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This weeks topic: First chapters that had you hooked. In no particular order, here's some YA books that sucked me in from the start:
Read first chapter here
How funny is it? And it just gets funnier. And then, impossibly, even funnier.
And it's so Australian and the characters are just brilliant from the first few pages. It's not just amazing voice, it's a bank robbery that's the inciting incident for the whole premise of the novel. He's a genius, Zusac.
Read first chapter here
I loved Morgan from the first page and didn't really care what the book was about, I just wanted to read her narration. It also didn't hurt that Rob's cute butt entered the scene on page one... :) "Where has that ass been all my life?" page 1
Read first chapter here
Collins so smoothly opens with world building. Plus in one chapter she manages to have me in sync with how katniss feels towards her sister and Gale and her dread @ the reaping. And then, the end of chapter one happens and you can't put it down.
Plus, Gale had me @ Catnip :)
Read first chapter here
Just. Awesome. You will either want to be Josies BFF by page two, or be her. I remember the first time I read it and after the second page, that feeling of looking forward to hanging out with her for pages and pages to come.
One of the cleverest, teenager-y openings ever.
Read first chapter here
First three lines: "I wish I had a boyfriend. I wish he lived in the wardrobe on a coat hanger. Whenever I wanted I could get him out and he's look at me the way boys do in films, as if I'm beautiful."
The prose is so gorgeous. I felt captivated from the first scene. Beautiful book :)
Some runner-ups:
- Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell Has a prologue! And it rocks really hard. Hooked me instantly. No link :( But the first three lines are: I am the maniac behind the wheel of a stolen dune buggy. Dylan Luck is by my side. We are tearing up the desert, searching for proof of God.
- Wintergirls - it's Laurie Halse Anderson and her prose just has me spellbound.
- Audrey, Wait by Robin Benway - her first chapter is just so fun and rocking.
- Dreaming of Amelia because it's Jaclyn Moriarty and I just slip back into my favourite world and her sentences make words shine hard. They make me feel good. "Amelia, eh?," said I.
- The Devil's Staircase by Helen Fitzgerald because the pacing is insane and a litte wild, even startling. Love it.
What books had you hooked from the first chapter?
xx Nomes
I LOOOOOVVVEEED the first chapter of I am the messenger.
ReplyDeleteAnd Looking for Alibrandi is one of my fav books EVER!
I've recently got my hands on Before I fall. Looking forward to reading it!
I've read "Looking for Alibrandi" and "Before I Die" - you're right, they're great books, and the first chaps have great hooks. (Hey - I rhymed)
ReplyDeleteI've just started a blog, and I'm kinda new at this, but what's a "meme", and how do I join one? Do I have to blog for a while? It's an awesome idea.
Hope you can help me out. :)
I agree with Hunger Games and I am the Messenger. haven't read the others, but I have one sitting by my computer right now. Stupid revisions. I shall resist. I loved the first chapter of Looking for Alaska and Speak. Wintergirls had a good opener too.
ReplyDeleteBefore I Die was spectacularly lovely. And I adore the first chapters of The Sky Always Hears Me (Morgan all the way!) and The Hunger Games.
ReplyDeleteDreaming of Amelia? 'The first time I met her I knew that my Amelia was a ghost' - WIN.
Helen Fitzgerald writes the wildest and craziest books, doesn't she? Have you read Dead Lovely?
@Amna - I really liked before i fall - it was addictive :) And so glad you love Alibrandi :) It's a high school text here - so i got to study it for school - so cool.
ReplyDelete@ Tina - go the rhyming, haha. and I'll send you an email. cant wait to check out your blog.
@ Angie. i am proud of your resilience and resistance. inspirational especially considering i should be writing and i am indulging in a good book right now... and i thought of looking for alaska! and then it must have slipped my mind. i can still remember the first chapter.
@ Bee - yay for someone who has read helen fitgerald. yeah, i've read dead lovely. haha. pretty wild and i loved it, but nowhere near as much as i loved the devil's staircase :)
The Hunger Games is a gripping first chapter! I couldn't out it down!
ReplyDeleteI feel *exactly* the same way about The Sky Always Hears Me. And The Hunger Games. And I'm hoping I'll feel the same way about Looking For Alibrandi, because that opening sounds fantastic.
ReplyDeletei agree with the hunger games. first line, more like it haha. havent read any of the othrs except wintergirls
ReplyDeleteHad you at Catnip? Cute!
ReplyDelete