Where Is Your Bookmark Top Ten Tuesday and 1st Paragraph Edition

I was not able to read much during this past week. Instead I watched the first two seasons of The Killing, which I am quite enjoying. I also spent time with my family, sometimes being very silly. We banged pots and pans to celebrate the New Year and got drunk on sparkling apple cider.  Okay, so maybe no one actually got drunk . . . We all felt like we had a hangover the next day though--it was one of the worst days of our colds.

I am back to waking up at 4:30 in the morning. Despite some minor clumsiness after I first woke up, I managed to get in a work out and be out the door on time Monday for work. It was a fairly good day. I actually did not forget my passwords like I thought I would, and the workload was such I felt like I was able to ease back into work smoothly. I hid away during my half hour lunch break to eat and spend time with a book. I am reading a historical mystery at the moment called Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman and am quite enjoying it.  The comparisons to Downton Abbey aren't far off base.

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where  

participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a 

book they are reading or thinking about reading soon.

Here is a snippet from Tessa Arlen's A Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman, which I thought I would share with you today.

On the morning of Lord and Lady Montforts' annual summer ball, their housekeeper, Edith Jackson, was up, washed, and almost dressed by six o' clock. She unraveled her long bedtime plait, brushed out her hair, and, with a mouth full of hairpins, swept the quick auburn swath into a twist at the nape of her neck, deftly securing it in place. The glance she cast into the looking glass was brief, made only to reassure that she was presentable. Then she rang for the third housemaid to bring breakfast up to her parlor. 

As Mrs. Jackson sat down to eat her bacon and eggs, she mentally prepared herself for a day that would be packed with complicated, overlapping timetables and countless calls on her patience and tact.

Little does she or anyone else at Monfort know murder is in the air. The opening does not give anything away; rather it is more of a set up for what is to come.

Would you continue reading?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies at Broke and Bookish.

I took the liberty to modify this weeks' Top Ten Tuesday theme from Top Ten Most Anticipated Debut Novels to Top Ten Most Anticipated Novels For 2015. There are quite a few books coming out that I know I will not be able to resist, some of which I haven't even heard of yet.  And there are plenty of older books I am longing to dive into as well--that's for another post though.  Here are ten new releases I am looking forward to reading this year:

1. This may be cheating since I am reading it right now, but I can't help but mention it again: Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman by Tessa Arlene ~ A summer costume ball, high society, a murder, a countess and housekeeper putting their heads together to solve the crime. I love a good historical mystery! (January 6th)

2. Miramont's Ghost by Elizabeth Hall ~ A castle, family secrets, premonitions, Daphne du Maurier-esque.  How can I resist? (February 1st)

3. Behind Closed Doors by Elizabeth Haynes ~ Second book in the Detective Inspector Louisa Smith series. Haynes is one of my must read authors. (March 31st)

4. Diamond Head by Cecily Wong ~ The cover is what first attracted me to this one. A family saga of murder and family secrets spanning from China to Hawaii?  Well, that put the novel in the must read camp. (April 14th)

5. The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy ~ I loved Sarah McCoy's The Baker's Daughter, and so when I heard about this book, I knew I would read it. Two women whose stories intertwine: one from the past, a mapmaker for the underground railroad, and one from the present who retreats to the country when she learns she cannot bear a child, something she so desperately wants to do. (May 5th)

6. The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward ~ The publisher's description says it best, "A beautiful, powerful novel about motherhood, desire, and faith set amongst the changing lives of Americans along the border . . ." (January 20th)

7. The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly ~ This one has Jurassic Park written all over it.  But set in China. It sounds liked it could be exciting. And scary. (January 27th)

8. The Magician's Lie by by Greer Macallister ~ a female illusionist and a murder--and Jenclair's (A Garden Carried in the Pocket)  recommendation. (January 13th)

9. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins ~ A commuter witnesses something on a train, tells the police and is suddenly in the middle of it all. The reviews for this one so far have made it sound irresistible. (January 15th)

10. A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley ~ Jacobite exile Mary Dundas' 300 year old journal holds more secrets than Sara Thomas, codebreaker counted on--and much more intrigue. (April 7th)

What new releases are you most looking forward to this year?

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© 2015, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.