Denise Grover Swank > Quotes

“Goodbye is too permanent. Goodbye has the risk of never seeing each other again. But good morning is full of possibilities.”
― Denise Grover Swank, After Math

“Everything just feels so right when I'm with you, Scarlett. I can be me. But it's more than that. You give me something I haven't had in a long time, if ever. You give me peace. It's like the jumbled mess in my head can settle down, and I can be still with you. Like none of the other stuff matters." His voice catches, and he swallows. "I had a bad day and usually I'd get shitfaced drunk, but the only thing I could think of was I had to see you.”
― Denise Grover Swank, After Math

“Even not choosing is a choice.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Chosen

“This is life. It's messy and unpredictable, full of wonderful surprises and mind.numbing disappointment. the uncertainty of it all is why I hide, trying to avoid all the pain and the heartache.”
― Denise Grover Swank, After Math

“Good, bad, they're just words. Who's to decide what is good or bad? In the end, only the consequences matter.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Chosen

“What the hell is wrong with me? This isn't the first time I've asked myself this question, in a multitude of situations. But this time specifically I'm referring to my inability to feel anything when being kissed by a man. Maybe I'm just too broken. That's the part that scares me the most. That I'm too broken to love.”
― Denise Grover Swank

“Losing someone you love is harder. One minute they're there, the next they're gone. There were times I wished they would rise up from the dead.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Chosen

“Why do any of us do what we don't want to do?" I don't respond, unsure what answer he's looking for.
He smiles, but it's sad. "Because we're afraid of what will happen if we don't."
I always considered fear to be a motivator or a reason not to do something, but I never considered it a reason to continue an ongoing behavior. This opens a vault full or questions about my own life. I've always assumed I'm afraid to engage in activities because I'm afraid of what might happen. But maybe I'm looking at it all wrong. Maybe I should be asking myself if I'm really afraid of leaving what makes me comfortable.”
― Denise Grover Swank, After Math

“You can do anything when the alternative is unacceptable.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Sacrifice

“Do you want to work out with me tonight?' he asks.
I waggle my eyebrows. 'And here I thought we were working out.'
He laughs. 'God, I love you.”
― Denise Grover Swank, After Math

“Maybe I'll hurt you," I whisper as my eyes search his. "I'm broken Tucker. I'm hopelessly broken inside, and I'm not sure there are enough pieces in me to put back together. But when I'm with you, I feel like maybe I can actually be whole.”
― Denise Grover Swank, After Math

“I sighed, a deep and heavy sigh. If only sighs could carry all my troubles away.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

“The next morning, beer and I mutually decided our relationship wasn’t going to work out.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

“There are lots of girls out there, Joshy. You’ll probably date a bunch of them. Or maybe you’ll only date a few. But one day, you’ll find the one.” He’d given Josh an all-knowing smile and wiped his hands on a napkin. “It will probably knock you over when you least expect it. At least that’s what happened with me. Your mother walked into my Biology 101 lab in college and there was something about her that made me take notice. We were lab partners and I could hardly focus on what we needed to do. I asked her out before we left the room. We were engaged a year later, but I knew right away I’d marry her someday. And every day I spent with her only made me more certain. She’d look at me in this special way…and my heart would melt. I wanted to make all her dreams come true and you know what? I’ve spent my life trying. I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love your mother and I never will.” And with that, his father had picked up another slice of pizza. “Someday you’ll find the one. And I can’t wait to meet her once you do.”
― Denise Grover Swank, The Substitute

“His hand caresses my cheek. "Scarlett, I don't want to lose you by fucking up our friendship. I want you in my life, and if we do this, I will lose you. If that means showing some self-restraint for once in my goddamn life, then I will." Both his hands cup my cheeks. "You make me want to be a better person. This is me being a better person.”
― Denise Grover Swank

“I wondered if somehow, without my knowing it, I had been cast in a Lifetime channel movie.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

“I'm not sure which is better-the chance to experience love and lose it, or to live my life without it.”
― Denise Grover Swank, After Math

“Because as long as you know the rules, you know what’s expected of you, and as long as you have the necessary information, you can always find the answer.”
― Denise Grover Swank, After Math

“...with the company of just myself, my thoughts presented themselves like unwelcome houseguests.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

“The thing about wearing big girl pants is sometimes they don’t fit.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons

“Do you ever lay off the crap or is it all bullshit, all the time with you?”
― Denise Grover Swank, Chosen

“I find it ironic that someone so ambivalent about living fights so hard to survive.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Here

“Are you mentally ill? A gigolo? A terrorist?” “Blair, stop.” Megan put her hand on her friend’s arm. “And I already accused him of being a terrorist.” “And you believed him when he said no?” “Actually,” she mused, casting an ornery grin at him. “I don’t think he answered me.” “Tricky bastard, aren’t you?”
― Denise Grover Swank, The Substitute

“How many times can a person shatter and have enough pieces left to be whole?”
― Denise Grover Swank, Here

“I was paving the highway to hell in beet bottles and kisses.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

“Sometimes you have to break something to make it stronger. Remember that.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies

“His eyes burn bright with desire. "I want you to see me when I come into you. I want you to know I'm here. I want you to know I see you.”
― Denise Grover Swank, After Math

“I faced the real possibility of spending the rest of my life alone, never experiencing great love. But then again, I might not live long enough for it to matter much.”
― Denise Grover Swank, The Curse Breakers

“He glanced at Megan’s mother, his gaze allowing for no argument. “This woman by my side is the woman I want to marry, exactly as she is right now. I don’t want her transformed into some cookie-cutter Barbie doll, so don’t you dare try to do it.”
― Denise Grover Swank, The Substitute

“Most of the time I paid it no mind. I kept to myself and everyone in my town of Henryetta liked it that way. While my grandma saw helpful information such as droughts and locust infestations, I was cursed with seeing useless and mundane things like Mrs. White’s toilet overflow or the ear infection in Jenny Baxter’s baby. None of that would be so bad if I kept what I saw to myself, but my visions didn't work that way. Without any volition of my own, whatever I saw just blurted right out of my mouth. Most of the people who knew me thought I was a snoop or a gossip, the only rational explanation to reason away my knowledge. But Momma had another opinion. She declared me demon-possessed.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes