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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!

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Hello, reader!

I feel like it’s been a minute since I’ve done a First Lines Friday post. So, today, I wanted to feature a book I’ve been reading (and loving!) recently. Kick the weekend off the right way, ya know? This is a book I heard a lot about last year and definitely wanted to read. That’s why it was an easy add to my 12 friends, 12 recommendations challenge for 2023!

The first few lines definitely intrigued me. Lets see if they’ll do the same for you!

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The Line(s):

“I was nine the first time the Physicians came to the house.”

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The Hints:

This is a fantasy that was released in September 2022.

It features a magic mist that encases an entire kingdom.

The main character is a young woman with a Nightmare living in her head.

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The Reveal:

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Click the cover to be taken to the Goodreads page

Goodreads Synopsis

Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.

Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.

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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!