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!

Alva strained to make out anything in the pitch-black hut. The moon shone like a beacon outside. But here in the turf-covered hut only silvery streaks shimmered on the outlines of numerous eerie charms hanging from the low ceiling. A figure cackled and creaked in the far corner, but Alva wasn’t scared. She had come here with a purpose.

Any ideas?

I read the first book, Riddle of the Runes earlier this year and loved it. It’s taken me a while to find this one, but I was in Foyles in London last Saturday and managed to spot it!

Blurb from Book:

Alva clings to her sleeping wolf as the Viking longship pitches and rolls over the North Sea’s crashing waves. Soon she will reveal herself as a secret stowaway, but only when there’s no chance of turning back. This is her opportunity to put her shield maiden spirit to the test – exploring strange new lands, solving mysteries, and most importantly finding her father …