First Lines Friday

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!

I remember the smell of damp soil. The sound of rain running down my bedroom windows at Burleigh House. The weight of a full valise, tugging at one arm. Below, the king’s carriage stands on the drive. I press my face against the glass, still only a child, just ten years old, not ready for any of this.

Any ideas?

I was very excited to arrive home this evening to this gorgeous book post. The cover is gorgeous and I loved the three word description: LYRICAL – HEART-RENDING-MAGICAL. I’m really looking forward to losing myself in Violet’s story this weekend.

Goodreads Synopsis:

When her father is convicted of high treason, Violet Sterling is exiled. Seven years later she has a chance to return to her beloved Burleigh House and to Wyn, the boy she left behind. But Burleigh – one of the six great magical houses of England – has gone wild with grief after the death of Violet’s father and now the capricious King of England has threatened to raze it to the ground. Vi must decide whether her destiny is set in stone, before Burleigh destroys everything she loves.