simone ☆

“It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel the same as you: I can’t risk having people behold me as I truly am. But there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, “You will miss so much by being so guarded.”
― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals

“We are all living, at most, half of a life, she thought. There was the life you lived, which consisted of the choices you made. And then, there was the other life, the one that was the things you hadn't chosen.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“Well, it's simple to love someone," she said. "But it's hard to know when you need to say it out loud.”
― Rebecca Stead, When You Reach Me

“Nothing was certain in this world, Laney thought as she gazed at the magical snow and the crowds of people who had come to be a part of this day. Laney breathed it all in and gathered it into special place in her memory. Each day, each moment, felt so much more precious, especially after the past few months. It was all the more important to know that on the journey before her, she could always count on the people she loved and the place she called home. A home that was, and always would be, the brownstone on 141st street.”
― Karina Yan Glaser, The Vanderbeekers Ever After