First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros/Teaser Tuesdays - November 2nd

It's Tuesday!  It's time to share your excerpts and teasers from books we are currently reading, have read or are planning to read.  So, feel free to join us by sharing the first paragraph or (a few) of a book you are reading or thinking about reading soon.  This meme is guaranteed to increase your TBR :)



Please link your blog post using Mr. Linky below. Make sure the link you enter is the direct link to your Tuesday post, not the main link to your blog. Thank you!



I, also, participate and link up to Teaser Tuesdays.  Here's info about that meme:

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, now being hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


* Grab your current read

* Open to a random page

* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I just started reading this one.  The excerpts are from the E-ARC.

First Chapter... 

Like the well-oiled machine she'd become, Emma Westlake wrapped her hand around the Limoges teapot and counted down silently in her head.

Teaser...

Like clockwork, she swallowed back the instinctual urge to retch and, instead, nodded as she'd promised Dottie's husband she would during his deathbed phone call eighteen months earlier.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Entrepreneur Emma Westlake is reinventing herself as a hired friend when murder gets in the way in this exciting new mystery series from USA Today bestselling author Laura Bradford.

Emma Westlake has always wanted to be in business for herself. As a kid, she had her own successful lemonade stand and dog-walking business. And when she entered adulthood, Emma sunk all her cash into her dream job of travel planning. But as her customers became more and more internet savvy, the need for her services declined. At a loss for what to do next, she turns to an elderly friend who suggests she try to get paid for doing something she's really good at--being a paid companion. Emma thinks it's a crazy idea until requests start pouring in. Big Max from down the block wants her to act as his wingman at the local senior center's upcoming dance, nurse practitioner Stephanie needs a workout partner, and writer Brian Hill asks Emma to be his cheering section at an open mic night.

Brian will be reading from his latest work and wants to know someone will clap for him when he's done. When Emma balks at the notion that people wouldn't, he tells her the room will be filled with people he's invited--most of whom will likely want him dead by the time he's done reading. Assuming he's joking, she laughs. But when Brian steps up to the mic and clears his throat to speak, he promptly drops dead. Emma is one of the last people to see him alive, and so she becomes an immediate suspect. Now she'll have to cozy up to a killer to save her skin and her new business.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?