This book wasn't what I was expecting at all but I ended up falling in love with it. Some books I love because they take me away (Stephenie Meyer's Twilight), some books I love because they are possible, but highly improbable (Kate Brian's Private). Then there are books that I love because I was able to learn from. JK Rowling's Harry Potter Series, Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why, and now Deb Caletti's The Secret Life of Prince Charming.
The back of the book summary reads:
Quinn is surrounded by women who have had their hearts brokem. She tries to be an optimist, but when she is abruptly and unceremoniously dumped, she starts to think maybe there really are no good guys out there.
It doesn't help that Quinn's father is back in her life. She's always tried to see the best in him, despite his selfish and eccentric tendencies. But when Quinn discovers he has stolen more than just the hearts of the many women in his life, she joins forces with the half sister she's never met and the little sister she'll do anything to protect, and sets out to right her father's wrongs. In doing so, Quinn begins to uncover what she's really looking for: the truth.
I read this and thought so this girl finds out she has a half sister and they go on some quest to find out more about their dad. Which is what kind of happens, but it is so much more than that. There are so many good quotes from the book that I wrote down. Quotes that have influenced how I imagine true and real love is, it has changed how I think about family. It has altered how I look at just about every relationship I have. Because of this I've spent the last couple of days thinking about New Years and resolutions, relationships, and how in the past I've burned others and been burned in return. I've severed ties with people I shouldn't have based on the limited knowledge I had at the time. I was blinded by emotions and I've come to the conclusion that my one resolution this year is to be better. Be a better person for my own sake. Do what I feel is right, instead of what I feel is expected of me.
I will leave you with just a few of my favorite quotes from the book.
"It's not a matter of being stupid. You can be smart and not know. And you can know and not care." -pg. 39 by Mary Louise
"He was one of those guys you feel like you have to try hard to be equal to--- as in shape as he is, as intelligent, as whatever. The kind you're slightly uneasy around because you know that deep down, he feels you don't measure up." -pg. 59 Francis Lee
"We have to be careful to not create a person in our imagination." pg. 68 Joelle
"It starts so young, and I'm angry about that. The garbage we're taught. About love, about what's 'romantic.' Look at so many of the so-called romantic figures in books and movies. Do we ever stop and thing how many of them would cause serious and drastic unhappiness after The End." pg. 128 Elizabeth
"Love isn't drama. Real love is there, not something out of reach." pg 173 Joelle
"So: Love is ease, love is comfort, love is support and respect. Love is not punishing or controlling. Love lets you grow and breathe. Love's passion is only good passion---swirling-leaves-on-a-fall-day passion, a-sky-full-of-magnificent-stars passion---not angst and anxiety. Love is not hurt or harm. Love is never unsafe. Love is sleeping like puzzle pieces. It's your own garden you protect; its a field of wildflowers you move about in both freely and together." pg. 176 Joelle
"Love is a decision that should be made for the right reasons and kept for the right reasons." pg 220 Brie
"An umbrella is an umbrella, except when the man you love stood under it during a hailstorm when he asked you to marry him." pg 231 Olivia
"Insecurity is not a good enough excuse for bad behavior." pg 285 Abigail
"The truest thing about truth was that it needed to be seen no matter what it was and no matter how it came to you." pg 287 Quinn
"A squirt of perfume is a shot of manufactured confidence, which is probably why it's so expensive and the bottles so fancy." pg 299 Quinn
"Family was even bigger a word that I imagined before, wide and without limitations, if you allowed it, defying easy definition. You had family that was supposed to be family and wasn't, family that wasn't family but was, halves becoming whole, wholes splitting in two." pg. 303 Quinn (something I have thought a great deal about since my mom got sick.)
"I'm not the most, the best, the fastest, the greatest, but I am enough." pg. 321 Quinn
"And real love---it's less shiny than solid and simple." pg. 322 Quinn
