FIRST LINES FRIDAY 56: The Prank | Never Hollowed By The Stare

“First Line Fridays” is by Hoarding Books and is all about the first line of a current/upcoming read. Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda’s Voice, where you turn to page 56 (or 56%) in what you’re reading a find a snippet that jumps out at you. The idea to combine the two came from Kat @ Here There Be Dragons“

I found this meme on The Writerly Way. And I’m doing this on a Thursday just to be difficult.

FIRST LINE

If Lord Ashworth did not, in the next five minutes, pick the colour-scheme for his new hunting suit, the eight o’clock news was going to lead with this story: Disgruntled Biracial Tailor Beats Blue-Blood Bloody with Tin of Shortbread Filled with Sewing Materials. What it lacked in conciseness, it made up for in creativity, Merrick thought, and he gave the repurposed shortbread tin a long and almost lusty look.

56% of 42

“Breakfast, Mr. Red?” said Scarface. “I do hope you’ll forgive the cook. He does have a Slavic idea of what breakfast is.”

Merrick eyed the tray Scarface carried with him. The bread black as asphalt, a dollop of some smeared white thing he hoped was cheese, two slices of anaemic ham. Not exactly breakfast at the Ritz.

This had to be a prank. No bloody tailor was kidnapped off the streets.

BOOK REVEAL

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Merrick works on Savile Row, catering to the nouveau rich and frequently questioning his life choices. But between the days that seemed designed to vex him are visits from Darcy: spy, best friend, and hopeless crush.

When Merrick is abruptly kidnapped one day, he fervently hopes it’s one of Darcy’s infamous pranks and not the worst—and possibly last—day of his life.

I adore this little gem!

This ticked a lot of boxes for me. British spies, tailored suits, hopeless crush, friends to lovers and explosions. All in just 42 pages.

What first lines grabbed your attention this week?