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!

Hello, hello! I hope you’ve all had a brilliant week so far. Today’s book is a sequel to one of my favourite reads of 2021. A dark ya retelling of Rumpelstiltskin that I absolutely adored and have one shocking ending. It’s by an author that I love & I’m really excited to see where she is going to take the story next, especially after these first lines…

“Be still now, and I will tell you a tale.”

You know the saying ‘less is more’ well that’s how I feel about these first line. There might not be a lot of them, but they’ve certainly dragged me into the story already. Ready to find out what book it is?

Adalheid Castle is in chaos.

Following a shocking turn of events, Serilda finds herself ensnared in a deadly game of make-believe with the Erlking, who is determined to propel her deeper into the castle’s lies. Meanwhile, Serilda is determined to work with Gild to help him solve the mystery of his forgotten name and past.

But soon it becomes clear that the Erlking doesn’t only want to use Serilda to bring back his one true love. He also seeks vengeance against the seven gods who have long trapped the Dark Ones behind the veil. If the Erlking succeeds, it could change the mortal realm forever.

Can Serilda find a way to use her storytelling gifts for good—once and for all? And can Serilda and Gild break the spells that tether their spirits to the castle before the Endless Moon finds them truly cursed?