Susan Elizabeth Phillips quotes:

I'm interested in female friendships and family relationships. So I don't write the traditional romance, where you just have the hero and the heroine's love story. I like intertwining relationships.

Librarians and romance writers accomplish one mission better than anyone, including English teachers: we create readers for life - and what could be more fulfilling than that?

sometimes knowing when to give up is the real test of character... -annabelle granger

[Colin to Sugar Beth] I put my heart on every page.

I don't love you anymore", she whispered. "I don't love you at all." His throat closed. "It's all right, sweetheart. I love you enough for both of us.

The final cover for 'Heroes Are My Weakness' feels exactly right. It reflects the cold, wintry setting of an isolated island off the coast of Maine and the feisty spirit of a heroine who refuses to give up, even when the odds are stacked against her.

I don't need to be fixed anymore. That job's already been done. I love you, Annabelle. -Heath Champion-

Before you lost your mind, how did you make a living?" "I was a hitman for the Mafia. Are you done crying yet?" "I wasn't crying! And I wish you were a hitman because, if I had money, I'd hire you right this minute to knock yourself off.

Chip, I know you don't understand this, but I'd take it as a personal favor if you'd stop trying to marry your mother off to my brothers.

I love you, Daisy. I love you so much I hurt.

My website bulletin board is the place I interact with my readers.

You can't do extraordinary things in the world if you're spending time criticizing others because they don't look or behave the way you think they should.

Sugar Beth detected the movement and shot him a look that challenged not only his manhood but also his very right to exist on the planet.

The final cover for Heroes Are My Weakness feels exactly right. It reflects the cold, wintry setting of an isolated island off the coast of Maine and the feisty spirit of a heroine who refuses to give up, even when the odds are stacked against her.

Anything worth having is worth fighting for.

I hate to admit this, but some days hearing about other people's problems actually cheers me up.

Don't mess with me, Calvin. You'll only get hurt.

Save your sweet talk for later, Daphne. The garbage guys just drove up with the new Dumpster." "Shut the lid after you climb in.

No marshmallows. "I don't believe this! I'm going to write the president of General Mills! Don't they have any quality control?" "I'm sure it's just a fluke" "Doesn't make any difference whether it's a fluke or not. It shouldn't have happened. When a person buys a box of lucky charms he's got expectations

I say, 'I write romance, women's fiction, chick lit.' I think it all fits very comfortably under the same umbrella. Basically, I write books for women - books about relationships: books that make you laugh and sometimes make you cry a little.

You were the best birthday present I ever got." "Thank you." "I wanted to give you something back, but I've got to warn you that it's not half as good as my present. Even so, you have to keep it." "All right." He draped the pink bow around his neck and grinned. "Happy birthday, Rosebud.

She reached into the pocket of her dress and threw the small stack of bills at him. They fluttered to the ground like broken dreams. "I hope you choke on every penny." "Pick that up." She drew back her arm and slapped him as hard as she could.

I'm bad with numbers. My husband is the keeper of the records.

When male authors write love stories, the heroine tends to end up dead.

I finally figured out that not every crisis can be managed. As much as we want to keep ourselves safe, we can't protect ourselves from everything. If we want to embrace life, we also have to embrace chaos.

I married a damned cereal killer

Life sure is easier when you're rich." "And a natural born charmer. Don't forget that part." "How could I?" she retorted. "It's the only thing we have in common.

You have a college degree? You can barely talk.

I take theeto be my awful wedded husband

A villain always preferred luring the heroine to his lair.

Meg! I love you! I want to marry you!" "That's weird," she said without stopping. "Only six weeks ago, you were telling me all about how Lucy broke your heart." "I was wrong. Lucy broke my brain.

Get inside before I spank you in public." There it was again, another of his maddening threats. Did that mean he wouldn't spank her if she did as he said or that he simply planned to spank her in private? She was still mulling over the whole unpleasant concept when he started the truck.

Chasing after a guy who's not interested in you will rip the hell out of your self-respect. Better to face facts now because the longer you put it off, the harder it'll be.

I guess we're oil and water. (Phoebe) I'd say we're more like gasoline and a blowtorch. (Dan)

Why don't I just hand you my panties and be done with it.

