“Many, many readers have written asking me wistfully about the nature of Sam and Grace's relationship, and I can assure you, that sort is absolutely real. Mutual, respectful, enduring love is comple...”

“Voicemail #1: Hi, Isabel Culpeper. I am lying in my bed, looking at the ceiling. I am mostly naked. I am thinking of your mother. Call me.Voicemail #2: The first minute and thirty seconds of Ive G...”

“In the darkness, he is invisible, but I can still feel him beside me. Sometimes you don't have to see something to know it is there.”

“Cole, I said, do you think Im lovable?As in cuddly and?As in able to be loved, I said.Coles gaze was unwavering. Just for a moment, I had the strange idea that I could see exactly what he had looke...”

“My whole life, I had thought that my story was, again and again: Once upon a time, there was a boy, and he had to risk everything to keep what he loved. But really, the story was: Once upon a time,...”

“Scent is the strongest tie to memory.”

“I started down but Sam caught my arm and knelt down himself to look. "For crying out loud," he said. "It's a racoon." "Poor thing," I said. "It could be a rabid baby-killer," Cole told me primly. "...”

“She tapped out a beat on the edge of the piano as I tripped and plummeted through the refrain of Spacebar, trying to translate the synth chords into a piano bit on the fly. It had been a million ye...”

“Food," I suggested. "Sleep. That's what I need. To get the hell away from here."Cole frowned at me, as if I'd suggested "ducks" and "yoga".”

“There used to be days that I thought I was okay, or at least that I was going to be. We'd be hanging out somewhere and everything would just fit right and I would think 'it will be okay if it can j...”

“I want to try with someone who loves me enough to try with me. I want to grow old looking at the same face every morning. I want to grow old looking at the same face every night at the dinner table...”

“Hes dozed off again, but I kiss him awake, which seems to startle him. Then he smiles as if hed be happy to lie there gazing at me forever.”