Contemporary Fiction Quotes

“I just want to know—are you rooting for me? Are you hoping I pull this off?"

Cath's eyes settled on his, tentatively, like they'd fly away if he moved.

She nodded her head.

The right side of his mouth pulled up.

"I'm rooting for you," she whispered. She wasn't even sure he could hear her from the bed.

Levi's smile broke free and devoured his whole face.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“I don't want just a night or a week or a month with you. I want you all the time. I like you better than calculus, and math is the only thing that unites the universe.”
― Helen Hoang, The Kiss Quotient

“Books are keys that open many doors.”
― James Rollins

“Are you really a reporter?” asked Brown.
“You already asked me that. Come back to Levita, take the pardon.”
 “I doubt I’ll live long enough to get there,” said Brown bitterly.
“I hope you survive. You are a fighter. And we have the antidote for your habit on
Levita. I suggest you take a vacation. There’s nothing much that’s going to happen here.”
With that she left, leaving Brown more confused than ever.
He was a father, he had a son. And, the Levitians had a cure for his drug-addled body.”
― Max Nowaz, The Arbitrator

“We're selling vacuum cleaners.”
― Kyle Keyes, Under the Bus

“[novan]: bassists are very good with their fingers
[novan]: and some of us sing backup vocals, so that means we're good with our mouths too...

(~ IM chat with Novan Chang, 18, bassist)”
― Jess C Scott, EyeLeash: A Blog Novel

“There have been times I have thought some dreams should never be dreamt, but I would hate a world where that was true.”
― Daniel Amory, Minor Snobs

“I don't make threats," she said. "I make reality.”
― Lee Matthew Goldberg, Stalker Stalked

“She felt the cold blast from the sterile air conditioning on her bare arms and thighs, as she ambled down the center of the shopping complex's ground floor.

The scene was a swirl of candy bright lights--the Victoria's Secret fuchsia signboard, signboards which lured one to purchase "confidence," or "sexual appeal," or whatever it was that was being advertised--the fluorescent lights in each store, contrasting with the shiny, black-tiled walls and eye-catching speckled marble tiles on the ground.

One could lick the floor--the tiles were spotless, clean like the fake air she was breathing in, like the atoms and cells in her that were decaying in stale neglect.”
― Jess C Scott, Jack in the Box

“Whatever you did to make that sweet little cheerleader out on your deck ignore you so completely. Do me a favor and give her my number when you call it quits. She could use a little of the Jim-meister’s lovin’.”
― Diane L. Kowalyshyn, Crossover

“I don’t want to leave. I’m not sure how to carry on without you. We’ve always been together.
“And that will never change. You’ll still be able to watch over me and keep me safe.”
I’m not going to say goodbye then. See you later?
“You bet,” Karlee said. “But not for another sixty years or so.”
― Diane L. Kowalyshyn, Crossover

“It’s funny how books can change you. You open up a book and one minute you are who you’ve always been, then you read some random passage and you become someone else.”
― Brian Joyce

“It takes years to know a human being. An entire lifetime. It's what makes a home a home.”
― Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie Was Here

“The moment-when I could no longer face myself in the mirror-wasn't easily explained; nor was the oppressive misery I experienced once I finally became the person I was meant to be but then realized with terrific horror how much I still hated her.”
― Jodi LaPalm, The Choice Not Taken

“Shortly before school started, I moved into a studio apartment on a quiet street near the bustle of the downtown in one of the most self-conscious bends of the world. The “Gold Coast” was a neighborhood that stretched five blocks along the lake in a sliver of land just south of Lincoln Park and north of River North. The streets were like fine necklaces and strung together were the brownstone houses and tall condominiums and tiny mansions like pearls, and when the day broke and the sun faded away, their lights burned like jewels shining gaudily in the night.
The world’s most elegant bazaar, Michigan Avenue, jutted out from its eastern tip near The Drake Hotel and the timeless blue-green waters of Lake Michigan pressed its shores. The fractious make-up of the people that inhabited it, the flat squareness of its parks and the hint of the lake at the ends of its tree-lined streets squeezed together a domesticated cesspool of age and wealth and standing. It was a place one could readily dress up for an expensive dinner at one of the fashionable restaurants or have a drink miles high in the lounge of the looming John Hancock Building and five minutes later be out walking on the beach with pants cuffed and feet in the cool water at the lake’s edge.”
― Daniel Amory, Minor Snobs

“To the jaded eye, all vampires seem alike, but they are wonderful in their versatility. Some come to life in moonlight, others are killed by the sun, some pierce with their eyes, others with fangs, some are reactionary, others are rebels, but all are disturbingly close to the mortals they prey on. I can think of no other monsters who are so receptive. Vampires are neither inhuman nor nonhuman nor all-too-human, they are simply more alive than they should be.”
― Nina Auerbach

