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Monster {Frank Peretti} ~ First-Line Friday & a Mini Review!

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Hello, friends, and Merry Christmas, in case we don’t get to chat again before then! What a special time of year this is… Before we leap into First-Line Friday, may I share with you a beautiful old poem I came across recently by one of my favorite authors, George MacDonald?

Babe Jesus lay in Mary’s lap;

The sun shone on His hair;

And this is how she saw, mayhap,

The crown already there.

For she sang, “Sleep on, my little King,

Bad Herod dares not come;

Before Thee, sleeping, holy thing,

The wild winds would be dumb.

I kiss Thy hands, I kiss Thy feet,

My Child, so long-desired;

Thy hands shall never be soiled, my sweet,

Thy feet shall never be tired.

For Thou art the King of men, my Son;

Thy crown I see it plain;

And men shall worship Thee, every one,

And cry, Glory! Amen.”

Babe Jesus opened His eyes so wide!

At Mary looked her Lord.

And Mary stinted her song and sighed.

Babe Jesus said never a word.

I love the poems of old, don’t you? George MacDonald can make the most kingly scene homey and real.


Now onto First-Line Friday, followed by a mini review of that book! ๐Ÿ™‚
The Book:
Monster by Frank Peretti
First Line:
The Hunter, rifle in his hands, dug in a heel and came to a sudden halt on the game trail, motionless, nearly invisible in a thicket of serviceberry and crowded pines. He heard something.
Mini Review:

I’m not much of one for suspense and thriller-type books, but I make exceptions for Frank Peretti! He is, above all else, a fantastic storyteller, and this comes through so strongly inย Monster! Peretti manages to weave a tale of a hunt for monsters with a well-formulated scientific argument against an evolutionary explanation for the existence of the world and everything in it. This book had me curled up tightly in my armchair, practically racing through to find out where the next believable-but-I-never-saw-it-coming twist was going. This is a wonderfully exciting, slightly horrific, and very sobering tale of a night of camping in the woods that went really, really wrong… or did it?

Highly recommended! Find it HERE.

Now it’s your turn ~ What’s the first line of a bookย you’reย reading this week?

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12 Comments

  • Susan Dyer

    Happy Friday!

    My FLF comes from a book Iโ€™m reading now Secrets of the Tulip Sisters by Susan Mallery.

    Kelly Murphy was willing to accept certain injustices in the world. That brownies had more calories than celery.

    Happy Holidays!

  • Suzie W.

    It’s been years since I’ve read Frank Peretti!

    Next up on my TBRโ€ฆ
    The music seeped into her soul like fog over the Thames. (from A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White)

    Merry Christmas!

    • alicia grace

      That is a beautiful first line, Suzie! I read A Name Unknown last summer by Roseanna M. White and loved it! Looking forward to reading this one, too.

  • Phyllis - Among the Reads

    I love George MacDonald’s stories!

    I’m not allowed to read Frank Peretti books anymore. I think it was The Oath I had been reading before bed. I made a late night visit to the restroom in the dark resulting in a loud scream when, unbeknownst to me, my husband also got up and had come up behind me. . . Well, just saying! ๐Ÿ™‚

    My first line is from Circle of Blessings by Deborah Raney

    Dakota Territory, 1864

    It was almost closing time, and in all of his seventeen years, James Collingwood could not remember being so bone-weary as he felt tonight.

    Merry Christmas!

    • alicia grace

      Hahahaha! That is so funny re: Frank Peretti’s books! I admit that I have my husband check our doors multiple times when I’m reading a Peretti book at night! And after this one, I might hesitate to go camping! ๐Ÿ˜‰
      Merry Christmas to you, too!

    • alicia grace

      Neither do I ~ This one was worth breaking out of my usual fare for, though! ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks for stopping by, Betty! Merry Christmas to you!

  • Iola

    I’ve never read Monster because MONSTERS! But I love books which show a Christian approach to the creation/evolution debate, so I’ll have to get over myself and check this out. Thanks for sharing ๐Ÿ™‚

    I’m sharing from All is Bright by Andrea Grigg over on my blog, a wonderful novella set in Australia … which means a summer Christmas (FYI, that’s normal for me. Not so normal for most of you, or for my Icelandic pastor and his family.)

    I’m currently reading A Sweethaven Christmas by Courtney Walsh, an new favourite author. Here’s the first line:

    “Why is that woman staring over here?” Lila shifted in the tall-backed linen-covered chair and nodded towards a blonde woman at the bar.

    I suspect this is going to be more than a Christmas story …

    Blessings as you celebrate the birth of our Saviour this week!

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