How To Start A Novel With A Gripping Opening Scene?

I found out my husband of three years had cheated on me and his mistress is the one who told me—because he didn’t have the balls to do it himself. I move out and get a new apartment, a job as a bartender, and try to move on with a broken heart. I wonder where it all went wrong, if I hadn’t been enough for him, if I’d been stupid for marrying him in the first place. I’m at work one night when he walks inside—the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. He sits at the bar and a forest fire burns between us. I was depressed the moment before he entered, but the second I look at his blue eyes, I forget the dumpster fire that my life has become. I invite him back to my place and it’s the most passionate night of my life. I expect to never see him again. I just want him as an anti-depressant—but he wants me all to himself. I just got my heart ripped out of my chest so I want something easy and no-strings-attached, but he wants all the strings because he’s hooked. I don’t get much of a say in the matter, and that’s not surprising when I learn why—because he’s the Butcher. The crime lord of all crime lords, the boss that overshadows all of Paris, that makes everyone abide by his rules—or pay. And now I’m his.

Catalina De Luca’s world turns into trouble when a single bullet, unleashed in a moment of heartache by her shattered father, almost claims the life of young Luca Moretti—the 10-year-old son of Matteo Moretti, a formidable billionaire with deep connections to a dangerous underworld. Matteo is driven by a fierce, unwavering belief: “An eye for an eye. And a tooth for a tooth"As danger looms over his son’s life, a fierce determination ignites within him, driving him toward a singular path of retribution. That night, Catalina’s father, consumed by grief over his wife’s passing, unleashed his anguish into the darkness, each shot echoing his heartache. But in a fleeting moment of happiness, a stray bullet found its mark, hitting young Luca and shattering the bliss. Now, Matteo’s fury is limitless. He captures Catalina’s father, dragging her into his lavish estate, a gilded cage where she must tend to Luca until he is strong enough for the crucial surgery that could save his life. But time stretches painfully as Luca’s condition halts the operation, and Catalina is pulled into Matteo’s mysterious realm, where peril lurks beneath every gleaming facade, and the notion of safety is nothing but a mirage. As she delves into the depths of Matteo’s existence, Catalina finds herself captivated by his intricacies—a man who embodies both fierce determination and gentle vulnerability, shattered yet resolute. Catalina uncovers the truth behind Matteo's past, uncovering a heart yearning for redemption and love. As stakes rise, she faces a heart-wrenching choice: navigate the dangerous journey or heal Matteo's broken spirit, seeking salvation for both. In a realm dominated by retribution, is love possible as the only solution to set aside the dangerous world?

Vera fought for her life in the apocalypse for ten years. Ten brutal years left her disfigured, hungry, and almost broken, but she still clawed her way through it. She killed zombies, ran from mutated animals, starved, bled, and learned humans were often more dangerous than monsters. Then her brother, the only family she had left, betrayed her. Vera thought death had finally come. Instead, she woke up inside a trashy book she once read to stay sane while the old world fell apart. A book with a twisted plot and too much drama. And because her luck had always been terrible, Vera did not wake up as the heroine. No, of course not. Her second chance was to become the hated second female lead, pregnant, unwanted, and written to die when the plot no longer needed her. Her babies were supposed to die too. Even the three men who got her pregnant were written as future corpses, all to push the story toward spoiled women and one psychotic male lead. But Vera was not the woman from the book. She had survived one ruined world. She had not walked through radioactive rain and eaten mutated food just to cry over fantasy characters or beg for love inside a stupid plot. So Vera adapted. She accepted her punishment, took her three unborn babies, and left for the garbage center without making a scene. Everyone thought she had been thrown away. Vera saw a chance to make money, protect her babies, and build something of her own. Now the woman meant to disappear is building a wasteland empire, breaking the plot, and driving three men insane because she no longer chases anyone. By every rule in that world, Vera should be dead. But dying a second time was never an option.

I wish my husband were dead. I married him to save someone I loved. Now I’ve been trapped in this loveless marriage for years. He parades his mistresses right in front of me. Strikes me if I say something he doesn’t like. When he’s away on one of his business trips, I head to a bar to blow off steam. My intention is to go home alone, but that changes when I see him, the sexiest man ever. He buys me a drink. Stares at me in a way my husband never has—or any man ever. He doesn’t say much, but when he does, it’s all the right things. Asks if he can take me home, and I want to scream my answer at the top of my lungs. But I decide to tell him the truth instead. “I’m married.” My husband isn’t faithful to me, but he’s dangerous. Dangerous, as in, he kills people. Lots of people. “And my husband is someone you don’t want to cross…” “I’m not someone you want to cross either.” His stare doesn’t falter with the information. On his right hand is a diamond ring, carved into a human skull. Built like an ox, he looks like he could be dangerous too. The energy he emits from his strong body is subtly hostile, but not directed at me. “Let’s go, sweetheart.” I should say no—but I don’t think I can.

A sheltered woman has her first night with a stranger—only to discover he’s the ruthless billionaire who just became her new boss. I thought he was a stranger. A man I would never see again. A man who made me feel wanted for the first time in my life. We agreed it was only one night—no names, no promises, no future. But fate has a dark sense of humor. On my first day at my new job, I walk into the boardroom… and there he is. Liam Hawthorne. The ruthless billionaire CEO who owns the company—and now owns my biggest secret. He recognizes me instantly. And he’s not letting me pretend it never happened. When he corners me after the meeting, his voice is low, dangerous, possessive: “You can run from everyone else, but not from me.” I’m hiding another truth from him—the consequences of that night. The little heartbeat growing inside me. And when he finds out, Liam Hawthorne will burn the world down to claim what’s his… including me.

We love reading novels, fall in love with the characters, sometimes envy the main girl for getting the perfect male lead... but what happens when you get inside your own novel and get to meet your perfect main lead and bonus...get treated like the female lead?! As the clock struck 12, Arielle Taylor is pulled inside her own novel. This cinderella is over the moon as her Prince Charming showers her with his attention but what would happen when she finds herself falling for her fairy godmother instead? Please read my interview with Goodnovel at: https://tinyurl.com/y5zb3tug Cover pic: pixabay