Five-Line Friday
Five-Line Friday Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Where authors and readers meet to share and read romance novel snippets!
Five-Line Friday RULES
- Five lines of your current work in progress, new release, soon-to-be-released … whatever. (Do keep it as close to five sentences as you can.)
- You are welcome to post buy links too.
- PG (I don’t have a warning on my blog about content, so it has to be appropriate for all viewers. I will delete comments that aren’t appropriate or offensive to some audiences. Sorry.)
My snippet today comes from my new release, Virtue and Valor (Highland Heather Romancing a Scot, book 2)
A shadow fell across the ledge from the room beside hers.
Isobel dove back inside. Peering between the shutter and the rough wall, she held her breath as a raven-haired child climbed onto the windowsill.
Dear God, he could fall.
“Keck, no, György. You are too tikni to be near the window.” A beautiful young woman, her hair and waist tied with colorful scarves, appeared above him. “Remember I told you. You mustn’t climb on the sill. You might fall.”
Isobel mashed her face closer to the gap, staring in disbelief.
Highland travellers? Here?
Okay, I know that’s more than five lines, but I couldn’t cut it shorter, and it’s my blog so I get to post extra.
http://tinyurl.com/VIRTUEANDVALOR
Your turn to dazzle!
Thanks, Collette. Nice excerpt. A lot must be going on here. With more to come.
My WIP excerpt is more than five sentences, but they’re pretty short. It’s mostly conversation, and people tend to talk in short sentences. The set-up: two medieval chicks are cousins and BFFs, but they’re in love with the same knight, only one of them openly.
Dorrit smiled. “Dearest cousin, you’re in a most cheerful mood tonight. Might I ask why?”
“You might. Others have. But it’s a secret.” Joan leaned her dark-tressed head next to Dorrit’s fair-tressed one. “Yet I trust you more than anyone else. Can you keep my secret?”
“Oh yes. By all that is holy, I’ll tell no one.”
Joan looked around, then whispered, “I believe William will finally ask Uncle Reginald for my hand. Perhaps tonight. If he hasn’t already!”
Joan squealed with joy. Dorrit did her best to smile. Inside she died a bit.
I’m looking forward to reading everyone else’s excerpts. Have a great weekend, everyone. And for my fellow Americans, happy Independence Day!
I love this, Mary Anne!
Wonderful Mary Anne, I can’t wait to read more..Thank you for sharing 🙂 I loved this book Collette, you have a style & wit all your own 🙂
Thanks, Liz!
Thanks a lot, Liz!
Sigh. I’m having a hard time doing anything today, including picking a snippet. Eventually I chose a conversation between two secondary characters from To Kiss a Rake — the grandmother of the heroine and the great-aunt of the hero.
“My dear Maria, welcome, welcome to this happy occasion.” Lady Pauling grinned broadly. “You must know, dear child, that your grandmother and I are old cronies. We weathered scandals together in our giddy youth.”
“Good day, Juliana.” Grandmama submitted stiffly to an embrace. “Still talking nonsense, I see.”
“Still hiding your head in the sand, I see,” Lady Paulding retorted. “What’s the point of behaving badly if you don’t remember it loudly and to the embarrassment of those around you?”
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZAY07OK/
That last line is a gem!
Good question! Thanks, Barbara.
These are wonderful! I finished Virtue and Valor last night and loved it! A review to be posted shortly.
Here are five lines from my WIP, wherein the American hero teaches the heroine, an earl’s daughter, and her maid Jenny how to cook:
Fox crossed to her and took both of her hands in his large ones. Up close, she noticed the stubble on his face had tones of red in it. The years had worn small lines between his dark brows, and under the short scruff, a seamed scar ran down his jaw.
“You’re both fair exhausted. I’ll cook. You watch and learn. This…” he put a finger to the center of her forehead, “very deft mind needs only one lesson, Miss Jenny. Keep up or you’ll risk being sacked.”
Wishing all the American here a wonderful Fourth of July!
You are so sweet, Alina!
Love the details in this snippet.
Hi Collette!! Yours is great. Here is mine from Lady Beresford’s Lover, which releases on July 21st. I’m sorry, it is a little long as well.
Rupert stared out the grimy window, watching the passersby. “When did Lady Beresford tell you she would not marry again?”
“When I proposed.” Nick raked his hand through his hair. “I’m a military man. Plain speaking is what I do best. I was always in line after Edgar, but never expected to inherit. If he could have done his duty by Vivian, they would have had children. God knows he had several by the other woman. I didn’t know what else to promise her, so I told her I’d give her children.”
Rupert had never heard of a worse proposal in his life. Even Robert’s to Serena had been better than that. Thank God Vivian had had enough pride left to refuse.
Buy links:
Kensington http://bit.ly/1Ea6UJU
Amazon http://amzn.to/1HcQ1NV
B&N http://bit.ly/1aRNi0f
Kobo http://bit.ly/1BT2OFE
Well, Nick rather mucked that up, didn’t he?
Which was a good thing, Collette!!
Thanks, Ella. Ah, the perils of plain speaking! A bad situation for our hero, but a fun one for the reader.
I also like the way this brief passage implies a lot. There are several intriguing threads that must lead to what’s gone on before and what’s going to happen.
Good luck!
From “An Unlikely Hero”
“What happens when we reach zero?” Morgan asked.
Rockman looked weary.
“I’m afraid to find out.”
The cable news cut out, static filling the screen, while Rockman’s monitor showed another starburst as the countdown continued.
“I’ve lost my satellite feed. Anyone have a re-route?”
This is cool, Beth!
Thank you. ❤️
From my debut, Save the Last Dance for Me (found in the Sweet Summer Kisses boxed set):
Honoria signaled and Aunt Cecilia played the piece again, just as slowly as before. But Benedict was ready, and he began his steps only a few measures in this time. He held Honoria’s hands firmly and his movements were careful. But each time they repeated the song, Honoria saw his shoulders relax a fraction more and his eyes lift a little from the floor.
“I don’t know what all the fuss is about,” he said as the last note grew fainter. “There’s nothing scandalous about this.”
“We aren’t to the scandalous part yet. Should we do that next?”
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1f69TYN
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1MNrkbK
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1FWQ0sN
iBooks: http://apple.co/1Ba4idH
Google Play: http://bit.ly/1GBi2AG
B&N: http://bit.ly/1J3AG26
Yes, they should! Thanks, Cora.
They did 😉 And it was fun!
From ‘A Baron for Becky’
He whisked her into a curtained alcove and proceeded to kiss her. She thought she knew kisses. Rough and clumsy connections, rude invasions of her mouth as the man who had purchased the right violently mauled her breasts and buttocks. Those weren’t kisses. This; this was a kiss: a firm but gentle invitation to a duet, patiently coaxing a response and then turning to a dance, a partnership of giving and taking that spun music through every vein in her body.
Oh my, oh MY! I felt that one.
Lovely, Jude.
Yes! Nice excerpt, Jude. Good luck with your new release.
Thank you, ladies. I’m very excited about it.