Riley Smith

“I had never guessed that wanting one thing for so long, wanting it at the cost of everything else, I never would’ve guessed that finally getting my hands on it could not feel really any different than how it felt all along, how it didn’t push out the boredom and the terror in the rooms, in every room I’ve ever spent time in.”
― Gabe Habash, Stephen Florida: A Brilliant Literary Campus Novel of Psychological Suspense and Dark Obsession

“The worst was yet to come, he knew. Already he could feel a world of trouble waiting for him behind the next door, but the worst that could have happened was also already behind him; the thing not done, which could have been – which he would have had to live with for the rest of his life.”
― Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These

“But home isn't where you land; home is where you launch. You can't pick your home any more than you can choose your family. In poker, you get five cards. Three of them you can swap out, but two are yours to keep: family and native land.”
― Tayari Jones, An American Marriage

“When you get older, I guess you learn the importance of flowers and good food and old friends. That’s called settling down. But I don’t need to be old to know that to look back and realize you didn’t push yourself for something you loved is the greatest regret you can have.”
― Gabe Habash, Stephen Florida: A Novel