The Saucy Wenches Book Club

“Feeling better?” “Much. I probably won’t be running any marathons soon, but I’m cleared for all, um, normal activities.” The way she said normal activities made Mason purse his lips. “Would it be vastly inappropriate of me to read something into that?” “I was kind of hoping that you would, so that I wouldn’t actually have to say it.” ~ Lisa Clark O’Neill, Admit One ( Sweetwater #2)

She'd once crushed on Jericho Barrons violently. Before she'd realized he and Mac belonged together like earth and sky, night and day, fire and ice. Feversong ~~Karen Marie Moning

"I saw the Cloud, though I did not foresee the Storm." Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

Once in a while, a book comes along that packs such an emotional punch that I can’t keep my feelings to myself and remain silent about it. To my great delight, I’ve just found another one of those books. A couple of weeks ago, I read Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yours , and ever since I’ve felt the need to recommend this gut-wrenching novel to you, my fellow Wenches. I feel the story is important enough that everyone should have a chance to read it. If you’re intrigued, let me tell you more, and I’ll try to avoid spoilers.

Man cannot be freed by the same injustice that enslaved it. ~Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“I'm not mad, though," Kat said. "You lied to me, and I lied to you. We're even." Finally he lost the grin. "When did you lie?" She gave him a Sweet'N Low smile, as if his amusement had been poured into her. "Every time we messed around. I didn't actually enjoy myself, if you know what I mean.” ― Gena Showalter, Alice in Zombieland

Some shadowy, self-destructive, confused place no longer existed inside me. I was of a single, clear mind. There were goals, and there were methods to attain them. There were my chosen responsibilities and those things I was willing to do to honor them. There were the things I was willing to live with and the things I wasn't willing to live without. There was a quiet, deep abiding love of myself—flaws and all, and I had plenty—and the world around me, and it had plenty, too. Feversong ~~Karen Marie Moning

“A man might befriend a wolf, even break a wolf, but no man could truly tame a wolf.” George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

“Shit!” Cecilia slammed the side of her hand to her head. “Fuck it.” “What is it?” John-Paul reeled back. She never swore. All these years there had been a Tupperware container of bad language sitting to the side in her head, and now she’d opened it and all those crisp, crunchy words were lovely and fresh, ready to be used. ~ Liane Moriarty, The Husband’s Secret

Their energy had a strange juxtaposition of sparkly but deadly, which was kind of like New Orleans herself—mixed in with the glitter and revelry was crime and corruption and complete systemic failure. The Cities of the Dead ~~Alys Arden

“What d’ya mean, where the crawdads sing? Ma used to say that.” Kya remembered Ma always encouraging her to explore the marsh: “Go as far as you can—way out yonder where the crawdads sing.” “Just means far in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters.” ~ Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing

“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

I know the Word. It is the oldest word in any language, first utterance. Ma, ah, oh, mama. Mother. Not the word uttered by God to make life, but spoken by the baby who recognizes the being on whom life depends. ~ Louise Erdrich, Future Home of the Living God

“She said, ‘Forgive me for being a dreamer,’ and he took her by the hand and replied, ‘Forgive me for not being here sooner to dream with you.’”—J. Iron Word. Thank you for making all of my dreams come true. Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward, Hate Notes

New York was home for Czerny, the same way Chicago was home for me. You don't really know how attached you are until you move away, until you've experienced what it means to be dislodged, a cork floating on the ocean of another place. Becoming ~~Michelle Obama

“Mercy has this ... this uncanny ability to go where the trouble is thickest,” Adam told him. He had decided a while ago that it wasn’t deliberate, and that it had something to do with being Coyote’s daughter. He was pretty sure that Mercy was completely oblivious. ― Patricia Briggs, Silence Fallen

I’ve found in life that bygones are a bit like collard greens. They tend to taste bitter. It’s best not to chew on them overly long. ~ Lisa Wingate, Before We Were Yours

“Meaning in art isn’t the same as meaning in science. The meaning of the second law of thermodynamics, so long as the words are understood, isn’t changed by who reads it, or when, or where. The meaning of Huckleberry Finn is.” Ursula K. Le Guin, No Time to Spare, Thinking About What Matters

She'd found tatters of legends about the Nine on some of the worlds she'd traveled Silverside, but never managed to find an origin myth, only songs and tales of nine merciless warriors who battled for gain and, despite dying, came back again and again. Unkillable, unstoppable, unbreakable, she hungered to be those many "uns" herself. No matter the price. Feversong ~~Karen Marie Moning