The Saucy Wenches Book Club

“And how was it, your human love? Was it everything you dreamed of?” “No,” she says, and it is the truth. It was messy. It was hard. It was wonderful, and strange, and frightening, and fragile—so fragile it hurt—and it was worth every single moment. ~ V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Somehow grasping at vanishing snowflakes is like grasping at happiness: an act of possession that instantly gives way to nothing. ― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient

It was interesting, she mused to herself, how life sometimes simply gave you a whole new perspective by waiting around long enough for you to see it. ~ Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” ~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Christmas was close at hand, in all his bluff and hearty honesty; it was the season of hospitality, merriment, and open-heartedness; the old year was preparing, like an ancient philosopher, to call his friends around him, and amidst the sound of feasting and revelry to pass gently and calmly away. ~ Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

It was the beginning of the greatest Christmas ever. Little food. No presents. But there was a snowman in their basement. ~ Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

Christmas, her favorite criminal. Stockings are hanged, trees chopped, geese shot, children threatened with coal. ~ Leni Zumas, Red Clocks

“We’re a book club,” Maryellen said. “What are we supposed to do? Read him to death? Use strong language?” ~ Grady Hendrix, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

“We should always make time for the things we like. If we don't, we might forget how to be happy.” ~ T.J. Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea

Live long enough, and you learn how to read a person. To ease them open like a book, some passages underlined and others hidden between the lines. ~ V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“There were two brothers, Truth and Lie. One day they get to playing, throwing cutlasses up into the air. Them cutlasses come down and fast as can be — swish! — chop each of their faces clean off! Truth bed down, searching for his face. But with no eyes, he can’t see. Lie, he sneaky. He snatch up Truth’s face and run off! Zip! Now Lie go around wearing Truth’s face, fooling everybody he meet.” ~ P. Djèlí Clark, Ring Shout

“A man is like a clam,” her mother had once told her. “Let him open on his own, and he will give you a pearl.” Her aunt had scoffed, arguing that it was best to crack them open right away to find out if inside there was only sand and no pearl at all, and that’s why the Teek had no use for them. ~ Rebecca Roanhorse, Black Sun

“True love is the act of trying to love. Effortless love is as dubious as effortless gardening...”  ~ David Mitchell, Utopia Avenue

“...they noticed that other aspects of their world started to go missing, or at least diminish. Pathos was lost. Nostalgia. The sober reflection of melancholy. The sublime ache of wistfulness. More tangible realities also became scarce—literature, art, poetry. (Music stuck around, but only the poppy kind, and only for a few weeks at a time.) Eventually people noticed that even some integral emotions—compassion, empathy—were in short supply. Yet the gospel of freedom was sacrosanct.” ~ Tommy Butler, Before You Go: A Novel

Salve your scars with love, my girl, whatever comes, and keep your heart open. Love—even love that cannot be returned—is never cause for regret. ~ Barbara Davis, The Last of the Moon Girls

That’s so not your business it almost punches clean past the event horizon of Not Your Business and becomes Your Business again. ~ Illuminae ( The Illuminae Files #1), Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

“I cannot recommend this to you enough: find something that you believe in, right down deep in the depths of your silvery plumage, and then throw your heart at it, blood and valves and veins and all. Because I did this, the world, though brambled and frothing at the mouth, looked more vibrant; blues were bluer, and even the fetid puddles that collected under rusting cars tasted as sweet as summer wine.” ~ Kira Jane Buxton, Hollow Kingdom

“I would come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together.... Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.” ~ Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs.” ~ Tara Westover, Educated

If anyone asked her to sum up her view of the world, she always quoted Martin Luther: “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” ~ Fredrik Backman, Anxious People

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” ~ AA Milne, Winnie the Pooh

“I’m curious, have you ever attempted to prevent her from doing what she wanted to do? I’d be delighted to hear how it went.” ― Ilona Andrews, Sapphire Flames ( Hidden Legacy #4)

The world was constantly speaking to Ancient Man. I do not understand why this sentence is in the past tense. The World still speaks to me every day. ~ Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

“Hey. Sometimes life is a shit flavored Popsicle.” ~ Carl Hiaasen, Nature Girl

Catalina was a creature of sighs and phrases as delicate as lace. Catalina was a dreamer and therefore believed in Noemí’s dreams. ~ Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mexican Gothic

“I don’t say it, but sometimes I feel like that’s exactly what he’s doing to me—breaking me apart, putting me back together as someone new.” ~ Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa

I smile at people. Mostly they seem to think I must be a wee bit touched, and hurry on by. But sometimes, occasionally, they return the smile, and those smiles are sweet enough to collect. ~ Charlotte McConaghy, Migrations

