First Chapter Tuesday

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where we share the first paragraph sometimes two, of a book that we are reading or plan to read soon.  

"No, it's not the wedding I  dreamed of, but it is the wedding I want!"  Hannah Swensen's hands shook slightly as she replaced her cup of coffee in the bone china saucer.  She'd been so startled by Grandma Knudson's question that a few drops had sloshed out of her cup and landed in its matching saucer.  The matriarch of Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church was known for being outspoken, but Hannah hadn't expected to be grilled about her upcoming nuptials when Grandma Knudson had called her at The Cookie Jar, Hannah's coffee shop and bakery, and invited her to the parsonage for coffee.

"Everyone's talking, you know," Grandma Knudson confided, leaning forward in her chair.  "No one can understand why they haven't been invited to the wedding.  I told them you preferred a small, intimate family affair, but they feel left out.  And almost everyone from my Bible study group asked if there was something wrong."

Joanne Fluke.  Wedding Cake Murder. New York:  Kensington Publishing Corp. 2016.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday

Every Tuesday over at Bibliophile By the Sea Diane shares the first paragraph, maybe two of the book she is reading.  She challenges us to do the same.  This week, I am sharing the first paragraph from The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

"If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this:  In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.  Today's young people want to know everything about everyone.  They think talking about a problem will solve it.  I come from a quieter generation.  We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention.

Lately, though, I find myself thinking about the war and my past, about the people I lost.

Lost." (1)

I started reading yesterday and I am having a difficult time putting it aside for things like cleaning, eating, sleeping.  I didn't think I was a Kristin Hannah fan.  I'm not sure why.  I don't think I have ever read any of her books, but I think perhaps I labeled her "chick lit."  That isn't one of my categories of choice.  This book is a very pleasant surprised.  I will have to give some of her other books a try.


Hannah, Kristin.  The Nightingale. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2015.