Tag: popular series

First Lines Friday – 11/04/2025

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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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First Lines Friday – 17/11/2023

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Happy reading friends! Welcome to my First Lines Friday post to wrap-up this working week. I hope it’s been a good one?

When I decided I was going to be sharing another First Lines Friday, I decided to keep my options open. The last few times I have published this feature, I have set myself a challenge. Not so this week. Honestly, I had no idea of what I wanted to feature in today’s post. In hindsight, I can see why I left my options open and today’s feature feels like a natural choice. All will make sense if you’ve been reading my blog in due course.

Shall we get to today’s opening lines so we can enjoy my featured First Lines Friday extract together?

 

Coriolanus released the fistful of cabbage into the pot of boiling water, and swore that one day it would never pass his lips again. But this was not that day. He needed to eat a large bowl of the anemic stuff, and drink every drop of broth, to prevent his stomach from growling during the reaping ceremony. It was one of a long list of precautions he took to mask the fact that his family, despite residing in the penthouse of the Capitol’s most opulent apartment building, was as poor as district scum. That at eighteen, the heir to the once-great house of Snow had nothing to live on but his wits.

 

 

 

 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – Suzanne Collins

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 541

Audience: Young Adult

Publisher: Scholastic Fiction

Publication Date: 19 May 2020

 

 

Goodreads – The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

 

My Thoughts…

I first read The Hunger Games series in my later teenage years. I can’t pinpoint the exact date I read these books as it predates my Goodreads account. Looking back on my Amazon order history (as I read the books on my Kindle), we are looking at dates between 2012 and 2013 for me reading this series. At that time, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes had not been published. In fact, it is quite a recent addition to the series.

This may not come as a surprise feature. If you have been reading my blog in the last few weeks, I’ve mentioned that I have been watching The Hunger Games films on TV. I hadn’t really considered why they were airing them, until I found out that there is an upcoming film release for this prequel. Then it all made sense!

Those films have made me want to re-visit the series anyway. However, when I do so, I am also going to read this prequel novel. Initially I had reservations as the reviews weren’t great. However, as a fan of the universe, I am willing to give it a try!

Have you read The Hunger Games, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, or both? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 

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