The Gender Game Quotes

“But this wasn't a fairytale.
Viggo's and my story was everything but.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“Better to remain always self-reliant. Self-reliance means you're in control. Don't ever think you need a man for happiness.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“It's called life," he replied dryly. "Things lose their shine when you get too close to them.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“I supposed we were more vulnerable to wondering. Grief did that to you. It made you wish for a life that wasn't yours. It made you dream.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“His confidence was something that I admired—he wasn't cocky or arrogant, but pragmatic. He simply knew what he was capable of.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“Catching the glint of malice in her eyes came as a wake-up call. I realized in this moment, she was as crazy as I was.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“You're a good liar."
He gritted his teeth and held my gaze, Sometimes that's what's required to do what is right in Patrus.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“But now, as I sat here alone and taskless in the gloom, I didn't know how to still my mind. Almost decade-old feelings resurfaced, clawing at my chest and heart, threatening to overwhelm me.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“Having been trained to get out of this kind of hold before, my next move was wired in my brain. It came as mere instinct for my right leg to slip backward and jerk forward. I caught him at the back of his right knee. He hadn't been expecting that, either. He lost balance, causing the two of us to tumble to the floor. I quickly scrambled to gain an advantage while he lay on his back. Gripping his arms and pressing them hard against the floor, I straddled his hips. I leaned over, my face leveling with his. As our eyes met, we both broke out in a tense laugh.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“desperation had a way of making you find strength you thought you'd lost.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“Trying to make sense of rules that didn't make sense was rather a losing proposition.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“one”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“I wasn't sure what to feel. Somewhere within me still blazed my perpetual flame of anger, indignation, and resentment. But deeper than that, there was more. There was abandonment. There was betrayal. There was a hollow sense of grief. For years, I'd been grasping at straws in an attempt to find meaning to my life, purpose to my days. As much as my country had been the cause of my darkest depths of depression, it had also picked me up from them. It had forced me to keep going in some direction, even if it wasn't what I would have chosen for myself. In many ways, being imprisoned had been the best thing that could have happened to me. It had taught me to stop feeling and to simply concentrate on doing. We were worked hard and weren't given time for much else. Days were comfortably numb.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“I didn't need a man in my life—not even a Matrian male—and from all that I'd been told by my mother before she died, I was better off without one anyway. Better to remain always self-reliant. Self-reliance means you're in control. Don't ever think you need a man for happiness.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“I was about to close in on her again when, to my confusion, she reached into her mouth. When she withdrew her hand, she was holding the top and bottom layers of her braces. Removable braces. She'd managed to keep them from the wardens. My pulse raced as I realized what she was doing. She quickly broke off the smooth rubber seal at the end of each of the wires, leaving them bare and pointed. Then she held a brace in each hand, positioning the wiry ends between her fingers so they stuck out like claws.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“Self-reliance means you're in control.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“Trashing Ms. Connelly's old china," I explained, a response I had thought up long before leaving my room this morning. "Oh, I see," she said, her”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“The fluorescent street lamps illuminated the tall, lithe brunette standing on the sidewalk outside Georgette's Laundry. She was clutching a bundle”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“We crept as quietly as we could through the sludge, toward the edge of the vaporous water. I continued to reassure Tim in whispers that Cad would be waiting in his rowboat, just like he’d promised. Only a little further up… but as we reached the river's border, neither Cad nor his boat were anywhere to be seen.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“A woman in Patrus had about as many rights as a pet animal. She couldn't legally reside there”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“without being owned by a man, and even with a husband she was limited. She couldn't go out by herself, she couldn't work, drive, or own money or property. I'd even heard that their physical appearance and clothes were dictated by the man, if he so chose, and arguing was completely taboo. Women were dependent to a humiliating degree.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“I grabbed the flashlight and the backpack before closing the seat and resuming my sitting position. Switching on the light, I unzipped the main compartment and began to rummage in search of the key. Within it was another knife, a box of matches, a loop of rope, an unlabeled white tube of pills that looked suspiciously like Benuxupane, a compass, a camera… and then two photographs. I removed the compass and placed it in a small holder that was fixed beneath the gears. Then I picked up the photographs and shone my light down on them. My breath hitched. One of them displayed an all-too-familiar sight: the table in the queen's library, etched with the words "FOR THE BOYS OF MATRUS". The second displayed a different message.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“They had seen and sensed me. Growls ripped from the dogs' throats as they closed the distance. But it wasn't the end of the world if I was caught out here. As long as— "Watch out, Violet!" Tim's scream. My blood ran cold. Stupid boy. Stupid, stupid boy!”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“A waifish girl who looked no older than nine stood barefoot in the doorway, wearing a checkered brown dress. Her face, splashed with freckles, was round and framed by a ginger mop of short, yet wildly curly hair. The apples of her cheeks were high and plump, her small lips pursed and heart-shaped. She had a look of righteous indignation in her large—almost bulbous—green eyes.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“Another idea came to me, and this time I acted instantly. Using my knees, I shoved all my weight to the right as I leaned backward. The mix of movement and direction was enough to rock Viggo's balance. We both toppled to our sides on the grass. As we made contact with the ground, there was a second where Viggo's hold loosened on my arms. I managed to slide them out in front of me and then break his hold on my neck enough for me to squirm and twist until I was facing him, our noses inches apart. I froze, realizing just how close we’d come to each other. Closer than we’d ever been. I paused for a few seconds to take in the details of his eyes, his dark lashes, every hue of green in his irises and the way they seemed to gleam as he looked back at me.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“I didn't want to risk taking Samuel out again. I had already pushed the law enough since arriving here. So, I found myself heading up to Lee's room. I sat in front of his computer, which had been left unlocked, then navigated to the map of Patrus and stared at the five red moving dots. I could guess which one Viggo was—he was already at his gym. I wondered what he was practicing now. Whether he even had a trainer, or if he always prepared for fights on his own. Then I found myself watching the other four dots and wondering who those people were. One of them was roaming the outskirts of the city, while the other three were near the city center, the latter, like Viggo, pretty stationary.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“Viggo nodded curtly before turning away and heading back down the aisle to stand at the end of it, where he continued his perusal of the room. Dozens of people eyed Viggo and whispered among themselves, obviously having recognized him. This made me feel even more so that Viggo's excuse for not fulfilling his full potential as a fighter was a load of bull. He was already recognized practically everywhere he went. I couldn't imagine that moving up a league would make that much of a difference in his life when he was already used to being spotted and stared at. There was a deeper reason for Viggo's reluctance to fight, but I knew better than to bring up the subject again.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“It was only recently, soon after King Maxen's ascent to the throne. By some twist of providence, two incidents I haven't been able to ignore occurred within the space of a few days. I discovered the real reason King Maxen commissioned Benuxupane, and the truth about the marked boys of Matrus.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“It symbolizes strength and potential. Growth, like the waxing moon.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game

“The party believed that if men were allowed to prevail again, they were simply creating a replica of the former testosterone-driven regime that had led everything to ruin.”
― Bella Forrest, The Gender Game