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 (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!
“A little girl’s cry tore through the air, shattering the heart of the King of Tursch. Werner, the king, stood helplessly in the corner of his daughter’s room as the five-year-old girl struggled.
‘I smell it. Why does it smell so bad?’ Gisela wailed as her many attendants pinned her down and fed her a thick syrup, which she promptly choked on.
There was no smell. Nothing. Werner had been told by several medicine men that Gisela wasn’t of sound mind, that some devil possessed her. Of course, he didn’t believe it.”
Do you recognize the lines?
Hint: This is a new standalone adult fantasy novel.
Hint 2: The novel is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
This week’s book is:
The Castle of Thorns by Elle Beaumont!
To end the murders, she must live with the beast of the forest.
After surviving years with a debilitating illness, Gisela must prove she is more than her ailment. She discovers her father, King Werner of Tursch, has been growing desperate for the herbs that are key to her health. So much so, he’s willing to cross paths with a deadly legend of Todesfall Forest to retrieve the remedy.
Knorren is the demon of the forest, one who slaughters anyone who trespasses into his land. When King Werner steps into the demon’s territory, desperately pleading for safe passage for the sake of his daughter’s health, Knorren toys with the idea. However, not without a cost. King Werner must deliver his beloved Gisela to the demon or suffer dire consequences.
With unrest spreading through the kingdom, and its people growing tired of a king who won’t put an end to the demon of Todesfall Forest, Gisela must make a choice. To become Knorren’s prisoner forever, or risk the lives of her beloved people.
I have a review copy of this novel and just started reading it. My hope it to finish it either today or tomorrow as it is a unique tale on the fairy tale. The beast is a demon and the beauty is a kind princess with a mysterious illness. Their story has a similar set-up where it is the two spending time together and become closer, but there is a lot more to it, so far. I hope that it continues to be entertaining and has a great ending, so I will have to see how it all comes together. While there are numerous retellings out there, so far, this one is a captivating take.
- Have you read The Castle of Thorns is it on your TBR?
- What did you think of the first lines?
chonkybooksreview.com 
This is going on my TBR!
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