First Line Friday & The Friday 56: The Longest Exile by Tana Rebellis

First Line Friday is hosted by Carrie @ Reading Is My Superpower.
The Friday 56 is hosted by Anne @ My Head is Full of Books while Freda @ Freda’s Voice is on hiatus.
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FIRST LINE FRIDAY

where we share the first line of our current read(s)

I smoothed my silky blue-green dress over my stomach with gentle, lingering fingers, although the small life within did not, at present, move.

THE FRIDAY 56

where we share a snippet from page 56 or 56%

He focused his attention back on the scroll in his hands, the first part of Ovid’s Amores. It had been published quite some time ago now, but Agrippa had little to select from at the villa’s library, and most of the scrolls were dated. No new reading materials were ever delivered with the rare shipments of supplies that came into the port, only replacement soldiers to serve as fresh guards and foodstuffs that weren’t available from the villa’s small garden or fishponds. His grandfather was less than generous when it came to Agrippa’s entertainment.

Rome, 8 CE. Julia, eldest granddaughter of Augustus, is four months pregnant, and it should be cause for celebration. The only problem is that her husband was executed a year ago for treason. The math is simple, and damning.

Julia is exiled to a remote Adriatic island as punishment for her indiscretion, upending her privileged life. As she struggles to adjust to her new circumstances, a suspicious accident kills her only confidante, and she finds that trust is increasingly hard to come by—especially in a world where power is everything and where people will do anything to get it. Soon, Julia is forced not only to question what else fate has in store, but to fight for her illegitimate baby’s survival.

Julia’s scheming mother and slightly insane younger brother are already political exiles, but their newest plots pull her further into a deadly web of family betrayal and treason that threatens to taint Rome for generations to come. Further complicating matters is Titus, the bastard son of a senator. As one of the guards tasked with ensuring that Julia never escapes her island prison, she should resent him—but instead she finds herself increasingly drawn to him, at great risk to both their lives.

What do you think of the snippets I featured today?
Have you read this book? Do you want to?