Toby Neal > Quotes

“Everything has to do with everything else—you know that by now. So begin at the beginning, and it will lead to the end.”
― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids

“The house was done in a classic island style, and Lei couldn’t help but like the wide, deep roofline that sheltered a porch that ran the length and breadth of the house. The lanai was dotted with Adirondack chairs in”
― Toby Neal, Broken Ferns

“There are always people talking about it. We’re dying. Suicide is a way to take control of that.”
― Toby Neal, Twisted Vine

“Rom. 7:20 So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”
― Toby Neal, Torch Ginger

“To victims of bullying: the best revenge is a well-lived life. To kids bullied in school for any reason: red-haired, poor, black, white, Asian, Mexican, Guatemalan, Micronesian, zitty, chubby, four-eyed, dorky, dweeby, ditzy, and a million others: you might need to retreat, but never give up. Persevere, and someday you’ll look back and see how your wounds made you stronger. Your life is what you make it in the long run—don’t let a bully win by stealing your future.”
― Toby Neal, Freckled: A Memoir of Growing Up Wild in Hawaii

“I thought of you as a pirate. Dangerous and poor.” “It turns out I am a bit of a pirate.” Rafe set his glass aside. “I know a treasure when I see one, and I’ll do anything to get it.”
― Toby Neal, Somewhere On St. Thomas

“Pop trips over some vegetation and lets go. I’m roaring down the slanting, bumpy dirt path, trying to dodge the rocks and shrieking with delighted terror. I’m heading into the stand of Java plum trees at the end of our clearing when I lose balance and crash into a lantana bush. I’m winded and scratched as I try to crawl out of the prickly bush. My bike lies in the path, tires spinning, already getting smeared with red Kauai dirt. Pop runs over and picks me up to see if I’m okay. My knees have hit something and are scraped, lantana thorns tangle my hair, but I’m panting with excitement. “Let’s do it again!”
― Toby Neal, Freckled: A Memoir of Growing Up Wild in Hawaii

“He’s so different from me, dark to my light, rough to my smooth, hard to my soft—but the sum total of us is perfect.”
― Toby Neal, Somewhere in the City

“The kiss is a compass. It’s like I’ve been wandering in a fog, holding a map, trying to find my way—and suddenly a light has come on, and I see home.”
― Toby Neal, Somewhere in the City

“Maybe he was right about you. You are damaged.” Her mouth had dropped open in shock—that he could hit her so low and so hard by quoting Charlie Kwon, her childhood molester. Stevens had turned and left, the door of her little house slamming hard behind him. She looked at the bare finger again, regret pulling down her mouth. He hadn’t deserved how she’d ended it. She was damaged.”
― Toby Neal, Torch Ginger

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
― Toby Neal, Dark Lava

“I make better bad decisions when I’m not starving.”
― Toby Neal, Tiki Beach: Cat Cozy Humor Mystery

“Daughter of a stillborn water buffalo!”
― Toby Neal, Wired Rogue

“doughball”
― Toby Neal, Black Jasmine

“the”
― Toby Neal, SMALL ISLAND: Cozy Humor Mystery with Cat

“Off in the distance Lei heard sirens. She staggered out of the mud up onto the grass to stand beside Pono. Her stomach crawled back down her throat as she breathed in through her nose,”
― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids

“This is how we look out for our own Big Island style.”
― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids

“burglaries.”
― Toby Neal, Torch Ginger

“I do what I want, for whom I want, when I want. It’s called freedom, and it’s a rare elixir few can afford.”
― Toby Neal, Wired Secret

“Yeah, it’s so weird how when you live somewhere, no matter how amazing a place it is, you do the same things. Go to work, run errands, come home. It’s a rut.”
― Toby Neal, Shattered Palms

“orchid,”
― Toby Neal, Lei Crime Series Boxed Set: Books 1-4

“It’s a traditional greeting called honi. We exchange the divine breath of ha. It’s where “aloha” really comes from.” A”
― Toby Neal, Coconut Wireless

“You give it your best, and leave God the rest.”
― Toby Neal, Wired Secret

“Remember, the depression has a voice, a litany of accusations. Learn to recognize that voice and tune it out.”
― Toby Neal, Wired Secret

“it was hard to believe God had a plan when she’d spent the day looking for the crime scene where two young girls were drowned.”
― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids

“(book”
― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids

“around her like seaweed, one sparkly hair tie still in place”
― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids

“You’ll get through it one second at a time, one minute at a time, one hour at a time, one day at a time,” the psychologist had said.”
― Toby Neal, Wired Ghost

“Sun braised the leaves and dropped coins of light on the road ahead.”
― Toby Neal, Black Jasmine

“younger”
― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids