First Lines Fridays | 16th of June 2023

Hello Hello! How are you today?

Another Friday and another First Lines Fridays post because I’m still too run off my feet, tired and suffering from a migraine to be able to write a Down the TBR Hole post. So that will have to wait until next week!

I’ve just started this book and I’m already enjoying it, so I thought it would be a great pick for this week’s post.

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
• Finally… reveal the book!

Nobody taught me this when I first started as a bartender, but luckily, I was a quick learner: when a group of men are walking in, you should work out which one is the alpha.

If you can handle him, you might get a bit of respect from the rest. Tonight, I can pick him straightaway. He’s the tallest and best-looking, with a you’re welcome gleam in his eye.

How predictable.

But what book is this quote from?

99% Mine by Sally Thorne

Crush (n.): a strong and often short-lived infatuation, particularly for someone beyond your reach . . .

Darcy Barrett has undertaken a global survey of men. She’s travelled the world, and can categorically say that no one measures up to Tom Valeska, whose only flaw is that he’s her twin brother’s best friend – oh, and that 99 percent of the time, he hasn’t seemed interested in her. That’s the problem with finding her dream man at age eight and peaking in her photography career at age twenty – ever since, she’s had to learn to settle for good enough.

When Darcy and Jamie inherit a tumble-down cottage from their grandmother, they’re left with strict instructions to bring it back to its former glory and sell the property. Darcy plans to be in an aisle seat halfway across the ocean as soon as the renovations start, but before she can cut and run, she finds a familiar face on her porch: house-flipper extraordinaire Tom’s arrived, he’s bearing power tools, and he’s single for the first time in almost a decade.

Suddenly Darcy’s considering sticking around – just to make sure her twin doesn’t ruin the cottage’s inherent magic with his penchant for chrome. She’s definitely not staying because of her new business partner’s tight t-shirts, or that perfect face that’s inspiring her to pick up her camera again. But sparks start to fly – and not just because of the faulty wiring. Soon, a one percent chance with Tom is no longer enough. This time around, Darcy’s switching things up. She’s going to make Tom Valeska 99 percent hers.

As I said, I’m already enjoying this book and it’s an easy and enjoyable one for me to read while I’m in my tired, slumpy phase and especially which my migraine is persisting and just generally bothering me. I’m looking forward to continuing it and I think it’ll be quite a quick and cute read!

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx