Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.
Leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.
TWITTER: If you are on Twitter, please tweet a link to your post using the has tag #BookBeginnings. Maybe in connection with #FridayReads, if you participate in that twitter event. Thanks!
Also, if you are on Twitter, please leave a comment with your Twitter handle. I have tried to find everyone, but know I have missed some. My Twitter handle is @GilionDumas.
MY BOOK BEGINNING & GIVEAWAY REMINDER
My Book Beginning is from a great debut novel called The Angels' Share.
Thanks to intrepid book publicist Mary Bisbee-Beek, I have THREE advanced copies to giveaway. The details and sign up page are here. The giveaway ends this Sunday, July 15, at 9:00 pm Pacific Time.
At first, I thought I was alone. I woke face down in the gravel to rivets of pain when I tried to blink or move or take more than a tiny sip of air.
The Angel's Share by Rayme Waters, published by Winter Goose Publishing.
GIST: The story of a recovering meth addict who rebuilds her life working for a small Sonoma County winery. With elements of both a love story and a mystery, The Angels’ Share is a great read for book clubs.
— Diane Johnson, author of Le Divorce, says it "will completely absorb you.”
— Meg Waite Clayton, author of The Wednesday Sisters, calls it a "compassionate debut novel" and says, "Set in the quiet luxury of Nob Hill, the counterculture of Bolinas, and the evocative wine country of Sonoma, Angels' Share is as tasty as the 1919 Primitivo [the heroine] drinks on this journey of recovery.”
PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION: Born into a tumultuous world of neglectful bohemian parents and an overbearing grandmother, Cinnamon Monday lives through an imagination inspired by the nineteenth-century heroines she admires. As she grows older, and her make-believe worlds are not enough to protect her, she descends into drug addiction and eventual resignation. When this finally leads her to be physically beaten near the point of death, she is saved by a compassionate neighbor named Sam who gives Cinnamon the opportunity to reclaim her life. Now, working at Sam’s vineyard in the beautiful Dry Creek Valley, Cinnamon Monday attempts to put her life in order, find the will to overcome past demons, and utilize her strengths to live a positive, successful life on her own terms.
Wow, recovering meth addict sounds heavy. Is it fiction?
ReplyDeleteI love the title, though: I've always found "the angel's share" to be a lovely phrase to express a fairly mundane aspect of wine-making (or brewing!).
Not the place (or the way) I'd want to wake up....As pagesofjulia says...it does sound heavy.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great first sentence, immediately grabbing interest in the story. I'd want to read further.
ReplyDeleteShe thought she was alone...I wonder how she ended up where she was. Its nice that its part love story.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting story. The beginning throws you right in, too.
ReplyDeletePh, my twitter handle: @Ailuah
Great excerpt! This sounds like a book I'd like.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't sound like a great moment to wake up from. Sounds like an interesting read. I'm on my way to your giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a good read, I just signed up for your giveaway.
ReplyDeleteHappy Weekend!
Sounds intense.
ReplyDeleteIntense beginning. Sounds really interesting acutally. I hope you tell us when it gets published as it wasn't registered at Amazon yet.
ReplyDeleteI'm not eligible for the give-away. Rats...
Sounds like a painful awakening!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments! It is an intense opening, but really a very fun and upbeat book. With lots of good life lessons gleaned from 19th Century literature.
ReplyDeleteCheck back tomorrow for a guest post by Rayme Waters explaining how her love of Victorian fiction inspired this book.
Sounds much better than the title led me to expect.
ReplyDeleteI started a new book last evening. "Kelly Flynn nosed her car onto the gravel driveway and pulled to a stop in front of the familiar little house perched beside a golf course.". Fromknit one, kill two by Maggie Sefton