Kenner Quotes

#1. I'm a fan of Hugh Kenner, Richard Ellman, Lionel Trilling and Frank Kermode. All these people have taught me how to read - but perhaps, above all literary critics, I'm indebted to Wayne Booth (several people have suggested to me that I'm trying to reinvent "ethical criticism").

Philip Kitcher

#2. So what you have," Kenner said, "is a history of ignorant, incompetent, and disastrously intrusive intervention, followed by attempts to repair the intervention, followed by attempts to repair the damage caused by the repairs, as

Michael Crichton

#3. We're moving so fast." "No," he said gently. "We're just moving at the speed of us.

J. Kenner

#4. Men fuck up, you know. Except for Damien," she adds with a completely straight face. "He's perfectly perfect." She manages to hold it together for a minute, and then we both laugh.

J. Kenner

#5. I'm smart enough to know that you feel it, too. This isn't just heat, it's a goddamned conflagration. Not chemistry, but nuclear fission.

J. Kenner

#6. I'd forgotten the depth of my own weakness, and it's never safe to think that you're stronger than you are.

J. Kenner

#7. Fuck you.
I countered, demonstrating my keen skill at argument.

Julie Kenner

#8. I'll give you what you want, Sloane," he said. "What we both want. But think long and hard before you come to me. There are things that I like. Things that I want and expect from the woman in my bed. And I don't play by anyone's rules but my own.

J. Kenner

#9. Whatever you need from me, all you have to do is take it. You know that.

J. Kenner

#10. It doesn't matter what your ideology is, people don't like to [be] lied to.

Robert Kenner

#11. I've never listened to any of my audiobooks, but I'm very, very happy that they've received such excellent feedback from readers!

Julie Kenner

#12. He is Jason and Hercules and Perseus
a figure so strong and beautiful and heroic that the blood of the gods must flow through him, because how else could a being so fine exist in this world?

J. Kenner

#13. I'm going to fuck you, Nikki. Pleasure? We're going to blow the roof off pleasure. I'm going to make you beg for it. I'm going to claim you. I'm going to tease you. I'm going to torment you. And you're going to come for me like you've never come in your life.

J. Kenner

#14. I saw the hurt on your face when you escaped the party with Evelyn. And each smile, each frown, each laugh, and each flash of pain in your eyes were like wounds to me, Nikki, because I wasn't the one sharing them with you.

J. Kenner

#15. You're like the portrait," he says. "A vision of erotic beauty. But a portrait isn't flesh, and its beauty can't feel pleasure.

J. Kenner

#16. He wants his lover to trust him. To surrender herself to him completely. To let him orchestrate the pleasures of her body. But he leaves the ultimate choice up to her. He lets her have one hand free, and that is the moment Blaine captured on the canvas.

J. Kenner

#17. It's too big, too powerful. There is no start and no end, nothing with which I can measure the length and breadth of what I feel for you.

J. Kenner

#18. Because I see you, he said simply. What I heard was, Because I love you.

J. Kenner

#19. Wherever I am, you belong. You're mine. Say it.

J. Kenner

#20. And so I struggle against my bonds, not because I want to get free, not even because I want the pain. I want what it represents. That I am Damien's. Bound to him. Marked by him. Claimed by him.

J. Kenner

#21. Secrets, he'd said, and I shiver, afraid that Damien's going to have to face that darkness. But I'll be there when he does, and we'll face the darkness together."
"I can. Because when Damien's beside me, I'm no longer afraid of the dark.

J. Kenner

#22. I nod, understanding the unspoken message: No matter what, he will never stop looking out for me. I can't argue with him about that, after all, I feel the same way.

J. Kenner

#23. I don't want you to have to handle it. That's the horror of my past. But you ... you're the reality of my present. You're the proof I survived. The prize in the cereal box.

J. Kenner

#24. Except I am; I always am. Even when I am not touching him, I am connected to him.

J. Kenner

#25. Damien is my anchor to this world, and I am his. But if we are going to keep each other, we have to fight the shadows of
our pasts to move forward into our future.

J. Kenner

#26. Nikki, darling, light of my life. Can I have my driver take you to work?

J. Kenner

#27. He spent so long building walls to protect his privacy that I think he forgot to build a door.

J. Kenner

#28. Please, Damien. You can't control the world? So what? Control me.

J. Kenner

#29. Maybe you aren't as smart as you think you are, Mr. Stark."
"Nonsense. I'm fucking brilliant. Or haven't you heard?

J. Kenner

#30. Because I can. Because I want you. Because I don't want to court my way up to our first fuck. And because I don't want to play games.

J. Kenner

#31. And that is the real elephant in the room. The monkey in my wrench. The worm in my candy bar ...

