She leaned forward with the grace of an uncoiling snake.
Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis, Cara Black
The flashlight's yellow beams played across the rising water and the rivulets running down the walls. In a stone niche sat a statue of a saint, chipped and furred with moss.
The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal
She watched me, and I have never felt so silently judged by someone drinking cold tomato soup through a straw.
The Once and Future Witches, Alix E Harrow
"It isn't possible."
Agnes raises her head from her candle-circle and meets their eyes. She should look like a grief-struck madwoman, broken and hopeless, but instead she looks like an angel cast down from Heaven struggling back to her feet with blood on her teeth, ready to make war with God himself.
"I do not," she says, very clearly, "give a shit."
It's In His Kiss, Julia Quinn
It was the look of a woman who had spent her life waiting for people to keep up with her.
Contagion, Erin Bowman
Monster or not, he was the only thing that had kept her alive, and here he was, trying to reassure her as she considered trying to murder him.
Chemistry, Weike Wang
I felt invincible when smashing those beakers. But then I felt worse. It was unkind to make the beakers suffer on my behalf.
Open House on Haunted Hill, John Wiswell
Daddy closes his eyes for a moment. "Please just put your shirt back on."
Ana immediately attacks her pants. "Clothes are for the weak!"
Little Free Library, Naomi Kritzer
It felt like she'd read a book, only to find the last page missing.
A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik
Boys often think for about ten seconds they might want to go out with me, and then they look into my eyes or talk to me and I suppose get the strong impression I'm likely to devour their souls or something.
The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik
Sitting on edge in a classroom for hours surrounded by fluffy peeping freshmen waiting for one mal to pop out at me: nightmarish. Summoning a river of magma to instantly vaporize twenty-seven carefully designed attacks at once: nothing to it.
Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard
In forests, experiments are slow, and the lifespan of a scientist is far shorter.
Working for Bigfoot, Jim Butcher
After that, it was clobbering time.
Immunity, Erin Bowman
"Whose side are you on, Doctor?" Thea growled.
A small pause. "Until recently, I thought I knew."
A Spindle, Splintered, Alix E Harrow
The idea leaps from my skull fully formed, armored and Athenian and deeply stupid. I love it.
Blood Rites, Jim Butcher
"Clearly I underestimated you."
"Don't feel bad," I said. "I mean, I look so stupid."
Jade Fire Gold, June CL Tan
I don't comfort or console him. Instead, I lift my chin imperiously. "I didn't know we were competing for who had the most awful childhood. Obviously, you win."
The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks, Mackenzi Lee
The things she left behind have to matter because I'm one of them.
Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko
"I hope you never win the pride of a monster, Tarisai. It's worse than their contempt."
The Power of Bad, John Tierney & Roy F Baumeister
If it's a slow news day, there are always future doomsdays to fear--a virus wiping out humanity, a takeover of the world by robots, a global environmental collapse.
Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr
She pants, sweating on her Parambulator inside Compartment 17, and leans as far forward as she can to touch its trunk, her fingertips passing through, the interface breaking down into a grainy smudge, a girl alone with a centuries-old pine tree in the sunbaked mountains of Thessaly, land of magic.
Mitosis, Brandon Sanderson
A true Chicago dog looks like someone fired a bazooka at a vegetable stand, then scraped the remnants off the wall and slathered it on a tube of meat.
Dustborn, Erin Bowman
"You should have killed them."
"You say that like killing is easy."
I don't tell him that it is, shockingly so.
Passing, Nella Larsen
Clare stood at the window, as composed as if everyone were not staring at her in curiosity and wonder, as if the whole structure of her life were not lying in fragments before her. She seemed unaware of any danger or uncaring. There was even a faint smile on her full, red lips, and in her shining eyes.
Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy: Jedi Search, Kevin J Anderson
He had the look of a man accustomed to power suddenly shown how small he is in the grand scheme of things.
Skin of the Sea, Natasha Bowen
I snarl, twisting away from their grip, and say a prayer to Yemoja as I open my arms to the waves below me. Light sparkles on the white foam, the sea inviting me.
They don't have the chance to throw me.
I jump.
Skyhunter, Marie Lu
"Honor is a thankless thing," Adena mutters. "They'll hunt us in the morning, like we're criminals."
