First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted by I’d Rather Be At The Beach — you can reach it here. Easy to participate. Include your book title and author, a picture of the cover, and quote the first (or first two) paragraph(s) from the book. Leave your link at the blog site along with a comment on what is posted there. Learn about books other people are reading by visiting their blogs and noting their excerpts.
Today’s First Chapter, First Paragraph is from The Girl Before by JP Delaney, a spooky, psychological thriller, murder mystery:
1. Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.
Then Emma
It’s a lovely little flat, the agent says with what could almost pass for genuine enthusiasm. Close to the amenities. And there’s that private bit of roof. That could become a sun terrace, subject of course to the landlord’s consent.
I am hosting this Tuesdays’ Tantalizing Teasers which is easy to participate in. It may not appear every week but when it does, it will always be on Tuesday. To participate, show the title, author, and cover, and choose a random (or not) quote to share with other readers (two or three sentences), and leave a comment with the link to your own tantalizing teaser for the day. Here’s my quote from the above book:
The light from my phone isn’t very strong, and it’s only when I feel something soft under my feet that I look down and see a sleeping bag, pushed between two rafters. It has clearly been up here a long time — it’s covered with dust and dirt. . .
I have no way of knowing if the sleeping bag belonged to Emma Matthews — I don’t even know how many other tenants there have been in One Folgate Street. And if it was Emma’s, I’ll clearly never know what nameless fear caused her to leave that beautiful, sleek bedroom and sleep up here instead. (p. 118, 119)
Would you keep reading? Have you read this book already? Share your thoughts and leave a link to your own post. Enjoy your day!
Here are some more books I have read in recent months but not written reviews of as of yet. Perhaps you have read some of them or have been meaning to read them. Maybe you’ve never heard of them. See what you think.
Mary Anning was born in Lime Regis, Dorset, UK in 1799. As a toddler, she was struck by lightning and shouldn’t have survived. But she did. She was, however, known to be odd as a result. Born into a working-class family of little substance, from an early age Mary would search the beach looking for interesting specimens of fossils and shells she could sell to tourists and thus augment the family income. As a result, she was often dirty and bedraggled and generally looked down on and talked about.
Elizabeth Philpot’s parents died leaving her older brother, John, a solicitor, in charge of herself and her 3 sisters. After her older sister married and John became engaged, their summer progress was completely with the intent of finding a modest home for Elizabeth, Margaret, and Louise as John’s wife would now be in charge of John’s home. They settled on Lime Regis in Dorset and it was here that her interest in fossils began as did her strong bond with Mary Anning.
At a time when women were not expected to take part in higher education, politics, or science, these two women pioneered a greater understanding of the natural world and made many discoveries which shook the scientific and religious world. It began when Mary discovered what they first thought to be a skeleton of a crocodile which, in itself, raised many questions. Later, it was classified as an ichthyosaurus specimen, and it attracted many scientists and tourists to the area in search of more unusual fossils.
Mary’s first major discovery was bought by a Lord and sold on to a museum where it was credited to him. When confronted with the deception by Elizabeth, he referred to Mary as a “spare part” because she was only a woman. While Mary led many scientists to unusual finds and discovered a wide range of extinct species, she was never allowed to take part in meetings at the Geological Society where some of her discoveries were displayed and discussed nor could she ever publish a paper and yet her diligent work led the way to what were amazing revelations.
I wish there had been a glossary included in the book and drawings of the fascinating fossils the ladies discovered. I was forced to the internet where I found all the information I sought but it would have been nice to have it in the book. At times I wondered whether the title, 
You probably thought from the title that this was going to be about Snoopy but it is not. I’ve always wanted to go to a Murder Mystery Theatre Dinner production and finally got to go to one last Friday night here in Ottawa at Britannia United Church. Conceived by Ottawa playwright Maggie Taylor, whose plays have been performed here before, the evening was a fundraiser and was well attended.
The production starred members of Britannia United including the pastor, Jim Baldwin, and the set was at a remote campsite where Director of Camping for Newbies Sara “Sunbeam” Sutton (played by Jess Carey) is trying to encourage the odd assortment of newbies to get along and have some camp spirit. It isn’t too long before the campers begin to worry that Jonesy, who had been coming up the rear, hadn’t made it to the campsite.
We ate between acts and after dessert, our papers were collected and our solutions read out to the audience by the cast, who didn’t know themselves who had done it until they were handed the scripts for the final act and we all learned who in the audience had guessed correctly about the murder. Other players were Dori Jensen as know-it-all Mia Martel, Debbie Roi as the unpopular Carmen Cordova, Todd Mitchell as space cadet Travis Talbot, Chuck Trewartha as the quiet camper Hunter Hardaker, Jennifer Trewartha as perky Phoebe Parks, and Myles Frosst as social worker Frank Felton.
Today’s mystery is 
Except for the murder of one of the gang members, there is no violence in this book. It is a fairly laid back story mostly set in the small resort town on Camino Island and while there is a fair bit of suspense, both the dealer in stolen property and the amateur sleuth are likeable characters who come through the escapade relatively unscathed. The recovery of the manuscripts is a delightfully complex episode that makes for an unusual resolution to the plot. The characters providing the backdrop to the Santa Rosa community are interesting and diverse despite the literary connection, and the development of Mercer’s character as the story unfolds is totally believable. The ending is surprising and the book is just a really fun read. Classic 
Melanie Willard spoke to our Woman 2 Woman Bible Study (Metropolitan Bible Church, Ottawa) session recently about how to care for people in crisis. She speaks of this with authority because she has been through an amazing, torturous journey that involved drugs, suicide, domestic violence, and cancer. She has written a book about her true story: 
