enchantingreads_rosyreviews's reviews
101 reviews

“Love is this very precious thing, Izz. It’s this precious, magical thing. But it’s not finite. There’s not a limited amount of it out there. You just have to be open to allowing it to find you. Allowing it to happen.” I was not entirely sure that I believed this, but I needed her to.

"...being scared and torn, at the same time elated that I’d found someone who had taken the time to know me, and all the little things that made me so very happy. And how I did not want to let him go... Love, she said, was not always perfect, and not exactly how you expected it to be. But when it descended upon you, there was no controlling it." 

“‘I want to choose my own fate. I want freedom.’ 
She kicked the dirt, scattering dust. ‘I deserve to choose.’” 

"She was divine. He had fallen in love with the fierceness that radiated from her, but as the ferocity grew over the years, she was becoming harder and harder to tame." 

"He would do anything for the broken, precious soul before him to have a second chance at a family. She deserved to know happiness once more and to find her own purpose. She had given him one, and he would forever be indebted to her. So, he rose to his feet and drew his sword." 

 "'What the hell was your plan, Lark?'
'I don't know,' she says with a dismissive flap of her hand. 'Maybe follow her home. Break into her house--'
'Christ--'
'Rig up a few cans of spray adhesive and put a glitter bomb in her closet I guess.' The devious glint in Lark's eyes becomes downright maniacal. 'Can you imagine that woman with a tricked-out, sparkly wardrobe? I think that would be her personal hell.'
'... Seems like you have a bit of a glitter psycho streak going, duchess.'"

“‘I get all the boys’ numbers, missy…’
‘Love you, hell-raiser.’
‘Shh. Don’t give the devil any ideas. I want to sneak up on him…’”

"'I’d wait forever for you, and I’ll sit with you every day in the darkness until you find the light. You are the very air I breathe, and when I’m away from you I can’t take a full breath. Love feels like such a trivial way to describe the way that you make me feel, Aria. You make life worth living again, and risks worth taking. You make me feel alive.'"

"'Hey, Baxter, you’re a cutie and all, but you’re kind of beating up my guy... [the bad guy "falls"]... I took out two guys.' I beam a smile at him, proud of myself. 'I beat you!' 
His brow furrows as he wipes blood onto his suit jacket. 'What? Are we really talking about body counts right now? It’s not a contest... Focus, Aria.' 
'In bed, or in the grave?' I quip back."

"With him, I feel complete, as though he’s the spark to my flame. Without him, I am dim. But with him, I blaze fiercely, ready to take on anything that dares to challenge us."

"One of these days, I swear I’ll keep a lasso on me just to reel her back every time she runs away. She thinks running away will cause me to do the same. But nothing can keep me away from her, not even her demons."

“'You are the most frustratingly beautiful woman I have ever met,' he confessed, his words seemingly emerging from the depths of his soul. He swallowed hard. 'But you push me away every time... I just don’t understand.'
'You don’t want me,' I answered softly...
'I want you in the worst way, Tee... More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I would chase you to the ends of the earth to prove that to you.'
With his confession, all doubts and reservations seemed to melt away. The world ceased to exist, and it was just the two of us."

"'Eli, I… I can’t stay away from you.’
'Then don’t... Tee, break your rules for me, or watch as I continue to prove to you, that I am the exception...'
'Sometimes...' she whispered, her words floating like a soft exhale, 'It feels like you want to disappear, but I just wanted to be found.'”

"'Why me, Eli?' I asked hesitantly.
'Why anyone else when you exist?'”

"'Those who hunger for power are never the ones who should have it... Power is a drug, I have seen good men and women succumb to its attraction. To be lusting after it before you’ve even had a true taste would be to put yourself in a situation you could never win.'”

"The years may have dulled the sharp bite of loss, but grief still swam in their veins, still clouded their senses. Instead of the deaths feeling like daggers sinking into their skin and vices constricting the air from their lungs, they felt like being submerged underwater. Senses and emotions muffled. Smothered under the weight of reality."

"She’s afraid of failure. She’s afraid of enlisting the help of her friends. Afraid of leaning on me if and when she needs to... I’d burn down cities to be needed by her. I’d do just about anything to hear her say fuck timing. Because as long as she thinks timing has absolutely anything to do with it, I’m one of two things: I’m either the guy who showed up at the right place and the right time, and I’m good enough, or I’m the guy she leaves when time dictates she finds her real person. I’m too far gone for either option. I want her to [be successful]... and then I want her to choose me.”

“‘She’s sunshine, and I’m the clouds that dull her…’ 
‘Gabi, you’re moonlight.’ My breath catches in my throat. ‘You’re subtle and calm and protective. Thoughtful and resilient. Sure, Stephanie shines bright. No one’s going to argue that. But Gabi, you glow.’”

"SMACK! My book hits my forehead and nose, narrowly missing my eye. I check the time, and, shit, how is it already two in the morning? I have work in four hours, but I need to know if James is going to take a fake wife… I already know. It’s the fourteenth time I’ve read this one... Fake dating is never fake. I’ve yet to read a book where they part ways to live their best lives separately and not madly in love."

“’Right, yes. Of course. I am still tired. I meant a’—what the fuck is it called here?— ‘chamberpot...’ She retrieves what can only be explained as the fanciest porcelain bowl I’ve ever seen in my life. Do I squat? Do I hold it? ‘May I have some privacy?’ Damn, my accent is fucking amazing! Priv-ah-see. Whenever I wake up from this fever dream, I’m forever going to pronounce it this way.”

"They had created the poetry of silence. 'Yes, silence can be an opinion,' said Mishka. 'Silence can be a form of protest. It can be a means of survival. But it can also be a school of poetry—one with its own meter, tropes, and conventions. One that needn’t be written with pencils or pens; but that can be written in the soul with a revolver to the chest.'”

“’Looking back, it seems to me that there are people who play an essential role at every turn... men and women who routinely appear at critical junctures in the progress of art, or commerce, or the evolution of ideas—as if Life itself has summoned them once again to help fulfill its purpose. Well, since the day I was born, [redacted character name], there was only one time when Life needed me to be in a particular place at a particular time, and that was when your mother brought you to the lobby of the Metropol. And I would not accept the Tsarship of all the Russias in exchange for being in this hotel at that hour.’”

“’I’m fine,’ I immediately spoke up, but my trembling gave me away. Logan stepped into my space, lifting his hands with a question on his face. ‘Please hold me,’ I whispered... I hid my face against his button-up shirt. His large hands made soothing passes down my back, my arms, my legs, my neck, whatever part of me he could touch. As if he was both trying to reassure me and himself that I was okay. That I was here, and that he had me.”

"I felt like I had a place in the world. Like I belonged and was supported... For the first time in my adult life, I felt like I fit. Like these people saw me for me. Even Logan... was able to make me feel both cherished and appreciated."