RAE’S READS

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This year (2025) finds me with 53 years of teaching “under my belt.” I have taught all levels from pre-K “(library lady” or “book lady”–volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 34 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the “difficult years.” I had some of the “funnest” experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the “young, fun teacher,” I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a “dream-fit” for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. This past fall I accepted a part-time teaching job at Apogee Gulf Coast Schools in its first year at the Alvin campus. After my Better Half died n 2022, I achieved a lifelong dream: opening a bookstore of my own, Rae’s Reads. A year later, I sold the house we had lived in for 47 years and moved into the bookstore. My goal is to circulate and repurpose books. Just as teaching is “in my blood,” so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish. This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to “come out and play.”

Friday Firstliner for 4/28/22

I finished this Book about Books today.

First Line Fridays, hosted by Reading Is My Superpower asks participants to copy the first line or two of a book they want to read, are reading, or have read in order to tempt someone into reading the book also. Here are the first couple of lines from…

My copy from our local library looks a bit different because it is the large print version.

As the subtitle states, “A Bookshop Keeps Many Secrets.” Indeed, this is a book filled with secrets, and the unveiling and solving of them provides many twists and turns for the reader as the author tweaks the formula of the stand-offish, girl who works in the bookshop. This girl, Loveday Cardew mostly sorts and seeks book “finds” from the boxes of donated or purchased books for the bookshop she works at. The tattoos of the first lines of books which decorate her body brands her as a girl with secrets in her past. Into this murky background comes Nathan, poet and gentleman. Foiled against Rob, the discarded, surly previous lover, who seems bent on revenge, Nathan is every girl’s dream-come-true.

Three suspicious boxes are delivered for Loveday to sort through, which slam her back into her foster care past and the horrible act which alienated her from her mother. Secrets abound, are revealed, and misinterpreted, swirling around Loveday until the action-packed, hold-your-breath conclusion.

Here are the first lines:

“A book is a match in the smoking second between strike and flame.

Archie says books are our best lovers and our most provoking friends. He’s right, but I’m right too. Books can really hurt you.”

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10 responses to “Friday Firstliner for 4/28/22”

  1. Nicole Santana Avatar
    Nicole Santana

    Happy Friday!
    I’m currently finishing up The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray. If you love Austen’s novels, you will love this book. It’s so good!
    “As much as Juliet had learned of the arts of deception of late, she knew she was as yet not proficient.”
    Hope you have an excellent weekend. Happy reading! 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Rae Longest Avatar
      Rae Longest

      Not familiar with Claudia Gray; I’ll have to look into her.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Nicole Santana Avatar
        Nicole Santana

        This was my first Gray novel and I loved it!

        Like

  2. Cindy Davis Avatar
    Cindy Davis

    I love that first line! I have not heard of this book/author but will be looking into it. Have a great weekend. Here is my Friday post if you’d like to stop by: https://cindysbookcorner.blogspot.com/2022/04/first-line-friday-48-apothecarys.html

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  3. Danielle Grandinetti Avatar
    Danielle Grandinetti

    Sounds interesting! My First Line is from All That it Takes by Nicole Deese. https://daniellegrandinetti.com/2022/04/29/all-that-it-takes/
    Happy weekend!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Rae Longest Avatar
      Rae Longest

      THANKS for info

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  4. Paula Shreckhise Avatar
    Paula Shreckhise

    My first line comes from Written on the Wind by Elizabeth Camden:

    “Natalia Blackstone always considered the third floor of her family’s bank the most fascinating five thousand square feet in the entire United States.”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Rae Longest Avatar
      Rae Longest

      Hmmmmmm, wonder what’s there?

      Like

      Reply
  5. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz Avatar
    Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

    “A book is a match in the smoking second between strike and flame.

    Archie says books are our best lovers and our most provoking friends. He’s right, but I’m right too. Books can really hurt you.”

    Whenever I am mailing a box of books at the post office and the clerk asks me, “Does this parcel contain anything liquid, fragile, perishable, or potentially hazardous?” I am always tempted to say, “Yes. Books.”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Rae Longest Avatar
      Rae Longest

      LOVED this comment.

      Like

      Reply

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