Welcome to another Bookish Friday, in which we share excerpts from books…and connect with other bloggers who do the same.
Let’s begin the celebration by sharing Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader; and let’s showcase The Friday 56 with Freda’s Voice.
To join in, just grab a book and share the opening lines…along with any thoughts you wish to give us; then turn to page 56 and excerpt anything on the page.
Today’s feature is my newest book: Sleep No More, by Jayne Ann Krentz.
Book Beginning:
Carnelian, California…
Blood dripped from the bottom of the laundry cart.
Ambrose Drake flattened one hand against the wall to keep himself on his feet.
***
Friday 56:
“What did you find in the asylum that made you so sure someone was murdered on the staircase?” she asked.
“A used hypodermic needle.”
***
Synopsis: Seven months ago, Pallas Llewellyn, Talia March, and Amelia Rivers were strangers, until their fateful stay at the Lucent Springs Hotel. An earthquake and a fire partially destroyed the hotel, but the women have no memory of their time there. Now close friends, the three women co-host a podcast called the Lost Night Files, where they investigate cold cases and hope to connect with others who may have had a similar experience to theirs—an experience that has somehow enhanced the psychic abilities already present in each woman.
After receiving a tip for their podcast, Pallas travels to the small college town of Carnelian, California, to explore an abandoned asylum. Shaken by the dark energy she feels in the building, she is rushing out when she’s stopped by a dark figure—who turns out to be the women’s mysterious tipster.
Ambrose Drake is certain he’s a witness to a murder, but without a body, everyone thinks he’s having delusions caused by extreme sleep deprivation. But Ambrose is positive something terrible happened at the Carnelian Sleep Institute the night he was there. Unable to find proof on his own, he approaches Pallas for help, only for her to realize that Ambrose, too, has a lost night that he can’t remember—one that may be connected to Pallas. Pallas and Ambrose conduct their investigation using the podcast as a cover, and while the townsfolk are eager to share what they know, it turns out there are others who are not so happy about their questions—and someone is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out.
***
Would you keep reading?
***
I just read about a weird type of unhealthy fear — the fear of falling asleep. I wonder if your character has it? Ha!
My quotes this week
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Thanks, Anne, I am eager to know more!
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Given my love of mysteries, you’d better believe I want to know more after those teasers.
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Thanks, Mark, I love the sound of it all.
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I would not want to see blood dripping from my laundry cart…except in a book!
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Thanks, Deb, I feel the same!
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I haven’t read a Jayne Ann Krentz book in so long. I always loved her books and this sounds like a good one too.
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Thanks, Yvonne, it has been a while for me, too, but I love her books!
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I want to know why blood is coming from a laundry cart! Soiled clothes? (And wow, how much blood would have to have soaked into clothes for it to come out a laundry cart?) Someone in there that’s injured? Or dead? I’d keep reading!
Come see my book beginning!
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Thanks, Lisa, I wonder about that, too!
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