“My brain tells me it will be better to just let him go.
My heart... not so much.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“If you tiptoe into cold water, you're missing out on the rush of plunging in headfirst.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“I gave you my heart, but it wasn't enough.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Doing something positive will help turn your mood around. When you smile, your body relaxes. When you experience human touch and interaction, it eases tension in your body.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“I wish I could turn back time, but I can't. I made a stupid decision because I thought I was invincible, and I'll pay for it the rest of my life.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Love isn't about honesty. It's about protecting the people you love from things that will hurt them.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Why shouldn't I be introspective? We dont' make sense."
"Neither do Chocolate and Peanut Butter, but it somehow works." He says "Somehow the mixture of two things is genius.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“In the end everything will be okay. But hurdles have to be jumped through first.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Our lie is like a cancer that's spread to every single area of our lives.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“It's cool in the basement, so I pull the blanket up to my chest. Caleb slides in beside me, and I feel his bare legs against mine. "You're shivering," he says, his voice a low whisper.
"I'm a little cold... and a little nervous."
"Don't be nervous, Maggie. It's juste me."
It's the real Caleb, without the tough facade. I'm glad it's completely dark now and he can't see my trembling fingers as they move up to his beautiful face. "I know."
He pulls me closer. I rest my head in the crook of his arm and am more content than ever.
"Maggie ?"
"Yeah ?"
"Thanks."
"For what ?"
"For making me feel alive again."
I drape my arm across his chest, the warmth of his skin melting into mine. I want to remember this night forever, because we'll probably never get another chance to hold each other like this again. It makes me want to do more than just sleep in his arms. I try and relax, to slow my own erratic heartbeat as I wrap my right leg, the one that wasn't severely damaged in the accident, around him. It's a definite hint that I'm ready to do more than just lie in his arms.
He moans in response. "Maggie, you're treading into dangerous territory. I'm trying to be a good, honorable guy here."
" I know. But I'm not asking you to be one."
"You sure you know what you're getting into ?"
"Nope. I've got no clue." I start kissing and feeling my way across his broad chest.
"You're killing me", he says, his hands slowly reaching for me and urging me up so we're face to face.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“I'm the one who got hit by that car, not you,' I tell him. 'Don't act like you're the victim here. You made choices I didn't ask you to make. I'm not sure anyone asked you to make them.' I'm screaming the words, not caring that the entire world can probably hear me. 'You think I like limping everywhere I go? I don't. I'm the victim! Be honest with me! You didn't care about me enough to trust me. I gave you my heart, but it wasn't enough.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“...personal torture instructor...I mean physical therapist.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Sometimes moving on takes effort. Sometimes moving on is harder than it looks.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Who knew Lenny was an encyclopedia for useless information?”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“I lean back. "What the hell are you doing?"
"What do you mean?" she asks, innocently batting her eyelashes against the hot sun beaming down on us.
Is she kidding me?
"Where's you toungue?" I ask stupidly.
Her wet little eyebrows furrow. "In my mouth. Why, where's it supposed to be?”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“I guess we're all a bunch of mismatched couples - that actually fit”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Trust me, he whispers against my lips. Maggie, you're my paradise.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“From the look of us, you'd never know we slept in the same bed last night and made out like the world was going to end if we stopped.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“If you let him go and he doesn't come back to you, he wasn't yours to begin with. It's a lesson learned in first grade”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“I don't play games with people's lives like you do.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Maggie squeezes my hand. It’s a silent message that everything will be okay. Somehow I believe her. In the end everything will be okay. But hurdles have to be jumped through first.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“...there's no rule book or game plan when it comes to the grim realities of our lives.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“- Just do you know, Lenny this isn't a date.
- Then what is it?
- It's me falling sorry for you, because you're such a loser.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Man, my girl is one tough chick when she wants to be. I wonder if it has something to do with those
big, comfy granny panties she’s got on.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Just FYI," Lenny says, his face still red from the nasty sunburn. "I've got a shitload of condoms in my duffle. Front pocket."
"For what?"
"Listen if you don't know what condoms are for I'm not gonna teach you."
"I know what they're for, shithead. I just highly doubt you're getting any ass on this trip."
"Watch me," Lenny says. "My boy gets action all the time."
"Yeah, I bet your right hand is tired from all that action" I mumble as I walk to the bathroom. "I'm a leftie!" Lenny calls after me.
I try not to wince from thinking about it.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Guys are control freaks and hate when other people know what's best for them”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“Love isn't about honesty. It's about protecting the people you love from things that will hurt them. That's love”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
“If you sprinkle when you tinkle please be neat and wipe the seat.”
― Simone Elkeles, quote from Return to Paradise
Simone Elkeles
Born place: Chicago, IL, The United States
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“We ought to love virtue; but it is well to realize that we ought to only because it is a convenient expedient invented by men in order that they may live comfortably together. What we call morality is simply and solely a desperate enterprise, a forlorn hope on the part of our fellow men to reverse the order of the Universe, which is constant strife and murder, blind, ceaseless and implacable. All is self-destruction, and the more I think of it, the more I am convinced that the the Universe is mad.”
― Anatole France, quote from The Gods Will Have Blood
“I don't care if Todd Rand is as kind as Jesus himself, my place was with you and I will never regret that. You and Damien and Spencer gave Dominique and me an amazing life that I love more than I can ever tell you. Things worked out the way they were supposed to. This family was always the best option for me, Dante, the only option I'd ever have chosen if I'd been given the choice. This changes nothing in my heart. We were all meant to be together, meant to make up a family that defied the odds. I hope that Todd and Flynn are wonderful and that I can have relationships with both, but if they don't want to know me, I'm not going to be upset. I already have the perfect family for me, and since you're the head of this family, that's on you.”
― Ella Fox, quote from Loving Hart
“There’s people who do things and people who never do—who say they will someday, but they just don’t. I want to go on a quest. I’ve always wanted to go on a quest. And now that I have one, I’m not backing down from it. I’m not going home until it’s complete.”
― Holly Black, quote from Doll Bones
“You can see when someone's been hurt the way I was. It's obvious. Something changes in their eyes; pain becomes their center, even when they try to hide it.”
― Cheryl Rainfield, quote from Scars
“Pleasure so exquisite that her entire body thrummed with it, and emotions so expansive and consuming that she didn't know where Lucien ended and she began.”
― Kitty French, quote from Knight & Play
In Between
The Demon's Lexicon
Makers
Sanctuary
Dearly Devoted Dexte...BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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