J. Kenner

#32. That if you were mine I would hold you close every day. I would tell you that you are my breath, my life. That you are the thing that gives my life meaning. That makes me whole.

J. Kenner

#33. Everyone breaks a little sometimes. That doesn't make you weak. It makes you wounded.

J. Kenner

#34. Never, baby. Between us, the sun is never going down.

J. Kenner

#35. Romantic love is the most selfish of all emotions.

Ellen Kenner

#36. There are a lot of ways to pleasure a woman," he said, and his tone suggested we hadn't even begun. "Hard and raw, soft and sentimental. How can I know what she wants until I see how she reacts?

J. Kenner

#37. He began to walk slowly around me, as a man in a museum might circle a statue.

J. Kenner

#38. Do you need more? Tell me, Nikki. I want to hear what you need.

J. Kenner

#39. some more general discussion about the

J. Kenner

#40. If the characters are acting true to themselves, then that chemistry and suspense will flow.

Julie Kenner

#41. I try not to think about the trope or whether or not my books are like 'Fifty' or 'Crossfire' or any other series.

Julie Kenner

#42. I want to touch your breasts, Nikki. I want to touch your nipples. I want to lower my mouth and suck until you come without me even touching your clit. Do you want that, Nikki?

J. Kenner

#43. They weren't wearing their handy-dandy I'm an Evil Demon T-shirts; nevertheless, I could tell they were coming for me.

Julie Kenner

#44. You have captured me utterly, and you hold my heart in your hands. Be gentle with it. It's more fragile than you might think.

J. Kenner

#45. Possess. Have. Hold. Enjoy. Control. Dominate. Pick your verb, Ms. Fairchild. I intend to explore so very many of them.

J. Kenner

#46. There are a lot of wonderful books out there that aren't marketed properly, and readers who might love them never even know they exist.

Julie Kenner

#47. with a firm hand under my chin. I stay there, my

J. Kenner

#48. There's only one woman in the world who can bring me to my knees. So tell me, Ms. Fairchild. Will you do me the greatest honor? Will you be my wife?

J. Kenner

#49. My characters populate a big, vibrant world. Sometimes they rub shoulders. Sometimes they don't.

Julie Kenner

#50. There is an excitement to being bound. To being helpless. A sensual thrill that comes from trusting fully and abandoning modesty at the command of your lover.

J. Kenner

#51. No, I wanna go kick puppies," she retorted.

Julie Kenner

#52. Everyone should feel alive. Should smash up against passion and danger, against temptation and anticipation. You have to push the envelope sometimes,because otherwise how do you know what your limits really are?

J. Kenner

#53. I believe a megalomaniac is someone who suffers from delusions about their own power. Trust me," he says, and this time I am certain I see mirth dancing in his eyes, "I suffer no delusions about the extent of my power.

J. Kenner

#54. He is not a man who hurts the woman he loves.

J. Kenner

#55. I assumed he knew that your coach was abusing you. I realized in the limo that he didn't."
For a moment, there is only silence. When Damien speaks, his words are ice cold. "He knew.

J. Kenner

#56. So I balanced the weight of my past against the promise of my future.

J. Kenner

#57. One million dollars, Ms. Fairchild. You get the cash, and I get you.

J. Kenner

#58. Being together came close to destroying both of us once already," he says. "But I don't fucking care. You are the memory that gets me through my days, and the fantasy that saves me in the night.

J. Kenner

#59. I want to soothe him, want to stroke his cheek and run my fingers through his hair. I want to pull his head to my breast and whisper soft words, and I want to make love to him slowly and sweetly until the shadows of the night are gone and the morning light bathes us in color.

J. Kenner

#60. I am like a switch, and all it takes is the slightest contact from Damien to send a wild current through me. To light me up and make me shine.

J. Kenner

#61. Maybe this man does have secrets and skeletons. But right now, I'm seeing his heart. And I like what I see.

J. Kenner

#62. I've written about superheroes. I've written about talking ferrets and math geniuses being chased by madmen. I've written about spies and demon-hunting soccer moms. I've created an entire world that centers around a paranormal judicial system.

Julie Kenner

#63. Damien, wake up." I shake his shoulder. "Either we really set the sheets on fire, or something out there is burning.

J. Kenner

#64. I am much more optimistic about consumer-driven change than I am governmental change. Anything can happen in government, but I do think we consumers can drive true change.

Robert Kenner

#65. A game, yes. But I like it. In this game, there are no losers.

J. Kenner

#66. Certainly, reading Post-Structuralist prose is a form of work, like jogging with a nail in your shoe.

Hugh Kenner

#67. I love you, Nikki. I say it with every touch, with every look, with every breath that I take. I love you. I love you so much it hurts.

