Friday Fun - The Friday 56 and First Lines for February 23, 2024 (on Saturday!)

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I really meant to do this yesterday, but never got around to it! This week I'm featuring a book that I picked up for free on Kindle about a week ago, and read very quickly - something that's unusual for me these days. I think it may still be free if you're interested. My review is HERE.

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North Devon, England

September 1859

Helena Reynolds crossed the floor of the crowded taproom, her carpetbag clutched in her trembling hands.

~From the beginning of The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews

She Wanted Sanctuary . . .

Helena Reynolds will do anything to escape her life in London, even if that means traveling to a remote cliffside estate on the North Devon coast and marrying a complete stranger. But Greyfriar's Abbey isn't the sort of refuge she imagined. And ex-army captain Justin Thornhill - though he may be tall, dark, and devastatingly handsome - is anything but a romantic hero.

He Needed Redemption . . .

Justin has spent the last two decades making his fortune, settling scores, and suffering a prolonged period of torture in an Indian prison. Now, he needs someone to smooth the way for him with the villagers. Someone to manage his household - and warm his bed on occasion. What he needs, in short, is a wife and a matrimonial advertisement seems the perfect way to acquire one.

Their marriage was meant to be a business arrangement and nothing more. A dispassionate union free from the entanglements of love and affection. But when Helena's past threatens, will Justin's burgeoning feelings for his new bride compel him to come to her rescue? Or will dark secrets of his own force him to let her go?

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First Line Fridays is hosted at Reading is My SuperPower

*Share the first line or two of the book closest to you, then visit other FLF participants.

*Please keep posts family friendly or clean reads.

*Link back to Reading is My SuperPower within your post or grab a button.

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Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader.

*It's Book Beginnings on Fridays! Time to gather with our fellow book lovers and share the opening sentence (or so) of the books we are reading this week. Or share from a book that is on your mind right now -- whatever catches your fancy.

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The memory left a taste in his mouth as bitter as poison. Never before, not even his darkest days in the orphanage, could he recall having felt so alone. So unwanted. 

~at 56% in The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews

The Friday 56 was started and hosted at Freda's Voice. She is taking a break from hosting, but Anne at My Head Full of Books has volunteered to host for now, so I'll be linking up there.

*Grab a book, any book.

*Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your e-reader.

*Find a snippet, short and sweet.

*Post it, and share in the Linky.

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And here is the weekly bookish question in the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.  

This Week's Question: How do you organize your bookshelves?

My Answer: When we moved and downsized, I really pared down the collection of books that I brought with me. Most of what I brought along fits on just two shelves. *gasp* I started by grouping the author series that I have together, in the series order (Connilynn Cossette, Anna Lee Huber, and Deanna Raybourn) and grouped the others around those based mostly on how they fit in the available space.

Book Blogger Hop

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