Her heart was bruised by the kiss, smashed and surprised and unsettled by it. September thought kisses were all nice, sweet things asked for gently and given gladly. It had happened so fast and sharp it had taken her breath. Perhaps she had done it wrong, somehow. She put the kiss away firmly to think about later. Instead, she smiled at him and pulled a carefree mask over her face.

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Catherynne M. Valente

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I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ...
KELLY JONES

These kisses... they were confessions. Tastes of everything she had stored inside her. Everything sh...
TESSA DARE He is so beautiful," she thought, aching from the sadness that she saw in his eyes. In the late-afte...
SHIRA ANTHONY

My mother started out by being a very good girl. She did everything that was expected of her, and it...
RUTH REICHL You've got the wrong girl."

"On the contrary..." the voice murmured, "I've got exactly th...
RICHIE TANKERSLEY CUSICK

She thought of the hardness and the coldness she had cultivated over those years and wondered if the...
MEGAN WHALEN TURNER Aleana wasn’t sure she was dreaming but she had some inkling that it might not be fully real. She ...
CAILEE FRANCIS She looked like she had been beaten up, bruised. She had bruises all over her face, her tongue had b...
BERNADETTE MCELROY Julita was being spinned like a top by a drop-dead-gorgeous Dominicano. Later she told us that he’...
ISABEL LOPEZ She remembers rehearsals. Wrong notes turning to right ones, dissonance becoming harmony. She re...
KATHRYN HOLMES Kiss me again,” he challenged, only half joking.
It was so weird to hear him say that, to hea...
KIMBERLY DERTING Midland City had a goddess of discord all its own. This was a goddess who could not dance, would not...
KURT VONNEGUT Sharp knives seemed to cut her delicate feet, yet she hardly felt them, so deep was the pain in her ...
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN She couldn’t walk away from him again. Her heart couldn’t take it and she didn’t think his cou...
KATIE REUS She suddenly understood why she had let him kiss her in the diner, why she had wanted him at all. HOLLY BLACK She smiled and he abruptly looked away. Was it really necessary for her to smile? It was bad enough ...
JACQUELINE FRANCIS - THE JOURNAL (All the grief she had suffered over her lifetime had moulded her face into a mask of eternal sadnes...
JEAN SASSON So what if she wasn’t a pushover? So what if she had some mettle and didn’t wear her heart on he...
SARA SHERIDAN When a wisp of fog blew by her she laughed and reached out her hands to it. When the wind blew she t...
ELLIOT MABEUSE She wondered whether there would ever come an hour in her life when she didn't think of him -- didn'...
PHILIP PULLMAN A lengthy and painful discussion followed. It lasted through tea and dinner. It was revealed to Lady...
KAGE BAKER They were talking more distantly than if they were strangers who had just met, for if they had been ...
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM She didn't tell Dad about it until she had done it. She felt it was her duty, and she did it.
JAMES RICE Well, thought Winnie, crossing her arms on the windowsill, she was different. Things had happ...
NATALIE BABBITT How she still thought of Max every day and it was like someone had emptied her lungs of air, and she...
CASSANDRA CLARE Maybe she had it wrong all this time and her empty heart could never be filled by his ingenious brok...
COCO J. GINGER And I'm supposed to grab her and kiss her and she's supposed to react. Well, what happened w...
ROD STEIGER Ophelia was surprised by how easily she lied. She had two stolen keys in her pocket, and the lies we...
KAREN FOXLEE It seemed that unbeknownst to her father, the lecherous bishop had chased Clio for the entire previo...
JILL BARNETT Ethan’s jaw dropped. Again he had underestimated her. Abruptly, he fought down a smile. “I don�...
KATHRYN LOCH Sissy had two great failings. She was a great lover and a great mother. She had so much of tendernes...
BETTY SMITH To stand on the
brink of what is coming, feeling eager, optimistic anticipation—with no feeli...
ASK AND IT IS GIVEN But, after one quick trace of his tongue between her lips, he abruptly pulled away and stepped back ...
BONNIE DEE Mrs. Jones had received a lot of injuries to her body, all over her body. She had over 60 wounds. Th...
JOE WARD She clambered to the shoreline. Numb and shaken, she began to dress. It wasn’t easy as she fumbled...
JEAN M. GRANT She had waited all her life for something, and it had killed her when it found her.
ZORA NEALE HURSTON The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. It was a fact. She...
HAN KANG I told a girl it would bring her luck, so she patted him and returned about three hours later saying...
DAFYDD JAMES I realised something else tonight. Something about pancakes.’

‘What about them?’ SARRA MANNING Of course he wasn't dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking...
ZORA NEALE HURSTON But she let herself think of Jay. And of the kiss. And suddenly the damp chill that had been clingin...
KIMBERLY DERTING Alaska finished her cigarette and flicked it into the river.
'Why do you smoke so damn fast?' I...
JOHN GREEN Pamela realizes for the first time in her life that she hadn't made the wrong choice at all. Nor had...
PIP KARMEL She put her tongue out and felt the raw edges of the torn silk. She looped her tongue around them an...
STEPHEN M. IRWIN Yes; he had done it. She was in the carriage, and felt that he had placed her there, that his will a...
JANE AUSTEN On December 31st of 1958 Lila had her first episode of dissolving margins, The term isn't mine, she ...
ELENA FERRANTE She had a nice stretch there. Brittany played a very unselfish game and she and her teammates came a...
MIKE BOWE I have missed you so much I could kiss you,” he whispered.

September’s face fell. “...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE She sucked in a shuddering breath, and he pulled back far enough for them to share breath. Her finge...
SARAH J. MAAS An emotion clamped down on her heart. It squeezed her into a terrible silence. But he said nothing a...
MARIE RUTKOSKI I had asked her about it when she was here. She [said], 'Oh, I don't know,' and I said, 'Well, keep ...
CHANITA OLDS exhilaration fizzed through Clarke’s body. Before she realised what she was doing, she had thrown ...
KASS MORGAN She had a very difficult life. Her mother gave her away when she was little, and the man who took he...
BERNARDO BATIZ I miss him,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
His heart constricted at the grief on her fa...
KAYLEA CROSS She had taken him under her wing ... and he helped her with shopping, cleaning and various other thi...
GREGORY ALLEN K.B. she just took over. She put her heart and soul into it. She never came out of the game, and ...
MARC HIGDON For she had embodied the Great Perhaps--she had proved to me that it was worth it to leave behind my...
JOHN GREEN He tore off her pajamas. She wasn't out with a fresh face of makeup with her hair done or a short dr...
ANONYMOUS1234 I wasn't surprised at all. I knew she had it in her to play that good. I was happy for her.
CORPERRYALE HARRIS Claire tipped her head back, and this time he found her lips. It was, she thought, supposed to be a ...
RACHEL CAINE While this is all very amusing, the kiss that will free the girl is the kiss that she most desires,�...
CASSANDRA CLARE It's funny, most people can be around someone and they gradually begin to love them and never know e...
FANNIE FLAGG Jason had to bury his face against her shoulder to keep from laughing out loud. She was just so damn...
R.L. MATHEWSON I had one pharmaceutical saleswoman client -- young and attractive -- who would kiss and hug her cli...
BARBARA PACHTER Now very much against her will, she thought of the way Jace had looked at her then, the blaze of fai...
CASSANDRA CLARE His lips brushed over hers. She let out a sigh of relief and joy and pleasure. He pulled her tighter...
B.J. DANIELS Royce understood then why she had come: she had come to finish the task her relatives had begun; to ...
JUDITH MCNAUGHT I don't want people to think we've put it behind us. Though she had her life taken away, she's still...
CHRISTINE KULLORN Time to hunt?" Cattie-brie cried, satisfied that she had gotten her point across. She rose beside Wu...
R.A. SALVATORE In that case" Tessa said, feeling hot blood rise to her face,"I think I would prefer it if you calle...
