What hooks you from the first page of a book and why?

@Rahma what about you lovely? X

The setting the and introduction of characters I think 😊

I agree, the setting / opening has to peak my curiosity and the style of writing! Historical fiction fanatic over here 🙋‍♀️

It has to be a character, I think really any character as long as they’re well written. If you see an element of yourself in them, even only slightly then it can get you invested pretty quick 😊

I absolutely love it when a book throws you into a scene from the get go, where we can start to see what the main character is like. They are somewhere doing something, there’s dialogue, description of the surroundings. I read a lot of fantasy and so many start with a history of the world. I find it always takes me longer to get into when they start like that.

@courtney on the bbc writing course with JoJo Moyes she actually says about the opening of a book starting with the middle of action... tells you about the character too, like you said xx

I love reading the back cover of a book first to see if I like the sound of the story, which is what I did with my very first and favourite Dorothy Koomson book, "My Best Friend's Girl" as the cover grabbed my attention as I was in a UK bookstore at the time and I thought to myself "that sounds like a good book", so I read the summary on the back cover of the book and I decided that I wanted to read more so I bought a copy. I'm always looking for new Dorothy Koomson books to read.