The engine roared to life. He ran toward her. She shot our of her parking space. He rushed to the side of her car. "Stop it, Kristy! You're overreacting! Let's talk about this." That was when she did the unthinkable. She rolled down the window, thrust out her hand, and gave Reverend Ethan Bonner the bird.

Hold it right there. The only agreement we ever had was that you intended to make me as miserable as possible, and I intended to courageously make the best of an intolerable situation like valiant Southern women have always done.

He tunneled his dirty hands through her hair and kissed her breathless. Her neck, her eyes, the corners of her mouth. He kissed her lips as if his life depended on it. Kissed their future into her. All they could have and all they could be.

I love you guilty. It makes it easier for me to wrap you around my finger.

If I could put my brain in her body, the world would be mine for the taking.

Did anybody tell you that you're a few french fries short of a Happy Meal?

If the way you've been treating me is a mark of fondness, maybe you'd better take a fresh look at your interpersonal communication skills.

Damn. It looks to me like I just missed the best reunion since Sherman got together with Atlanta.

He could deal with his guilt all by himself. Guilt didn't add up to love, an emotion she was done with forever.

He gave Dancer one last pat. 'You're luckier than you know, pal. Living without a set of balls makes life a lot less complicated.

wouldn't you like to make sure all those millions you give to Uncle Sam went to schools and hospitals instead of nuclear warheads?'As a matter of fact, he would. Playgrounds for big kids, preschool programs to little ones, and mandatory LASIK surgery for NFL refs.

Dallas, is it remotely possible for you to carry on a conversation that's not loaded down with manure?

And no matter what anybody says, I don't believe all this trouble started when women got the vote. As far as I'm concerned, it goddamn well got started when you taught each other how to read.

I never thought I'd have to give you-a former Sunday School teacher-a lecture on ethics." "Former Sunday School teachers don't go around without their underwear." "You show me where it says that in the Bible.

Good news!" she chirped. "The doctor says this time it's triplets!

I take every opportunity I can to speak to librarians.

...Any fool can love somebody who's perfect, somebody who does everything right. But that doesn't stretch your soul. Your soul only gets stretched when you can still love somebody after they've hurt you.

...I have to tell you that I'm not all that comfortable with the idea of spending the rest of my life sleeping next to somebody who's got the power to fire me if my underwear doesn't make it all the way to the hamper." She repressed a smile. "I'm sympathetic to your problem, but I'm not selling the team just so you can be a slob." "Somehow I didn't expect you would.

[Bobby Tom] finally understood Gracie's function in his life. She was God's joke on him.

[Kenny] leaned back against the counter and studied the other man. "So Dex, how's come you're still alive to tell the tale?" Dexter wiped up a small coffee spill, the sat on the stool next to Torie. "All I'm prepared to say is that your sister and I slept together, and, since I compromised her, I intend to marry her." Torie dropped her forehead and banged it three times against the countertop. "You are such a geek." "Doesn't sound like she's too enthusiastic about it," Kenny said.

All it means is that, while our minds may have trouble communicating, our bodies don't have any problem at all." "I don't think it's that simple." "Sure it is." "The earth moved," she said softly. "That has to be more than bodies communicating.

As far as I'm concerned, men like you were put on this world to entertain women like me.

At some point people either had to throw off the wounds of their childhood or go through life permanently crippled

Be quiet, or I swear to God I'll take you right here

Be the best at what you're good at

Before you go anywhere, Mr. Football Player," Nita said, "I want to know exactly what your intentions are toward my Blue.

Bobby Tom told me he's not afraid of the Chargers' defense." "Bobby Tom'll tell you he's not afraid of nuclear war, so I wouldn't put too much stock in his opinion.

Bobby Tom: You're supposed to be my assistant, not a baby-sitter! Gracie: One and the same.

But even as she told herself that, she remembered the way Cal had looked today with his shirt off while he'd stood on the ladder and scraped the side of Annie's house. Watching those muscles bunch and flex every time he moved had made her crazy and she'd finally grabbed his shirt, thrown it at him, and delivered a stern lecture on the depletion of the ozone layer and skin cancer.

Cal 's eyes reflected a weird combination of frenzy and fear as he twisted toward his father. "My God! She's on her way to becoming the most famous physicist in the country, and she'sdumb as a post ! You arenot having your baby in this house! You're having it at the county hospital!

