Willa Reece > Quotes

“For the first time, I thought maybe I understood some of the traditions surrounding death. I didn’t have traditions. I was adrift. Grief doesn’t pair well with inexperience and awkwardness.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Whispers

“Gray didn’t cause men to go bad. He simply watered the seeds of badness that were already there—jealousy, ignorance, intolerance, hate.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Magic

“I’d always been a survivor, but I was discovering that survival wasn’t enough if you couldn’t help others do the same.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Whispers

“The wildwood abides, to be tapped into by different traditions in different ways. Some folks find God in the trees. Some folks find themselves. And some find each other and a connection to the universe that's larger than any one creed's definition of faith.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Magic

“Sharing all my secrets with her left me feeling shaken and vulnerable, but wasn't that what connection was? Lowering your defenses. Being brave. Accepting the risks along with the benefits.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Whispers

“Maybe any woman could be fay if she walked far enough from the expectations of lesser men. Or maybe I was only fooling myself.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Magic

“I'd loved Sarah in a different way, but we had both lost her. I hadn't stopped to consider how horrible it was that Lu had lost her twice.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Magic

“Sometimes I think tears are the only thing I have left that’s mine,”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Whispers

“The first trip to the garden was the hardest. After that, I'd found there was comfort in it. I'd decided the tradition wasn't macabre, as I'd originally thought. It was soothing. All the Ross women resting in the roots of the black locust trees seemed fitting. The garden thrived and died and thrived again. Its cycle was a perpetual memorial.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Whispers

“The whole universe was alive with possibilities that could take us wherever we wanted to go if only we could embrace our collective strengths and work together to get there. If only we could leave small-minded beliefs behind. ...love triumphing was sometimes as simple [as] an individual choice to step away from hate.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Magic

“You know, there's nothing more qualifying than two willing hands. Lots to learn in this life. For sure. Lots to learn. But all you need to start is willing hands and a loving heart. Don't scoff. I'm getting to know you. All piss and vinegar. Skin three feet thick. But you've got the hands and heart. You just haven't learned to trust yourself with them yet.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Whispers

“Sometimes I think tears are the only thing I have left that's mine.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Whispers

“The problem with building a wall as a defense against the world is when you're finished you're there with yourself with nowhere to hide.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Whispers

“Hurting didn't have to be hidden. Not from everyone. Not from someone who understood your pain.”
― Willa Reece, Wildwood Magic