“Tell us, why has Romeo and Juliet survived four hundred years?’

“Because …’ he said quietly, looking at his desk, ‘because people want to remember what it’s like to be young? And in love?”

eleanor and park (2012) // rainbow rowell

Ah, filial piety, the foundation of Asian parenting.

dial a for aunties (2021) // jesse q. sutanto

Instead of helping others, people use the worst-case scenarios to excuse their own selfishness and greed.

it ends with us (2016) // colleen hoover

…school was a mistake, but now it’s too late to back out of it because my self-worth is unbreakably tied to my academic performance, and what would even be left of me if I decided to drop out?

the love hypothesis (2021) // ali hazelwood

But the truth is, no one experiences grief the same way, and we all come out of it differently.

you’ve reached sam (2021) // dustin thao

Every man cheats. This is Asia.

crazy rich asians (2013) // kevin kwan

I don’t want anything that means I can’t have you. There’s nothing worth it.

the hating game (2016) // sally thorne

Oh, I know the whole world prefers a woman who doesn’t know her power, but I’m sick of all that. I turned heads.

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo (2017) // taylor jenkins reid

Do you ever feel like you don’t know what you’re doing with your life? I said.

I’m actually watching this, said Bobbi.

I looked at the screen, where old wartime footage was overlaid with a voice-over explaining the role of the French military. I said: sometimes I just feel. And Bobbi placed a finger over her lips and said: Frances. I’m watching.

Do you know what it’s like to like someone so much you can’t stand it and know that they’ll never feel the same way?

to all the boys i’ve loved before (2014) // jenny han

Call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine.

call me by your name (2007) // andré aciman

beach read (2020) // emily henry

I practically live in Starbucks. I’m a writer. It’s a rite of passage.

november 9 (2015) // colleen hoover

It had sounded extremely clever in my head but out loud it didn’t really make sense. Which, in a way, was the story of my life.

funny you should ask (2022) // elissa sussman

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you’re beautiful. I enjoy looking at beautiful people, and I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence.”

the fault in our stars (2012) // john green

You never exactly “got used” to the pain; when it happened regularly, you made yourself get over it faster.

from lukov with love (2018) // mariana zapata