Mattie

“Yet Katie held fast to the dream that perhaps there were men in the world who appreciated good women - men capable of loving a woman enough to die for her.

Something had to inspire the heroes in fairy tales and books.

Her Aunt Augusta always said it was only womenfolk’s eternal wish for better men that inspired such stories…but Katie liked to believe that living or, at least, once-living men inspired them.”
― Marcia Lynn McClure, The Prairie Prince

“My duchess,” James stated, his eyes sweeping the crowd with the air of a man who has ruled the waves. “She is not a swan, because that would imply she had once been an ugly duckling.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“she was playing something so low and soft that it felt as if she were humming it ... notes built and subsided, as if a giant were softly breathing them, as if each note was a drop of water going down a stream filled with rocks.”
― Eloisa James, Once Upon a Tower

“Maybe the witch thought she was protecting Rapunzel, not punishing her. Maybe she thought that if Rapunzel was locked away, no one could ever hurt her. Maybe the witch kept Rapunzel because she loved her, because she was scared that if other people could get to Rapunzel, they would hurt her. And maybe Rapunzel didn't understand the witch; maybe she was angry at her - but maybe she loved her too.”
― Alyssa B. Sheinmel, The Beautiful Between