I’m back with this look at some of the best lines I came across last month. I wish a couple of the ARCs I read were published so I could use some lines from them–it probably would’ve almost doubled the size of this post.
The Blacktongue Thie by Christopher Beuhlman
Only the strong, the rich, and the dying think truth is a necessity; the rest of us know it for a luxury
And there’s humanity in a glimpse—we’ve always got a copper for a stone idol, but none for the beggar in its shadow.
To conquer a kingdom, a thousand is not enough. To free a prisoner, ten is too many.
Miles Morales Suspended by Jason Reynolds
The moon was a lightbulb dangling from a high ceiling, But in Brooklyn, there were no stars. Not in the sky. Miles, climbed along side his building up to the roof. Once there, he looked out at the New York City skyline and imagined that all the stars that were supposed to be there had fallen, and now sparkled much closer to the ground.
Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman
For parents, the drawback to loving their children so much is the anxiety that comes with it-—like love’s neurotic cousin…
He’d like to know what she almost said. One of the worst things about being a person is that when you don’t know something, you assume the absolute worst.
Another one of the worst things about being a person: when we’re not busy imagining the worst, too often we allow ourselves to imagine the best, and that almost never pans out.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
“I’m sorry about before,” I said. Seeing as we were shoulder to shoulder, I spoke outwards, lobbing my apology into the void of the mountain. It’s the only way blokes know how to show humility, by pretending we’re at a urinal.
Witty repartee is not well serviced by truth.
Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire
I hate it when people tell me not to be afraid. They never do that when something awesome is about to happen. No one says “don’t be afraid” and hands you an ice cream cone, or a kitten, or tickets to Comic-Con.
Hacker by Duncan MacMaster
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The campus was bustling.
The air was fresh.
However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were a pair of eyes boring holes into the back of my head. I turned around suddenly, and among the milling throng of students and staff going back and forth, I did catch someone doing an instant turn into a doorway.
Were the police tailing me?
Was the killer tailing me?
Was I being a paranoid moron?
All three were distinct possibilities.
The City of Scales by M. T. Miller
Ask, receive, then grieve over the folly of your desire.
The person behind the counter rose; a burly, shirtless creature resembling an oversized egg pretending to be a man.
But this hunt, not unlike a broken latrine, is a gift that keeps on giving.
“Suggestions?”
“None,” said the captain. “Unless someone finds us and we have to subdue them. If that happens, we should move at that moment.”
“No complaints from me,” Amelie said, knowing that she was telling a lie. If things turned sour, she would grumble all the way to her dying breath.
“Easy, no?”
“Not as easy as drowning,” the captain said. “But it could work.
“And my professional opinion is that I have no idea.”
Dream Town by Lee Goldberg
“You’re cruel, which you’ve already proven today by trying to starve me to death,” Duncan said. “We skipped lunch.”
“How is that my fault?”
“You were driving,” he said. “We were caught up in the momentum of the case.”
“He who holdeth the steering wheel decideth whether to driveth- through or not to driveth- through,” Duncan said. “It’s in the Bible. Or maybe it was Shakespeare. I can’t remember, because I’m too hungry.
(Image by DaModernDaVinci from Pixabay)
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