Take a Hint, Dani Brown Quotes

“I know you put a lot of stock in the fact that you’re ‘better’ now. That you handle things. That you cope. But coping takes a lot out of a person, too. And handling things doesn’t mean never struggling or slipping up. Life isn’t that black-and-white, not even close. So I want you to do or say or feel whatever the fuck you like, about everything, but especially about this. And I never want you to tell me you’re sorry for feeling things. Not ever again.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“. anything you want to do, you can.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“she simply chose to ignore the things that didn’t interest her in favor of the things that did.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“As. Yes. Well. I realized I wasn't as naturally emotive as other people. I knew I could be hyperfocused on my work, that I could be blunt and unsentimental. But I wanted to be a good girlfriend," she said, wrinkling her nose at the memory. She'd been so young and so ridiculous, thinking she could fake certain qualities to make someone else happy. Thinking that she should. She'd never make that mistake again.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“I can't keep doing this."
He arched an eyebrow. "Breathing?"
Danika's glare, as always, was a thing of beauty and impressive venom. "This," she repeated. "Fixating on my goals, pouring all my energy into my work until there's nothing left.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“I can't keep doing this."
He arched an eyebrow. "Breathing?"
Danika's glare, as always, was a thing of beauty and impressive venom.
"This," she repeated. "Fixating on my goals, pouring all my energy into my work until there's nothing left.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“Dani stepped closer, moving away from the door and into his chest. She was a head shorter than him, but there was steel in her eyes and confidence in her smirk, and he felt like they were players squaring up before a match.
"I'm never uncomfortable, Zafir," she whispered. "I lack the necessary social awareness, and anyway in case you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of a badass.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“That's not how relationships should be," he finished, thrown a little off balance. She'd said those words with such flat, empty hopelessness, as if this was a lesson she'd learned the hard way. As if it was a simple fact that love would ask too much for her, and so she couldn't or wouldn't try. He wasn't sure if the look in her eyes was weariness or an echo of something sharper, harsher. Either way, he didn't like it.
"I know," she told him slowly, as if explaining something to a child. "I don't do things right, and I don't think I want to. It all seems awfully dull and inconvenient. That's why I've chosen to abstain.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“I'm too work-focused. I don't say the right things, remember romantic little anniversaries. I find excessive affection obnoxious and I don't enjoy putting other people's priorities before my career and my family. These facts tend to disappoint prospective partners, and I'm too busy to deal with someone else's disappointment or the punishment that comes along with it. So I avoid the dynamic altogether.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“But you would've been well within your rights to murder him, and he probably knew it," Dani snapped, rage flickering around her like flames, so intense he could feel the heat.
He wasn't angry anymore, had worked hard not to be, but for some reason he liked seeing that anger in her. Maybe because it was for him. She was feeling for him, and that made him hungry for more.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“It didn't last long—I wasn't famous enough. But it felt like forever to me. So now, I guess, I'm a bit... private."
That wasn't the full story, just a fraction of it. Because the press had left Zaf alone eventually, but grief hadn't. Not for a long, long time. He wasn't going to tell her about the heights his anxiety had reached, or how it turned out depression could fuel rage like nothing else, or how bleak it felt when the fire ran out and the demons were all you had left. Not right now, anyway.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“Dani wasn't his family or his forever, which meant she didn't need to know. But she looked at him, just looked at him, with this quiet, conscious acceptance, as if to say Maybe you're hiding the whole story, but if you need to, I'll let you. And something about that look leaned on every last one of Zaf's pressure points—not in a painful way, not exactly. More like a massage that hurt really fucking good. Maybe she wasn't family or forever, but she was a really good friend [...] one undeniable fact shone like a star: Dani didn't hurt people and she didn't make things worse. She always—always—tried to make them better. That must be why, for the first time in a long time, he wanted to keep talking more than he wanted to shut someone down. He could trust her. He did trust her. He would trust her.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“A lot of people considered Dani oblivious, but that wasn't true; she simply chose to ignore the things that didn't interest her in favor of the things that did. People, as a group, were therefore pushed to the back of her mind in favor of more relevant topics, such as snacks and poetry and panel research. But Zaf had a strange tendency to squeeze through the bars of her mental cage (which made no sense, since he was bloody huge) and stroll into her zone of focus like he belonged there.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“Long, thoughtful pauses were a socially unacceptable habit Dani struggled to break, one she knew from past experience and blunt feedback made her seem strange and/or boring. Zaf never seemed to mind, though. He simply waited for her, and when she spoke again, he always spoke back as if the silence never happened.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“You don't like this, do you?" she asked, because suddenly she couldn't hold the question in.
Zaf faltered. "What?"
"People talking about you."
His gaze met hers, a hint of surprise flashing in the dark. "No. No, not really. Some things are fine, but others are off limits, and people never know where to draw the line.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“Fond of happily ever afters, are you?" she asked brightly.
Zaf rubbed a hand over his beard, looking oddly pensive all of a sudden. "I've seen the alternative. That's not the story I want for the rest of my life.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“She also knew now, really knew, why romance meant so much to him—not just the books, but for that search for his own happily ever after. She'd thought he was just sweet, loving, maybe a little old-fashioned, but now she realized he was... inspired. That he was one of those people, one of many whose lives had been forever changed by someone else's words. And that wasn't something Dani treated lightly. She made her living out of words. She knew they could be everything.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“Because the world wasn’t split into unhappy endings and happily ever afters. There were blessings everywhere and a thousand shades of joy all around him. Every shade should be savored.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“Loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“Because he knew her well enough to realize she’d rather be holed up in here like Gollum, stroking books and murmuring, “My precious.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“Don’t be disappointed with the sun for setting.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown

“Of course I was, Zaf. I’m still scared now. A little bit of me is always scared. But I was also terrified that this might never happen. That I’d never . . . move past the loss. The thing is,” she told him, “feeling is always worth it.”
― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown