“Every time a girl refuses to eat, she one-ups Eve.”

“There's a fine line between piety and wack-ass obsession, and people have been landing on the wrong side for thousands of years.”

“the greatest thing about having so many laws was that you could pick and choose, and move on to the next when the last lost its magic.”

“Rose leaned against the bathroom door. Here it was — her real life, the truth of who she was, barreling down on her like a bus with bad brakes. Here was the truth — she wasn’t the kind of person Jim could fall in love with. She wasn’t what she’d made herself out to be — a cheerful, uncomplicated girl, a normal girl with a happy, orderly life, a girl who wore pretty shoes and had nothing more pressing on her mind that whether ER was a rerun this week. The truth was in the exercise tape she didn’t have time to unwrap, let alone exercise to; the truth was her hairy legs and ugly underwear. Most of all, the truth was her sister, her gorgeous, messed-up, fantastically unhappy and astoundingly irresponsible sister.”

“Every Halloween I missed being a kid, getting to dress up and eat tons of candy. The only thing I got to do now was…eat tones of Candy. Not half bad”

“You picked that out?” Caine asked. “That pink, plastic toy?”I turned to look at him. “I happen to have been a little girl, once upon a time, detective. I know what they like. Every little girl wants to be a princess.”A thoughtful frown overcame the angry tension on Caine’s rugged face. “And what happens when they grow up?”I thought of my mother and sisters and all the horrors that had happened the day they’d died. A bitter laugh escaped from my tight lips. “Then they just want to be little girls again.”

“You think it hurts your feelings that girls talk about you behind your back, until they tell you to your face. And they each wanted a turn. Every time, it started with 'girlfriend' and ended with 'bitch.”