Rachel Lynn Solomon Quotes

“There’s this word in Japanese: tsundoku,” Neil says suddenly. “It’s my favorite word in any language.” “What does it mean?” He grins. “It means acquiring more books than you could ever realistically read.”

“Crush’ is too weak a word to describe how I feel. It doesn’t do you justice, but maybe it works for me. I am the one who is crushed. I’m crushed that we have only ever regarded each other as enemies. I’m crushed when the day ends and I haven’t said anything to you that isn’t cloaked in five layers of sarcasm.”

“Maybe that’s the definition of nostalgia: getting sappy about things that are supposed to be insignificant.”

“When he grins, it’s bright enough to light up the night sky. It’s kind of beautiful.”

“Boy bands, fan fiction, soap operas, reality TV, most shows and movies with female main characters . . . We’re still so rarely front and center, even rarer when you consider race and sexuality, and then when we do get something that’s just for us, we’re made to feel bad for liking it. We can’t win.”

“I guess it’s like, in my head, my writing can be as great as I want it to be. But as soon as I declare I’m a writer, I’ll have something to prove. It’s hard to admit that you think you’re good at something creative. And then it’s so much worse for women. We’re told to shrug off compliments, to scoff when someone tells us we’re good at something. We shrink ourselves, convincing ourselves what we’re creating doesn’t actually matter.”

“Maybe it’s the whole concept of a guilty pleasure,” Neil says gently. “Why should we feel guilty about something that brings us - pleasure?”

“I’ve given this boy the messiest parts of me, and he’s done nothing but convince me he’ll be careful with them.”

“Today isn’t my epilogue with Neil—it’s a beginning. I’ll leave the happily-ever-afters in the books.”

“My favourite books got happily-ever-afters— why couldn’t I?”

“The love that I wanted so desperately: this isn’t what I thought it would feel like. It’s made me dizzy and it’s grounded me. It’s made me laugh when nothing is funny. It shimmers and it sparks, but it can be comfortable, too, a sleepy smile and a soft touch and a quiet, steady breath. Of course this boy—my rival, my alarm clock, my unexpected ally—is at the center of it. And somehow, it’s even better than I imagined.”

“How do you tell the person you’ve spent four years trying to destroy that you have a crush on them?”

“I’m in love with you. You are the most interesting person I know, and I’ve never been able to talk to anyone the way I can talk to you. I’ve devoted the past four years to leaving Seattle, but you...You are the best thing about this city. You are going to be the hardest to leave. I love you so much.”

“Neil McNair has become my alarm clock, if alarm clocks had freckles and knew all your insecurities.”