Teaser Tuesday: The Lost Girls

This week my teaser lines come from The Lost Girls, the debut novel by Heather Young (William Morrow, July 2016). This snippet is from p.64:

Back at Lucy's, she pulled out the chocolate chips she'd smuggled into the Walmart shopping cart and announced they were going to bake cookies. Melanie's eyebrows shot up so fast that Justine laughed. "It's starting-over time" she told her, "and that requires cookies."

Well, what doesn't? Right?

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

Book Beginnings: The Dollhouse

The Dollhouse, by Fiona Davis (Dutton, August 2016). These are the book's first lines:

New York City, 2016 

She'd forgotten the onions.
After all of the preparation, the lists, the running out of work early to finish shopping and buy everything she needed for their special dinner, Rose had forgotten a key risotto ingredient.

About the Book:

"Fiona Davis’s stunning debut novel pulls readers into the lush world of New York City’s glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women, where a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and editors lived side-by-side while attempting to claw their way to fairy-tale success in the 1950s, and where a present-day journalist becomes consumed with uncovering a dark secret buried deep within the Barbizon’s glitzy past."

Initial Thoughts:

Well, I have several thoughts.

First -- Been there. This sounds exactly like something I'd do -- except I always have onions on hand. I'd probably forget the rice.

Also -- This was an ARC; I've had it on the "up next" list for a couple of months now, and feel very guilty about that. So I've moved it up to the top of the pile.

And -- I remember reading about the Barbizon Hotel in women's magazines when I was a teenager, but that would have been a bit later than the period the book is set in. Close enough to catch my interest, though.

Finally -- I love risotto! But I would never attempt cooking it. Especially not for a "special dinner."

Oh, and one more -- don't you just love that outfit she's wearing on the cover?

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Teaser Tuesday: The Haunting of Hill House

This week my teaser lines come from The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson's classic horror novel first published in 1959. One of my favorite novels; I've read it and re-read it over the years, and I'm thinking of reading it again this year, for both the Back to the Classics challenge and the RIP reading event. This snippet is the last paragraph of Chapter 1:

The house was vile. She shivered and thought, the words coming freely into her mind, Hill House is vile, it is diseased; get away from here at once.

The book has been reissued over and over again, with different cover designs. My first copy, back in the '60s had this cover -- a tie-in with the 1963 film starring Julie Harris and Claire Bloom:

And here's a wonderful cover on a new edition Penguin is bringing out this fall. Definitely a book I'd buy for the cover alone:

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

Book Beginnings: The Graveyard Apartment

The Graveyard Apartment, by Mariko Koike (Thomas Dunne Books, October 2016). This is the first paragraph of Chapter 1:

When they got up that first morning, the little white finch was dead. The bottom of the cage was covered with a thick layer of loose feathers, and it looked as if there had been a violent struggle before the bird finally gave up the ghost.

What It's About:

"...the suspenseful tale of a young family that believes it has found the perfect home to grow into, only to realize that the apartment’s idyllic setting harbors the specter of evil...."


Initial Thoughts:

Ominous, hmmm? I like that the author (or translator?) gets the word ghost in right away, in the first sentence. Actually, the book really starts with an advertisement for the apartment of the title, but this was much more interesting. I'm also intrigued by the idea of a haunted apartment, instead of the usual isolated old house.

This is another book I'm thinking of reading for the RIP/XI reading event that continues through this month. Seems like a great story for this time of year, don't you think?

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.