The Saucy Wenches Book Club

“You can send yourself crazy wondering. But it all happened, and here I am. There’s really no point in asking what if? The only question worth asking is: what’s next?” ~ Elton John, Me

Fiction became a friend as well as a safe harbor; a cocoon to protect her from the outside world and its dangers. ~ Emilia Hart, Weyward

“If bravery is the wind that makes us soar like kites, fear is the string that keeps us from going too far.” ~ Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“Men always want to be a woman’s first love. That is their clumsy vanity. We women have a more subtle instinct about things. What we like is to be a man’s last romance. ~ Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance

“Miracles happen on Christmas, Pat. Everybody knows that shit.” ~ Matthew Quick, The Silver Linings Playbook

“I see it now.” “What?” I ask. “Why Xaden fell for you.” ... “You’re fucking clever. Way more clever than I gave you credit for. I bet you keep him constantly annoyed.” A smile beams across her face. “How glorious.” ~ Rebecca Yarros, Iron Flame

“You were made to bring happiness. You are alive in ways we are not. You are soft and fragile. But you are complex and disturbing and sometimes foolishly brilliant.” ~ T.J. Klune, In the Lives of Puppets

“Regardless of how you behave, a lot of things are going to be out of your control because this world was made to test you. Protect your peace in whatever and every way that you can.” ~ Jessica George, Maame

“There are some advantages to being an American woman over forty who no longer has any fucks left on the shelf” ~ Jojo Moyes, Someone Else’s Shoes

“Reading lets us live in someone else’s shoes. Literature builds bridges; it makes our world larger, not smaller.” ~ R.F. Kuang, Yellowface

Perhaps one day, she said, there would be a safer time. When women could walk the earth, shining bright with power, and yet live. ~ Emilia Hart, Weyward

“Light is only possible through dialogue between cultures, not through rejection of one or the other.” ~ James McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

“I don’t think he meant to kiss me,” I said finally. “What? Did he slip and fall on your mouth? Those things are known to happen.” ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout, Obsidian

I’ve tried to make sense of how someone who didn’t stalk his victims in advance ended up going after the best and the brightest. And I think that’s it, the thing they all had in common — a light that outshone his. ~ Jessica Knoll, Bright Young Women

A thing taken by force would always be a pale shadow of something given freely. ~ V.E. Schwab, The Fragile Threads of Power

All this long winter long, the song sparrow in his pine tree pulpit has been teaching me that one exuberant, unceasing song can change everything. ~ Margaret Renkl, The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

Still, Amelia had not allowed herself to be certain until dessert, when she’d asked him about the book that had had the greatest influence on his life, and he’d replied Principles of Accounting, Part II . Gently, she tells him no, she would rather not go out again. ~ Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry