I had risked everything, and I had nothing to show for it but my open hand, lying empty and palm up toward the ceiling.

There are three big things going for The Scorpio Races: first, it is set on a beautiful but wild island in the middle of the cold Atlantic Ocean. That would've seduced me as a teen reader. Second, It is full of beautiful but killer horses being trained for a dangerous race. Actually, that would've seduced me as a teen reader as well. At third it involves a very repressed love story with a very Mr. Darcy-like love interest.

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.

It was one frayed rope thrown across the chasm between us. Not enough to get across, but maybe just enough to tell that it wasn't as wide as I'd originally thought.

Happiness isn't something this island yields easily; the ground is too rocky and the sun too sparse for it to flourish.

Cole," I said, "Don't lose this number.

While I'm gone," Gansey said, pausing, "dream me the world. Something new for every night.