Julie Carpenter

“Even when I tried not to love you, I failed at it utterly, because I can't cut my love for you out of my life without cutting out my heart completely.”
― Jody Hedlund, Marrying the Matchmaker

“For all Miss Corvus's progressive views, for all her insistence on looking to the future, this was a chamber firmly enshrouded in the past. A veiled room, all stale darkness and decay.
Miss Corvus had been similarly veiled the first time Effie had seen her that fateful day eighteen years ago in the London slum of St. Giles.
But Miss Corvus wasn't veiled now.
She sat in a green damask-upholstered armchair by the window, her uncovered face as white as wax. She was clad in stark black, just as Effie was-a plain, but impeccably tailored, silk dress worn over an abundance of petticoats and a formidable wire crinoline. A jet brooch gleamed at her throat, and an embroidered lace handkerchief was clutched in her pale hand.”
― Mimi Matthews, Rules for Ruin

“She had promised herself nearly a year past she would never consider marrying a man until she could be certain of his trustworthiness and intentions. James had proven his character over and over again, from the first moments of their acquaintance. She loved him and was far more capable of understanding and giving her affection than ever she'd been before.”
― Emily Opal, The Gentlewoman Companion

“He had the vague thought that riding a difficult mare for so many years had given her an unseen reservoir of power. Luminous as she appeared, she was no will-o’-the-wisp. She was formidable. Strong.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane