Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening. Feel free to grab the banner and play along.
This week I’m sharing the opening paragraph from The Trophy Child by Paula Daly, a favorite author of mine and in this book she’s sharing something that I find disquieting – the helicopter parent.
Blurb
A doting mother or a pushy parent?
Karen Bloom expects perfection. Her son, Ewan, has been something of a disappointment and she won’t be making the same mistake again with her beloved, talented child, Bronte.
Bronte’s every waking hour will be spent at music lessons and dance classes, doing extra schoolwork and whatever it takes to excel.
But as Karen pushes Bronte to the brink, the rest of the family crumbles. Karen’s husband, Noel, is losing himself in work, and his teenage daughter from his first marriage, Verity, is becoming ever more volatile. The family is dangerously near breaking point.
Karen would know when to stop . . . wouldn’t she? Amazon
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First Chapter ~ First Paragraph ~ Intro
Part 1
1
Monday, September 21
The girls’ changing room smelled heavily of sweat, mud and a sickly-sweet deodorant that was beginning to irritate the back of her throat. She didn’t have a lot of enthusiasm for hockey. Not a lot of enthusiasm for school, full stop, now that she was on a probationary period. It was to be a period of indeterminate length, during which her behavior would be monitored by a variety of well-meaning professionals.
Verity Bloom: not quite a lost cause.
Not yet.
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I wonder what was behind the author’s choice to feature the ‘second’ child in this opening rather than Bronte – well whatever the reason, I’m strongly suspecting this will be a great read as long as Karen’s behavior doesn’t annoy me too much!
What do you think? Have you read The Trophy Child? Do you want to?