Elle > Books: z-favs2017‎ (63)

“You don’t even know what Ying-Na is doing. Everything you hear is a rumor. For all you know, she could be a neurosurgeon married to a billionare t

“You don’t even know what Ying-Na is doing. Everything you hear is a rumor. For all you know, she could be a neurosurgeon married to a billionare tech god.” Or maybe she’s struggling but happy. I kept this thought to myself since my mom wouldn’t understand the value of that life.

My parents may have done versions of what he was implying, but not in the same tone.

If you’re not careful, you can spend your whole life looking for what you’ve lost.

If you’re not careful, you can spend your whole life looking for what you’ve lost.

🌟full review posted on blog!

🌟full review posted on blog!

The older she got, the more human her parents seemed, and that was one of the scariest things in the world. She missed being little, when they were the all-knowing gods of her world, but at the same time, seeing them as human made it easier to see herself that way, too.

It turns out she wasn't the only gay kid at school, and she was never harassed or teased - but she found she didn't know how to be affectionate with friends. Would they think sh was hitting on them if she just hugged them hello? Would she make it weird just by being herself? It hadn't mattered with Lauren, but at her new school, Maya found herself holding back, using sarcasm as affectionate until it became habit, until it became who she was.

It was beautiful, in its own terrible way. So many monsters are.

It was beautiful, in its own terrible way. So many monsters are.

“Every city is a ghost.”

“Every city is a ghost.”

“So. Tell me,” Marlowe tried gamely, “what do you think is man’s greatest invention?”
Jericho turned his head just slightly toward Marlowe, looking him straight in the eye. “God.”

“This is how it is now. There is strength in acceptance, Ling. Your legs have been taken from you. But how you choose to live with that has not.”

“Okay. That’s fair. Abso-tive-ly fair. Let’s say the tables were turned. If I were about to walk off a cliff, what would you do?”
Evie pursed her lips. “Push?”
“I don’t believe that.”
“You would on the way down.”

“No. He and Will spoke in newspaper articles about ghosts. They conversed through the careful curation of supernatural knickknacks. And Jericho couldn't help but feel cheated at how little he'd gotten when he'd needed so much more.
Why was there so much silence between men?”

“This makes you who you are. She punched the slab of muscle above his heart. “This." She slapped the top of his head. "These.” The girl took hold of his hands not in front of him, staring into the boys eyes. “Slavemarks. Tattoos. Scars. What you look like doesn’t change who you are inside. They can give you a new face, but they can’t give you a new heart. No matter what they take from you, they can’t take that away unless you let them. That’s real strength, Tric. That’s real power.”

“Iron or glass? they'd ask.
She was neither.
She was steel.”

“Cock is just another word for ‘fool.’ But you call someone a cunt, well…” The girl smiled. “You’re implying a sense of malice there. An intent. Malevolent and self-aware. Don’t think I name Consul Scaeva a cunt to gift him insult. Cunts have brains, Don Tric. Cunts have teeth. Someone calls you a cunt, you take it as a compliment. As a sign that folk believe you’re not to be lightly fucked with.” A shrug. “I think they call that irony.”

“Beauty you're born with, but brains you earn.”

“Why do you keep doing that?” she asks, her voice small and low.
“What . . . calling you Mom?”
She nods.
“Because that’s who I need you to be.”

“Why do you keep doing that?” she asks, her voice small and low.
“What . . . calling you Mom?”
She nods.
“Because that’s who I need you to be.”

Quick Other Things Ya Girl Loved So Much

I shrug. “My momma always said the best way to get what you want from people is to give them what they think they want. Sometimes you have to live

I shrug. “My momma always said the best way to get what you want from people is to give them what they think they want. Sometimes you have to live down to people’s expectations, Kate. If you can do that, you’ll get much further in life.”

Now it's been so long that if I bring it up, I'll look like a girl who can't let go of things. Teenage girls always have to let go of things. If we

Now it's been so long that if I bring it up, I'll look like a girl who can't let go of things. Teenage girls always have to let go of things. If we bring up anything, people say we're bitches who can't just drop it.

I don't know why I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm scared to make my mother angry. My emotions are smaller than they should be. I'm the one who should be angry, but I'm cranky or upset. As if a sixteen-year-old can't be angry for real.

Hitting a person is the same as screaming at a person, is the same as head hands and traps and bait and all that hard-to-define emotional abuse. This is why I never said anything about Miss Smith. It's why I never took my headpiece seriously. It's sneaky. It hides under other words and other actions. That's all abuse ever is. That sliver of tissue is power.