Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Tuesday Teaser -- The Pretend Wife

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This week I picked up The Pretend Wife by Bridget Asher. I can't remember why I was drawn to this book, but the book jacket says it's about imagining life with the one who got away. What if you had married someone else? How different would your life be? Here's the intro:
That summer when I first became Elliot Hull's pretend wife, I understood only vaguely that complicated things often prefer to masquerade as simple things at first. This is why they're so hard to avoid, or at least brace for. I should have know this -- it was built into my childhood. But I didn't see the complications of Elliot Hull coming, perhaps because I didn't want to. So I didn't avoid them or even brace for them, and as a result, I eventually found myself in winter watching two grown men -- my pretend husband and my real husband -- wrestle on a front lawn amid a spray of golf clubs in the snow -- such a blur of motion in the dim porch light that I couldn't distinguish one man from the other. This would become one of the most vaudevillian and poignant moments of my life, when things took the sharpest turn in a long and twisted line of smaller, seemingly simple turns.

 
This intro doesn't thrill me. I think I'm not drawn to introductions that summarize the story. I like to be pulled into the story instead.
 
 Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!
Open to a random page of your current read and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page.
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.
Here's mine from page 59:
But then Helen spoke up kind of slyly. "You need a pretend wife," she said, "for your mother's sake. It would be very gallant." She turned to me. "Gwen, you should be Elliot's pretend wife."

 
Hope you all have some books that I'm interested in.


12 comments:

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Love the title and the cover, but am unsure about that intro;) enjoy

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

I am intrigued, Paulita. Yes, maybe a better opening would pull me in more...but enough intriguing possibilities were dropped in my path, so I would keep reading: at least for awhile.

Here's MY TUESDAY MEMES POST

Naomi Hop said...

Yes, I'm a little intrigued too, sounds like a bit of fun ahead!!

Here’s My TT
Naomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace

Just Me said...

No... I have no imagination so I would put it down with that first paragraph.

Tiffany Drew said...

Definitely adding this one to my reading list! Excellent teaser :)

My Teaser

Margot said...

I'm in agreement with you on the first paragraph. I think I already know where the story is going to go, so why read it. My first paragraph is here: Joyfully Retired

Anonymous said...

Sounds very interesting.

http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2012/10/teaser-tuesday_30.html

Sandra Nachlinger said...

I agree. The intro is "telling" instead of "showing" and doesn't grab me. However, it sounds like it could be a good story. I like your teaser. Maybe it should be the opening!
My Teaser is from REMEMBER ME?

Ruby said...

Looks like I'm in the minority, lol, but that's a book I'd definitely read. Is this a newer title or an older one?

Here's my teaser

Nise' said...

I like the premise. I'd have to read more than the intro.

Karen and Gerard said...

Sounds like an interesting concept, but don't know why anyone who is already married would be someone's pretend wife--that just spells trouble ahead to me. Thanks for stopping by earlier.

Michelles Paranormal Vault Of Books said...

not my kind of book, but hope you like it.
Teaser Tuesday & Intros Tues @Michelles Paranormal Vault of Books

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