Celebrate the success of others. High tide floats all ships.

Colin : "Perhaps now is the time to tell you that I have a weakness for agreeable women." Sugar Beth : "Well, that sure does leave me out." Colin : "Exactly. With agreeable women, I'm unendingly considerate. Gallant even." Sugar Beth : "But with tarts like me, the gloves are off, is that it?" Colin : "I wouldn't exactly call you a tart. But then, I tend to be broad-minded." She suppressed the urge to dump her porridge in his lap.

Disagreements over money are the biggest cause of divorce.

Disagreements over money are the biggest cause of divorce." She waved her hand. "Absolutely no problem. Your money is our money. My money is my money." She wrote away. "I should make you negotiate with Phoebe.

Do you really expect me to fall apart every time another woman throws herself at you? Because, if that's so, I'll be a nervous wreck before the honeymoon's over. Although, if they do it in front of me..." He went still. "Did you just propose to me?" She bristled. "Do you have a problem with that?" The scoreboard lit up, and he gave the world a high five. "God, I love you.

Don't dare a person who has nothing else left to lose.

E-mail creates the illusion that you're writing. You're not.

Everybody won't like everything you write. Some people won't like anything you write. Get over it.

Fear goes hand-in-hand with artistic creation, and no amount of success will make the fear go away entirely.

Figure out what depletes you creatively and get it out out of your life. (This doesn't apply to spouse and kids.) Give yourself permission to put garbage on the screen. A lot of days it's the only way you'll be able to keep going. You can clean it up later.

For a moment he could have sworn he smelled violets, which was very peculiar, since he had no idea what violets smelled like, except somehow he knew they smelled just like Lady Emma.

For all your talk, you don't know the first thing about love." Tears spilled over her lashes and rolled down her cheeks. She slipped the chain that held his Super Bowl ring over her head and pressed it into his palm. "I love you, Bobby Tom, and I'll love you till the day I die. But I've never been for sale. I was a free offering all along.

Gracie: You have an unusual house. Have you lived here long? Bobby Tom: A couple of years. I don't much like it myself, but the architect is real proud of it. She calls it urban Stone Age with a Japanese Tahitian influence. I sort of just call it ugly.

He set the suitcases in the back then tossed her the keys. "You drive." She repressed a smile as she climbed behind the wheel. "With each passing day, your reasons for wanting a wife become clearer.

He settled his hat back into position. She was a rookie in her first big game, and he'd never let her see how close she'd come to unseating a champion

He shook his head. "The next time I hear a women going on about how neurotic men are, I'm going to remember this. You tell me you like my body, and what do I say? I say, thank you. Then I tell you I like yours and what do I hear? A long lists of grievances.

He should have seen this coming, but he hadn't. Of course she wouldn't want to move back to Wynette after everything that had happened to her there. But what about his family, his friends, his roots, which stretched so deep into that rocky soil he'd become part of it?

He sounds like Jesus. Except rich and sexy." "Watch it, Meg. In this town joking about Jesus could get you shot. You've never seen so many of the faithful who're armed.

He stopped to rest at a cart selling nuts and candy, bought himself some Jelly Belly's, flirted just enought with the Mexican cutie working there to convince her pull out the banana-flavored one. Although he liked his Jelly Belly's mixed up, he didn't like banana, but, since it took too much effort to pull them out himself, he generally tried to talk someone else into doing it. If that didn't work, he just ate 'em. - Kenny Traveler

Here's the life lesson I've learned, Fifi: Some people are born to play the hero, and some are born to play the bad guy. Fighting your destiny only makes life harder than it needs to be. Besides, people remember the villain long after they've forgotten the hero.

Hey, everybody, Jerry Maguire's here.

His gaze was a lot steadier than her heartbeat. "She's the reason for those whispered phone calls I used to overhear, isn't she?" "Don't be silly. I was talking to my lover." "She told me she lives at a place called Brookdale. After I hung up, I did a little research on the Web. Your talent for obfuscation continues to amaze me." "Hey, I haven't obfuscated in weeks. Makes you go blind.

His mother?" Gracie couldn't believe it. Suzy Denton looked much too young to be his mother. And much too respectable. "But you're not a-" She cut herself off in mid-sentence as she realized what she'd almost let slip. Suzy's wedding ring clicked against the steering wheel as she gave it a hard smack. "I'm going to kill him! He's been telling that hooker story again, hasn't he?

