"Ronan cupped her neck with his other hand and brushed his lips lightly over hers. 'I want you, Maddy. I want you more than I've ever wanted any woman in my life."

"There were all her feelings for him, sharp and defined, one as true as the other. And there was the other, this hatred, just as real as the rest. She could have done her feelings up in little packets and given them to Stanley. She longed to hand him that last one, for a surprise. She could see his eyes as he opened that..."

"I say I never wanna get married. I feel trapped with the idea of marriage. How can you really be with somebody forever? I'd get bored! As I get older, I don't settle. I'd rather tell somebody 'This is what I want - take it or leave it.'."

"I like how you smile and how you laugh. I like how you love and defend your family and I like how you're trying to love mine. I love how you trust. But mostly, Emily, I love you."

"Immobilized in marriage, since long ago, she was taken as rightful property under wedlock. As a side note, I am urged to comment, the curious nature of these terms property and wed-lock; as if doomed to be firmly kept under latch and key, a padlocked yard? Pastures lain fallow occasionally?"

"She had every right to be harsh, mean, and independent. Every damn right. And yet he had a feeling that she needed care more than anyone else in the world."