Quotes from Rachel Howzell Hall

Some days are diamond. Some days are stone.

May you be in heaven a full half hour before the Devil knows you're dead

starve my distractions and feed my focus

Being human?" She smirks. "Be wary of a man who you don't want bringing you a cool towel when you're about to pass out from explosive diarrhea.

damp and messy ponytail.

shop owner named Nadia Denham . . . An elegant name that evokes lovers and dances, spiced teas in fragile cups, and secrets, lots of secrets. Old ladies keep the best secrets. And the most horrible ones.

At sixteen, she was already over drinking, over "being bad.

Because promises are potato chips. They're cheap. Easy to break. Too many hurt your heart.

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy.

EVERY NEW DAY IS A CHANCE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

He drummed the table with his fingers and chewed his bottom lip. "Who knows what she wants. She says she's forgiven me. That I should come home." I forked a piece of corned beef off his plate. "End of relationship haiku." He counted on his fingers--five-seven-five--and that perfect smile of his peeked from the gloom.

The child resembled Pippi Longstocking, the heroine of those strange Dutch children's books.

What something is worth isn't always tied to money.

Researchers say that sketching helps extend the memory. That these throwaway scribblings "reduce the burden we experience" as we're trying to remember something or solve a problem.

My heart is pulverized, and I wanna cry.

Wish he would step foot on this island. I'm old but I'll still cut a bitch.

The Santa Barbara Plaza, also known as Marlton Square, played a vital role in the Black community. Thriving in the 1940s and 1950s, businesses in this twenty-two-acre shopping center met the needs of thousands of consumers across South Los Angeles. From the Broadway and May Company department stores to Woolworth's and J.J. Newberry's, the plaza has transformed from a vibrant shopping hub to a now nearly abandoned plot of land. Last

And thank you for not laughing at me. People tend to disregard us old ladies—they think we're only good for sewing robes and making hot chocolate, that we're crazy since we can no longer bear children. But we're smarter than everyone because we don't have distractions anymore. No kids. No husbands for many of us. We always knew the evil that men did, and we still do. Just now, no one believes us.

Shall we get on with detective-ing now?" "Yep. Detective away.

Gwen's neck swerves. "Wish he would step foot on this island. I'm old but I'll still cut a bitch. I know people—they old, too, but they got sons and daughters happy to start some shit.

And you look like you're going to a bar mitzvah at the Ponderosa.

Every sweet hath its sour; every evil its good. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

And for just a second or two, we lusted after 21 Jump Street Johnny Depp.

Ha. This bitch really thinks I trust her.