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Battle of the First Lines, 2026 – Round 1 (Summer Division)

Battle of the First Lines, 2026 – Round 1 (Summer Division)

Posted by By Veronica August 13, 2026
Hey bookworm friends! I'm coming to you with a bonkers idea that I recently had out of the blue when thinking about bookish first lines. A couple of years ago,…
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Featured Book Reviewer Professional Reader 80%

dark.shelf.of.wonders

Devoted to Fantasy 🖤 Always aiming to diversify my reading.
Support Indie Authors🌻.
📚 Book Blogger, Board Game Lover & Dog Cuddler.
Happy Cover Reveal Day to The Soul Thief and Molly Happy Cover Reveal Day to The Soul Thief and Molly Haniszewski ( @into_the_bookish_wild ) 🎉😍. The incredible cover art is done by @apolin.art 🖌️ 📢Mark your calendars for the release date: November 3rd, 2026. Pre-orders aren't available yet but please add The Soul Thief to your GoodReads TBR & follow the author and @dragon.bone.publishing for updates if you're interested! Blurb: Marlee is a great thief, and nobody knows it. For years, she has flown completely under the radar, stealing gems and valuable books on demons for clients who have no idea just how talented she is. But one night, she is beaten to her own job by a shade-possessed (and insanely good-looking) singer, who steals the single most valuable gem in the world -the gem that would guarantee Marlee’s career for the rest of her life. The singer disappears, and Marlee is targeted by those wishing to recover the gem. To save her skin, she must track down the singer and take the gem back. Zebediah was thrown to the demons when he was ten years old. Over a decade later, he lives at the whim of a tyrannical shade, who uses his body to carry out devious acts. Since then, Zeb lives a shadow of a life, forgotten by everyone he’d ever known and unable to leave a mark upon the world. He gave up hope of being saved from his fate long ago-until a quiet, curvy waitress named Marlee unexpectedly slashes the shade for disrupting her burglary. Could she help Zeb break free from his tortuous half-life as a thrall? ❓What are you currently reading? Or, what's the last indie book you read? #CoverReveal #IndieBook #FantasyBook #UpcomingReleases #TheSoulThief
#HopeIsAVerb is a new stack for a cause hosted by #HopeIsAVerb is a new stack for a cause hosted by the awesome duo of @kieranjanebooks & @dan.devours.words. This fundraising campaign is based on supporting an array of wonderful different causes from around the world. To participate make a post using the hashtag and share books that give you hope. And now here comes the part where Hope Is A Verb: donate to any of the causes linked in the hosts' bios. The donations will be matched by Dan and Kieran up to the first $1,500. Incredible artists have come together to donate unique giveaway prizes. Every week as long as they have prizes they'll pick a name at random from the tombola and the lucky winner will receive one of the prizes along with a $25 book token. Check out their post for a full list of causes and prizes! Now, pretend my stack isn't a digita flatlay okay? I don't have any of these in physical format but every single one of these made me cry and feel so much hope for the world I want to live in. There's a lot of cozy stories here but also a lot of dealing with heavy topics. What they all have in common is their focus on finding strength in community 🌱. 💚A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers 🩷Lunar Boy by Jacinta Wibowo & Jessica Wibowo 🤍Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer ❤️Cursed Cocktails by S. L. Rowland 💜Moon Soul by Nathaniel Luscombe 💙Rebis: Born and Reborn by Irene Marchesini with Carlotta Dicataldo Tagging some friends in case they are interested in participating, no pressure 🥰 #stackforacause #Bookstagram
