The Evil Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil, #1)

by Gena Showalter

Evil never came dressed as a devil; evil came disguised as a dream, as tempting as the shiny red apples they’d once consumed.

“Every hero is a villain, and every villain is a hero. It just depends on who you ask.”

“Evil isn’t born, it’s made. One thought and action at a time.” I paused for effect. “Take a good look at what you’ve made.”

A seedling of envy bloomed deep in her soul, her every thought like water, helping it grow. One drop of poison will kill her strongest foe...and the last remnant of goodness that burns in her heart. For she had forgotten a simple truth. Character meant more than beauty, always.

All my life I’d heard a million variations of evil is this, and evil is that. The one I’d internalized: evil is knowing what’s right and doing what’s wrong anyway.

Greed is the beating heart of evil. Do not feed it, and it will not grow.

Hope is like a seedling. In darkness it dies, in light it thrives.

How easy it is to love the lovable. The true test of strength is loving the unlovable.

I could have let fear choke me; already a barbed lump grew in my throat. But fear was just another face of evil, snuffing out hope.

No matter how happy people seemed, they had hurts, too. Underneath our skin, we were all the same, fighting for a little slice of happiness in an unhappy world.

want to look at a girl and know she’s mine and mine alone. That I am hers. That we belong to each other, body and soul. I want the world to stop when we’re together. I want to dream about her at night and wake for her every morning. I want to put her first, and know she does the same for me. I want...everything.”

Evil wears many faces, and if you aren’t careful, it will wear yours.

If a warning sounds deep in your soul, pay it heed or pay the toll.

Hurting others comes with a great cost. Piece after piece of your heart, until you are lost.

When all is lost, do not despair. Dare to act, dare to care.