The Saucy Wenches Book Club

“I’m a simple man without a lot of complicated twists and turns. Look down my throat and you can see out my ass.” ~ Liu Cixin, The Three Body Problem

“Kissing someone — someone you want to kiss, I mean — is like living inside the best song you ever heard. It’s the same feeling.” ~ Liz Moore, The God of the Woods

“I just mean, a story can be beautiful not because of the way it ends. But because of the way it’s written.” ~ Alison Espach, The Wedding People

Ambition might be like a living organism, reliant on nurture to grow. With some encouragement, mine had protruded from the dirt, a tiny shoot crawling toward the light. ~ Scott Alexander Howard, The Other Valley

“Oraya of the Nightborn,” he murmured. “I give you my body. I give you my blood. I give you my soul. I give you my heart. From this night until the end of nights. From daybreak until our days are broken. Your soul is my soul. Your heart is my heart. Your pain is my pain. I bind myself to you.” I wanted it to all be a lie. But it was not a lie. ~ Carissa Broadbent, The Serpent & the Wings of Night

“I hate you,” I whimper, lifting my hips to meet the next heavy thump. “No, you don’t, Moonbeam. You love me. You’re just too busy feasting on my heart to notice.” ~ Sarah A. Parker, When the Moon Hatched

“You can’t control the world—or other people. You can’t make them love you, either. They will or they won’t, and that’s the truth. But what you can do is decide who you want to be in the face of it all. Do you want to be a person who helps—or hurts? Do you want to be a person who burns with anger—or shines with compassion? Do you want to be hopeful or hopeless? Give up or keep going? Live or die?” ~ Katherine Center, The Bodyguard

What would he ever do as a rich man that he couldn’t do now? Where would he go, and for God’s sake why? He already lived in the loveliest place imaginable and, besides, he didn’t like to fly.... He wondered if something was mentally wrong with him for being content with what he had. ~ Carl Hiaasen, Bad Monkey

I peer at him, skeptical. “You’ve been reading Shakespeare again.” He shrugs, then yanks the blade free. “I like the way he delivers an insult.” ~ Ariel Lawhon, The Frozen River

“It’s not the number of books that matters, is it? It’s what one does with them.” ~ Gareth Brown, The Book of Doors

One came to understand that we all purchased, voted, worshiped, and loved in unconscious obedience to narratives we thought were original, but which were largely dreamed up in sterile boardrooms like the one in New York. Then we went and called these stories our passions and dreams. ~ Stephen Markley, The Deluge

“When a shark offers up a pearl, be wary of its teeth. My father liked to tell me that when we were sailing, though I found this lesson most often applied on land.” ~ Andrea Stewart, The Bone Shard Daughter

“Fascinating. You look all frail and breakable, but you’re really a violent little thing, aren’t you?” ~ Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Live each day as if it’s your last”, that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that? What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy? It just wasn’t practical. Better by far to be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance. ~ David Nicholls, One Day

Bright blue eyes. Strong hands. Ocean breeze on sun-bronze skin. A kiss on a beach. Sand in the sheets. The day when everything changed. ~ Carley Fortune, This Summer Will Be Different

“I knew you were the real threat. Mortals always are, aren’t they? If you read the stories. The arrogant faerie prince who can make gold from straw is always undone by the humble miller’s daughter, not some powerful rival of his own stature.” ~ Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

If you’re surprised a mom would discuss boyfriend hotness with a kid still learning not to pick his nose, you’ve not seen the far end of lonely. Mom would light me a cigarette and we’d have our chats, menthols of course, this being in her mind the child-friendly option. I thought smoking with Mom and discussing various men’s stud factors was a sign of deep respect. ~ Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

We have cats because they amuse us and because otherwise our clothes would lack the texture only cat hair can provide. ~ John Scalzi, Starter Villain