💐May 2026 Anticipated Releases💐 This month's list 💐May 2026 Anticipated Releases💐 This month's list is a bit smaller than usual and my biggest category is science fiction! I hope you dance to the spring stardew song as you peruse May's offerings. Any book that has already been released will be marked with 🎉. 🐲 Fantasy: -The Hanging Bones, Elle Tesch (May 12) -The Lustrous Dark, Loretta Chefchaouni (May 19) -Mortedant's Peril, R. J. Barker (May 19) -The Palace Beneath The Sea, Lauren Wiesebron (May 21) 🛸 Science Fiction: -Lovestruck Maggot, Jarrett Brandon Early (May 1🎉) -Love Galaxy, Sierra Branham (May 5) -Cousins From A Distant Sun, Tamar Myers (May 5) -The Republic of Memory, Mahmud El Sayed (May 5) -And Side by Side They Wander, Molly Tanzer (May 19) 💕 Romance: -Strange Familiars, Keshe Chow (May 7) -Deathbringer, Sonia Tagliareni (May 12) -Behind Five Willows, June Hur (May 26) 😱 Horror: -Spider,Spider, L. C. Winter (May 5) -The Temptation of Charlotte North, Camilla Bruce (May 19) -Bone of My Bone, Johanna van Veen (May 26) 🏺 Mystery & Mythology: -The Library After Dark, Ande Pliego (May 5) -The Lost Book of Lancelot, John Glynn (May 12) -Andromeda, E. S. McLeod (May 14) ❓Are any of these on your list too? Or which books are you looking forward to the most in May? #AnticipatedReleases #Books #Bookstagram #NewReleases #Reading
Tidy the Library: Week Thirteen aka The Last Round Tidy the Library: Week Thirteen aka The Last Round - RESULTS Thank you to every single person who joined in on the game throughout thirteen weeks, you're all the best and I had such fun 🖤 . . 1957: How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Dr. Seuss) . . 1963: Where The Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak) . . 1964: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl) . . 1969: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle) The answer is C: Between Wild Things and Charlie! Congrats for guessing correctly, you get a Golden Ticket: @dan.devours.words @shona_reads_in_devon Bad luck, but at least you won't get tortured with difficult questions anymore 😜: @gianna.of.vengerberg @alitescape @irinasreading @goodbooksgreatgoats @jonesandthebooks #TidyTheLibrary #Bookstagram #BookishGame #charlieandthechocolatefactory #PlayWithMe
Buddy Read Book Review 🖤 We Have Always Lived in Buddy Read Book Review 🖤 We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Marie Shirley Jackson 🖤 Genre: Classics / Horror 🖤 Format Read: Physical ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4 This was my first Shirley Jackson read and I didn’t really know what to expect. I was honestly surprised by how much I was immediately invested in the Blackwood family’s drama. The more I think about it, the more I’m impressed by how much happens in such a short book. Especially because a massively tragic event already happened in that family’s past off-page before we even open the book, so at first I worried the plot would pale in comparison. I clearly didn’t need to worry because I was hooked from page one wondering what the heck was going on at every turn. I don’t normally gel well with open ended endings but something about the way Shirley Jackson wrote it here worked for me! Don’t get me wrong, I would have still loved more concrete explanations but given the loosely supernatural feeling of the story, it made sense that we’d be left with more questions. I loved the sisterhood between Merricat and Constance; it was a strange mix of loving, enabling, and codependent. I really enjoyed this quietly creepy book. It was fascinating to try to dissect it and theorize with my buddy readers. I have my pet theory or maybe it’s more like wishful thinking. As a buddy read group we’ve been struggling to find a book we all absolutely love recently. One of my friends asked why I liked this one and the best answer I can give is that it felt like when you can’t look away from a wreck. I don’t know if it says anything about me but it made me think and I can’t be mad about that 😂! ❓How do you feel about "staring at a wreck" books? Or, have you read this one, and if so what did you think? #BookReview #WeHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle #ShirleyJackson #Bookstagram #Horror
