I'll Be There, written by Holly Goldberg Sloan
The chance meeting of two teenagers leads to one and his little brother spending time with the other and her family. He's not completely honest about his rough home situation, though, and one day he and his brother disappear. Friendship, loyalty, and family are the themes as the boys fight for survival and the girl's family doesn't give up hoping to find them.
*****
Just After Midnight, written by Catherine Ryan Hyde
A woman who's just left an unsafe marriage and a teenager whose mother just died meet at the beach, then spend the summer following the horse the girl's father had sold from under her to various shows. As they get to know each other, they also figure out how to move forward in their own challenging circumstances.
p. 78, "People make mistakes all the time. That's more or less the definition of a person: we're a bunch of walking, talking mistake holders."
p. 293, "I'm not wearing makeup anymore," she said.
"I can't imagine why not."
"Can't you? You walk in here without makeup. You just show the world the face you've got, and the world accepts it."
*****
The Printed Letter Bookshop, written by Katherine Reay
The unexpected acquisition of her deceased aunt's home and bookstore leads a woman to learn more about the family problems she'd always thought she'd understood and to reevaluate what she wants out of her own life. A sweet story of family, friendship, and righting our wrongs.
p. 157, An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure ... It haunts me because I understand it. When did feeling that glow, chasing that adoration, become more important than loving that man?
p. 279, (S)imply not looking to the past is not the same as living in the present. I need not dwell there, but I do need to learn from it.
p. 284, There is something so decadent about kissing; kissing for itself, not as foreplay or a gateway to anything else. Kissing like it is the first time, the last time, and the only connection we'll ever have - that kind of kissing.
*****
The Time Keeper, written by Mitch Albom
The one who invented the clock eventually becomes enslaved to the voices of those wanting more time. Centuries later he has the opportunity to teach two others, one who wants more time and one who wants less, the value of the time they have right now.
p. 46, "Soon man will count all his days, and then smaller segments of the day, and then smaller still - until the counting consumes him, and the wonder of the world he has been given is lost."
p. 79, "You marked the minutes," the old man said. "But did you use them wisely? To be still? To cherish? To be grateful? To lift and be lifted?"
p. 81, But a desperate heart will seduce the mind.
p. 205, "With endless time, nothing is special. With no loss or sacrifice, we can't appreciate what we have."
*****
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