CASSANDRA CLARE To love her was to taste sweet surrender. For had she not entered his life, he would have sought the...
RICHELLE E. GOODRICH What exactly is it you'd like to know? [the book store manager asked]. He had an odd expression, lik...
JENNIFER MCMAHON Kate picked up the carafe and poured some coffee into a cup. She added sugar and cream until it was ...
SARAH ADDISON ALLEN She had not thought it would be so easy to slip into the old roles. Cambridge had changed her fundam...
IAN MCEWAN Before her marriage she had thought that she had love within her grasp; but since the happiness whic...
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT She had that courage and that heart. She was never selfish, and this is another example of it. She g...
BEATRIZ LOPEZ Yet losing him seemed unbearable. He was the one she loved, the one she would always love, and as he...
NICHOLAS SPARKS When it was over, she gathered him in her arms. And told him the terrible irony of her life.
Th...
MELINA MARCHETTA My mom was an aesthetician and she went to beauty school back in the '60s. I just remember watch...
EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI If you really loved her, you'd kiss her tears and bumps and bruises the same way you kiss her lips. ...
JULIE ANN WALKER If you kiss her cheeks, she is your friend; if you kiss her lips, she is your lover; if you kiss her...
MATSHONA DHLIWAYO She lived by herself and all she had was her Social Security. She made all the beads herself.
DEBBIE DOOL Simon,” she whispered, vaguely surprised that she had just used his first name, for she had never ...
LISA KLEYPAS You had every right to be. He raised his eyes to look at her and she was suddenly and strangely remi...
CASSANDRA CLARE The contents of this letter threw Elizabeth into a flutter of spirits in which it was difficult to d...
JANE AUSTEN He pulled her close kissing her mouth taking her by surprise. He stepped back passion smoldering in ...
AMANDA STEPHAN It made her think that it was curious how much nicer a person looked when he smiled. She had not tho...
FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT Harry looked around; there was Ginny running toward him; she had a hard, blazing look in her face as...
J.K. ROWLING Astrid had gone to look at the burn zone. Doing the right thing.
Kids had yelled at her. Demand...
MICHAEL GRANT I kiss her. I kiss her and kiss her. I try not to bite her lip. She tastes like vodkahoney.
LIDIA YUKNAVITCH And she looked upon the mirror that was given as a gift. She hated everything about it, from the cir...
ANTHONY LICCIONE He firmly pulled her body against his and he brushed her lips with his. Staring into her eyes, he li...
LANEY SMITH Prove it!" she hissed. "Prove you are who you are!"
"We don't have time for this! You really wa...
MELISSA DE LA CRUZ Perhaps she had not succeeded in 'inspiring' any wonderful ambitions in her pupils, but she had taug...
L.M. MONTGOMERY I have something for you.”
“Yeah? What? Is it shiny?”
They both waited until Indigo ...
NALINI SINGH Those free throws were huge, because she stepped up after she had a rough game with some traveling a...
BILL RESLER But there was a difference in their hardness and hers and just what the difference was, she could no...
MARGARET MITCHELL Those who had seen eyes like hers before understood instantly that she was a woman who had suffered,...
DANIELLE STEEL Annabeth's face, her blond hair and gray eyes, the way she laughed, threw her arms around him, and g...
RICK RIORDAN It was then that she cut him off in midsentence and said that it was over. She said it with a certai...
NEAL STEPHENSON

