Quotes from Jill Mansell

There was an element of risk - however small - in everything. You just had to accept that and get on with it.

Clemency marvelled, trying a purple eyeshadow shot with gold sparkly bits on the back of her hand

She looked down at the hand and saw that it was clutching instead a handful of perfume card samplers, each one sprayed with a different scent.

On the outside she might appear cool, but inside her heart felt as though it was disintegrating like a digestive dropped in hot tea

But even as the words were coming out of his mouth, he was slightly despising himself for saying them. It was what girls liked to hear though. Every now and again Dex found himself feeling like an actor who'd been performing in the same stage play for far too long. The lines came out automatically, irrespective of whether or not they were true.

Once a Pot Noodler, always a Pot Noodler.

Grief made you selfish; engulfed as you were in your own pain, it was hard to remember the others were suffering too.

What if everything she most dreaded was happening now?

Now she knew, and she couldn't un-know. Life would never be the same again.

Abbie wondered why she was even bothering to stay alive, when she was evidently so gullible and pathetic and pointless. The only thing that stopped her taking an overdose was, she couldn't be bothered.

Ah, the old don't-need-a-man thing. I love that line. I mean it sounds great, and girls love to say that stuff because it makes them sound all strong and independent. But it's not actually true, is it? Deep down they're panicking, getting more and more desperate, and the next thing you know, they're hurling themselves into a new relationship.

Having to pretend nothing was wrong, when everything was wrong, was excruciating.

I just needed to hear someone else say it. I do deserve better.

Every day we do things that are capable of changing everything, and that's what makes life exciting.

And just because she was crossing her fingers didn't mean her wish would come true.

Just because it's normal doesn't make it any easier.

Was this rock bottom? Had he finally hit it?

It might not be much. OK, it wasn't much. But it was a start.

She was tired, her back was aching, and her life was.

Life isn't fair. You know it isn't, said Lucas. I do know that, but it's still not fair that it isn't fair.

All in all, the next minutes surely ranked among the most calamitously awkward of Ronans life.

I'm going to do better than that.' An adrenalin rush of determination accompanied her words. 'I'm going to find out why he is the way he is, and make his life better.

For old times' sake.

This time, though, he was waiting for a reason. The process itself might be mind-crushingly boring, but if he stuck it out, the end result would hopefully be worth it.