Jamie Brenner > Quotes

“That’s what marriage was at its best: You didn’t have to tell your partner to look out, that you were falling. They were just there to catch you.”
― Jamie Brenner, The Wedding Sisters

“That was the thing about weddings: they forced family members to deal with one another, like it or not.”
― Jamie Brenner, The Wedding Sisters

“I don’t want to live. I want to love first, and live incidentally. —Zelda Fitzgerald”
― Jamie Brenner, The Gin Lovers: A Novel

“True love is full of drama.”
― Jamie Brenner

“And yet, the knowledge of Nick Cabral didn’t change the fact that Kipton Bishop was her dad. What were genetics compared to love?”
― Jamie Brenner, The Forever Summer

“It’s fun. A good way to get out your aggression.” “That’s what baking is for.”
― Jamie Brenner, The Husband Hour

“She had jewelry-making in her blood but had been cast out of the family; Sanjay was from a strict Indian household that believed any career for a man other than medical or scientific was a waste of time. For both of them, NYSD was more than just a school: It was their launching pad for proving their families wrong.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“And it’s a shame, because as we get older, we need to learn how to let go of the past in order to live fully in the present”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“Elodie felt the blood drain from her face, her heart pounding as recognition materialized: That woman was her niece, Gemma. Every nerve in her body wanted to summon security, to have the interloper thrown out.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“Just because our children are grown, we are not done. Just because we are older, we are not done. I look at what you and your daughter and granddaughter are doing, and I think: the best is ahead.”
― Jamie Brenner, Blush

“A diamond might say love, but what did it say when a diamond divided the entire family?”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“Saying exactly what was on her mind always felt pretty damn good. Unfortunately, that in itself never fixed any problems.”
― Jamie Brenner, A Novel Summer

“If a person couldn’t share her happiness, what was she doing with them?”
― Jamie Brenner, A Novel Summer

“There was no party like a book party.”
― Jamie Brenner, A Novel Summer

“Every subsequent owner suffered financial ruin or premature death. Then there was the Black Orlov, originally 195 carats, which was set as one of the eyes in a statue of the Hindu god Brahma. It was also stolen from India; a diamond dealer brought it to the U.S. in 1932, before jumping out of the window of a Manhattan skyscraper. The Russian princesses who later acquired the diamond also leapt to their deaths.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“Shelby had found everything in Cape Cod, not just her two best friends, but her first love, and most of all, a sense of home. But New York City had always been the plan. After a childhood moving from place to place, her only constants were the books she read and her hope of someday writing one herself. And New York was where she’d chase that dream.”
― Jamie Brenner, A Novel Summer

“It was funny, though. She thought once she found a literary agent, she’d have “arrived.” Like she’d reached the finish mark—from wannabe to being. But then, the mark moved: she would feel like she belonged once her agent sold her manuscript. And after that, she’d feel it once the book was published. And after that, she’d feel it if the book became a bestseller. Well, now she had a bestseller. But the mark, that tricky little thing, had moved again: she had to write another one.”
― Jamie Brenner, A Novel Summer

“Men would come and go, but Elodie was on her way to becoming one of the most high-profile executives in Manhattan”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“A hundred years after Edith Wharton, and matchmaking was still the preferred sport of the rich.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“But I thought women were the only ones who had to choose between parenthood and career. At least, that was the prevailing wisdom when I was growing up.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“I’m so happy to be here today,” she said, looking at the audience. Her publicist had given her a tip that if she felt nervous, she should look just over people’s heads. That way, she didn’t get distracted by anyone’s facial expression, but she gave the illusion she was seeing the crowd and connecting with them.”
― Jamie Brenner, A Novel Summer

“I was wondering,” the woman said shyly. “What do you like best about writing novels?” Shelby nodded. “That’s a great question. I’d say the thing I like best about writing novels is having the ability to deliver the happy endings we don’t always get in real life,” she said.”
― Jamie Brenner, A Novel Summer

“But Elodie didn’t waste time with the view. She hadn’t gotten to the helm of the company by daydreaming. At fifty-three years old, she was a woman with tunnel vision, and her focus at the moment was the party she was hosting tomorrow night.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“It was comforting to find a system that told her that while life could be random and cruel, she could at least have a greater understanding of herself and the people around her and make decisions with some guidance. As long as she understood the moon and the stars, she wasn’t alone. She wasn’t lost.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“Her existence is doing something to me,” Elodie said. “Something you’d understand if you ever took a second to consider my feelings.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“His gallery? You mean my gallery.” She rolled her eyes and gave a wink to Clifford. “Though I’m done with that money pit. Another failed venture courtesy of my son. Are you an artist?” Susan Harrison asked.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“She’d always wanted to be a writer. Maybe every book lover felt that way at some point, and for Shelby, it just stuck.”
― Jamie Brenner, A Novel Summer

“Above them, in elegant script, the sentence A Diamond Says Love. With those four simple words, her great-grandfather had created the idea of the diamond engagement ring.”
― Jamie Brenner, Gilt

“Grief was an odd thing. It made you numb but exquisitely sensitive at the same time. She had to admire the emotion’s versatility; it now owned her completely.”
― Jamie Brenner, The Husband Hour

“I have this idea of getting a mason jar filling it with sea glass from this week and then keeping it next to my bed at home, she said.

Well, it's a lovely though, but you won't find that much sea glass in the time you are here.

I guess I could start with what I find and then just buy the rest to fill in.

Amelia looked at her like she had two heads.

Buy it? Doesn't that defeat the purpose? When you find it yourself, it has meaning. It marks this day, this walk, and this moment in time, Your hands pluck it from the place that produced it and make it your own.

Well, when she put it that way. "I guess I'll just see what I can find.

Amelia nodded her approval.”
― Jamie Brenner, The Forever Summer