The Saucy Wenches Book Club

If one concentrated on one thing and then another — the good things in each moment — the fear wrapped deep in the gut seemed to unswell, like an iced bruise. Still there, but quieter. ~ Peter Heller, The River

“You and me are special,” he started. “There’s no one else I’d rather spend time with than you. There’s no one else I’d rather talk to than you. And there’s no one else I’d rather kiss than you.” ~ Carley Fortune, Every Summer After

Ahh, the planet earth. A whole lot of culture. A whole lot of spunk. So many dumbasses. ~ Matt Dinniman, The Gate of the Feral Gods

We embrace and I think of all the other men and women who must have sat beside this ancient hearth, sharing their good news. The centuries pass but the hope and optimism that accompanies each new family at its beginning is the same. What else is there in life, really, of such significance? This momentary pause in which everything changes. ~ Clare Leslie Hall, Broken Country

Once we’re comfortable with death, we’ll do a better job with our lives. ~ Ann Patchett, Whistler

“I’m fucked,” he murmured in Russian. “I am so fucking in love and it’s horrible.” ~ Rachel Reid, The Long Game

“Love is crushing. Love is something you let yourself feel at your own peril, despite your better sense.” ~ Lily King, Heart the Lover

“Books ... are mirrors for the soul. So if you catch a glimpse of someone’s soul, you will know the mirror for them.” ~ Matt Haig, The Midnight Train

Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them. ~ Frank Herbert, Dune

“You want to throw me down. And I, prideful, disdainful, godless, want to drag you into the dirt with me.” ~ Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“You’re supposed to yell fire , though. Because no one comes when you yell rape , didn’t you know that, Bunny?” ~ Mona Awad, Bunny

What redemption there is in being loved: we are always our best selves when loved by another. Nothing can replace this. ~ Maggie O’Farrell, Land

You keep trying to divide us. Don’t you realize what you’ve created? We have been tempered in the fires of hell, and we are now past the point of being broken. Your downfall has already been written in the stars. You may hurt us. You may kill us all. But it’s not going to matter. ~ Matt Dinniman, A Parade of Horribles ( Dungeon Crawler Carl #8)

“I didn’t expect I’d be wishing there was alcohol on this mission as early as Day One, but here we are.” ~ Mason Coile (Andrew Pyper), Exiles

“True love doesn’t expire, Raeve. It clings to you like a weight, even when you’re drowning.” ~ Sarah A. Parker, The Ballad of Falling Dragons

“In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.” ~ John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

Power was the ability to destroy without needing to. To do it not out of necessity, but as an act of pure excess. ~ Ray Nayler, The Tusks of Extinction