First Lines Fridays was a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. The site appears to no longer be up and running, and I’m not sure if anyone has taken over. I’ll just keep the intro as is, until I find out any new information. Please share if you know anything. Thanks Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog for the heads up!

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!

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Mother once told me that if I’d been born a boy, she would have named me Valor.

Valor
by Casey L. Bond
ASIN/ISBN: B09T9DG47P
Publication: February 22, 2022

Dragon. Warrior. Woman.

To honor her brother’s dying plea, Vayl Halifex carries a message that might prevent war with the elves: the location of their captive princess. Fortune and circumstance align in her favor and Vayl’s life is forever changed when an opportunity arises that only she can seize. With the help of a matchmaker, she becomes the emperor’s newest concubine. The new role affords her unfettered access to the gilded mountain stronghold, where the princess is rumored to be hidden away.

But she won’t take this risk alone. Her brother’s best friend, dragon warrior Estin, calls on the small army of elven assassins he leads to use their magic and might to flank her for the fight to come. The band of dragons takes Vayl into their fold and trains her as best they can before she’s whisked away to the palace.

Unbeknownst to the warriors, a dreadful magic simmers in the gilded fortress. With those fiercely protective of the emperor closing in, and the dragon assassins disappearing one by one, Vayl’s chance at escape narrows to a sliver, along with her hope of finding the princess or fighting her way out of the palace. With her heart entwined with that of the dragon warrior she was never supposed to love, she begins to fear the price of her treachery will be her life… or his.

Mulan meets The Hundredth Queen in this romantic epic fantasy, perfect for fans of the Throne of Glass series and These Hollow Vows. (Goodreads)

This is one of the books I recently finished. I couldn’t help reading it after seeing the cover on bookstagram and reading the description. I’ll have a review up soon.

Did the first lines make you want to pick up the book?