My favorite books are the ones that make me smile for hours after reading them. I want that for my readers, for the sweetness to linger. Sort of like chocolate, but without the calories

Whenever I would get too nosy as a child, my grandmother would say, "When you learn someone else's secret, your own secrets aren't safe. Dig up one, release them all.

If they just carried on like always, everything would be ok.

Don't let anyone see your vulnerable spots. Once they knew how to hurt you, they would do it again and again.

Blank-slate friendships were thin and temperamental. She knew that. There was no history there to cement people together, for better or worse.

She accepted it from then on. Books liked her. Books wanted to look after her.

Happiness is a risk. If you’re not a little scared, then you’re not doing it right.