"That's all right." Risa shifted and slid to the edge of the booth, but paused before getting up. She smiled at Cade, and it lit up her girl-next-door face with shining beauty. Her gaze, however, remained sober and sharp. "Maybe I don't need your concrete answer. Maybe you need mine. So here it is. Forgiveness, faith, and trust: they are not magic feelings that come over you with an ethereal light when you ask God for divine intervention. Each of those things is a choice you consciously decide to make, and then implement through deliberate action. So if you're waiting for something to hit you smack in the head and show you the light before you let yourself run to Ren and take him back, honey, it ain't ever going to happen. Life doesn't work that way.

 

"If you want people to view you as a strong man, so that you never get walked on again and always have the respect of everyone around you, then act from a place of strength, always, and that's the result you'll get. Deep down, you already know that. Look around you. You've created that here in Quinten, just by being yourself."

 

—ReneCade--Cameron Dane

 

Reuby was Gina's nose-and-eyebrow-pierced teenage son. Instead of calling his mother Mom, he called her the Authority Figure. . .

—Whale Island by Cathy Lamb (Almost Home Anthology)

 

"Because without optimism, we can't go on. Optimism is just hope in formal clothes. And without hope, the soul has nothing to cling to, the spirit dies."

—Marie Ferrarella from "The 39-Year-Old Virgin.

 

His lips tugged into a half-smile. "The chocolates please you? At least the Oracle was right in that regard. So, if I prove that I am from Kratania and give you the sweets, you will allow me the honor of ghrata?"

 

"What is ghrata?"

 

He frowned, as if trying to figure out how to explain the term. "Making love."

 

"Yep." It was a safe response because poor, sweet, deluded Matt was one taco short of a combo platter. There was no way in. . .uh, Illania he would really ravish her. "I would ghrata the night away with you, babe."

 

—Bride Portal by Michele R. Bardsley

 

Cut off the head?

Ewww.Um...maybe? But how do you explain it to the police after? "Gee, officer. I'm pretty sure the victim was a vampire..." Not so much. See previous comment re rubber room with padded walls.

— "Daniel" by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp

 

"He used his guy words to explain. 'A man doesn't know shit about love until he falls for the right woman.'"

 

— "Hot As Hell" by HelenKay Dimon