First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros (3)

 

 

First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted at Bibliophile by the Sea, where you get to share the first paragraph (or so) of a book you’re currently reading or thinking of reading soon.

 

 

Friends without Benefits by Penny Reid

This week I’m featuring the second installment in Penny Reid’s Knitting in the City series. I’ve only read the first few chapters but I’m already invested in the dynamics of the relationship between our two protagonists. This is a second-chance at love type of story and I really, really love this particular type of plot.

 

Here are the first few lines of Chapter 1:

 

I recognized him instantly even though the last time I had seen him in person he was seventeen, naked, and asleep. I was sixteen, haphazardly dressed, and sneaking out his window.

Niccolò (aka Nico) Manganiello.

Nico.

Freaking Nico Manganiello.

Rooted in place—one hand holding the informed consent forms and patient brochures, the other hand clutching my chest—I could only gape in abject horror. Paired with the horror was also wonder and, much to my infinite frustration, feminine appreciation.

I was entirely unprepared.

 

I just love reading scenes like this when the characters meet again for the first time after such a long time apart. If you’re interested, here’s the blurb from Goodreads:

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she’s unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, “benefits” with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth’s plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello- her former nemesis- she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding electrocution or, worse, falling in love.

 

 

What do you guys think? Will you keep on reading?