Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the Broke and Bookish and hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl where we get a new topic for a top 10 list.

It’s that time of year again. The time we celebrate all things love. Cupid’s got his arrow out, but I am happy to be treating myself for Valentine’s Day. I love books that have a sprinkle of romance, it makes my heart all warm and fuzzy. Love is beautiful, but it’s also messy and dark. It’s a complex emotion, one that is ever changing and these quotes demonstrate the various ways to express love. Some choose words, others choose actions. Some quotes have been spotlighted before, but I’m choosing to spotlight them again because of how they make me feel.

1. The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon

“You glow, Lark.” His hand climbed back up again and swept over my unbound hair. I swallowed, suddenly close to tears. Then why does no one see me? “I see you,” he said.”

2. A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi

“Love is like Death without the guarantee of its arrival. Love may not come for you, but when it does it will be just as swift and ruthless as Death and just as blind to your protestations. And just as Death will end one life and leave you with another, so will Love.”

3. The Hard Count by Ginger Scott

“Look at me like you expect more. Look at me like it isn’t going to be easy.” Nico breathes the words against my lips, pausing when his bottom lip connects with my top, the faintness of the touch so much better than any other real kiss I’ve had. “Make me earn it,” he says, pausing again to take my top lip between both of his. “I’ll earn it. I’ll never stop trying to earn it…to earn you.”

4. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

“I would have come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”

5. The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore

“The sense of falling did not touch her, not as long as her body was between the hands of this boy who felt steadier in the air than on the ground.”

6. The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

“It was because they were two parts of a whole. He did not belong to her. And she did not belong to him. It was never about belonging to someone. It was about belonging together.” 

7. Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

“And when Finnikin grabbed her to him and buried his face in her neck and then bent down and placed his mouth on hers, the others pretended that there was something very interesting happening in the meadow. The priest-king even pointed at the nothing they were pretending to see. But Froi didn’t. He just watched the way Finnikin’s hands rested on Evanjalin’s neck and he rubbed his thumb along her jaw and the way his tongue seemed to disappear inside her mouth as if he needed a part of her to breathe himself. And Froi wondered what Evanjalin was saying against Finnikin’s lips when they stopped because whatever the words were it made them start all over again and this time their hunger for each other was so frightening to watch that it made Froi look away.”

8. Red Rising by Pierce Brown

“We grew together, and now are grown. In her eyes, I see my heart. In her breath, I hear my soul. She is my land. She is my kin. My love.”

9. The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

“He changed us both.” She seemed to struggle for words. “I think of you, all that you lost, who you were, what you were forced to be, and might have been, and I—I have become this, this person, unable to—”

She shut her mouth.

“Kestrel,” he said softly, “I love this person.”

10. I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

*I could have typed out this entire chapter because this almost kiss floored me and one of my favourite songs – Hotel California – was featured. Again, everyone just has to read this book*

“I was keenly aware of how the downpour plastered my clothes to my body, outlining every curve, and how it did the same to him. And it made me feel reckless and scared. His voice in my ear, the rain, his hands on my waist, mine on his chest. How had this become a thing with us, dancing to a slow song.”

What are your favourite romantic quotes?
Do you have a favourite fictional couple?