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:

“My twin my darling my LUCY

All is not well with me not AT ALL well

NO

ive a BLINDING PAIN in my head

i didnt think it was possible to experience such pain and LIVE

i feel like taking a SPOON

to my eye and scooping it

out out OUT OUT out

anything to make

it STOP MAKE IT STOP makeitstop-pleasemakeitstop”

This is an intense start to a book, and I need to know more right now.

Do you recognize the lines?

Here’s a hint:

This is a recently published gothic horror.

Still not sure? Here’s another hint:

It’s written by Johanna van Veen.

The First Lines Friday book is:

Blood on Her Tongue.

About the Book:

• Title: Blood on Her Tongue
• Author: Johanna van Veen
• Page Length: 368 pages
• Publication Date: March 25, 2025
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Synopsis:

“I’m in your blood, and you are in mine…”

The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy’s twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband’s grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister’s condition, but it’s clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.

Then, the worst happens. Sarah’s behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry… and hungry. 

Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.

Links: Goodreads     

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