So we're going to do that again--and like last year we'll select four people from the comment section below to receive a magnet of one of these gorgeous teasers created by my dear (and ridiculously talented) friend Johanna Ollila. (If you don't know Johanna, she's one of the wonderful mods of my Goodreads group.)
We're actually going to do this creative exercise twice. This time around, just choose any favorite line(s) for any favorite Josh Lanyon book and post below. NEXT week I'll be looking for best lines from the Dangerous Ground series (Blind Side is coming out next year) and I haven't yet figured out what the prizes will be in that case. ;-)
So here are some samples of teasers and the lines that make them so effective.
Tucker grinned a slow and sexy grin, leaning in for one final kiss. “Don’t worry, Professor. The only thing I want to jump is you.”
ReplyDeleteFair Chance
I can't pick only one, but these two are among my all time favourites:
ReplyDelete"So when the downstairs phone rang, I doubled back to pick it up, though I was already running late.
A pause followed my greeting. Then, “We’re watching you,” whispered the voice on the other end.
“Yeah? Did you see what I did with my keys?”
Silence. Then dial tone.
These younger demons. So easily discouraged." From The Hell You Say.
“Tucker, I can’t explain to you what I felt or thought. It wasn’t a logical process. It felt like I was in a daze. It was like—it was like the bottom fell out of the fucking world.” From Fair Chance.
Mine is utterly unhelpful, but my favorite is "How is Captain Crunch?"
ReplyDeleteLoved that! Because I absolutely hate Captain Crunch 😅😅😅
Delete“I want to tell you something,” Jake said against my ear. His face was wet.
ReplyDeleteI nodded.
“I've always been grateful—even when I was married, even when I thought it was over between us—that it was you I fell in love with.”
His cold face rested against mine as I listened to the echo of his words. Maybe it was true. Maybe one person could make a difference. Maybe love could make a difference. It had made a difference to me.
J. Lanyon, Jake & Adrien, The Dark Tide
Nice one! That one tugged at my wee heart. :D
DeleteI’m a puddle every time I read that.
DeleteThank you. I love this moment so full of feeling.
DeleteIn anticipation of your new book:
ReplyDelete“Against his will, Nick’s mouth was curving into a smile. He had the uncomfortable feeling that was going to be happening a lot.”
-The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks
Max smoothed the thin skin between Swift's shoulder blades. "This is where your wings used to be." - CUTYS
ReplyDeleteFrom “In Plain Sight”, probably too long for a quote but lately I’ve been “close” reading the shorts I I’m loving this story more everyday.
ReplyDelete“There were no secrets in a murder investigation. Which Glen would have understood. But what did Glen have to feel embarrassed about? He was gay. He was lonely. He had dry skin. That was about the extent of it. Okay, a taste for vinegar and salt potato chips, a fortune in fishing lures, an unnatural love for Linda Ronstadt. Nash didn’t know anything about Glen. Didn’t know his favorite food, his favorite song, his favorite movie, his favorite color…. Was he Democrat or Republican? Did he believe in God? Did he want kids one day? Did he prefer the left or right side of the bed? Did he shave before or after showering? In the end, weren’t they all about equally important? If you wanted it to work, needed it to work, couldn’t you make it work? He kept coming back to this. In the end, hadn’t he known everything that mattered? Hadn’t he known enough? That was the painful part. That too late he recognized that Glen had been the guy for him. He had learned nothing this week he hadn’t already known about Glen. Glen was a decent, intelligent, hard-working guy. Every day he got up and did his very best to make the world a better place. What the hell more could you ask of someone?”
“He bent his head and kissed the curve of my neck, said against my flushed skin, “Nothing about you could be ugly to me.”
ReplyDeleteThe Dark Tide
OMG - too many! One that springs immediately to mind is Jake and Adrien in 'A Dangerous Thing.'
ReplyDelete"Meanwhile, back at the ranch..."
"Kevin was just leaving," I said, managing to detach myself from Kevin.
"Did he mistake you for the door?"
...and then this, also from 'A Dangerous Thing.'
"I didn't know you cared."
His eyes held mine briefly. "The hell you didn't."
The one from "A Dangerous Thing" is brilliant. It makes me laugh every time I read it.
Delete“What the hell just happened?” I asked the universe. “You’re talking to yourself again,” the universe replied, pushing open my office door. Okay, it was Jake, but he was kind of my universe.
ReplyDeleteSo this is Christmas
Kennedy's mouth twisted in reluctant amusement. 'Did you really tell O'Neill you wouldn’t break out of that crypt because the window was so valuable?'