"Sometimes a crime is an act of heroism," my mother answers quietly.
She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan
He had a wound for a heart, and that made him a more dangerous opponent than anyone realized.
Gilded, Marissa Meyer
"You're really alive," he said. He said it as a statement of fact, but one he wasn't sure he believed.
"Well...yes," she said. "I thought that had been well established, what with the Erlking hoping to kill me at dawn and all that."
Caddo Indians: Where We Come From, Cecile Elkins Carter
Instead of finding Garland and his company guilty of murder, the jury found Jose Maria guilty of stealing a mule.
Redemptor, Jordan Ifueko
"But I tried to kill someone."
Ai Ling's jaded smile returned. "This is An-Ileyoba," she pointed out soothingly, reaching to squeeze my knee. "Who hasn't?"
Protest: A Cultural Introduction to Social Movements, James M Jasper
If meetings were always boring, there would be no social movements.
The Dangerous Hour, Marcia Muller
Disorientation aloft is pleasurable. It's on the ground that it's tricky.
Hall of the Two Truths, Susannah Parker Sinard
When the second zat turned toward him, Jack felt only relief. Teal'c. Daniel. Carter. Hell. He was already dead. Dying would just be a technicality.
Dead Beat, Jim Butcher
"The door is ajar," the dashboard said.
"It won't shut up," I explained to him.
"It gets sort of Zen after a while," Butters said brightly. "Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is a jar."
The Echo Wife, Sarah Gailey
When I got to the kitchen, Nathan was still dead.
Proven Guilty, Jim Butcher
I kicked the door open, staff held ready to fight, and shouted, "And I'm all outta bubble gum!"
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The supposition that Remedios the Beauty possessed powers of death was then borne out by four irrefutable events.
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Then sometimes the immense quiet of the dark blue at night with millions of stars waiting and watching makes one sure; and sometimes a sound of far-off music makes it true; and sometimes a look in someone's eyes.
Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir
She was nine, and she'd made a mistake. She was seventeen, and she'd made a mistake. Time had repeated itself. Harrow would be tripping over herself for her whole existence, a frictionless hoop of totally fucking up.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Natasha Pulley
He lifted his head and looked straight at her for the first time, not so much with anger as a sort of half-surprise. She felt suddenly as though she had thrown a stone, badly aimed, but still a stone, at a navy sniper.
Stay Close, Harlan Coben
That's the problem with crossing the line. You step over it for a second, but then that line gets blurry and you don't know where it is anymore and the next thing you know, you're supposed to help two maniacal Talbots-catalogue models kill a woman.
Steelstriker, Marie Lu
It must be lonely, living in a world of your own lies.
A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine
The adjutant, Twenty Cicada, made an entirely remarkable noise, like he'd drowned a laugh and swallowed its corpse.
White Night, Jim Butcher
"She seeing anyone?"
"Not since she drilled holes in her last boyfriend's psyche and drove him insane."
Comfort Me With Apples, Catherynne M Valente
"You are happy, aren't you? Aren't you?"
"Yes, my darling," Sophia sighs, and she is not lying. Not yet.
Not Here to Be Liked, Michelle Quach
"I'm just not sure it's worth all the effort."
He tries to say this carelessly, like throwing keys on a table, but some syllable of it makes me sad.
My Sweet Girl, Amanda Jayatissa
Nothing pisses me off more than my skin being perpetually compared to food--caramel, honey, mocha, syrup. I mean, get more creative if you're trying to commodify me, asshole.
Tokyo Ever After, Emiko Jean
"You know, I'm very good at a lot of things. Spelling, for example. In fact, back in the States, I was a hangman champion." At his silence, I explain the game.
"You were best at a game that teaches children if they don't spell correctly, they may be put to death?"
Not Your Sidekick, CB Lee
"Thank you, Mrs. Monroe. Er, Mrs. Jones? Your Mischiefness?"
Small Favor, Jim Butcher
"He isn't a mortal," I said quietly. "I thought the Knights had to be mortals."
"He is in love," Grimalkin mrowled for Mab. "That is more than mortal enough for me."
How to Pronounce Knife, Souvanham Thammavongsa
Soon after, sometime in the night when I was asleep, she walked out the door with a suitcase. My father saw her leave, he told me. And he did nothing.
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