More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
I could never give her up. She’s the piece of my soul that I’ve always been missing. The only thing that brings me comfort and rest.
The title of mom or dad doesn’t make someone perfect or worthy of our love, their actions do.
“Do you feel that? Before I met you, I forgot what it felt like to have my heart race. I don’t know what this thing is between us, but you reminded me that there’s more to life than violence and greed. You reminded me there’s still good in the world. Give me the chance to do the same for you.”
I get her for the summer and that’s it. It’s not like she was mine to keep in the first place, so I don’t let the fact that she’s gone taint the times she made me smile. What kind of life would that be, if I only dwelled on the things I lost?” My chest hitches as images of Colton’s sun-drenched face tear through my memory. He was mine for the season, but never mine to keep. My summer sparrow.
True power isn’t loud or forced, it’s quiet and understated.
No matter what I do, I always seem to be the second choice. The unwanted daughter, the tool used to gain access to my sister, the fill-in for Jeremy, the abandoned girlfriend… Even with Mac I come second to my father’s wishes.
Rylee deserves better 😭
“I didn’t say the therapist worked for me.” “Then what was it?” He turns his neck and runs two fingers down the length of the tiger tattoo. “You. The only time I’ve ever slept peacefully was when I was lying next to you.”
“If it were up to me,” he says softly against my ear, “I wouldn’t have chosen this life for you.” His inked fingers trace the dove tattoo on my thigh, pausing over the crescent-shaped scars scattered throughout. Because I can already hear the clock counting down on our time together, and because I’m feeling sentimental and fragile, I play along. “What life would you have chosen for me?” His breath dances across the sensitive skin right below where my ear meets my neck. “A quiet one,” he says. “I’d build you a nice house and plant you as many marigolds as you wanted. I’d keep you safe.”
“The Jackals make me happy. Helping people makes me happy.” I lay my hand flat over the eagle on his chest. “You used to make me happy. That was all I needed. Why can’t you just give that back to me?”
“I’ll love you until the day I die, Rylee Adder. But I’ll let you go, if that’s what you need.”
this is so heartbreaking 💔😭
“You guys are like magnets. Half of the time, you’re repelling one another so violently I feel like I should run for cover. The other half, I’m terrified I’ll be crushed between the force of your attraction.”
“Colton is like your sparrow back in Boston. He brought joy to my life and made me smile for a summer, but I woke up one day and he was gone. That was it. That’s the end of our story.”
Relationships are about repeatedly choosing the person you love. Day in and day out, you have to choose that person, even when they make it hard.”
“You’re right. I am an asshole, but do you want to know what I’m not? I’m not your goddamn fuck buddy. No strings, no emotion, no commitment? Are you fucking kidding me? You are mine. I get all of you, whatever that looks like. Messy. Whole. Perfect. Broken. I don’t give a fuck. I want it all, and I’ll settle for nothing less.”
“I might have lost you, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t the best fucking thing to ever happen to me. It doesn’t mean you’re not still the most important part of my life.”
“I’m not scared of any part of you, Colton Archer,” she says sleepily. “I know what I signed up for, and I want it all.”
