First Lines Friday – 11/04/2025
Happy Friday friends – and can I tell you – I’m so glad it’s the end of the week. Today’s First Lines Friday post marks the conclusion of a very busy but successful week.
I’m not quite ready for the weekend yet though! The last thing on my to-do list for today is to share with you the opening lines to a fantastic book I’ve discovered. And, with any luck, persuade you to read it.
Let’s get to it!
“Happy birthday, Haymitch!”
The upside of being born on reaping day is that you can sleep late on your birthday. It’s pretty much downhill from there. A day off school hardly compensates for the terror of the name drawing. Even if you survive that, nobody feels like having cake after watching two kids being hauled off to the Capitol for slaughter. I roll over and pull the sheet over my head.
“Happy birthday!” My ten-year-old brother, Sid, gives my shoulder a shake. “You said be your rooster. You said you wanted to get to the woods at daylight.”
It’s true. I’m hoping to finish my work before the ceremony so I can devote the afternoon to the two things I love best — wasting time and being with my girl, Lenore Dove.
Sunrise on the Reaping – Suzanne Collins
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 382
Audience: Young Adult
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: 18 Mar 2025
Goodreads – Sunrise on the Reaping
As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honour of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town.
As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight… and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.
My Thoughts…
Any book in the Hunger Games series is going to be a book that ends up on my reading list! I loved reading the core series when I was a teenager, and more recently I really enjoyed going back to the prequel in A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I’m even thinking of re-reading the main series at some point soon!
It says a lot when I make the effort to go to the cinema, because the local facilities we have aren’t the best. Even still, I made the effort to go and watch A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes film when it first came out. I watched it again for the second time just a few days ago on TV.
It’s fair to say I have a compulsion to keep up-to-date with this series. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in with Haymitch’s story to understand where he ends up by the time we get to Katniss’ first Hunger Games. At this point, Haymitch is a mess. To describe him as a raging alcoholic doesn’t quite seem to do it justice. What happens to him that forces him down this route? Does anything special happen in light of the fact that his games were the 50th year and therefore a Quarter Quell?
I don’t know yet – but I’m excited to find out!
Thanks for checking out today’s First Lines Friday! Have you read any books in the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins? Have you already read Sunrise on the Reaping?


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