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

Grief was like a newborn, and the first three months were hard as hell, but by six months you'd recognized defeat, shifted your life around, and made room for it.

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

You just have to let people love you in the way they can

She wasn't as destructive as Bee. She had never been as dramatic. Rather, she'd slipped carefully, stealthily away from her ghosts.

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

The present no matter what I brought couldn’t change the past. The Past was set and sealed.