I do judge books by their covers frequently but not by their first lines. As far as I know, there's no hard rule concerning those first lines. Of course we want to make them intriguing, but sometimes it's not really necessary, is it? Do you have favorite first lines of novels you've read? If you do, please share them in the comments.
Here are my novels' first lines.
WIP
She showed up with a bewildered look on her face, having braved the tree-shrouded gravel drive to the isolated cabin I occupied on my heavily forested 30 acres.
"What the hell?"
The first time he looked over the half-empty pitchers of beer on the oblong rough-hewn table and past the cheeky smiles and loud laughs of the men seated there, he caught a glimpse of her pulling the tap lever while smiling across the counter at a kid he’d swear was under 21.
I was 8 years old when I saw Jesus Christ in the flesh.
It was hard to say what witnesses noticed first—the shrill piercing screams or the nearly naked young woman uttering them.
She could make smoking a cigarette look elegant, seductive . . . and dangerous even.
Now he wondered why he thought this would be a good idea as he stepped onto the first of five stairs that led up to the front door.
Claudia Madelyn Rutheford hated her name.
Attending this funeral on Easter Sunday seemed especially sad to me — but fitting, nevertheless.
Hope of Glory
The colors were awakening beneath a sky filled with the intensity of a striking sunrise.
The Fixer (unpublished)
The rain assaulted the trees, the gutters, the double-pane windows, hard and cold, leaving even the midday seeming like the darkness of evening.
Wounds . . . and Healings (unpublished)
Faith Daniels looked up as the tiny bell over the door tinkled quietly.
Father, you are the Author of Life, every good and perfect gift comes from you, and we are all desperate for you whether we know it or not. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

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