“You’re related,” William said, wanting to break the tension between these two. “I can tell by the eyes.” “Distantly,” Vincent said as he accepted some daisies Regina had picked. “Several times removed. Probably by hacksaw.” He grinned and April grinned back at him. “No, by carving knife,” she said prettily. “That’s the way an Owens removes you from his life.” ~ Alice Hoffman, The Rules of Magic

“Girl, every choice we make is a new tomorrow. Whole worlds waiting to be born.” ~ P. Djèlí Clark, Ring Shout

“Between life and death there is a library,” she said “and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?” ~ Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

Men who had the capacity to apologize — and who knew the right words with which to do it — were few and far between. Blood Cross ( Jane Yellowrock #2), Faith Hunter

“Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?” Jace said, “Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself.” “At least,” she said, “you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland.” “Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.” ~ Cassandra Clare, City of Bones

“I’m Kaelish,” she lied, “and I can speak any language.” “More witchcraft.” “If by witchcraft, you mean the arcane practice of reading.” ~ Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“You know,” she’d said, “they say people are like snowflakes, each one unique, but I think they’re more like skies. Some are cloudy, some are stormy, some are clear, but no two are ever quite the same.” ~ V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Perhaps that is what it is like being with other people. Perhaps even people you like and admire immensely can make you see the World in ways you would rather not. ~ Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

Outlander, Starz “You asked me, Captain, if I were a witch,” I said, my voice low and steady. “I’ll answer you now. Witch I am. Witch, and I curse you. You will marry, Captain, and your wife will bear a child, but you shall not live to see your firstborn. I curse you with knowledge, Jack Randall—I give you the hour of your death.” ~ Diana Gabaldon, Outlander

“Witching and women’s rights. Suffrage and spells. They’re both...” She gestures in midair again. “They’re both a kind of power, aren’t they? The kind we aren’t allowed to have.” The kind I want, says the hungry shine of her eyes. ~ Alix E. Harrow, The Once and Future Witches

“Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.”   ― R.A. Salvatore, Exile

Compassion is perilous. When there is nothing left of you but an empty vessel, a black hole, immune to the blows of life—the loneliness and confusion, the profound disappointment, the anger—it is the kind word that breaches the event horizon, that rips your heart back open, that compels you to once again suffer the concussion of your existence. ~ Tommy Butler, Before You Go: A Novel

“And yet I found myself deciding that if you took his hand, I would find a way to live with it. It would be your choice.” ... “And if he had grabbed me?” There was nothing but uncompromising will in his eyes. “Then I would have torn apart the world to get you back.” ~ Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Drink chamomile tea to calm the spirit. Feed a cold and starve a fever. Read as many books as you can. Always choose courage. Never watch another woman burn. Know that love is the only answer.” ~ Alice Hoffman, Magic Lessons

If everyone looked the other way, then everybody was in on it. If he looked the other way, he was as implicated as the rest. That’s how he saw it, how he’d always seen things. ~ Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys

Maybe there were people who lived those lives. Maybe this girl was one of them. But what about the rest of us? What about the nobodies and the nothings, the invisible girls? We learn to hold our heads as if we wear crowns. We learn to wring magic from the ordinary. That was how you survived when you weren’t chosen, when there was no royal blood in your veins. ~ Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

So much for Midwestern hospitality. At least in New York, our neighbors had brought us cookies when we moved in. (They’d been gluten-free and laced with LSD, but it was the thought that counted.) ~ Emily Henry, Beach Read

There were scythes who refused to allow anyone but their own party onboard, and others who opened their planes to as many people as they could carry. It was a true test of a scythe’s integrity. ~ Neal Shusterman, Thunderhead ( Arc of a Scythe #2)

“Sharpie? You named your sword Sharpie?” “We’re supposed to be incognito, Tori. What if someone overheard me talking about my Fiery Deathbringer or Warblade of Murderous Doom?” “They’d probably think you were talking about a video game.” ― Annette Marie, Three Mages and a Margarita

“Remember that feeling you described—the ‘horrific crush of humanity’ on your soul—maybe that’s another way of saying you’re afraid people will hurt you if you let them get close.” ~ Glendy Vanderah, Where the Forest Meets the Stars

“Because you’ve been fidgeting like you have spiders in your gown since the beginning of this,” he answered. Spiders in my gown? If I had spiders in my gown, I wouldn’t be fidgeting. I’d be screaming and stripping down to nothing. I wouldn’t care at all who witnessed it. ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout, From Blood and Ash

While it might be true that we still loved each other when we argued, it didn’t mean that we loved ourselves. ~ Alex North, The Whisper Man

“She didn’t understand that when you truly love someone and they love you in return, you ruin your lives together. That is not a curse, it’s what life is, my girl. We all come to ruin, we turn to dust, but whom we love is the thing that lasts.” ~ Alice Hoffman, The Rules of Magic