Tropes
Trigger Warnings
Why You Should Read This Book
Great Big Beautiful Life
âI understood what really mattered. I understood my priorities. I understood what, in this life, was nonnegotiable for me. A lot of people donât find that out until itâs too late. They wait to say things, and they donât get the chance. So collecting other peopleâs stories, learning from their mistakes, it is a gift too. You are who you are right now in part because of what you did for Len and his family. You canât control any of that other stuff you worry about, but you can control what you do.â
âPretending everythingâs fine only works for so long. And I donât know. It freaks me out a little, that I couldâŠthat I could feel like this, about someone whoâs good at pretending to be fine. That I could miss it, if youâre actually not. It was about me. Like you said.â
âYou know, my mother was ahead of her time. The kind of woman who wanted to have it all. She knew she deserved it too. But the problem is, once you love someone, you canât have it all anymore. Love comes with sacrifice. Thatâs how it works.â
âHe was the one who built the House of Ives as the world knows it. But Iâve always thought of him as the beginning of the end. The stepping stone that decided the entire path. The first domino that tipped. The one who, for better or worse, set every moment of my life into motion.â
âHe was the love of her life, and he let the world make him too small for her.â
âWhen you donât have the people who love you around, reminding you who you are, that story feels bigger and realer than anything else. You lose yourself inside the character with your name and face.â
âSad for Peggy. That was my favorite song on the album. âPeggy All the Time.â And I donât know, I just knew it had to be true. That you couldnât write a love song like that if you hadnât found a once-in-a-lifetime love. And I didnât want her to have lost the person who gave her that.â
âIt wasnât enough for you to kiss meâand letâs be clear here, you kissed meâshut me down, and insult my ability. You had to show up here tonight, to what? Ruin my date? Orâdid you not even believe I had a date? Well, guess what! You win! I donât! Heâs not coming after all! He, like you, changed his mind at the last second. I guess I have that effect on a certain kind of man. So if youâre done chasing me down the street to get a good look at my humiliation, Iâd love to go home right now and pretend this nightâthis whole last weekânever happened.â
âInappropriate? I didnât think so. Curious? Exceptionally, seeing as how my husband had to have passed away at least thirty years before you were even born.â
âDonât try to talk me out of it, Alice. Every time we try to protect each other, all it does is cost us more time together, and Iâm not willing to lose any more. I want to be with you. Nothing else is going to matter to me more than that. Not at the end of my life. Not even now. Nothing will matter more than who I spent my time with, and I want it to be you. I need it to be you.â
âDonât take this the wrong way, but you sound like a robot learning to love.â
âItâs just that somehow, almost everything you say makes me want to kiss you.â
âI was a news story the moment I was born. From before my first breath, there were two distinct Margaret Iveses. There was me, and then there was the other one, the one who belonged to the public. Who got written about. Who people loved at times and hated at others, and no matter where I stood with the public, I understood that it wasnât really me.â
âShe lies to me too. For whatever itâs worth, Margaret Ives isnât telling me the truth.â
âMy point is, if youâre ready to tell your story, you deserve to have it told exactly how you want it to be. It needs to be yours, no one elseâs. And that only works if youâre doing this with someone you completely trust. But I can promise you, if you end up wanting to write this book together, your voice will be front and center. Thatâs my top priority. Making sure itâs your story."
âDonât say that. I want you in my business. Iâm inviting you into my business.â
âSometimes I just miss this. Being close to someone. Being touched. Not just sex, I mean.â
âRemembering my decisions donât make much of a difference in the end.â
Subscribe to Late Night Reads Weekly Newsletter
Get early access to our TBR list, podcast episodes, bonus content, irresistible book recommendations, and so much more!




