29 Quotes by Rachel Lynn Solomon

People change, Rowan. Thank God they do.

The love that I wanted so desperately: this isn’t what I thought it would feel like. It’s made me dizzy and it’s grounded me. It’s made me laugh when nothing is funny. It shimmers and it sparks, but it can be comfortable, too, a sleepy smile and a soft touch and a quiet, steady breath. Of course this boy—my rival, my alarm clock, my unexpected ally—is at the center of it.

You like it,” he says. There’s a glintin his eyes, like he understands something I don’t. “You like that nickname."And . . . I kind of do. It hasn’t felt irritating in a while. It’s only his, a language only we have, even if it’s a reference I don’t understand.

But you like it. It’s possibly the boldest thing he’s said all day, and when he takes a step forward, I can feel the heat radiating offhim. No wonder he was fine parting with his hoodie—the boy is a human sauna. You like being infuriated. By me.

Maybe that’s the definition of nostalgia: getting sappy about things that are supposed to be insignificant.

I guess it’s like, in my head, my writing can be as great as I want it to be. But as soon as I declare I’m a writer, I’ll have something to prove. It’s hard to admit that you think you’re good at something creative. And then it’s so much worse for women. We’re told to shrug off compliments, to scoff when someone tells us we’re good at something. We shrink ourselves, convincing ourselves what we’re creating doesn’t actually matter.

I know you can do this. You’re the person who revolutionized garbage collection at Westview, remember?

Neil McNair has become my alarm clock, if alarm clocks had freckles and knew all your insecurities.

While I love romance, I’ve never believed in the concept of soul mates, which has always seemed a little like men’s rights activism: not a real thing. Love isn’t immediate or automatic; it takes effort and time and patience. The truth of it was that I’d probably never have the kind of luck with love the women who live in fictional seaside towns do. But sometimes I get this strange feeling, an ache not for something I miss, but for something I’ve never known.