I have this theory that the likeability question comes up so much more with female characters created by female authors than it does with male characters and male authors

Foolish names and foolish faces often appear in public places.

She really does like him, she likes lying next to him, she wants to be around him; when you get down to it, can you say that about many people?

I thought, if I write a book that is not a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, it's not going to mean that I will not get any criticism. I might as well write the book that I want to write.

... nothing broke my heart like the slow death of a shared joke that had once seemed genuinely funny.

I wanted to hold happiness in reserve, like a bottle of champagne. I postponed it because I was afraid, because I overvalued it, and then I didn't want to use it up, because what do you wish for then?

Obviously the bar is much higher now for a behavior to be scandalous. Social media has really changed the way people live. It's not a new impulse; it's just being enacted in a new way.