Ana

“Everyone is supposed to be a combination of nature and nurture, their true selves shaped by years of friends and fights and parents and dreams and things you did too young and things you overheard that you shouldn’t have and secrets you kept or couldn’t and regrets and victories and quiet prides, all the packed-together detritus that becomes what you call your life.”
― Melissa Albert, The Hazel Wood

“The most beautiful thing is not when you learn to live
without something; it’s the moment you realize you never
needed it in the first place.”
― Lang Leav, Love Looks Pretty on You

“Val smiled evilly at the child and reached into his pocket.
“Do you,” he asked, “like kittens?”
And he held out a black, fluffy kitten with a white chest.
Annalise blinked at the kitten’s green eyes.
The kitten blinked back.
“Oh, yes!” said Annalise.
Val deposited the kitten into the plump little arms and strolled to the kitchens, where Hecate and her kittens were in residence, swinging his gold walking stick.
There were seven more kittens remaining and a garden full of his enemies’ children…”
― Elizabeth Hoyt, Duke of Sin

“Paris. Paris. There is something silken and elegant about that word, something carefree, something made for a dance, something brilliant and festive, like champagne. Everything there is beautiful, gay, and a little drunk, and festooned with lace.”
― Nina Berberova, The Tattered Cloak and Other Stories