“Fredrika Bimm, what do you think you're doing?""Freaking out. Losing my mind. Thinking about snapping your husband's spine. Squashing the urge to vomit. Wishing I had died at childbirth.""Oh, you say that when you don't get a prize in your Lucky Charms.”

“I always knew I'd keep at it with the plodding doggedness that I used to master lump-less gravy and wriggle out of fitness classes; I always knew I'd get a zillion rejection slips. I figured I'd write part time while working various full-time office jobs, and maybe, maybe in my 50s, I'd be able to quit and try writing full time.”

“I once came back from a book tour where sleek black cars driven by nice men in black suits waited for me at every hotel, took me to every signing, brought me back, opened car doors for me. They were great. I was great. It was a wonderful tour.”

“You don't scare me, Cadence Jones. I've lived with crazy, I've ridden with crazy, I've vacationed with crazy, I've visited crazy in various hospitals, I've sat in on therapy sessions with crazy. Frankly, I think women who don't have major emotional disorders are really very dull.”

“What can I say? Death is messy. And she had it coming.”

“A gold cage is still a cage.-King David IOh, go cry in a bag of money.-Queen Christina”

“A grumpy vampire is a homicidal vampire. Hungry ones were even worse.”

“I know it's practical for career women, but sneakers with suits? Jesus couldn't possibly weep harder than I did.”

“Leave it to a vampire to think a healthy guy in his late thirties or early forties was on his deathbed.”

“This is a great time to shut up and kiss me." To her delight, Blake obliged.”

“He turned to her and pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. When he spoke his deep voice vibrated all through her. 'I. Remember. Everything.”