The Saucy Wenches Book Club

“Half of her face is a masterpiece,” the Duke murmured, and my skin flashed cold and then hot as my stomach twisted. “The other half a nightmare.” ... Hawke’s gaze remained fastened on mine as he stepped forward. “Both halves are as beautiful as the whole.” ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout, From Blood and Ash

“I’m not flaunting anything. I’m just existing. This is me. I can’t hide myself. I can’t disappear. And even if I could, I don’t fucking want to. I have the same right to be here. I have the same right to exist.” ~ Kacen Callender, Felix Ever After

“Love looks through spectacles that make copper look like gold, poverty like riches, and tears like pearls.” ~ Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

“Not his-story. My own will be called her-story.” ~ Abi Daré, The Girl with the Louding Voice

The book I brought is an unauthorized biography of Daisy Jones and the Six . I’m only reading to see who slept with who, but I can’t focus. ~ Taylor Jenkins Reid, Carrie Soto Is Back

When she made things grow, she experienced a kind of manifest forgiveness, an abiding moving-on and making-new that she found impossible in almost every other sphere of life. ~ Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

“Oh, right, the Monday food group. That’s the saddest food group, full of baby carrots and regret.” ~ Jenny Jackson, Pineapple Street

What we fear isn’t that AI will destroy us—we fear it won’t. We fear we will continue to degrade life on this planet until we destroy ourselves. And we will have no one to blame for what we have done but ourselves. ~ Ray Nayler, The Mountain in the Sea

“It’s not natural for women to fight.” “It’s not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall, and yet there you stand.” Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

The power to hurt is a kind of wealth. ~ Naomi Alderman, The Power

...men of experience say, “Four things do not come back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.” ~ Ted Chiang, Exhalation

“We don’t let them decide who we get to be. We’ll carve our own paths.” ~ Sarah J. Maas, House of Sky and Breath

And, with apologies to all the purveyors of romantic fiction — bronzed, muscle-rippling heroes who can go all night like a crazed rhino are all very well — indeed, every woman should have at least one — but sometimes, what you need — what you really, really need — is a quiet man with his own basin. ~ Jodi Taylor, A Trail Through Time ( The Chronicles of St. Mary’s #4)

“Can you imagine what that’s like — to be seen only for the life you could make, not the life you already possess?” ~ Samantha Shannon, A Day of Fallen Night

“The connections between and among women are the most feared, the most problematic, and the most potentially transforming force on the planet.” Adrienne Rich ~ Emilia Hart, Weyward

“Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a very dangerous enemy indeed.” ~ Anne Rice, The Witching Hour ( Lives of the Mayfair Witches #1)