J. Kenner

#68. I like Damien Stark. He's not what I expected, but there's something compelling about him - and it's more than just the fact that he's hotter than sin and got me worked up into quite a lather. He seems perfectly comfortable in his own skin.

J. Kenner

#69. You didn't find something you liked last night?" Carl asks. "I wouldn't say that," Stark answers, his eyes on me. "But I'm still not satisfied.

J. Kenner

#70. Wishing I had the words to truly describe the way my heart swells with both relief and gratitude when I think about how even the tiniest snip of the threads in the tapestry of time could have sent our lives spiraling down different paths.

J. Kenner

#71. Bantam has an incredible team working on my books, and I'm so thrilled that the art department is so amazing, since those covers are the 'face' of my stories!

Julie Kenner

#72. Your parents are your first conception of love, the first object of your love. You love them wholly and unconditionally, and expect that back. When you don't get that in return, it colors everything.

J. Kenner

#73. I love it when my justifications for avoiding housework are actually legitimate.

Julie Kenner

#74. Your breasts. Your nipples. The insides of your thighs. I want you wet for me, baby. A little drunk and a whole lot wet.

J. Kenner

#75. I'm not spiraling down. I could never spiral down with you beside me. You hold me up, Damien.

J. Kenner

#76. Does it involve getting naked and going back to bed, and you assuring me that you didn't marry me for my culinary skills?

J. Kenner

#77. 'Dirtiest Secret' is Dallas Sykes' story. And it is a stand-alone trilogy that readers can come to completely fresh.

Julie Kenner

#78. He steps closer, still not touching me, but so close that I can hear my own heartbeat echoing against the hard breadth of his chest. You are.

J. Kenner

#79. Don't you dare feel sorry for 'could have'.

J. Kenner

#80. Hell, yes, I'm jealous. I'm jealous of anyone who comforts you. Who pulls you into his arms and makes the hurt go away.

J. Kenner

#81. I am alone with you," he says. "And at the same time, neither of us will ever be alone again.

J. Kenner

#82. Free will, Nikki. Tell me to stop, and I will. But tell me fast, because I'm going to kiss that damnable mouth of yours, and goddammit, Nikki, I'm doing it to keep you quiet.

J. Kenner

#83. He picks me up and carries me to bed, then eases up to spoon behind me, his arms around my waist. I sigh, lost in the pleasure of being so well attended to.

J. Kenner

#84. It is suddenly very, very hot in the limo,

J. Kenner

#85. You're amazing, Mr. Stark. You just blink and things happen.

J. Kenner

#86. But - I cut myself off. The truth is I don't give a fuck what happens

J. Kenner

#87. In Dallas, June is hot, July is hotter, and August is hell. Not

J. Kenner

#88. Paris is light and love and romance," he whispers. "And so are you. I knew from the first time I touched you that I would explore Paris with you. But only as my wife.

J. Kenner

#89. Date?" I hear the hardness creeping into his voice. "I've escorted a lot of women around this town, and I've fucked a hell of a lot of them. But I didn't date them.

J. Kenner

#90. Do you know what passion is?"
I blink, confused.
"Most people think it only means desire. Arousal. Wild abandon. But that's not all. The word derives from the Latin. It means suffering. Submission. Pain and pleasure, Nikki. Passion.

J. Kenner

#91. He is power and poetry, grace and perfection, and I feel my body tighten in response to the beauty that is Damien.

J. Kenner

#92. They served "Good Food" but only a G, an O and a D were lit up. Personally, I doubted God dined there. Unless God was keen on samonella poisoning and rat droppings in the hamburgers. But then again, what did I know?

Julie Kenner

#93. Mostly, it will make me feel better. Please, Nikki. Right now I'm asking. Don't make me demand.

J. Kenner

#94. He won't be happy until he's banging the next big thing. And while he'd prefer a female, I think he'd fuck anything that moves if he thinks it'll ease his climb to the top. Male, female, or small farm animal.

J. Kenner

#95. Poor you." I twist in his arms and plant a gentle kiss on his chin as he tightens the sash around my waist. "Just like Alexander. No worlds left to conquer.

J. Kenner

#96. There's nothing good about an atomic reaction,

J. Kenner

#97. You are my everything," he repeats. "But I can't be true to you if I'm not true to myself." - Damien Stark, Complete Me

J. Kenner

#98. This excited you, doesn't it? Not knowing where we're going next. What's going to happen. Who might turn that corner. Not knowing if I'm going to kiss you or fuck you. I'll give you a hint, Angie. I'm going to do both.

J. Kenner

#99. So maybe we're both broken," I said. "Maybe we make each other whole.

J. Kenner

#100. I swear to god, Angie, you're like Kryptonite - you fucking break me.

J. Kenner