His pacing stopped. The mattress sighed as he sat on the edge. seconds ticked by before he spoke so softly she could barely hear. "Sometimes I want to leave this town so bad I can taste it.

His writer's words poured over her like poetry, and she couldn't find a single wisecrack to put up between them.

Honey lamb, there are a lot of things in this world I feel insecure about. Religion. Our national economic policies. What color socks to wear with a blue suit. But I've got to tell you that my performance in that hotel room last night isn't one of them.

I always want to try to bring something fresh to every book. It's getting harder instead of easier. I feel like I work harder with each book. But I don't want it to show on the pages, that's for sure.

I can't chitchat and make breakfast at the same time. You could help, you know, instead of standing there like the Queen of England. Although you're a lot better-looking.

I don't care how much evidence the state presented. I've never for one moment believed he murdered that waitress.

I happen to be immature, undisciplined, and self-centered, pretty much a little boy in a man's body, although I'd appreciate it if you didn't quote me on that. -Bobby Tom

I sure do miss that woman. Smart. Funny. Sweet. She never gave me a moment's trouble." "Gosh, I'm sorry about that. I knew it was boring between you two, but not that bad.

I take thee... to be my awful wedded husband

I think this is the way love feels to people like you and me. Threatening and dangerous. We have to be in control, and love takes that away. People like us" We can't tolerate vulnerability. But despite our best efforts, sooner or later love seems to catch up with us. And then"And then we fall apart.

I write about the men you want to read about but don't necessarily want to be married to.

I write romance, women's fiction, chicklit. I think it all fits very comfortably under the same umbrella. Basically, I write books for women - books about relationships, books that make you laugh and sometimes make you cry a little.

If I told you, you might be forced to lie about it. Not that you aren't really good at it, but why put an old man in that position?

If you want me, you'll have to earn me. And, mister, I don't come cheap.

If you were a sane woman, I would, of course, behave in a more rational fashion. Since you are a lunatic, however, this is the only way.

ignore the pain, play through it.

I'll take care of my mother," he said grimly. "I love her, but she doesn't run my life." "Yeah, that's what we all say. You. Me. Lucy." She stabbed the stick into the dirt. "These are powerful women. They're sane, they're smart, they rule their worlds, and they love us ferociously. A potent combination that makes it touch to pretend they're normal mothers.

I'm just very, very slow. I would not make it as a journalist, I've got to tell you. I sweat bullets over every sentence, and sometimes, you know, a day will pass and I've written one paragraph, and I've been at the computer for four hours.

I'm not living in the shadows anymore. I want to walk in the sun. But I can't do that without you.

In case you still haven't figured it out, he loves you. Your tiger will be back in the morning, and you can thank me anytime. Now, do I have to paint another picture for you, or do you think you can take it from here by yourself without screwing up?

Ironic, isn't it, what religion does to people?" "I guess it's more ironic what people do to religion.

Isn't there a mirror someplace where you can go admire yourself?" "I never knew a woman so hung up on my good looks." "All your women are hung up on your good looks. They just pretend it's your personality.

It must be hard being you," she said. "Mr. Perfect on the outside. Dr. Evil on the inside." "It's not that hard. The rest of the world isn't as insightful as you.

It runs in the family. And don't expect me to be ashamed. Yankees lock away loony relatives, but down here, we prop 'em up on parade floats and march 'em through the middle of town.

It was a kiss made in lonely dreams. A kiss that took its time. A kiss that felt so right she couldn't remember all the reasons it was wrong.

Just out of curiosity, sweetheart; did you ever talk to your doctor about givin' you some tranquilizers?

Kevin stopped where he was and stood there simply gazing at her. Molly sat cross-legged in the meadow with the sun shining on her bare shoulders and a pair of yellow butterflies fluttering like hair bows around her head. She was all the dreams he'd lost at dawn-dreams of everything he hadn't understood he needed until now. She was his playmate, his confidante, the lover who made his blood rush. She was the mother of his children and the companion of his old age. She was the joy of his heart.

Losing isn't as bad as not fighting at all.

Make-up? What happened? You look almost female." "Thanks. You look almost straight.