“Books + friendship = book club”

“So now books were her only friends. She'd read Lord of the Rings so often she could recite whole scenes by memory.It was not a skill that aided one in becoming popular.”

“He'd learned in the past few months that telling a girl what to wear--even one the size of a golf club--was a bad idea. Histrionics often followed.”

“It was true; always had been. Friendships were like marriages in that way. Routines and patterns were poured early and hardened like cement.”

“The Mularkeys all saw love as a durable, reliable thing, easy to recognize... Love could be more fragile than a sparrow's bone.”

“Nothing was easier to shatter than the fragile shield of an idealist.”

“That was her mistake. She'd pinned her happiness to a teenage girl's chest. Idiot. The realization made her almost smile. She certainly knew better than that.”