Caroline Waverly: Sometimes we hurt more for what might have been than for what is.

It's called male bonding. You'll never get it. I believe women are as capable as men, deserve equal pay—and that one day, should be sooner than later, in my opinion, the right woman can and should be leader of the free world. But you can't understand the male bonding rituals any more than men can understand why the vast majority of women are obsessed with shoes and other footwear.

Shannon: Only the living suffered. Only they were riddled with guilt and regret and unanswered questions.

Love without trust? It's not love at all.

She gazed toward the marsh that grew thicker, deeper, greener with approaching summer. Mosquitoes whined in there, breeding in the dark water. Alligators slid through it, silent death. It was a place where snakes could slither and bogs could suck the shoe right off your foot. And it was a place, she thought, that went bright and beautiful with the twinkling of fireflies, where wildflowers thrived in the shade and the stingy light. Where an eagle could soar like a king. There was no beauty without risk. No life without it.

Be yourself. Be true to that, to your heart. Patience. See what happens if you step back instead of bounding forward.

Aren't most romance heros, or heros in fiction of any kind, generally superior to real men? Same goes for heroines and real women.