First Line Friday #78-Merritt and her Childhood Crush

Welcome back to First Line Friday hosted by Carrie at Reading is My SuperPower!!  I am also linking up with Gilion on Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. This is where you share the beginning of the book that you are reading. To join in the fun grab the book you are reading and leave a comment with the first line (or your link). This week I am reading Merritt and her Childhood Church by Emma St. Clair and Jenny Proctor. It is the second book in the Oakley Island RomCom series about three sisters.

 

 I AM A FRAUD.

 Book Beginnings:

I AM A FRAUD.

The words loop in my head as I run mile after mile down the beach. I can't go fast enough to escape their refrain. Or the truth behind the words.

I am a fraud. I'm a fraud.

Hello! Nice to meet you. Just call me Ima Fraud.

I haven't committed the kind of fraud that could land me in the clink-do people really call jail that?-but more the personal kind. I haven't defrauded investors or committed mail fraud or any other kinds of fraud out there. No-I've just been pretending to be someone else for, oh, I don't know...almost ten years of my life.

 Synopsis (Goodreads):

I said I’d never set foot on Oakley Island again. Not so long as HE lived there. But after my life implodes, I’m reconsidering EVERYTHING. Including my reasons for avoiding the first—and only—man I’ve ever loved.

I’m a high achiever. Driven. Maybe a little TOO driven.

So when my boyfriend confesses to cheating AND steals the promotion I’ve been working toward for years, I do the unthinkable for someone like me.

I break.

But the timing couldn’t be better for me to fall apart—I can escape to the idyllic Oakley Island and oversee the renovations on my late grandmother’s estate.

There’s just one tiny, massive, little problem: no one told me the contractor is the grown up version of the boy I fell in love with years ago.

He was my first love. My first kiss.

My first heartbreak.

Now, I’m faced with seeing Hunter daily. Being his boss. Forging a new dynamic that fits our adult selves.

Hunter is bigger. Bearded. Talks in grunts rather than words.

And has just as much hold on me as he ever did.

Trouble is, Hunter’s life is on Oakley. His daughter is on Oakley. And it was never my plan to stay here permanently.
Do I really want to risk having my heart broken a second time? More importantly, do I want to risk breaking his?

Merritt and Her Childhood Crush is a second chance at childhood first love romantic comedy. The Oakley Island Romcoms follow three very different sisters as they renovate the house they inherited and find love on the island along the way. The stories are standalone, but if you like continuous stories, we recommend reading them in order. Each book is closed door, with sizzling chemistry but no spice.

Your turn! Grab the current book you are reading and post the first line (or your link) in the comments! Then, click on the icons below and join the fun there too!