Shruthi

“Before Jesse could say another word, the bedroom door jerked open and Lucie’s father stood on the threshold, looking alarmed.
“Lucie?” he said. “Did you call out? I thought I heard you.”
Lucie tensed, but the expression in her father’s blue eyes didn’t change—mild worry mixed with curious puzzlement. He really couldn’t see Jesse.
Jesse looked at her and, very irritatingly, shrugged as if to say, I told you so.
“No, Papa,” she said. “Everything is all right.”
He looked at the manuscript pages scattered all over the rug. “Spot of writer’s block, Lulu?”
Jesse raised an eyebrow. Lulu? he mouthed.
Lucie considered whether it was possible to die of humiliation. She did not dare look at Jesse.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“Do not be afraid. Fear is how they control you. Their’s so much in the world you don’t have to be afraid of, if only you would open your eyes.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Cruel Prince James strode into the chamber, his cape flashing behind him and his terrible, terrible mustache askew with rage,” Lucie narrated the moment James walked through the door.
“Does it need be said twice that it’s terrible?” James said.
“He required a hot beverage to soothe his throat, parched from barking out his wicked commands all day. Tea, he thought, yes, tea and revenge.”
“I’ll just go put the kettle on,” James sighed.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“Olive,” Dr. Aslan interrupted her with a stern tone. “What do I always tell you?” “Um . . . ‘Don’t misplace the multichannel pipette’?” “The other thing.” She sighed. “ ‘Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man.’ ”
― Ali Hazelwood, The Love Hypothesis