Proud to Celebrate Pride Month with First Lines

We’re told, the first line of a story must hook the reader. I am proud to celebrate Pride Month with first lines from books listed as inclusive of characters from the LGBTIQA+ community. These entries are from Amazon, my personal library, or other online booksellers.

If you’re ambivalent about reading these books, focus on these first lines. Do these first lines hook you? Do you want to read more? Then you’ll like it, so read it.


The cover of the long way to a small, angry planet is black with a brownish planet in the top left and a brownish-pink spaceship traveling toward it in the middle of the text which is bold, three-dimensional with the upper half of each letter in a spring green and the lower half in white.

As she woke up in the pod, she remembered three things. First, she was traveling through open space. Second, she was about to start a new job, one she could not screw up.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers 

The cover of The Last 8 has a large, black number 8 centered on the page with a spray of green and white that appears to move from right to left and blurs the image of the 8.

My abuelo says that there are people who belong to the earth, and others, like us Martinezes, belong to the sky.

The Last 8, Laura Pohl

the cover of Adaptation has the thre-quarters face of a woman as if she is in the greenish water that covers her left ear on the top half. Greenish water mirrors her face on the bottom half. The title itself is on the bottom and blurred as if it's underwater as well.

The birds plummeted to the tarmac, wings loose and limp. They struck the ground with such force that their bodies smashed into dark slicks on the concrete.

Adaptation, Malinda Lo

The cover of Victories Greater than Death focuses on a close-up of the face of a person with long purple hair star-studded hair, stars in their eyes and a red lipstick.

I have a ball of starlight inside me. A globe, containing a billion bright pinpricks.

Victories Greater Than Death, Charlie Jane Anders 

The cover of the NINEFOX GAMBIT has a blue-green background with a spiney-looking black object in the center. This spiny object has sever red/orange dots in the middle of it and in the left lower corner there is a spaceship jetting toward this object.

At Ken Academy, an instructor had explained to Cheris’s class that the threshold winnower was a weapon of last resort, and not just for its notorious connotations.

Ninefox Gambit, Machineries of Empire, Book 1, Yoon Ha Lee 

The cover of the Light from Uncommon stars is a deep, dark blue star-studded space view with a red and silver spaceship at the top of the title and rocketing toward the upper right corner

Shhh…    

Yes, it hurt. It was definitely not just a bruise.

Light From Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki 

The cover of We set the Dark on Fire has a solid black background with the title set on a background that looks a bit like a doiley and two doves, one holds an arrow pointing down the other holds a branch. The background has a color fade from light blue on the top to pink to orange to red.

In the beginning, there were two brother-gods: the God of Salt and the God of the Sun.

We Set the Dark on Fire, Tehlor Kay Mejia 

 in the upper left corner of the cover of the Cerulean is a large moon in a gray and white sky over a city with tall buildings that fade into the distance. The lower two thirds of the book show what might be dark blue to black mountains split by a river & waterfall or it could be cloudy nebulas split.

We are the cerulean. Our blood is magic. 

Sera’s mothers had told her this since the day she was born, before she could speak or think or understand what it meant.  

The Cerulean, Amy Ewing

The cover of all of us with wings has a light blue background with a comic-style drawing of the profile of a young woman of color with shoulder-length brown hair,. In her hair and flying around her are birds and objects that look as if she's wearing green four-leaf clovers and a red bridge on her right shoulder.

Pallas sat sidesaddle on the kitchen counter, velvet ankle boots resting daintily in the deep porcelain sink.

All of Us with Wings, Michelle Ruiz Keil 

The cover of Master of one is a graphic image, close up of a shattered window or mirror with a red scarf or cloth coming from the left bottom third as if a tip of it is caught on the lower flourish of the "n" in one.

Tomman Hail of House Ever-Loyal was going to die before the sun rose.

Master of One, Jaida Jones & Dani Bennett 

The Cover of Heart of Iron has a black background studded with astronomical bodies (planets & such) there is a splash of blue and purple behind a pear-shaped object that appears to be metallic with what appear to be multiple space ships swooshing around it with light colored "contrails" sweeping around the object.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine candles lit the Iron Shrine.

Anna curved a crescent moon across her chest—in honor of the Goddess she didn’t believe in—to disguise tucking three coppers from the offering tray into her Burgundy coat.

Heart of Iron, Ashley Poston

The cover of Carry On is a comic-book-style drawing of two young men holding edged weapons with the purplish face of a monster lizard or other creature with sharp teeth behind them.

I walk to the bus station by myself.

There’s always a fuss over my paperwork when I leave. 

Carry On, Simon Snow Trilogy Book 1, Rainbow Rowell

Clarification

There are no affiliate links in this post. I don’t make a cent off of the books listed on this page. Usually these titles are pulled at random. They are here for your enjoyment. And to entice you to buy more books.

Do You Want to Read More?

Did you enjoy this list? Check out previous First Lines posts. Please take a moment to share in the comments below— Which ones spoke to you? Did you buy it?

2 comments

  1. Some of my favorite books of all time are on this list (not just for Pride month)! I’ve added the rest of these to my TBR queue.

    1. Hi, Terry, Sorry I missed this on Monday. My excuse is that I was catching up on sleep after enjoying my local science fiction conventions, ConQuest 54. Anyway, I’m delighted you found old favorites and new titles for you TBR. Thanks for sharing!

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