Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts 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.

Today I'm featuring For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt.  The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version I purchased.

  

Beginning: Prologue
Seventeen Years Earlier

On their first date, Will took Natalie to a cozy French bistro in uptown New Orleans. The restaurant was painted a dark, moody red and had gilt-framed mirrors on the walls that reflected the candles that flickered on every table.  It was a popular eatery and every table was full, even on a Thursday night.  It was also nearby the Tulane University campus, where Will and Nat were both law students.  They'd each ordered the steak-frites—which had given them reason to exchange a brief smile.  We're so compatible we ordered the same thing!  And shared a bottle of the house red, which was better than expected.  While they sipped their wine, and waited for their salads to arrive, they chatted about the Contracts class they had together.

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Page 56:   "I just hope I made the right decision telling you all.  I would appreciate it if we could keep it between us," Grace said.

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My thoughts:  I find myself drawn to the domestic suspense and thriller genres these days.  Such stories grab me from the opening pages and keep me enjoyably engaged, thus providing a respite from the much scarier reality of today's world.

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From GoodReads:  On their first date back in law school, Natalie and Will Clarke bonded over drinks, dinner and whether they could get away with murder. Now married, they’ll put the latter to the test when an unchecked danger in their community places their son in jeopardy. Working as a criminal defense attorney, Nat refuses to rely on the broken legal system to keep her family safe. She knows that if you want justice…you have to get it yourself.

Shocked to discover Nat’s taken matters into her own hands, Will has no choice but to dirty his, also. His family is in way too deep to back down now. He’s just not sure he recognizes the woman he married. Nat’s always been fiercely protective, but never this ruthless or calculating. With the police poking holes in their airtight plan, what will be the first to fall apart: their scandalous secret—or their marriage? 

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This Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution. Sharing this original post on Twitter with appropriate recognition is appreciated.