Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #32

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts from one of my current reads with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

This week's selection:

   

Beginning:  Chapter 1

I'm of the belief that there are precious few moments of absolute clarity in our lives and that, when we're granted one of these deliciously pure bursts of comprehension, we'd best act on it.  Quickly, decisively, boldly.

My thoughts:  This is good advice from the lovable Ollie Paras, heroine of the White House Chef Mystery Series, who has just made one of the biggest decisions of her life.  This is book #7 in a favorite cozy series that gets better with each new installment.

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56% of ebook edition:   "Arching a brow, he sucked in his cheeks.  He was either annoyed by my challenge, or rising to meet it."  

From barnesandnoble.com: With the pressure of an upcoming state dinner that could make or break the president’s foreign policy, White House executive chef Olivia Paras has precious little time to focus on her wedding plans—or to catch a murderer….

Tensions are running high as the White House staff adjusts to a new chief usher and prepares for a high-stakes state dinner, where everything must be perfect. But as the date for the event approaches, things go disastrously wrong when the secretary of defense is found dead in his home, seemingly killed during a break-in.

At the same time Olivia’s fiancé, Gav, is looking into the mysterious murder of an old friend. Is there a connection? Despite an increase in security following the secretary’s death, Ollie learns the president is in imminent danger at the dinner and must do everything in her power to get to him—before it’s too late….

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #32 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.