The Golden Raven Quotes

“How someone so warm had survived such a cold place, Jean didn’t know.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“I am not sorry. Perhaps I should be. But I will choose you every time. You, and Cat, and Laila, every time. I will lose them all if I must.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“I’m not learning French for anyone but you.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“​“I like pink,” Cat said. “Laila’s is purple. What about you?” ​Jean frowned as he thought it over, gaze drifting over the assortment of clothes piled in their shopping cart. At last he settled on the only one that made sense: “Brown.” It was not the answer Cat was expecting, judging by her reaction, but Jean didn’t waste his time explaining. Brown like the soil in Rhemann’s garden, or the sand where the tide washed ashore, or the dirt roads Cat had led him down time and again. Brown like the gaze that sought Jean out in every room, but that last thought wasn’t one he could linger on.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Fuck what I deserve. What about what I want?”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“How Jean’s kind heart had survived a place like Evermore, Jeremy wasn’t sure. It was bruised and bleeding, but it wasn’t broken.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“​Jeremy would be lucky to know his own name when Jean was standing between his legs like this.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“That malfunctioning cretin existed to cause trouble for everyone in a thousand-mile radius,”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Jean would only drive himself mad if he tried to understand the toxic mystery that was the human heart.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“I’m glad you’re alive,” she said. “I’m so happy you’re here with us, and I hope you’re happy, too. I hope you tell us when you’re not so we can help you. You’re our friend, and we love you.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Jeremy’s smile was slow and radiant, and Jean had to look away. He needed to leave before he got himself in trouble,”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“It was Rhemann’s voice in his head, Rhemann’s and his friends’ and Neil’s, drowning out his miserable thoughts and excuses with unrelenting force. Jean squeezed his hands until his fingers went numb and willed himself to believe the words as he slowly spoke them into existence: “I deserve to get better.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“A brother is a complicated thing,”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“No one will take you seriously if you learn French with a southern accent.”
​“Does that really matter?” Jeremy asked, studying Jean with a stare that felt prying. “I’m not learning French for anyone but you.”
Getting kicked in the chest would be a little less painful.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Repeat after me: I didn’t deserve what they did to me.”​
Rhemann didn’t know what he was asking; he didn’t know what this would cost. Panic chewed a line from Jean’s gut to his heart. He couldn’t refuse a coach’s direct order, but he could beg: “Please don’t make me, Coach.”
​“I need you to say it and mean it, Jean,” Rhemann said. “Please.”​
Please was so uncalled-for Jean could only stare at him, heart hammering louder than his thoughts. He could feel every chain straining, waiting for the words that would rend them powerless at last. He was afraid to open his mouth again lest he get sick, but at length managed a hesitant, “I didn’t deserve—” heavy hands, heavier racquets, dark rooms, darker blood, teeth and knives and drowning, I’m drowning, I’m drowning “—what they did to me.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“It makes you more interesting,” Jean said, and watched the way Jeremy’s jaw worked on silent protests. That he wouldn’t even defend himself said worlds to how disappointed he was in his thoughtlessness; he didn’t want Jean to like this side of him. Jean finally took pity on him and explained, “Not your capacity for unkindness, but how fiercely you fight against it.”​It wasn’t the answer Jeremy was expecting, judging by the look on his face, but this was not the time or place to get into it.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“I don’t want you to be like Zane,” Jean said, slow as he tried piecing it together. “I don’t want Coach to be like the master. I don’t want to teach Tanner contrition when he continuously fails my drills or to break my racquet over Cat’s back if I think she should have performed better. I don’t ever want to go back to how things were. Maybe you are fools, and I am the biggest fool for indulging you, but better to be reckless fools than Ravens.”​He held the nickel out toward Jeremy. “We will do it your way, and we will win anyway.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Kevin watched him work with a distant gaze. ​“When did you learn how to cook?” he asked. ​
“Cat is teaching me,” Jean said. He could have left it at that, but after a beat, he admitted, “I like it. It makes everything else go away for a while.” ​
He’d never hesitated to join Cat in the kitchen, but this was the first time he’d offered such an unguarded opinion of it. The smile that curved Cat’s lips was gentle; the look Laila sent Jean was fond. Kevin studied Jean like he wasn’t quite sure who he was looking at: not with any trepidation, but quietly reevaluating a man he’d known for so many years. For a moment Jeremy felt the history between them and was dizzy; in another he was keenly aware there was too much there for him to ever understand. ​
Kevin offered Jean a second arepa, waited for Jean to reach for it, and said, “I’m glad.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Maybe you are fools, and I am the biggest fool for indulging you, but better to be reckless fools than Ravens.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Your English is fantastic,” Jeremy said. “It’s not about that. It’s your native language, and none of us here can share it with you. That’s reason enough for me to learn.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“I was glad when he lost his hand. Exy is all he has and all he loves; I knew it would destroy him to lose it. A month in the nest without it, maybe two, and he would have no recourse but to kill himself. I was only alive because he made me promise to survive. If he died, who could hold me to that? I would have slashed the tires on his car before I let him escape us, and he knows it.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Jean didn't even hesitate. "That ill-bred child is not my friend.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“But Dr. Spader said grief isn’t supposed to get easier: you just become someone strong enough to weather it. You let the good things and the good days shore you up so the bad days can’t tear you down.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Pop. How easily these monsters die in the end.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Brown like the soil in Rhemann’s garden, or the sand where the tide washed ashore, or the dirt roads Cat had led him down time and again. Brown like the gaze that sought Jean out in every room, but that last thought wasn’t one he could linger on.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“If I threw a rock into the chasm between your talents and his, I don’t think I’d ever hear it hit bottom.”​ It was so uncharacteristically rude Jean could only stare at him.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“I’m going to make a dog bowl for Barkbark.” ​Jean stared at him in disbelief and immediately lost control of his clay. He cracked his knee into the wheel in his hurry to catch it, and he scowled at Jeremy’s helpless laughter.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Andrew clocked Jeremy immediately, and three of every five messages you’ve sent me this past month are about him.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Hannah Bailey is a rancid bitch.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“Jeremy meant to laugh or agree. What he said was, “You look good.” When Jean went still as stone, Jeremy hurried to correct himself with, “It looks good on you, I mean. But I get it—not the most comfortable thing to wear.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven