First Lines Fridays 19th December 2025 | Jo Linsdell

First Lines Fridays 19th December 2025

                     

First Lines Fridays


Books: First Lines Fridays 19th December 2025

There’s something quietly powerful about the way a story begins. Each Friday, I feature a first line that’s stayed with me — or one that’s tempting me to pick the book up soon. Take a guess before I scroll down to reveal which one it is.

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Why I Love First Lines Fridays

I'm joining in with First Lines Fridays because it’s a brilliant way to highlight more books from my own collection. Whether it’s a current read or one still on my TBR pile, I love sharing those unforgettable opening lines that instantly grab you.


What is First Lines Fridays?

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!

My First Lines Pick For This Week


The first lines of the book:


As I stood on the boardwalk that ran through Courtesy Park, I sensed with a prickly certainty that I was being watched. Casually, I scanned the people around me, my instincts on high alert. About thirty feet away, a blonde woman stood behind a bench, staring in my direction. Gooseflesh trickled along my arms, but I wasn’t chilly. It was an unseasonably warm May afternoon.
I narrowed my eyes and met the woman’s biting gaze. She was vaguely familiar. Maybe I’d seen her an hour ago at the music shop, but I couldn’t believe she’d follow me to the park. Who would follow a mundane, peri-menopausal, married woman, emphasis on mundane?



Do you know which book this is from? Scroll down to find out!


First Lines Fridays



And the book is...


A Spirited Swindler by Clare Lockhart




About the book


Book synopsis for A Spirited Swindler by Clare Lockhart

Empty nested and excited to start a new chapter in life, Quinn is almost ready to open her new lakeside café in the small town of Bookend Bay.

Everything is perfect until she realizes she’s being followed.

Confronting the stranger sets Quinn on a course where her problems no longer revolve around selecting a feature scone. She’s suddenly questioning everything she believed about her marriage and her sanity.

Midlife isn’t supposed to bring a change like this!

When police question her about a murder, Quinn quickly realizes she can’t tell anyone but her best friend about the conniving, ghostly stranger who’s stalking her. No one would believe she’s been talking to a dead person, and Quinn is barely coping with the truth herself.

Things go from bad to worse when the ghost makes her agenda clear—an exchange of favors that could save or sink Quinn’s café before she serves her first spiced latte.

The closer she gets to the truth, the more afraid she becomes of a horrible secret that could ruin her life.

Now, she can’t help thinking some secrets should rest in peace.

If you like savvy, sleuthing best friends, midlife debacles, and ghosts with agendas, you’ll love A Spirited Swindler. Get it now.



Buy now



Where to find A Spirited Swindler by Clare Lockhart online: 

 



First Lines Fridays


Have you read this book?

Have you read A Spirited Swindler by Clare Lockhart? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! If you enjoy guessing books from their opening lines, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss next week’s First Lines Fridays post.

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