#tori

A good story should make you laugh, and a moment later break your heart. ↗

— Chuck Palahniuk

#stories #laugh

I love short stories because I believe they are the way we live. They are what our friends tell us, in their pain and joy, their passion and rage, their yearning and their cry against injustice. ↗

— Andre Dubus

#short-story

Would you like me to court you?” the earl finally asked. YES. She smoothed her hands over her skirts to keep from confessing it aloud. “I would like to know if you are,” she replied. “Or what your intentions are, if you aren’t.” “My intentions . . .” His slow smile acted like a torch held to her skin. She felt prickly with heat and yet transfixed by the glowing allure of it. “I intend to have you, Maggie, in every way a man can have a woman. I want your hand in mine while we dance. I want you laughing beside me in the theater. I want you lying naked in my arms at night. And I want you standing beside me in church, saying ‘I will.’ ↗

— Caroline Linden

#historical-romance #i-love-the-earl #love

There is an arch supported by four vast columns. Etched over hundreds and hundreds of yards of stone, furlongs of stone, there are names: "Who are these, these? The men who died in this battle?" "No. The lost, the ones they did not find. The others are in the cemeteries." "These are just the ... the unfound." When she could speak again. From the whole war?" The man shook his head. "Just these fields." Elizabeth sat on the steps. "No one told me. My God no one told me, ↗

— Sebastian Faulks

#love

I love you enough to keep you from dying with me... ~ Dane de Falaise ↗

— Gayle Mullen Pace

#medieval #romance #love

He didn’t deserve compassion. Sympathy. Not even understanding. He deserved worse, far worse than he had ever been given. ↗

— V.S. Carnes

#historical-romance #love #romance #love

...writing stories was always a bit like falling in love with a stranger and running off to Marrakech for a long weekend. It didn't have to be successful to be thrilling. ↗

— Ann Patchett

#short-stories #writing #love

If she would just let herself go I would be there to catch her if she fell but she wasn't ready to take that step yet." Ethan Sterling in Private Emotions ↗

— Elize Amornette

#books-romance #elize-amornette #elize-amornette-author #love-story #private-emotions-trilogy

Cole smiled. “Love you,” he whispered softly. “I’ll be back soon to show you how much. ↗

— Victoria Lynne

#cole #devon #victoria-lynne #love

Oh, Cole,” she said, “the jewelry box is lovely—” “It’s not for jewelry.” She gazed up at him, surprised by his somber tone. “Then what—” “It’s a memory box, Devon. Something in which to store all those memories you collect, so you’ll never lose a single one.” He paused, looking both tender and serious at once. “Unlike the wedding gift you gave me, this one comes with strings attached. If you accept it, I expect the next fifty years of your life in return to help fill it up.” Devon bit her lip to hide a wayward, trembling smile. “Only the next fifty?” He shrugged. “We can negotiate after that.” She nodded, swallowing past the tight knot in her throat. “That sounds like a pretty fair deal to me. ↗

— Victoria Lynne

#cole #devon #victoria-lynne #love