Quotes from Melissa de la Cruz

Did I say Seven Minutes in Heaven? No, you're playing Seven Minutes in Hell!" Mal cackled; she couldn't help it. This was going

ahem—remember the first Never After book, The Thirteenth Fairy? If you haven't read it yet, you really should…).

He's brilliant—he could have made millions in Silicon Valley, but he'd rather teach and mentor students," she says. "Not enough of those kind of people out there.

There she is, our lady of perpetual sleep!" he says smiling broadly.

As I've already explained, Lady Shadow, I've spent a lot of time at court. I'm already well-versed in the art of bowing and keeping my mouth shut." "Ha! But have you read Crumpets and Cravats?

We're not all created equal. There are the Carries and Royces of the world, high up in their gated mansions and their fancy schools, and then there's me and my family, who are just struggling to keep our footing. Though our paths may cross momentarily, maybe it's better to stick to our own circle, so we don't get hurt when we crash into each other.

And, like the turn of a key in a lock, his soul was bound to hers forever

But the ability to lead a nation is not a heritable trait like hair color or skin tone. It is a rare skill, indeed, and manifests itself only in persons whose unique combination of temperament, training, and experience have made them capable of seeing past the benefits that they can derive from their country, to the benefits that they can bestow upon that country.

A new Dragon's Egg?" asked

My aunts taught me that sometimes when that world is too much, when life starts to feel overwhelming, we must strip away what's unnecessary, seek out the quite, and listen to the dirt and trees. All the answers you seek are there, but only if you are willing to hear them.

The duke is oblivious to all of this. He seems to regard himself as above everyone else, even—and maybe especially—his wife. Like they're all children he's tolerating until they're sent back into the nursery with the governess.

Too bad there wasn't a Valencia filter to smooth out memories.

The courts have always attracted gawkers, just as the church has. People are fascinated by the collision of the individual with a force that has the power to convey life or death, liberty or bondage, riches or poverty. Sometimes they had a vested interest in one side or the other, but often it was just the process itself that drew them.

Wearing a mask of obedience before royalty as they pulled the strings of the puppet monarchs.

Don't get me wrong. I know he loved me. But I don't think he knew how to be a father.

She's fifth-generation Mexican American, which means she learned Spanish in class just like I did.

I read somewhere that a lot of kids of immigrants grow up quickly and are given more responsibility than other kids. Their parents tend to depend on them, mostly because the kids can speak the language better and can act as a conduit to mainstream American society. The child becomes the parent, and the parent, the child.

What's certain is that I'm not going to be stuck with my parents' limited options. My mom graduated top of her class in the Philippines, but in America she cleans up vomit in a hospital, and my dad, the smartest man I know, drives a bus for a living.

But the queen thinks only of her country. She will stop at nothing to find the scrolls, for they are the key to her family's protection . . . and her country's salvation.

have you ever seen a germ? Neither have I, yet I have no doubt they exists, because I have seen their effects on the body. Likewise I have never 'seen' love, yet I have witnessed again and again its transformative effect on human beings.

They would rampage up and down the island, terrorizing step-granddaughters and traumatizing even the most stalwart goons, and no one

I don't feel like a hero, said Carlos. That's okay, said Mal with a rueful smile. Remember what the professor said? We're the villains you root for in the story.

were actually pretty hilarious—he hoped

In Auradon, people stared at them because they came from somewhere else, and now on the Isle of the Lost, everyone stared at them because they'd left. In a way, it was just the same. Now they were outsiders in both places.