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?
- Pick a book off your shelf 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!
The birth of Simon Arthur Henry Fitzranulph Basset, Earl Clyvedon, was met with great celebration. Church bells rang for hours, champagne flowed freely through the gargantuan castle that the newborn would call home, and the entire village of Clyvedon quit work to partake of the feat and holiday ordered by the young earl’s father.
‘This,’ the baker said to the blacksmith, ‘is no ordinary baby.’
Continue to find out which book this extract is from…
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Goodreads synopsis
Can there be any greater challenge to London’s Ambitious Mamas than an unmarried duke?
—Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers, April 1813
By all accounts, Simon Basset is on the verge of proposing to his best friend’s sister, the lovely—and almost-on-the-shelf—Daphne Bridgerton. But the two of them know the truth—it’s all an elaborate plan to keep Simon free from marriage-minded society mothers. And as for Daphne, surely she will attract some worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable.
But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, it’s hard to remember that their courtship is a complete sham. Maybe it’s his devilish smile, certainly it’s the way his eyes seem to burn every time he looks at her… but somehow Daphne is falling for the dashing duke… for real! And now she must do the impossible and convince the handsome rogue that their clever little scheme deserves a slight alteration, and that nothing makes quite as much sense as falling in love…
The Duke and I is the first book in the Bridgerton series and if I recall correctly, the first ever book I read by Julia Quinn. Ever since, the author is on my to but list without reading the synopsis.
As for the book, it is a historical romance which I enjoyed thoroughly and currently have my sister reading it as well.
The illustrated cover that you see in the photo up there, is my favourite edition of the series. I have bought book 1 and will soon be adding the remaining 7 to my library as well.
These are the edition published by Piatkus.
Have you read this book?
If yes, what did you think of it?
Let me know in the comments!
Hina Loves To Read 