The Saucy Wenches Book Club

“Aim your heart at the fucking world.” ~ Jay Kristoff, Empire of the Vampire

“We’re as smart as evolution made us. So we’re the minimum intelligence needed to ensure we can dominate our planets.” ~ Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary

“Vampire worldview, condensed into three sentences: If it’s not food or a pet, kill it, because it might be poisonous.” ~ Ilona Andrews, Sweep of the Blade

“You’re not going to let her do this, are you?” Bones snorted. “Let her? Mate, if you think you can control a woman, you must be single — and a thousand pounds says she beats your arse.” ~ Jeaniene Frost, This Side of the Grave

Her feelings had come like a flower on a tree. A bud, gently forming — and just like that, an undying blossom. ~ Samantha Shannon, The Priory of the Orange Tree

“There’s a Chinese saying. ‘When is the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago.’ ” The Chinese engineer smiles. “Good one.” “ ‘When is the next best time? Now.’ ” “Ah! Okay!” The smile turns real. Until today, he has never planted anything. But Now, that next best of times, is long, and rewrites everything. ~ Richard Powers, The Overstory

“After all, everyone’s entitled to be the hero of their own story. So I must be permitted to be the hero of mine. Even though I’m not. I’m the villain.” ~ Alex Michaelides, The Maidens

Granted, she did fly that bookshop into the Serpentine when they told her they didn’t stock any Dickens novels, but that only shows a praiseworthy enthusiasm for literature. ~ India Holton, The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

“Yeah, people do bad things to each other. And we remember those stories, we remember the pain, but we remember it because it stands out. It’s the blip in the timeline, the thing that doesn’t fit, and that’s because the rest of the timeline, which is our whole lives really, is made of kindness. That’s what’s normal, it’s so normal we don’t even notice it.” ~ Charlotte McConaghy, Once There Were Wolves

Does letting go mean losing everything you have, or does it mean gaining everything you never had? ~ Miranda Cowley Heller, The Paper Palace

“I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I’d catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I’d seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I’d realize that you weren’t there anymore, and every time, every single time , it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don’t tell me why we don’t belong together,” he said fiercely. ~ Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone

“You tried to seduce me, for information.” “You can’t hold that against me forever.” “It was last night.” ~ V.E. Schwab, A Gathering of Shadows

“... My soul cannot fly without her. ” “And that is why we came. Because your love for her is the loudest sound in the ocean.” ~ Kira Jane Buxton, Feral Creatures

“If it were up to me, every child would have a year in the library before they went to school.” ~ Sally Hepworth, The Good Sister

“Suffering was inescapable, but to care for another and to be cared for in turn — that was the closest any person might come to heaven.” ~ Christopher Paolini, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

“Did you really think there was any version of me you could create, in any reality, in any universe that would not—first, foremost, and forever—be loyal to MacKayla Lane?” ~ Karen Marie Moning, Kingdom of Shadow and Light

“There aren’t just 2 kinds of people, good and bad, like I thought when I was a kid who got most of his ideas on how people act from TV. There are 3. The third type of people go along to get along, like Deputy F.W.S. Malkin told me to do. Those are the most people in the world and I think they are gray people. They will not hurt you (at least on purpose) but they won’t help you much, either. They will say do what you want and God help you.” ~ Stephen King, Billy Summers

“Was I starting to feel evil? Yes. Now I was worrying I’d be turned to the dark side by too much crochet.” ~ Naomi Novik, A Deadly Education