“It was a generation growing in its disillusionment about the deepening recession and the backroom handshakes and greedy deals for private little pots of gold that created the largest financial meltdown since the Great Depression. As heirs to the throne, we all knew, of course, how bad the economy was, and our dreams, the ones we were told were all right to dream, were teetering gradually toward disintegration. However, on that night, everyone seemed physically at ease and exempt from life’s worries with final exams over and bar class a distant dream with a week before the first lecture, and as I looked around at the jubilant faces and loud voices, if you listened carefully enough you could almost hear the culmination of three years in the breath of the night gasp in an exultant sigh as if to say, “Law school was over at last!”
― Daniel Amory, Minor Snobs

“I got gold in one hand and mud in the other.......In the end it's the same for all of us we go out the same way we came in ....alone”
― Saira Viola

“HISTORIA RADICALMENTE CONCENTRADA DE LA ERA POSTINDUSTRIAL

Cuando fueron presentados, él hizo un comentario ingenioso porque quería caer bien. Ella soltó una risotada estrepitosa porque quería caer bien. Luego los dos cogieron sus coches y se fueron solos a sus casas, mirando fijamente la carretera, con la misma mueca en la cara.
Al hombre que los había presentado no le caía demasiado bien ninguno de los dos, pero fingía que sí porque le preocupaba mucho tener buenas relaciones con todo el mundo. Después de todo, nunca se sabe, ¿verdad que no? ¿Verdad? ¿Verdad?”
― David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

“... success, and the success brought cash and cash brought debt and the debt brought drive for more, and more they had the more they needed and the more they wanted and their eyes showed that determined singular insanity and the universe laughed, and obese men, pregnant with madness spent obscene amounts ...”
― Michal Majernik, Mechanical Bull

“Staring over him in the dim light of a side lamp, my tired eyes traced along the path of faint, yet emerging, lines etched around his equally-tired eyes. They'd become a permanent reminder of his ever-smiling face, and I wished–even after all of these years together-that I could absorb some of his contentment.”
― Jodi LaPalm, The Choice Not Taken

“... and the success brought cash and cash brought debt and the debt brought drive for more, and more they had the more they needed and the more they wanted and their eyes showed that determined singular insanity and the universe laughed, ...”
― Michal Majernik

“Like a hypnotist's pendulum, the spectacular chandelier swung to and fro, to and fro before playing tinkling tunes on its descent. Like the crescendo of crashing cymbals in Tchaikovsky’s ‘1812 Overture’, a dramatic finale ensued as it smashed to the ground.”
― Juliet Ayres, A Glimmer Through the Breach

“Naples, however, did not need buskers: the cacophony of frenzied traffic made its own music with melodic beeping of horns in a repertoire of rhythms and beats reflecting drivers’ moods. Stravinsky might have composed the music as a choreographer might have choreographed the vehicles’ dances – zigzagging, twisting, turning, stopping and starting.”
― Juliet Ayres, A Glimmer Through the Breach

“Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.”
― Leesa Cross-Smith, This Close to Okay

“Axel’s eyes are hazelnut and shift with the light and his mood. It makes him seem elusive and slippery, almost complicated. He’s not. He just has to be fed, kept busy, and reminded to wipe himself.”
― Wayne Ng, The Family Code (206)

“The things that come naturally to me are getting by (yes, that’s debatable), getting out when the shit’s hitting the fan, and getting the first punch in (unless I’ve been suckered). I’m good at those. References are available if you don’t believe me.”
― Wayne Ng, The Family Code (206)

“The CAS sent me to a therapist. He actually wasn’t half bad at first—real young, kinda cute, a bit stuck up with degrees in fancy IKEA frames all over his concrete walls and new-agey music playing. I mean, what kind of therapist has background music? Like was he going to massage my feet too? No doubt, he was making good money, though. To be honest, if he had made a move on me, I might have been okay with it.”
― Wayne Ng, The Family Code (206)

“I’m that person. I write about good and bad boys who make my heart sing and cry and scream. I write about things I fear—misogyny, mental illness, and bigotry. I write about the little things I like—shimmery dresses, dogs, ice cream, and radio.”
― Snehil Niharika, That’ll Be Our Song

“Lifting one loc, he rolled it between his fingers, familiarizing himself with the soft texture. He tugged it a little and let it spring out of his grip.
When he met her gaze, he could have sworn Nasira was holding her breath.

She released it and took another shallow one, closing her eyes. Almost as if she was waiting for a kiss.”
― J.L. Campbell