First Lines Friday

I am very unsure what to read after King of Scars and so my reading life is quite a mess right now. To make up my mind a little, I decided to write a Weekday Meme like this again. I’ll copy the first paragraph of a book without revealing the title, then state my opinion and in the end reveal the title!

I sit with my wrists cuffed to the table and think, But that I am forbit/ To tell the secrets of my prison-house, / I could a tale unfold whose lightest word/ Would harrow up thy soul. The guard stands by the door, watching me, like he’s waiting for something to happen. Enter Joseph Colborne. He is a graying man now, almost fifty. It’s a surprise, every few weeks, to see how much he’s aged- and he’s aged a little more, every few weeks, for ten years.

Wow. Just wow. I had heard this book was great, but just this paragraph makes me want to read it this very second even though I’m in the middle of Leigh Bardugo. When you know, after reading the synopsis, that this scene is set in prison (which could have been guessed), then it’s definitely a promising start. Alone the fact that this book starts with Shakespeare’s Hamlet is awesome. Literally, how many books start quoting a play?

Seriously, I am blown away by how much I love this start. I was thinking, Ok, I kind of expect a cool start, but this is so much better than I’d imagined it. And the book isn’t even that popular? 8.000 ratings on Goodreads. I have a feeling that I will love this book.

But enough of me fangirling, here’s the book:

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio! It’s about a young man sentenced to ten years in prison because he killed (or not) somebody. After ten years, he is finally ready to tell the man who put him in prison the truth about what happened back in college: when he and his friends played the same roles of Shakespeare on and off stage and had to convince the police and themselves that they’re innocent.

Let’s be honest: this books sounds incredible! I have never read a lot of mystery, but this book in combination with Shakespeare and college sounds fantastic.

Let me know what you think of the first paragraph, I hope you enjoyed this tiny post and have a great weekend!