Buddy Read of the Wicked Lovely Series 🖤Darkest Buddy Read of the Wicked Lovely Series 🖤Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr 🖤Genre: YA Fantasy 🖤Format Read: Immersive Reading ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Recently, @bewitchingbooksravenousreads and I finished our buddy read of the original series from the 2000s that we both grew up with! I loved revisiting this formative series and discussing it; how cool is it that two people from different sides of the world both found their love of fairy stories through this series?! I had so much fun spending time with characters that I loved as a teen and gaining new relationships with them. As an adult, I ended up hating a character I don't recall disliking when I was a teen (ahem, Keenan), and absolutely adoring another one who I barely considered the first time I read it (Donia deserves the world). I don't reread books often but allowing myself to reread more old favorites lately has been such a gift! Given that Darkest Mercy is book #5, I can't say much without spoiling. Regardless, this is more of an appreciation post for this series, for re-reads in general, and for my friend, Charlotte 🥰. Ever since the end of this series there have been some new spin offs and additions to this universe so we'll be visiting those soon but first, the short stories! ❓Did anyone else read these? Or, what's a formative book/series you'd love to reread? #wickedlovely #melissamarr #fae #bookstagram
💫 Introducing READ INDIE SFF MONTH 💫 @booksarethe 💫 Introducing READ INDIE SFF MONTH 💫 @booksarethenewblack11 wanted a month to devote to reading Indie books only and we hereby extend the invitation to any other SFF loving Indie readers to join in on the fun! 🖤What is it? The goal of this reading challenge is to appreciate indie stories and support indie authors according to your own ability. Fill out the entire bingo board, fill one line, or pick and choose whichever prompts speak to you; there is no one right way to participate! There will also be a StoryGraph Challenge to help us share recommendations for the prompts. In fact, for those that crave an interactive element in their reading challenges, two interconnected prompts rely on this feature. 🖤When will it be taking place? May 1st - May 31st, 2026 The Prompts: The board is made up of 12 Reading Prompts and 4 of what we’ll call action prompts, which are actionable ways to help indie authors aside from reading. Actionable Prompts: 1. Post A Review - On any social platform or blog. 2. Give a Rec on The StoryGraph Challenge - Go into the SG challenge to prompt 12 and give a rec there to create a pool of recs available for reading prompt 12. 3. Request Book at Your Local Library - If you’ve read an indie book you loved ask your library to buy it! You can do it through Libby or a lot of libraries have official channels to accept requests. 4. Post an Indie Bookish List - If you use socials, post a list of Indie Books. It can be your favs or ones you want to read, it can be themed in any way. Be creative and spread indie book love! The reading prompts are mostly self explanatory except for "Try A New To You Author From A Rec" which is the 12th prompt in the StoryGraph Challenge. This reading prompt goes hand in hand with the "leave a recommendation" and now you take a rec and read it! Or if you have a rec from a friend that counts too. Lastly, we’ve included an optional Bonus: Buy An Indie Book to Automatically Complete Any One Prompt. If you choose to post for Read Indie SFF Month Please also tag us and use #ReadIndieSFFMonth2026 so we can amplify your post To learn more visit mine or Leslie's blog for more information (🔗 in bios)
🐙Happy Pub day to The Octopus by Guojing🐙 Thank y 🐙Happy Pub day to The Octopus by Guojing🐙 Thank you to Two Lions & @mbc_books for this gorgeous #gifted wordless picture book!! The Octopus tells the story of a little girl who goes to the beach with her mother. There, she finds a tiny octopus entangled in a plastic six-pack ring. She befriends and rescues him and what follows is their magical adventure underwater. The young girl comes back from the ocean, understanding that she can play a part in taking care of the ocean in her own way. What a heartwarming story told entirely in vivid illustrations. I have read another book by Guojing and she is truly a master of wordless storytelling! Just in time for Earth Day, this beautiful book with its enduring message can be enjoyed by people of any age. Children and adults alike will be charmed by the illustrations and the themes of environmental stewardship and friendship. 🐚 Happy Earth Day and just like the little girl in The Octopus, I hope you're inspired by the beauty of our natural world ❓What's your favourite marine animal? #EarthDay #WordlessPictureBook #PictureBook #TheOctopus
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