The Unkindest Tide (October Daye, #13)

by Seanan McGuire

Sadly, knowing where trauma comes from doesn’t magically heal it. Only time and effort can do that.

“I’m the motherfucking sea witch. I don’t have to answer your question.” The child’s eyes widened. “You said a swear.” “Again, sea witch. I’m allowed.”

“What are you, a guppy?” He didn’t look like he understood the insult. Oh, well. Guppies are freshwater fish, but I’d still considered it to be pretty good.

“A drink a day keeps the crushing weight of the universe away,” said Liz, with something that actually resembled good cheer.

Sometimes love leaves bruises, no matter how hard you try to prevent it.

romantic comedies, artifice-filled narratives where boy meets girl—always boy meets girl, which is remarkably limiting and pedestrian for a genre supposedly built on the shoulders of love—through some contrived coincidence,

structurally called a “meet cute.”