What’s Your Line?
By Sheri
Fredricks
A huge thank you
to Krista for giving me her blog for the day! I’m sure she’s cringing, so I’ll
start right in.
The opening line
in a book can really draw the reader in. Some would say it’s a make-it or
break-it moment. I looked to see what the opening lines were in my favorite
books. Some were action, a few were dialogue. All of them were unique.
I thought today I
would post the opening lines from Portals
of Oz, my mythic romance that releases on July 13th.
***
Abelia
walked close to the shop walls as she peered into windows and gazed at the
street traffic. Humans lived a much different life than Wood Nymphs in the
Boronda Forest. Everyone here was in such a hurry.
Curiosity
brought Abelia to town. Patience, the Remedy Maker’s wife, had stuffed her head
with the exciting goings-on in the small town of Willow Bay.
She
jumped when an old truck blared its horn at a car that waited too long at a
green light. Dogs barked while chasing laughing children in the park across the
street. Above it all, the delicious aroma of fried foods beckoned with
tantalizing promises of a delicious meal.
In
the corner of the park, under the shade of an enormous sweetgum tree, a plant
peddler set up shop with a folding table, and displays of bonsai trees in small
decorative pots. Abelia longed to leave the security of the shop walls and
venture across the street. But then she would be out in the open, vulnerable.
Alone.
***
Portals
of Oz is one of my books that revolve around mythic inhabitants in the
modern day Boronda Forest. Here's a little blurb that best describes the story:
Abelia, a Boronda
Forest Wood Nymph, came to Willow Bay to satisfy her curiosity of human life,
and got more than she bargained for.
Jack can't wait
to leave Pennsylvania and return to his archeological work in Australia, where
life is filled with dingos and roos.
Human hunters
stalk the enthralling Abelia, and Jack comes to her rescue by creating a ruse
of helping her choose a bonsai from a street vendor. The hunters back off, but
she suddenly vanishes, and he's left confused as he returns to his home in the
Outback.
When Abelia
magically appears in Jack's kitchen, she must divulge who and what she really
is, and risk the mythic people's secret for his help in returning to Boronda.
Thrown together, they must fight off thieves set on stealing Jack's
antiquities...and he must discover how to convince her to stay.
What do you think makes a great story opener? Is anything you
prefer not to see?
Thanks for stopping by.
Sheri
