Quotes from Dorothy Koomson

What was I waiting for with regards to the sea-soaked woman laughing in front of me? What would I tell myself if I didn't watch her grow gorgeously ripe with our baby? If we didn't become sleep-deprived and snappy with each other as we tried to navigate the stormy seas of parenthood together.

Stop watching me," she'd say all the time, a little smile on her face because she was watching me too. "I can't help it," I'd reply "I'm fascinated by you, in love with you." "Well, go be fascinated and in love with the TV, I'm trying to sort things out, it's not easy with you watching.

Às vezes, acho que a vida não passa de uma balança de pratos, um sistema de pesos e contrapesos: sempre que me acontece alguma coisa boa, algo horrível há de seguir-se para equilibrar os pratos e impedir-me de ser completa e absolutamente feliz.

No one outside of our family unit would ever guess that away from prying eyes, we were systematically tearing ourselves apart. Away from the outside world, everyone in our family started to fall to pieces, and never really recovered. Even though our times together are always fun and laughter-filled, the closeness we once shared is gone. In its place is guilt, regret, the ability to say the nastiest things and, for the longest minute on earth, mean every word of them

strung across my mind like intricate worry beads are these thoughts about whether this was the path I was meant to have taken. Was there another option for me? And am I too far along this path to make a change, and relive my life?

another. I'm just

What in the holy hell? I think again.

When you are infatuated with someone,like I was with Drew,it's very difficult to see them for what they really are

believe it. Sidney wouldn't hurt anyone.

am. This is the life I was meant to live simply because it's the one I have lived.

forgiveness, true forgiveness, is about this ability to move beyond your personal hurt and do the right thing, even if it does not directly benefit you.

Do you ever wonder if you've lived the life you were meant to?

things are very rarely better, just different.

Every time I blinked I saw her: the untroubled face, the motionless body, the detail of her tattoo. Every time I breathed I realised that the woman with the Brighton Mermaid tattoo wasn't going to do that ever again.

find it, I know you'll come back to me.' It's been 18 months since my husband was murdered and I've decided to finish writing The Flavours of Love, the cookbook he started before he died. Everyone thinks I'm coping so well without him –they have no idea what I've been hiding or what I do away from prying eyes. But now that my 14-year-old daughter has confessed something so devastating it could destroy our family

Dorothy Koomson is the author of seven other novels: The Cupid Effect, The Chocolate Run, My Best Friend's Girl, Marshmallows for Breakfast, The Ice Cream Girls and The Woman He Loved Before –all of which have spent several weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list. Her books have been translated into thirty languages and regularly top the bestseller charts around the

You can never compete with someone's first love.

As mentiras têm vida. Elas vivem. Depois de as contarmos, temos de cuidar delas, de as alimentar, acarinhar, de lhes dar atenção, fazer companhia... dar amor e afeto, talvez, como qualquer outro ser vivos pelo qual somos responsáveis.

São aqueles que mais amamos que nos animam num instante e nos destroem sem se esforçarem.

If we're going to change the world for the better, kids need to know that they can by feeling good about who they are and helping others.

Maybe part of the problem of feeling like this life isn't my real life is that I have no connections, no real links to anyone.

No matter how much you may love someone, you never possess them. You can only ever borrow the right to spend time with them.

Share too much and someone can hurt you.

Far too many people opened their hearts and lives at the drop of a hat. Why give someone that power over you? Why endow them with the ability to hurt you that much? Let someone in and you were asking for an emotional kicking some day.