---

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?  If you want to make your own post, feel free to use or edit the banner above, and follow the rules below:

• 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 (I cheat a little bit here *cough*)
• Finally… reveal the book!

If you’re using Twitter, don’t forget to use #FirstLinesFridays!

---

Hello, reader!

Happy Friday! For this week’s First Lines Friday post, I’m featuring a fantasy sequel that I have been eagerly anticipating. It’s got a gorgeous cover and I’m hoping the insides match the outsides! Now it’s time to see if the first few lines can get me even more pumped.

---

The Line(s):

“The bones are buried deep, white against the velvet dark water.

---

The Hints:

This is a young adult fantasy that is the sequel to one of my top reads last year.

The cover is even more stunning than the first book!

Two words: Black. Mermaids.

---

The Reveal:

Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowen

Click the cover to be taken to the Goodreads page

Goodreads Synopsis

The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestseller Skin of the Sea, in which the world must pay the price for one mermaid’s choice, and a dark force reverberates across realms. Perfect for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and those eagerly anticipating the live-action film adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

One life.
One choice.
One sacrifice.

To save those closest to her, Simi traded away everything: her freedom, her family, and the boy she loves. Now she is sworn to serve a new god, watching over the Land of the Dead at the bottom of the ocean.

But when signs of demons begin to appear, it’s clear there are deeper consequences of Simi’s trade. These demons spell the world’s ruin . . . and because of Simi, they now have a way into the human realm.

With the fate of the world at stake, Simi must break her promise and team up with a scheming trickster of a god. And if they succeed, perhaps Simi can also unbreak her heart along the way, and find herself again.

---

Did that first line capture your attention? Did it make you want to read the rest of the story? Let me know in the comments!

And, as always, happy reading!