It’s time for another AR Fun giveaway!
Today we’d like to know: What are some of the most memorable opening sentences you’ve read in a novel, romance or otherwise?
Leave a comment for a chance to win a surprise book from one of our authors plus an AR goody!
Update: The giveaway winner was JulieS. Congratulations, and thank you to everyone who participated!
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I love the beginning to MaryJanice Davidson’s book “Under Cover”. It grabs your attention and takes off at a quick pace.
The first part “Sweet Strangers” begins:
“Renee dashed into the middle of the busy street. Leaping like an ungainly brunette gazelle, she managed to avoid death three times before she got to the curb, taking the angry shriek of the bus’s airbreaks as a musciantakes applause. She didn’t slow, but did take time to snatch a look over one shoulder….yep. Still about twenty yards behind her. They hadn’t gotten a look at her face.”
I enjoyed the whole book!
by Laurie G
on May 21st, 2006 at 7:18 am
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My favorite is in Lori Wilde’s book “You Only Love Twice”:
Marlie Montague was right smack-dab in the middle of cover-up when her front door bell chimed, playing the Mission: Impossible theme.
by Minna
on May 21st, 2006 at 7:35 am
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Lady of the Lake - Erin McCarthy - this line really made me laugh:
Violet Caruthers had know that Frank wasn’t the most attentive of boyfriends. But if she had been asked, she would have thought that even he would have noticed that his girlfriend had fallen off the back of his fishing boat. (From the anthol. When Good Things Happen to Bad Boys).
by Joanne V.
on May 21st, 2006 at 7:50 am
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It was the best of times it was the worst of times.. ATale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This line has stayed with me since 9th grade,I don’t know why? When I think about the book although not a romance book it does have alot of romance in it. There is a love triangle, treason, lookalikes and redemption. All in all a good story.
by Dena
on May 21st, 2006 at 8:42 am
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Yes, Dena I will always remember that line from H. S. I really liked the book too. Come to think of it, that IS probably the only line I can remember from ANY book to open it up.
Anyway here is my choice:
Get A Clue by Jill Shalvis - “It took her awhile, but eventually Breanne Moreland realized she had a naked man in her shower.”
by Pat L.
on May 21st, 2006 at 9:18 am
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Whenever a book starts out with a main character not realizing the significance of an event or what someone had said and how it would change the rest of their lives. I hope that makes sense! You know the saying: I wish I could have known now what I should have known then…or something like that:smile:
by Kathleen
on May 21st, 2006 at 9:59 am
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Great question! Can’t wait to see all the different responses.
Mary Janice Davidson - Hello Gorgeous
Nine days after she died, CAitlyn James woke up in private hospital in Minnesota.
Now that will get you wondering.
by Karen T.
on May 21st, 2006 at 10:43 am
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From Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
by Maureen
on May 21st, 2006 at 11:35 am
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From ‘Bad Boys Southern Style’: Love Potion #9: JoAnn Ross
A full moon rode high in the southern sky, casting an unearthly white light over the Lowcountry, illuminating the woman who moved through the marsh with the sleek grace of a swamp panther.
by Robyn
on May 21st, 2006 at 12:48 pm
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Here are two of my favorites:
“Fuzzy Logic” (from Bad Boys Over Easy) by Erin McCarthy:
Lucas Manning was absolutely certain he hadn’t ordered a box of neon pink dildos.
Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb:
Getting married was murder.
by Alyssa
on May 21st, 2006 at 5:27 pm
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Hmm…here are a couple:
“They found her in the trash.” - For the Roses by Julie Garwood
“He was twenty-four, and it was the first time he had ever visited a brothel.” - Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas
by Jennifer Y.
on May 21st, 2006 at 8:04 pm
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I agree with Maureen about the line from Pride and Prejudice. That is a very memorable one for me. Another one that has always stayed with me is one from The Great Gatsby. It is “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” I remember as a young girl when I read this that that was not the type of person I ever wanted to be.
by Cherie Japp
on May 21st, 2006 at 8:39 pm
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the way you look tonight by diane castell where there is a knock at the door and the babysitter is there but is not the babysitter, that was great
by kim h
on May 21st, 2006 at 8:50 pm
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Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It - Lucy Monroe
Marcus Danvers hadn’t had sex in 18 mos, 2 wks and 3 days. And a mere 15 feet away stood the reason.
by Helen Mac
on May 21st, 2006 at 9:12 pm
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The opening lines from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities are probably the most recognized. Even as a pre-teen I chuckled at reading the line from the former.
by little lamb lost
on May 21st, 2006 at 9:53 pm
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Ah, nothing like a great beginning to suck you in and prevent you from doing anything besides read on your weekend! 
I love the first line (actually, the whole intro) in One for the Money - “There are some men who enter a woman’s life and screw it up forever.” Well said!
by JulieS
on May 21st, 2006 at 11:57 pm
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Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
It was love at first sight.
by Carol
on May 22nd, 2006 at 10:26 am
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“The first Wednesday of every month was a Perfectly Awful Day–a day to be awaited with dread, endured with courage, and forgotten with haste”
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster.
I’ve remembered that line since the first time I read the book, back in the middle ages. After that, there are many that have stayed with me…
“It wasn’t a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance.”
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
“By human standards it could not possibly have been artificial: It was the size of a world.”
Contact by Carl Sagan
by azteclady
on May 22nd, 2006 at 10:54 am
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“He needed a woman. Bad”
Mackenzie’s Mountain by Linda Howard
“Twenty-three stories up and all I could see out the windows was grey smog. They could call it the City of Angels if they wanted to, but if there were angels out there, they had to be flying blind.”
A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton
by Julia
on May 22nd, 2006 at 11:46 am
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wtg julie s
by KIM H
on May 22nd, 2006 at 7:02 pm
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congrats julie
that was a good opener Alyssa,I would remember that if I read it, 
by Dena
on May 23rd, 2006 at 9:11 am
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Congrats Julie!
by Carol
on May 23rd, 2006 at 9:20 am
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Congratulations!
by Tammy G.
on May 23rd, 2006 at 2:43 pm
