First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!
• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

Happy Friday! Do you have anything fun planned this weekend? I’m planning on meeting up with a couple of friends I made when I travelled in 2015, it’s been about 4 years since we saw each other and I’m really looking forward to having a long overdue catch-up. For this weeks first lines I’ve chosen a urban fantasy that’s steeped in Malaysian folklore and has some brilliantly brought to life characters.

The first thing the ghost said to Jess was:

Does your mother know you’re a pengkid?

This book was both hilarious and haunting in parts, and introduced me to a new author whose other books I will most definitely be checking out. Ready to find out what it is?

HER GRANDMOTHER MAY BE DEAD
BUT SHE’S NOT DONE WITH LIFE . . . YET

As Jessamyn packs for Malaysia, it’s not a good time to start hearing a bossy voice in her head. Broke, jobless and just graduated, she’s abandoning America to return ‘home’. But she last saw Malaysia as a toddler – and is completely unprepared for its ghosts, gods and her eccentric family’s shenanigans.

Jess soon learns her ‘voice’ belongs to Ah Ma, her late grandmother. She worshipped the Black Water Sister, a local deity. And when a business magnate dared to offend her goddess, Ah Ma swore revenge. Now she’s decided Jess will help, whether she wants to or not.

As Ah Ma blackmails Jess into compliance, Jess fights to retain control. But her irrepressible relative isn’t going to let a little thing like death stop her, when she can simply borrow Jess’s body to make mischief. As Jess is drawn ever deeper into a world of peril and family secrets, getting a job becomes the least of her worries.