Quotes from Jill Mansell

One day I want to surprise everyone by doing something unexpected and amazing, so I can be proud of myself.

You already know he's a pathetic excuse for a man and you deserve better.

If it was sympathy she was after, Ginny Holland might have known she'd come to the wrong place. Then again, it was early on a bright but blustery Saturday morning in October and her options were limited.

Anyway, that was the thing about life and fate; it never was fair. Horrific things happened to good people and brilliant things happened to bad ones.

Don't be a whiner, she told herself. Concentrate on the good things in life, even if there don't seem to be too many of them left.

It's me, though. It's my fault for being like this. I'm going to have to get used to it.

Ellie wiped her eyes with the back of her hand; sometimes she didn't realize she'd been crying until the tears slid off her chin and dripped down her neck.

Hallie had had plenty of practice over the years at hiding her true feelings and presenting a brave face to the world.

When someone was gazing into your eyes like that, it was kind of hard to look away.

It's miserable to feel unwanted for reasons beyond your control.

Was it cathartic or a form of self-torture?

This was the next phase of her life and from now on, she wasn't going to take any rubbish from anyone. From now on she was going to decide what she wanted and go for it.

Sometimes you knew changes needed to be made but just couldn't summon up the energy to make them.

Why do men think they can get away with it? Because they're men.

I'm trying my best, but I feel like such a spare part.

Maybe he should kill himself and put them all out of their misery.

Ellie closed her eyes and felt the aching loneliness well up inside her chest.

The strain of pretending everything was normal had been agonizing. How was she going to keep this up for the next week… month… year?

But you were the one who came to see it! You said it was just what you were looking for!" Her voice rising—and not in an I-fancy-you way—Ginny said, "You said it was perfect!" He blinked, nonplussed. "It is perfect. For Laurel." Frantically, Ginny ran back through everything he'd told her. "No, hang on, you said your flat was too small…

It's a scary thing, you know, being a man. We always have to run the risk of inviting someone out and being turned down flat. You women don't realize how fragile our egos are.

For ninety minutes now she had been listening to the Story of Kevin. Ninety minutes was the length of an entire film. She could have watched Anna Karenina and been less depressed.

Whenever a property was about to go on the market, Ronan's advice to the owners was to declutter as much as they could cope with and remove all family photos from view. Potential buyers needed to be able to picture themselves in their new home, he always explained, and photographs of other people and their families were a distraction.

even a little bit?" "No." She

nothing puts a girl off faster than when some