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A-Thro...
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CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I perceive that you have a cruel heart, my child. It lies within your breast like a smoldering blade...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE However wretched her origins, she chose freely to continue her crimes against us from the moment she...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You know how we can be about things which sparkle and shine. We imagine they will put back something...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Yes, yes, mistress, I shall go and accomplish your task. Only—I was not only sent to kill the Leuc...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Stories,' the green-eyed Sigrid said, unperturbed, 'are like prayers. It does not matter when you be...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE She was beautiful and terrifying, savage and pure.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You wanted Death? This is it. Dirt and decay, nothing more. Death translates us all into earth.” H...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE It is best in the end to let women see to their own vengeance.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Maidens stand still, they are lovely statues and all admire them. Witches do not stand still. I was ...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I am a Prince," he replied, being rather dense. "It is the function of a Prince—value A—to kill ...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE We all have someone we think shines so much more than we do that we are not even a moon to their sun...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE She is so stubborn, her heart has an argument with her head every time it wants to beat.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Here’s something I bet you don’t know:
every time someone writes a story about a dragon CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE From that day forward she never used my name. Eventually I forgot it. Mrs. H called me something new...
CATHERYNNE M VALENTE Your Eve was wise, John. She knew that Paradise would make her mad, if she were to live forever with...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE He didn't even know how to talk about it. He had practiced not talking about the things he knew unti...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I got a heart like a half bottle of no-label whiskey.
Nothing to brag on,
but enough for y...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE No one belongs when they are new to this world. All children are Changelings.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Readers will always insist on adventures, and though you can have grief without adventures, you cann...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Everyone has a right to cry uncle on a genre every once in awhile. I've done it myself. Sometime...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Every writing teacher I ever had except for one told me I was an awful writer, had no idea what I wa...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I have always been delighted when told there was a piece of fanfic inspired by a book of mine floati...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I try to hurt myself, to sprain something, writing every novel and story, because I'm stretching...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Fantasy is my heart and love. And I just want to play in that garden for the rest of my life.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Every morning is a battle between the superego and the id, and I am a mere foot soldier with mud and...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Monsters almost always are culture's way of working out their fears and are thus inherently incr...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Vampires should be pretty much like mean girls, all the time, only amazing at it. Flawless. They'...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE For most of us, fanfiction is a non-issue. Even for midlist writers. We will never be popular enough...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I savor bitterness - it is born of experience. It is the privilege of one who has truly lived.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE PERCIVAL: Now, who is telling the story?
SEVERIN: The camera is telling the story. It's watchin...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Night poured itself down my throat. Night was my wine and my meat. Night wed me and bedded me, widow...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books?
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Don't be superior. Everyone drinks blood. Blood is a word that means alive. You can do without almos...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I see you go bare-shod. This is most likely extremely sensible. Shoes are no end of trouble for girl...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I am not a toy, September! Fairyland cannot just cast me aside when it’s finished playing with me!...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Listen to me. Love is a Yeti. It is bigger than you and frightening and terrible. It makes loud and ...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I was better than a punk. I was a protaganist.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE IN THE REFRIGERATOR MONOLOGUES Why not say it? I'm bursting out of my cocoon. It was all too nice in the past - it never knocked an...
BENITA VALENTE Inside I have been a stabber, a screamer, a die-er from way back.
BENITA VALENTE Young singers ask me, "Do I have to live in New York?" I say, "You can live wherever you want-as lon...
BENITA VALENTE We're Kansas and the other side is Oz. People think no one lives here. But this is a really active n...
LYNN VALENTE I want to come out of my house and see kids and people enjoying themselves. I grew up in the Marina....
LYNN VALENTE We want a vibrant neighborhood. We want to activate this big, scary empty space.
LYNN VALENTE That's part of farming; you just have to deal with what you have. Every year is different.
JOE VALENTE He asked to borrow my (cell) phone. When he handed it back, it was full of blood.
JOE VALENTE I am a diamond
But people see me as gold
Honestly, I wanna be silver
M -I would die for you
-You lie
-If I lie, why do I stand here before and beg on my knees t...
M Morals; the pathetic answer to authority
Seen two gorillas sharing a banana?
M. COCHET M. I'm not a leftist; I'm where the righteous ought to be.
M. M. COADY I believe in working with songs that have personal value for me.
M. WARD It's no fun for me to cover a song and produce it the exact same way as it already exists. When ...
M. WARD I'm somebody who gets a lot of inspiration from dreams.
M. WARD When you work on a record for three years, it's a great sense of relief when it is finally out i...
M. WARD I wouldn't want to cover a Hank Williams song in a country-western way. It doesn't occur to ...
M. WARD I love the sound of Elmore James, the sound early guitarists like him got just by using minimal mean...
M. WARD I get most of my inspiration from older records and older production styles, and that ends up rearin...
M. WARD I do watch 'American Idol' sometimes. It's not really that pleasurable... I take that ba...
M. WARD I don't really watch TV series because I don't want to get hooked on them and have them suck...
M. WARD The South of France is one of my favorite places in the world.
M. WARD I've worked with just as many talented women as I have talented men, and I feel fortunate enough...
M. WARD I always prefer other people's interpretations over my own, so I'm not very quick to make ex...
M. WARD I definitely don't see myself as much of a singer, because my upbringing is really based around ...
M. WARD I get most of my inspiration from older records. Most of the records that I listen to were probably ...
M. WARD It's a luxury to not have to just be performing with other people to have my music heard.
M. WARD Certain things you have to stumble on to. They can't be preprogrammed.
M. WARD I love the idea that I planned my career. I did not. It started out by getting invitations from arti...
M. WARD I don't like the way recording to digital sounds. Most of the time, when I'm recording to tw...
M. WARD

Catherynne M. Valente

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