“I Try To Focus On His Eyes, But There Are Drops Of Water On His Lips, And It’s Hard Not To Stare.”

“They looked at each other like they were . . . in love. My chest hurt, and my smile fell. I wished love was visible, like the sparkles on Elena’s gown. Or the shimmer of the sun on skin. Then it couldn’t be hidden or faked.

I wondered what love felt like.

I wondered if it even existed.”

The Maddest Obsession by Danielle Lori

“Women fall in love quicker than men. Easier and more often. But when guys fall? We go down harder. And when things go bad? When it’s not us who ends it? We don’t get to walk away...

We crawl.”

Tangled by Emma Chase

“Happiness is a forgotten emotion. It’s safer to feel nothing, to ignore that I’m a fuck-up. To disregard the fact that I’m beyond help.

Accept I am alone.

Give up on hoping—hoping I can ever be normal again.

Because without hope, there can be no disappointment.”

The Enigma by Jodi Ellen Malpas

Some search

their entire lives

for this single moment.

Don’t blink, my love.

We’re finally here.

—Oliver Masters

Stay With Me by Nicole Fiorina

“It was always you, Gabriel.” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently, as if his soul was begging to be joined to hers.“It was always you, Julianne. Only you.”

“All of them think I’m pathetic. None of them care what happens to Samson. And none of them believe in what we had. For once in my life, I had someone who actually cared about me, and all four of them think I’m incapable of knowing what true love is. I know what love is, because I spent my whole life knowing what it isn’t.”

Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover

He puts his hand between us on the couch, palm up, and then looks back at the TV.

It’s like he’s put out a dish of seed and is now sitting very still, waiting for the cowardly little chicken to make a move. And it does take me a while. I tentatively pick up his hand and lace his fingers into mine.

For a scary moment he doesn’t react, but as the warmth of his hand begins to glow into my palm, he gives me a deep, delicious squeeze.

The art of holding hands is underrated and it’s embarrassing how much this simple act has me nearly breathless.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

“I didn’t see the funny, complex, tortured guy I wanted so badly to fix. All I saw was a broken prince with pleading eyes who was on the verge of tears. Man tears. Not angry or exasperated or annoyed. But real and sad and deep.”

Midnight Blue by L.J. Shen