Excerpt Quotes

“Love is messy. It's not easily controlled. But that's what makes it so powerful. It's unbridled passion. It's caring about someone else's life more than you care about your own.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“Even before she'd known him, she'd fallen in love with the boy who'd had the passion to make his one wish come true and the audacity to call himself Legend.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“But I don't want to feel differently. I want to feel love in its every form. I used to be scared of it, but now I think love is another type of magic. It makes everything brighter, it makes people who have it stronger, it breaks rules that aren't supposed to exist, it's infinitely valuable. I can't imagine my life without it.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“If there had been a clock in the room, it would have stopped. Occasionally, there are minutes that get extra seconds. Moments so precious the universe stretches to make additional room for them, and this was one of them. People don't get pauses like these very often. Some people never receive them at all.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“If you care about her at all, then you should let her go rather than try to change her.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“He was trying to dazzle her. But dazzle was a lot like romance - fantastic while it lasted, but it never lasted long enough.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“Sometimes Legend felt like her enemy, sometimes he felt like her friend, sometimes he felt like someone she used to love, and every once in a while, he felt like someone she still loved.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“But I don’t want to feel differently. I want to feel love in its every form. I used to be so scared of it, but now I think love is another type of magic. It makes everything brighter, it makes people who have it stronger, it breaks rules that aren’t supposed to exist, it’s infinitely valuable. I can’t imagine my life without it. And if you felt any love in your heart, you would understand.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“Tella had a spark that could either set the whole world ablaze, or give it much-needed light.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“Each living wall was formed of different rare flowers. Burning orange starfire lilies. Deep purple twilight thistles. Brilliant gold creeping faisies. Champagne delights. Scorching red feverbells. All of which grew and stretched with every person that stepped inside.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“The garment he'd sent had straps made of flower petals, a bodice made of ribbons lined in gems as small as glitter and a full skirt formed of hundreds of silk butterflies, all in different shades of blue that together formed a magical hue she'd never seen. Some had sheer blue wings that were almost as pale as tears, others were soft sky blue, a few had hints of violet, while some had periwinkle veins. The butterflies weren't alive, but they were so delicate and ethereal, at a glance they looked real.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“You think love is a disease, but you've become the disease. Your fear of love is destroying you and everyone you touch. And it doesn't make you powerful, it makes the world around you tragic.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“Everything smelled of dust trapped in light, cracked leather and wayward dreams. Breathing in and out through her nose, Tella looked down at the Map of All. It had transformed once they'd entered the library. It now revealed an entire kingdom made of books that could either have been a book lover's nightmare or their wish come true. There was a Broken Spine Castle, an Unread River, a Ravine of Ripped Pages, a Poetry Valley, a set of Novel Mountains, and then finally, the Ruscica and Books for Advanced Imaginations.

The most direct route to this room was through an area referred to as The Zoo. Tella wondered if it would have books in cages, but The Zoo didn't even have bookshelves. The books all roamed freely in this room as they clung together to take the shapes of different animals. Tella spied bookish rhinos, paper-mache elephants and very tall giraffes that milled about in an oddly peaceful silence. The elephant sniffed at Tella with its leathery-grey trunk of books, while a paper bunny made of loose pages noiselessly hopped after Legend. The bunny continued to follow as they left The Zoo and reached The Reading Chamber, where books formed couches and chairs and one massive throne.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“I love you, Julian.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale