“Bravery wasn’t an identity, so much as a choice.”

The past devours those naive enough to forget it. 

“THE STARS INCLINE US, THEY DO NOT BIND US.”

he would defy everything,  everything, even the stars,  to change their fate in this city.

these violent delights by @chloegong 

Maybe Jess was caught up with these ridiculous, impossible ideas because it meant she never had to try for something real.

game. on. all i had to do was convince my parents that andrew was the love of my life and theirs. piece of (moon) cake, right? 

“Oh, but history moved in such vicious circles.”

this was her life. this was her city, these were her people, and because she loved them, she had sworn to herself a long time ago that she would do a damn good job of being who she was because she could be no one else. 

Take what you want, it said. I’ll hate you for it. But I’ll love you forever. I can’t help but love you. Ruin me, ruin us, and I’ll let you.

children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. when you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. they were soldiers.

❝ there was no way to tell their mothers the truth and make them believe it, that hearts that loved both boys and girls were no more reckless or easily won than any other heart.❞

[image id: a blue and red toned six panel edit for the novel “wild beauty” by anna-marie mclemore. the first shows large dark red flowers with many petals against dark blue-green leaves. the second shows light blue tulle fabric with silver and red sequins in snowflake-like patterns. the third shows large bags of blue and pink cotton candy hanging up. the fourth shows a reddish-beige colored balcony over a courtyard with dark pink flowering vines climbing up it. the fifth shows bright red flowers with big, sharp petals against dark blue-green leaves. the sixth shows a light blue silky fabric with a blue and red flower pattern. each panel reads “wild beauty” in a white cursive font with a yellow glow. underneath that are the words “anna-marie mclemore” in a white serif font with a yellow glow. end id.]

Migration can be triggered by the angle of sunlight, indicating a change in season, temperature, plant life, and food supply. Female monarchs lay eggs along the route. Every history has more than one thread, each thread a story of division. The journey takes four thousand eight hundred and thirty miles, more than the length of this country. The monarchs that fly south will not make it back north. Each departure, then, is final. Only their children return; only the future revisits the past.

They’re called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the US while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she’d be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California. Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger’s house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life. She soon embraces her newfound freedom, especially when the hottest and most eligible parachute, Jay, asks her out. Dani De La Cruz, Claire’s new host sister, couldn’t be less thrilled that her mom rented out a room to Claire. An academic and debate-team star, Dani is determined to earn her way into Yale, even if it means competing with privileged kids who are buying their way to the top. When her debate coach starts working with her privately, Dani’s game plan veers unexpectedly off course. Desperately trying to avoid each other under the same roof, Dani and Claire find themselves on a collision course, intertwining in deeper and more complicated ways, as they grapple with life-altering experiences.