Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & 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 Falling Awake by Jayne Ann Krentz.  The excerpts shared are from the hardcover version I purchased this summer from the Surf City Library book sale while vacationing on Long Beach Island, down the Jersey shore.

 

Beginning:  A funeral always made for a bad day.  Knowing that it was probably his screwup that had put Katherine Ralston into the ground made things a whole lot worse for Ellis Cutler that afternoon.

 

 

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Page 56:  "The instant the words were out of his mouth, he cringed, mentally kicking himself.  That had been a stupid thing to say under the circumstances."

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My thoughts:  This is an older JAK novel (published in 2004), but I couldn't resist it when I saw it on one of the library sale carts.  I've read a fair share of this author's novels and have really enjoyed them, so I'm happy to add this one to my reading queue.

 

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 From Goodreads:  The phenomenally popular bestselling author of Light in Shadow returns with a riveting tale of intrigue and intimacy that questions whether dreams can be trusted . . .

A red scarf. A roller coaster. A tidal wave of blood . . .Isabel Wright spends her days at the Belvedere Center for Sleep Research analyzing the dreams of others. Dr. Martin Belvedere, a pioneer in the field, recognized her unique talent for what he calls Level Five lucid dreaming. It's satisfying, lucrative work, but it can be emotionally draining. Especially when one of her anonymous subjects, known only as Client Number Two, captures her imagination through his compelling dream narratives. Secretly, she thinks of him as "Dream Man."

His real name is Ellis Cutler. A loner who's learned not to let anyone get too close, he works for a highly classified government agency with an interest in the potential value of lucid dreaming. And he's just been ordered by his boss to make contact with Isabel, who's been fired after the sudden death of Dr. Belvedere. Heading to California, he pushes his fantasies out of his mind, determined to maintain a professional relationship with the woman who reads his dreams, the mysterious figure he has come to think of as "Tango Dancer."

But when they meet in the flesh, the dream becomes real enough to touch. And a waking nightmare begins-when a suspicious hit-and-run leads them into a perilous web of passion, betrayal, and murder, and forces them to walk the razor-thin line between dreams and reality.

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start? 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.