First Lines Fridays 23rd October 2026

Books: First Lines Fridays 23rd October 2026

Ready for another First Lines Friday? It's that time of the week when we judge a book not by it's cover or even by its blurb. Instead we will be judging it's ability to hook us from the opening lines. Let's see if this week's pick will have you adding it to your TBR list or not.

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I'm participating in First Lines Fridays as I think it's a great way to highlight more of the books that are on my bookshelves.

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 Pick For This Week

The first lines of the book:

Therapy was supposed to help Elena Drake trust her mind. Instead, someone is teaching her to doubt it. When Elena comes home to find her deadbolt unlocked, her lamp on, and her appointment book moved, she knows someone has been inside her apartment. Then Elena finds the Polaroid on her pillow—a photo of herself asleep in her own bed. Everyone tells her there must be another explanation.

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

And the book is...

The Perfect Patient by Paige Monroe book cover

Book synopsis The Perfect Patient by Paige Monroe

Therapy was supposed to save her mind.
But it might be an experiment meant to destroy it.

Elena Drake returns home to find things slightly out of place.
Her worst fear resurfaces - someone has been inside her apartment.

And that’s only the beginning.

No one believes her - not her boyfriend, her best friend, or the police.
At first, only her therapist, Dr. Roth, seems to understand. Kind. Calm. Always in control.

As Elena digs deeper, the line between memory and manipulation blurs.
Friends pull away. Doubt creeps in.

Is the real danger outside her walls—or inside her mind?

But the more she confides in Dr. Roth, the more her world tilts out of control.
Is the person she thought she could trust, the man meant to help her, the one pulling the strings?

Every discovery shatters what she thought she knew about her past, her sanity, and herself.

In a world built on deception, can Elena uncover the truth before she unravels completely?