“God plants the talent and it grows, sustained by a spirit-given strength to endure, even in the midst of darkness. It thrives in the valleys of life and ignores the peaks. It blooms like a flower when cradled by the warmth of the sun. It remains in a hidden stairwell in a concentration camp. It grows, fed in secret, in the heart of every artist.”

“Adele and Vladimir danced along the banks of the River Seine, the loveliness of spring a backdrop all around them.”

“Our mother used to say that a hero doesn't always have to slay a dragon to save the day." She swept a lock of hair behind her ear in an honest gesture, then pursed her lips and looked back at him, her gaze endearing. "Sometimes he just walks through the fire alongside you, and that's enough.”

“Elliot had always thought that touch was the most intimate way a man and a woman could connect. A kiss. A hand across the base of the neck or a brush of fingertips against the small of the back. But if his thundering heart gave any indication, the moment of honesty Wren had shared in that single look made the air crackle with tension, of the kind he'd never known before.”

“You're thinking I'm a changed man. That God has changed me. And that regardless of the fact that my father has left so much damage in his wake, I shouldn't hate him for it. You're telling me to think to the future ... That I shouldn't hold bitterness against the father who left ... And you hope that i can finally forgive him, which is something I've never quite been able to do." "Goodness," Sera beamed back at him. "I thought all that? I'm much wiser than I give myself credit for.”

“If there was no darkness, there would be no opportunity for light to overcome it.”

“God plants the talent and it grows, sustained by a spirit-given strength to endure, even in the midst of darkness. It thrives in the valleys of life and ignores the peaks. It blooms like a flower when cradled by the warmth of the sun. It remains in a hidden stairwell in a concentration camp. It grows, fed in secret, in the heart of every artist.”

“His words held depth, but not enough to make her forget the desire to do something more than just leave the hospital alive. All she could think of now was the pain of running away. She'd left her family, left Prague behind out of fear. And still war had chased her to an ARP shelter in the heart of London. How could she run again? Something mattered in standing up to fight.”