A puppy feels like life and love. Their entire bodies are soft—fur, skin, the pads of their feet new and delicate. They radiate warmth in the way science can explain, but it goes further than that. The heat of affection pours out of their eyes and makes their little butts wiggle like crazy as soon as they see a person—they don’t even care who. They’re love, encapsulated.

— Mindy McGinnis

Emotions had welled close to the surface, and she thought her heart had never felt so full as it did stand next to the defiled grave of a whore while lunatics sang the national anthem.

— Mindy McGinnis

Everyone thinks if you fix a male dog it will lower his aggression, but most of the biters are female. It’s basic instinct to protect their womb. You see it in all animals - the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

— Mindy McGinnis

If either one of you is ever in a situation you’re not entirely comfortable with—call me. I don’t care what time it is. I don’t care who is there or what is going on. You call me and I will come get you.

— Mindy McGinnis

I live in a world where not being molested as a child is considered luck.

— Mindy McGinnis

I love Sara, but something was taken from me at the church, something that she can’t relate to. Every time I walk outside I think maybe someone is going to grab me. I take a sip of a glass of water I got out of my own tap and swish it around in my mouth first, like maybe it’s a threat. And I’m starting to understand why Alex walks around on the balls of her feet, why her back muscles are always tensed, like a cat ready to spring. She knows. She gets it. So that’s why I’m going to tell Sara that I’m okay and leave it at that.

— Mindy McGinnis

...just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's not the truth...

— Mindy McGinnis

Kiddo, you and me don't do so well in situations we can't control.'' Don't think I care for that.

— Mindy McGinnis

Men got two guns, you know. One for now," he tapped the barrel of his gun against her nose. "And one for later." When his free hand went to his zipper, she twisted underneath him, bringing her knee into his groin and pulling her knife from her boot." Mother taught me to carry a knife for always." She left him holding his intestines in disbelief as she disappeared down the hill, his gun tucked securely in her waistband.

— Mindy McGinnis

My arrival saved the kingdom, while his only reiterated that his blood would fill the throne one day.

— Mindy McGinnis