Book nerds!

As you know from yesterday’s 2019 wrap up, I didn’t finish the year on a strong blogging note, but I did manage to pack away the reads. This year my goal is to balance both blogging and reading…and hopefully maintain it throughout 2020.

And so far, dear readers, it’s going well. I’ve already finished my first read of the year, and posted twice on the blog in 3 days!! Let’s hope I can keep up with this momentum!Today’s post is devoted to one of my favorite weekly memes:

What’s it about? First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words where we dare to ask: What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author, or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? 

HOW IT WORKS? 

• PICK A BOOK OFF YOUR SHELF (IT COULD BE A CURRENT READ OR ON YOUR TBR) AND OPEN TO THE FIRST PAGE.

• COPY THE FIRST FEW LINES, BUT DON’T PROVIDE ANY OTHER DETAILS ABOUT THE BOOK JUST YET — LET’S SEE IF IT HOOKS THE READER IN!

• FINALLY…REVEAL THE BOOK!READ ON TO DISCOVER THIS FRIDAY’S SOURCE:

American Dirt by Jeanine CumminsSynopsis:

Lydia Quixano Perez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.

Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with four books he would like to buy — two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.

American Dirt will leave readers utterly changed. It is a page-turner; it is a literary achievement; it is filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity on every page. It is one of the most important books for our times.

My Thoughts:

Y’all get used to seeing this book because it’s going to be everywhere. It’ll be all over “Best Of” lists, Bookstagram, and some celebrity’s book club, I’m sure. I saw a blurb from Stephen King that said, and I quote: “I defy you to read the first seven pages and not want to finish this book,” and friends, he isn’t wrong. I was in literal tears within the first 6 pages of this haunting novel. Twelve of the 20 people I’m buddy reading this with (yes, it’s chaos, but it’s worth it lol) have described it as some form of “unputdownable.” I’m so very thankful to my beautiful friend, K-Jo, for hooking me up with an advanced copy so I can be ahead of the game on this novel. If this isn’t on your TBRs, put it there. And let’s chat about it once it drops in late January!

I hope I’ve successfully captured your attention with this week’s edition of First Lines Friday! If you’ve read this book or had it on your radar, let me know below. I’d love to chat with you about it! If this is the first you’re hearing of this tile, please let me know as well! I’d love to see your thoughts on whether a title like this (a little outside my usual blog genre) is interesting to y’all! Hope all is well! Happy reading, friends!

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