The Saucy Wenches Book Club

“When a shark offers up a pearl, be wary of its teeth. My father liked to tell me that when we were sailing, though I found this lesson most often applied on land.” ~ Andrea Stewart, The Bone Shard Daughter

“I hope your dogs are all loyal and goofy and good-natured and that your chickens remain free of demons.” ~ T. Kingfisher, Nettle & Bone

“It’s a leap of faith to love people and let yourself be loved. It’s closing your eyes, stepping off a ledge into nothing, and trusting that you’ll fly rather than fall. And I know you will. It might not be right now, but I know you. Sooner or later, you’ll fly.” ~ Sangu Mandanna, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

“We’ve talked about this,” said Jamie mildly. “Murder can’t be your first choice every time you don’t like something.” ~ Sangu Mandanna, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

She was a great girl-shaped forest. She was a thing on fire. Her hand was leaves and smoke and snow and flesh all at once. ~ Mona Awad, Bunny

“She should at least keep chickens,” said the dust-wife. “Or take up gardening. Immortality is wretched, but you can always make the best of it.” ~ T. Kingfisher, Nettle & Bone

“Then,” Beowulf says wistfully, “your beauty is nuanced and labyrinthine like a sentence by Proust.” ~ Mona Awad, Bunny

“What I would give to find myself in that library, to run my hands over the books, to smell their pages. To learn everything they had to offer. It was my birthright, not his. “You think so highly of yourself. Knowledge can only be wielded by those who dive into its depths and know the shape of it. Reading—” “—without true understanding is only wading in the shallows without a care for the monsters that lurk beneath,” Bayan finished. ~ Andrea Stewart, The Bone Shard Daughter

“That is because I believe what you put in your body is your business, and that,” she added, raising her teacup to her lips, “includes penises.” ~ Sangu Mandanna, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

“Emahla, for you. I would drink a thousand lies just to see your face again.” ~ Andrea Stewart, The Bone Shard Daughter

“How did you get a demon in your chicken?” “The usual way. Couldn’t put it in the rooster. That’s how you get basilisks.” ~ T. Kingfisher, Nettle & Bone

“Niceness is all about what we do when other people are looking. Kindness, on the other hand, runs deep. Kindness is what happens when no one’s looking.” ~ Sangu Mandanna, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

“Romance novels are about connection. About people who connect with one another against the odds—despite their differences, their flaws, their secrets. In a romance novel you never have to worry, you know everything will end happily.” ~ Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

The truth has been a more complex commodity than the market can easily package and sell. ~ Naomi Alderman, The Power

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

“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)

“Love was a family religion, passed down to her when she’d been too young to protect herself from belief.” ~ Holly Black, Book of Night

“You shouldn’t listen to him, Aunt. He’s a pirate.” “Nonsense, dear. I would not be caught dead talking to a pirate.” “But Aunt, have you not noticed his earring? Boots? The extensive collection of weaponry about his person?” Miss Plim sniffed. “A lady does not look at a man’s person, Charlotte.” ~ India Holton, The League of Gentlewomen Witches ( Dangerous Damsels #2)

But a life without art, without wonder, without beautiful things—she would go mad. She has gone mad. What she needs are stories. Stories are a way to preserve one’s self. To be remembered. And to forget. Stories come in so many forms: in charcoal, and in song, in paintings, poems, films. And books. ~ V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“You see only flaws and faults, weaknesses to be exploited. But humans are messy, Luc. That is the wonder of them. They live and love and make mistakes, and they feel so much.” ~ V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue