I have done what they expected of me. I have curtsied for my Queen and made my debut. This is what I have anticipated eagerly for years. So why do I feel so unsatisfied? Everyone is merry. They haven't a care in the world. And perhaps that is it. How terrible it is to have no cares, no longings. I do not fit. I feel too deeply and want too much.

How do people stay in love, anyway? Is it a choice? Or is it like those plants we studied in biology that mutate into something new and totally different but are still part of the same plant family?

- 'Music opens your soul, makes you ready.' - 'Ready for what?' - He smiles big. 'Exactly.

Please, I'm a transgender former boy-bander. You think I don't know how to defend myself?

I'm just saying it's not all sand castles and ninjas.

I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I've got to think.

She loved attention. It was like a glass of the best champagne—bubbly and intoxicating—and as with champagne, she always wanted more of it. Still, she didn’t want to seem like an easy mark. “If you must know, I’ve come to join a convent,” Evie said, testing him.