First Line Friday #105

Happy Friday! Welcome to another edition of First Line Friday. I'm doing my best to get myself out of the caretaker slump of taking care of and repairing the finances of my aging parents and back into what I love READING and posting about books!!! Today I am featuring Queen of Hearts by Heather Day Gilbert, her recent release. I started reading it last night and was so tired I fell asleep. My current problem!

 

About the book:

Title: Queen of Hearts

Author: Heather Day Gilbert

Her readers love her...
but one has gotten a little too attached.

Alexandra Dubois, a NYT bestselling author, has made a name for herself by crafting twisted serial killers in her romantic suspense series. When threatening notes from an "invested reader" escalate into violence, Alex has to admit she's not safe in her own home. Although her autism makes any changes to her routine difficult, she reluctantly accepts her editor's advice to fly to his sprawling vacation home in West Virginia so she can focus on her looming deadline.

Fighting paranoia that the stalker has discovered her mountain hideaway, Alex still forces herself to write several chapters in her novel. But when a thunderstorm leaves her stranded and she hears a knock at her door, she's about to discover that life truly is stranger than fiction.

Fans of Alfred Hitchcock, Mary Higgins Clark, and Misery are sure to be hooked by this clean, fast-paced domestic thriller by RWA Daphne Award-winning author Heather Day Gilbert.

Goodreads || Amazon || 

FIRST LINE:

Wednesday, One Week Earlier

Natasha shifted uncomfortably on the rock floor of the icy cave, shoving her gloved hands under her armpits to keep warm. Her thoughts were getting fuzzy, so she forced herself to walk through the events that had brought her to this remote part of Alaska in the dead of winter.

If that isn't an intro! The book releases in July, so keep your eyes out for it.

About Heather:

While I wish I could sit down and have a cup of coffee with you (or tea or hot chocolate if you prefer!), I’ll have to settle for sharing a bit more about myself here…

I’ve been writing for over fifteen years now, and if you pick up any of my novels, you’ll see that I’m drawn to writing strong female lead characters. I’ve been married for twenty-six years to my red-headed husband, and I’m thankful every day for how he constantly supports my writing career. I have three adult children and one nine-year-old, so I do keep busy even when I’m not writing.

I was born and brought up in the southeastern area of wild and wonderful West Virginia, and that’s where I live now. I’m thankful for my mountain state, and I love writing about it in A Murder in the Mountains mystery series, the Hemlock Creek Suspense series, and the Barks & Beans Cafe cozy mystery series–you can find all of those on my books page.

I’ve also written Viking historical fiction because my maiden name would have been Thorvaldssen if my great-grandpa hadn’t changed it when he came to the U.S.A., and my family is allegedly related to Eirik the Red, which is what got me interested in the Icelandic Sagas I used to base God’s Daughter and Forest Child on.

I also have a 3-book cozy mystery series set in Greenwich, CT, NYC, and Upstate NY–three places I’ve lived myself (the Exotic Pet-Sitter series)! The series features amateur sleuth Belinda Blake, who is an exotic pet-sitter and video game reviewer. Click here to read more about this series reviewer Carrie Booth Schmidt (Reading is my SuperPower blog) says is “well-written with wit and heart, as well as more layers and depth than we usually see in cozies.”

I’ve been honored to win a 2023 RWA Daphne Award for Mystery/Suspense for COLD DRIP, Book 6 in the Barks & Beans Cafe series, and I’m also a 2-time ECPA Christy Award finalist (GUILT BY ASSOCIATION, 2018, and FALSE PRETENSE, 2022).

To unwind, I play video games, do some gardening in my perennial flowerbeds, and I enjoy watching classic suspense movies, like Hitchcock. My favorite Agatha Christie mystery is Ordeal by Innocence and my favorite classic is Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.

I hope you can sign up for my newsletter here to keep up with the latest–I frequently share book deals, giveaways, and cover art sneak peeks with my newsletter friends first.

You can connect with Heather on these social media platforms...

Facebook || Instagram || X (Formerly Twitter) || Website

Leave me the first line of the book you're reading in the comments and then head over to my friend, Carrie's blog, Reading Is My SuperPower and read other first lines.

I hope you have a wonderful and warm weekend. It's been beautiful here so, I'm looking to hangout outside and read.