Where Is Your Bookmark? (02/09/2016)

I began reading The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams this weekend, and thought I would share a bit of it with you today. It's a young adult novel about a thirteen-year-old girl who is being told she must marry her much older uncle, an Apostle of the polygamist sect her family belongs to, despite her unwillingness to do so.

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea 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. It is also where I share my first impressions about the book I am sharing.

If I was going to kill the Prophet," I say, not even keeping my voice low, I'd do it in Africa." 

I look into Mariah's light green eyes. 

She stares back and me and smiles, like she knows what I mean and agrees, Like she's saying, "Go on, Kyra. Tell me more." 

Every Tuesday, Jenn from A Daily Rhythm hosts Teaser Tuesdays at which time participants grab their current read, open to a random page, and share a couple or more "teaser" sentences from that page while avoiding any spoilers.

Teaser from page 19 of The Chosen One:

Music carries me away. Has since I was little. I can feel notes under my skin. Feel music in my muscles. Sometimes I even dream in Mozart or Beethoven scores. In the dreams, people speak out black and white musical notes, not words. And I understand every bit of it, exactly what they're saying, when I dream.

One from page 86:

"This is what I know. What your father knows. This is our lives. We are obedient." 

It's not my life, I think.

And another one from page 103:

He lowered his voice, talking as though I wasn't there. "Books aren't allowed. Where did you get this?" His hand smoothed across the cover.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?  

The opening sentence is quite telling, given the type of lifestyle the main character was born and raised into. Obedience is everything. The reader knows immediately she's perhaps not the most faithful of the bunch.

I liked the first teaser I shared--how Kyra is drawn to music. I love the image and feel of her words in that paragraph. The other two teasers (I went a bit overboard with the teasers, I know) offer a glimpse of just what Kyra is up against in the environment she lives in.

This is my first book by Carol Lynch Williams, and is proving to be a heartbreaking one. I am having trouble tearing myself away. 

What are you reading at the moment?  Is it anything you would recommend?

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

This week's  Top Ten Tuesday theme is Valentine's Day themed freebie! I have decided to make a list of the most memorable literary couples I have met in the last five years. It turned out to be a little tougher than I anticipated, but I think I narrowed it down to my top ten. These aren't necessarily romance novels.

1. Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont from the All Souls Trilogy (which begins with A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness) ~ I enjoyed this trilogy quite a bit and the connection between Diana, a witch, and Matthew a vampire.

2. Bess Heath and Tom Cole from The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan ~ Oh, how I loved them and didn't want their story to end! Set in the early 1900's, this historical novel is beautiful and bittersweet. It's one of my favorite books.

3. Lily and Robbie from Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson. I'm a sucker for a World War I setting, and this historical novel won me over quickly. I adored Lily, an ambulance driver, and Robbie, a doctor.

4. Peter Lake and Beverly Penn from A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin ~ I did not like this epic fantasy novel as much as I had hoped. I gave it a low rating, in fact, but it had its good points, among them the love story between Peter and Beverly.

5. Susan Trinder and Maud Lilly in Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, a novel set in Victorian times. A modern classic about two women from very different walks of life brought together by secrets and lies, greed and betrayal. An amazing book.

6. Simon Wolfgard and Meg from the Others series by Anne Bishop (Written in Red is the first in a dark fantasy series). It may be a stretch to list them as they haven't officially become a couple, but their feelings for each other are quite obvious, and I think most of us who are reading the series think of them that way.

7. Eleanor and Park from Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell ~ Set in 1986, these two young lovebirds reminded me of the first time I fell in love (with the man who would become my husband, as a matter of fact).

8. Clare Abshire and Henry DeTamble from The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I put off reading this one for a number of years, and while I found the ending a tad disappointing, I fell hard for Clare and Henry. I wanted to be them in the time I spent reading the book.

9. Celia and Marco from The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern spend most of the book apart, but, oh, I could not help but long for them to find each other. I listened to the audio version of this book and instantly fell in love with Jim Dale's narration of this beautiful and magical story and a circus like no other.

10. Callie McFay and well, I don't want to spoil it! from the Fairwick Chronicles (which begins with The Demon Lover) ~ I really enjoyed this trilogy written by Juliet Dark, aka Carol Goodman. Romance, mystery, magical beings, and quite a bit of suspense.

Have you met any of these couples? What are some of your favorite literary couples?

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© 2016, 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.