Carmen didn't like change, and she certainly didn't like endings.

The distinction has blurred between young adult and adult books. Some of the teen books have become more sophisticated.

Once Paul told her that the beach was like him because it changed every day but it never made any progress. Later she remembered thinking that a normal person might have begun by saying that he was like the beach.

He wanted to take his love back from her so badly. The old techniques didn’t work anymore. In fact, they’d never worked. How do you stop loving someone? It was one of the world’s more brutal mysteries. The more you tried, the less it worked.

You know what the secret is? It's so simple. We love one another. We're nice to one another. Do you know how rare that is? - Carmen

What Daniel taketh away, Daniel giveth.

She was supposed to be putting her life together right now, and all she could seem to do was throw grenades at it.