First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if, instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

The Rules:

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
• Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

“The soft growl on the train is coming from me. I flush with shame at the insistent rumbling of my stomach.”

That first line had me a little concerned, but the second line had me empathizing with the MC immediately. Plus, stomach noises are so embarrassing in front of others! However, that wasn’t quite what I was expecting to hear.

Do you recognize the lines?

Here’s a hint:

This is an upcoming rom-com.

Still not sure? Here’s another hint:

It’s written by Beth Kander.

The First Lines Friday book is:

I Made It Out of Clay.

About the Book:

• Title: I Made It Out of Clay
• Author: Beth Kander
• Page Length: 352 pages
• Publication Date: December 10, 2024
• Publisher: Mira

Synopsis:

In this darkly funny and surprisingly sweet novel, a woman creates a golem in a desperate attempt to pretend her life is a romantic comedy rather than a disaster.

Nothing’s going well for Eve: She’s single, turning forty, stressed at work and anxious about a recent series of increasingly creepy incidents. Most devastatingly, her beloved father died last year, and her family still won’t acknowledge their sorrow.

With her younger sister’s wedding rapidly approaching, Eve is on the verge of panic. She can’t bear to attend the event alone. That’s when she recalls a strange story her Yiddish grandmother once told her, about a protector forged of desperation… and Eve, to her own shock, manages to create a golem.

At first everything seems great. The golem is indeed protective—and also attractive. But when they head out to a rural summer camp for the family wedding, Eve’s lighthearted rom-com fantasy swiftly mudslides into something much darker.

Links: Goodreads     

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