Maya Alden > Quotes

“Don't make life harder than it is. No point in being bitter. Focus on why you're doing this. Keep your heart clean, wahine. Now, tits out and chin up. You've got this.
-Elikas pep talk to herself”
― Maya Alden, The Wrong Fiancée: Dean's Story

“Behold the field in which I grow my fucks. Lay thine eyes upon it, and thou shalt see that it is barren.”
― Maya Alden, More Than a Feeling

“Friedrich Nietzsche said, "Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.”
― Maya Alden, The Wrong Husband

“Sabine looked stressed when I took her out to dinner. I tried to do that once a month, but since Fleur and I broke up four weeks and two days ago, it had become more frequent. A part of it was my need to get rid of Fleur; the other was curiosity to see if I was interested in Sabine as more than Seamus's widow and a member of my family.”
― Maya Alden, More Than a Feeling

“Objectively, she was a beautiful woman. Absolutely stunning. Subjectively, I wanted to fuck her sister.”
― Maya Alden, More Than a Feeling

“For a moment, he just stared at me, stunned into silence. And then, finally, he said, “After everything I just said, are you still thinking I’m sleeping with her?”
― Maya Alden, That's Amore

“I've forgiven him," I admitted. "No one would have done what he has to get me back if he wasn't sincere. I trust him. I never thought I would.”
― Maya Alden, A Smooth Operator

“but I was richer, bigger, and badder.”
― Maya Alden, Best Kept Secret

“On the tombstone of our marriage,”
― Maya Alden, Best Kept Vows

“Then she lost the baby. I don’t talk about that. There are no words in my vocabulary that are the right size for the grief I felt. The sorrow of losing a life that I’d already fallen in love with.”
― Maya Alden, Fox: A Short Romance

“I want you. So much.” I nuzzled her hair with my chin. Instead of telling me off, she broke in my arms.”
― Maya Alden, That's Amore

“The waiting room outside the ICU is the kind of terrible that hospitals specialize in—fluorescent, beige, furnished with chairs designed to prevent sleep, which is either a cruelty or a philosophy, and I cannot tell which.”
― Maya Alden, Fox: A Short Romance

“that every lie I tell her is one she can forgive.”
― Maya Alden, Fox: A Short Romance

“because Percy Hale has been showing up for me without being asked for years,”
― Maya Alden, Fox: A Short Romance

“Strength doesn't mean that it's constant. We all give in to our weaknesses sometimes. That one time doesn't define our lives. We're more than one incident, one intent.”
― Maya Alden, Best Kept Secret

“Maybe she’s afraid too, and thinking that you stepped out on your marriage helps her keep her distance from you.”
― Maya Alden, That's Amore

“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t know it was this bad.” I rubbed my chin on her hair. “I didn’t know how miserable I was.” Her voice was muffled with tears, and because she was burrowing into me. “But I was…I am.” I sucked in a shaky breath. “Do you…want a divorce?” It damn near killed me to wait for her answer. “No.” She looked at me, her eyes pleading. “I don’t want that, but I don’t want to…Sebastian, I need space.”
― Maya Alden, Best Kept Vows

“I was just…saying shit.”
― Maya Alden, Basil: A Short Story

“I nodded and then shrugged. "I ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope," I said, and when he raised his brows, I translated, "The future is in the past. We must learn from the past to move forward but not dwell on it. In Hawaiian culture, the past stands in front of you to guide you, and the future is behind you, out of sight, encouraging mindfulness of the present moment."

"That's beautiful," Dean acknowledged. "Is that a Hawaiian saying?"

"Yes. It's wisdom our ancestors have passed down through generations, teaching us to live in the present, take lessons from the past, but not let it define our future.”
― Maya Alden, The Wrong Fiancée: Dean's Story

“and just like that, the waterworks were back. Shit, she could do this on command? Those were some mad skills. And respect for that.”
― Maya Alden, More Than a Feeling

“You take such good care of me.”
― Maya Alden, That's Amore

“You hate conflict, so when things become difficult, you don't talk it through; you run away.”
― Maya Alden, No Ordinary Love

“because it was my secret—a dark, shameful secret—that I knew he didn’t love me as I did him.”
― Maya Alden, Best Kept Vows

“However, what I did stained my life—and me. I carried it with me like my own scarlet letter, carved into my soul.”
― Maya Alden, Never the Best

“Massimo watches me over the rim of his glass. “Amico, you’ve got to straighten things out with Arabella.” “There’s nothing to straighten out.” “Well—” “They want me to propose and set a wedding date. Would you marry someone you’re not in love with?” I down the rest of my scotch, now feeling completely drained.”
― Maya Alden, Evan: A Short Story

“you wanted a divorce, and I’m giving it to you. It’s almost like now that I’ve said I don’t want to be married to you, that’s all you want. It doesn’t feel like love. It feels like control.”
― Maya Alden, That's Amore

“but this man, who called something significant that happened to me today a silly little ceremony, wasn’t mine.”
― Maya Alden, Best Kept Vows

“I was a good society wife; I knew how to be polite to people I couldn't stand.”
― Maya Alden, Best Kept Vows

“Her brain has decided I am intolerable.”
― Maya Alden, Fox: A Short Romance

“I miss the sounds you make when you come on my tongue.”
― Maya Alden, That's Amore