Once upon a time, this moment - this last light of the evening the day before the race - was the best moment of the year for me. The anticipation of the game to come. But that was when all I had to lose was my life.

Kissing in front of the loveless is an act of cruelty.

Counter Girl (in candy shop): You two are cute. Seriously. How long have you been going out? Sam: Six years.

Adam had once told Gansey, "Rags to riches isn't a story anyone wants to hear until after it's done.

Gansey turned the key. The engine turned over once, paused for the briefest of moments - and then roared to deafening life. The Camaro lived to fight another day. The radio was even working, playing the Stevie Nicks song that always sounded to Gansey like it was about a one-winged dove.

Inside the house, I turned on the kitchen light, revealing the photographs stuck every which way all over the cabinets, and then switched on the hall light. In my head, I heard Beck say to my small nine-year-old self, 'Why do we need every light in the house on? Are you signaling to aliens?

A novel is a conversation starter, and if the author isn't there for the after-party, both the writer and the reader are missing a lot.