The Wake-Up Call Quotes

“There’s a reason it’s harder for women to approach men than the other way around – when the world tells you your worth is about men desiring you, it’s hard to take it when they don’t, and we’re scared to be rejected.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“He’s made my blood boil, and my body burn, but he’s also made me laugh and challenge myself and have real fun. He is a hell of a lot more than he looks. “Deep down, I think you’re all heart,” I whisper, shifting closer.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“I don’t want to get Izzy out of my system. That is clearer than ever after last night. I want all of her. Her kindness, her commitment, her multicoloured hair, and the way she always puts me in my place. I want to take her home and call her mine.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“(Why is it that when men sweat, it’s sexy, but when I sweat, I look like I’ve been crossbred with a tomato?)”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“I think I last did yoga in the first lockdown, when everyone got excited about working out in our living rooms, as if the lockdown rules were the reason we weren't all bounding out into the woods for fifteen-mile runs every morning.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“I’ve always been partial to an exclamation mark. Full stops just seem so . . . grown-up.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“No more easy options - I want this, the bright explosive joy of it. I want to say those words every day.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“He wraps his arms around me, and I feel something new. He's held me this way before - my legs framing his, his face buried in my neck - but this time having his arms around me settles something that i didn't know needed setteling. I feel safe.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“Fawlty Towers.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“You are ridiculous. It’s a lasagne! Nobody cares.” “I care,” I say. “I want you to have the best things.” She sobers at that, looking at me, round-eyed. “Lucas,” she says, softly now. “You can relax. It’s just me.” It’s just me. Like she isn’t fucking everything.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“But there’s no fire in Tristan. No grit. Tristan would never stand up for me; he’d never dunk me in a swimming pool fully clothed or dirty dance with me in a divorcée’s living room. In the entire time I was with Tristan, we never did anything more exciting together than start a new show on Netflix.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“Really, I’m not sure I did ever want him much. He was sweet, at first, and I’ve always gone for sweet guys—they’re safe and comforting, like milk chocolate, or boots with a two-inch heel. Nothing remarkable, but no risk of breaking an ankle, either.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“The magic of Forest Manor at its best: sconce lights glowing, live music playing, the warm hubbub of a happy crowd in the dining room. All the weddings: those love stories that found their happily-ever-after against the backdrop of our beautiful sandstone walls. And, for me, the coffees and heart-to-hearts with Arjun after dinner service has ended and neither of us wants to go home; the slow-growing friendships with guests like Mr Townsend who come to the hotel year after year; the sense of being part of something that brings joy in a harsh, frightening world.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“Lucas,’ she says, softly now. ‘You can relax. It’s just me.’ It’s just me. Like she isn’t fucking everything.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“would like to believe that I can let a person see me, and that once they have, they might think more of me, not less.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“you get from strangers to this, where you’re like one person split in two?”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“I want to look after you. So that you don’t have to do it all, for once.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“There’s a reason it’s harder for women to approach men than the other way around”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“when the world tells you your worth is about men desiring you, it’s hard to take it when they don’t, and we’re scared to be rejected.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“You’ll know what to do. If you really like her, it’ll come to you, because if you’re made for each other, you’re made to heal her when she’s hurting.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“like Dinah. She never goes the extra mile – she goes just far enough, and I have a lot of respect for that.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“Ninety-nine per cent of the time, I think Izzy is the most annoying woman I have ever met, but very occasionally I can’t help noticing how beautiful she is.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“Smoothies are just juices you aren’t sure whether to chew or not.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“I just love the ritual of the booking book, and guests do, too—signing in with the fountain pen, flicking through the thin pages, the heft of that leather cover as it thuds closed on the desk . . . It’s all part of the hotel experience, like the gold bell they ding if they need us and we’re not there. We could have an intercom-type system for that, but we don’t, because dinging is fun.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“An ex-boyfriend once said that I collect people and don’t let them go,”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call

“And the night sky here is stunning: reams of stars, as thick and bright as spilled glitter.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Wake-Up Call