First Line Friday {1}: Hooked in One Line!

Happy Friday, bookworms, and welcome to First Line Friday!

The rules are simple: grab the closest book to you (or one from your ever-growing TBR pile), flip to the first page, and share its opening sentence in the comments.

This fun weekly event is hosted by Reading is my Superpower: Link-Up—and a huge shoutout to One Book More where I first spotted it! The goal? Hook your fellow readers using only the book’s very first line before you reveal the title.

Want to play along? It’s incredibly easy:

• Grab a book: Pick up your current read or a random choice from your shelves.

• Share the line: Copy the first few sentences in the comments, but keep the title a secret at first to tease us!

• The Reveal: Finally… let us know what book it is!

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The New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries returns once more to Victorian England and introduces intrepid adventuress Veronica Speedwell…. 

London, 1887. After burying her spinster aunt, orphaned Veronica Speedwell is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as with fending off admirers, Veronica intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

But fate has other plans when Veronica thwarts her own attempted abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron, who offers her sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker, a reclusive and bad-tempered natural historian. But before the baron can reveal what he knows of the plot against her, he is found murdered—leaving Veronica and Stoker on the run from an elusive assailant as wary partners in search of the villainous truth.