Jill told me that when you're really in love, you know right away. I'm not exactly sure how this happens. Is it like a flash of lightning? Like an angel tapping you on the shoulder? Or is it similar to choosing a puppy? You think you're picking the cutest one, but really you wind up going home with the one who keeps insisting on climbing into your lap.

I have nothing from my childhood. I think you carry those books with you. It's like in [Ray] Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." Books are outlawed in this future society so people become the book they love by memorizing it.

I loved him even now, as he took a knife to my throat, as I drowned in blood, as I whispered "Cousin, you were wrong. We were born to live.

Only her death could prove her innocence; a circle of impossible, deathly judgement.

I can hurt myself more than anyone else can, she told her sister. I can do it with my eyes closed.

You can be betrayed in your sleep. The whole world can tilt while you're dreaming of butterflies.

When I write for teens, I feel I can cut through everything and get to the bare bones. I can get straight into the emotional world of the character.