I can't pretend to know what it feels like to lose a child, but I assume it's the worst pain I've ever felt times a thousand, or times a hundred thousand.
—Elin Hilderbrand in The Identicals
Pain was my tie to a past that a part of me wanted to hold on to. The more I hurt, the more I knew I loved, and that felt like a good thing.
—Daria Snadowsky in Anatomy of a Single Girl
You see, for me, memories are difficult. Very often, they hurt. A curious thing about grief is the way it takes your entire life, all those foundational years that made you who you are, and makes them so painful to look back upon because of the absence there, that suddenly they're inaccessible.
—Casey McQuiston in White & Royal Blue
Time healed, they said, but it wasn't true, or not completely. The first raw wound of loss had closed and silvered over, yes, but the scar it had left would never heal. It would always be there, aching and tender.
—Ruth Ware in The Death of Mrs. Westaway
I can tell you that the pain of living is worth it. That if you live, your life will be as full of love as it is darkness, and for every moment of pain, you'll have one of joy too.
—Emily Henry in The Love That Split the World
She had the sort of beauty that left you bleeding internally after gazing for too long.
—Lydia Kang in A Beautiful Poison