ReplyDeleteJason sat up. 'Hell yes. That window is Tiffany glass. It's probably worth a quarter of a million dollars. It's irreplaceable.'
Kennedy shook his head as though he thought Jason was a nut, but what he said was, 'You're irreplaceable.'
‘You know what I thought the first time I saw you?'
ReplyDelete'No.'
'Point of no return.' ”
― Josh Lanyon, The Dark Tide
“ ‘Adult life is a series of compromises, Adrien.’
‘Yeah, only you're negotiating with the Devil.’
Still not looking at me, he growled, ‘Oh, go to hell.'
I raised my water in a toast. ‘Sure. I'll follow the trail of bread crumbs you're scattering.’ ”
― Josh Lanyon, Death of a Pirate King
While making these teasers for your Advent Calendar I realized that one of the books I’ve been highlighting like crazy :-) is Murder Takes the High Road. Tons of great moments there! :-D Here’re a couple of short ones:
ReplyDeleteThis was the equivalent of a summer romance. Minus the romance. (Chapter 14)
Rescue was coming. Even if rescue did seemed to have stopped for coffee first. (Chapter 24)
And here’re a couple of sweet ones from the same book:
”A little of this, a little of that.” I was out of the habit of asking, let alone receiving. John chuckled, a naughty, sexy sound. ”Oh yeah? That sounds promising.” (Chapter 14)
Maybe John wasn’t the best detective in the world, but he had the makings of the best boyfriend ever. And after all, how often was I going to need a great detective? (Chapter 25)
From Murder Takes The High Road: “”He gaped at me. “No, I didn’t lose them —- well, not for long. I came back for you. I was sitting in the Kirkwall police station when word came through that Vanessa was dead. I knew then I couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t risk —- you.” Maybe John wasn’t the best detective in the world, but he had the makings of the best boyfriend ever. And, after all, how often was I going to need a great detective?””
ReplyDelete"For a few seconds before the world splintered apart in the wake of the wildest magic of all, he wondered what it would be like to be together, to lie down together at night and wake in each other’s arms."
ReplyDelete--This Rough Magic
"My lips parted, my hands — flattened against the broad planes of his chest — slid caressingly up to lock behind Seamus’s head to pull him still closer. I molded my lips to his, kissing him back with a passion I didn’t think I still possessed for anything outside opening night on Broadway."
-- Seance On A Summer's Night
"I decided to get the last word by saying nothing."
-- SOASN
"Anyway, maybe you needed a little pain now and then to help you recognize and appreciate happiness when it was yours. To remind you not to give it up without a fight."
ReplyDelete- A Case of Christmas
"And people being people, they would show their disgust and disapproval in a million tiny ways. Pinpricks. No mortal wounds, but even a bee sting could kill you if enough bees joined in."
- Come Unto These Yellow Sands
So many favorites here and so many smiles. Here are a few of mine from Somebody Killed His Editor: Holmes & Moriarity, Book 1
ReplyDelete"But I didn’t want to think about J.X. Screw him. Oh. Right."
"They were all in bed before daybreak. And they called themselves writers? Amateurs."
"The bed thumped rhythmically against the wall of the cabin. I thought it might have been bouncing off the floor—I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear the cabin itself was shaking beneath those rafters of moonstruck clouds."
"There it was…there…that spate of wet heat and snapping energy, a fireball blazing through nerves and muscles and razing everything in its path, setting the fields of gold on fire. Summer once more."
very difficult to decide...
ReplyDeleteIn CUTYS, when Max & Swift reunite...
"they kissed, but it was a gentle kiss and there was no urgency. They were tired and they were ...healing. They had time. And time was the most beautiful word of all.
Rdafan7
"He tried a couple of things, watching my face to see how I took it -- and I took it like a man, encouraging him as best I could without making him self-conscious."
ReplyDelete- A Dangerous Thing
"Two Irish cops walk into a bar. The first cop says..." Rick's voice dropped. He said gruffly, "I love you. Come home."
ReplyDeleteKeir managed to keep his voice steady. "What's the other cop say?"
The sweetness of Rick's smile was like a kick in his chest. "That's what I'm here to find out, boyo."
Time and tide. Love had its own circadian rhythms, and it was beginning to look like he and Max had missed their chance, that they'd slipped into a comfortable somnolence. Perhaps they would continue on indefinitely, but it was all too likely one of these days they were simply going to drift gently, quietly apart
ReplyDeleteI've always just really really loved these lines and Stranger on the Shore.
ReplyDelete“Intimacy issues' is code for 'I haven't met the right person.'"
"And what is 'trust issues' code for?"
Pierce held his gaze. "I'm afraid to believe I've met the right person.”