First Lines Fridays 13th November 2026

Books: First Lines Fridays 13th November 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:

‘My baby’s been taken,’ I weep into the phone. ‘Please hurry.’ My fiancé, Alex, is keeled over the birthing pool, the water tinged pink. He’s rocking back and forth, his jaw slack. His shoulders are heaving, blood from the deep gash on the side of his head coagulating, baking onto his skin in the summer heat. I can’t bring myself to crawl over to him. My trembling body is weak, in shock. The weight of what has happened is smothering me. I’ve lost a lot of blood. Outside, the world is oddly still, as though someone hasn’t just come in and upturned our entire lives.

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

And the book is...

The Baby Group by Jade Lee Wright (book cover)

Book synopsis The Baby Group by Jade Lee Wright

A totally addictive psychological thriller with one of the most astonishing twists you’ll read this year.

‘My baby’s been taken,’ I sob into the phone. Blood is everywhere.

My fiancé, Alex, is slumped beside the birthing pool, his head gashed open. The baby? Gone.

I cradle my empty stomach, my empty arms. And then Alex looks at me — not with love, but with blame.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. The move. The fresh start. The antenatal classes. The new friends. But nothing about this feels right.

And as the sirens wail closer, I realize something terrible — someone planned this. Someone in our new life wanted our baby.

And I think they’re in the baby group.

A totally addictive and twist-filled psychological thriller perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, Daniel Hurst, Lucinda Berry, Kiersten Modglin and Tarryn Fisher.

This addictive thriller full of twists is perfect for fans of Alice Feeney, Sue Watson, Jane E. James, Shalini Boland, Sonya Bateman and Valerie Keogh.