Sam Reviews "The Carousel" (The Locket #3) by Richard Paul Evans

I had read The Carousel back in 2009, and even then I jotted down many a quote that I still love to this day.  It took me way too long to finish this because I moved and took a break from reading right in the middle of it, but I still love this book.  I still don't really see how "The Looking Glass" ties into this and "The Locket" so personally I would suggest just reading "The Locket" then "The Carousel" and judge the books based on that.  I think the love story is so great and (mostly) realistic, which is my favorite type.  And while this is more of a "happily ever after" type story, I do find a lot of my personal philosophy of love articulated in this author's story, which is also my favorite type.

"To dream is to hope.  To hope is to live."

"Love cannot exist without forgiveness and faith is more enduring than understanding."

"I do not understand, with so many people on this planet, so many die alone."

"It was no great coincidence that Della died on her birthday, as every day was Della's birthday.  ... Some delusions, even in the clear-minded, are best left unchallenged."

"Hey, baby, ain't it a shame.  All those curves and me with no brakes."

"Summer is a fever of sorts.  Hot and deceptive.  Like falling in love."

"Faye was perennially summer.  More than bronze-skinned and barefoot, she was the warm nights of the sea-son, the hot breeze that caressed my hair, dampened my brow, and filled each breath.  Summer and all its reckless promise."

"We both knew that it would be our last carefree summer together.  We spent those days constructing our dreams of a life together, clinging to each hour as tightly as a mountain climber holds to the rock face of a vertical climb, tethering our dreams and futures to our promises.  But summer always ends.  And in the end, promises weren't enough."

"There's something about standing on the edge of a cliff that takes the words from you."

"Despite our culture's fascination with death, we go to great lengths to conceal it from ourselves, pushing it out the back doors of hospitals in unmarked vans, and into secluded corners where we can safely get on with the business of ignoring our own mortality."

"I anticipated her evening call as the addict anticipates a fix, knowing all the while that just minutes after she hung up, the rush would wear off and the need for her would be all the greater."

"She was mixed up, perhaps no more than every teenager trapped in the adolescent house of mirrors, but she seemed more confused than most."

"What is it they say about college philosophy?  You remember just enough to screw up the rest of your life."

"I don't know why we delude ourselves that life is predictable and safe, when it's really just a carton of eggs - always just one stumble away from being scrambled."

"There are times when doing what is right and avoiding the appearance of evil are not the same thing."

"It was ecstasy being alone with her. I should have known it could not last."

"Depression is a box of lies. The person trapped in this darkness often is unable to see past its murk to future happiness or even past joys.  They believe, erroneously,  that they have always been unhappy and,  therefore, always will be."

"What remained [of Faye] was numb,  bathed in the psychological anesthetic required for emotional survival."

"The sun will rise again. The only question is whether or not we will be there to greet it."

"Though we pay homage to the gods of intellect and reason,  in the end we believe what we want to believe."

"The drowning man is not picky about which lifeboat he climbs into."

"Love is a reaction of the pituitary. Researchers say that when the pituitary is removed,  that person never feels that whirlwind,  head over heels feeling of love. ...  i think i could have used a pituitary- ectomy years ago.   I'm bad at love.  I just throw my heart up like a skeet target to see if anyone wants to blow it into a million pieces."

"I'm not into fatalism. At least i dont think i am.  But sometimes i think there might be something to it.  I don't believe that we're meant to go through this life alone."

"The opposite of love isn't anger. It's indifference."

"One of the sweetest women I had ever known had just walked out of my life. And the only honest and kind thing I could do was let her go."

"Life isn't like any carousel I have ever known. It's not safe or predictable. We never know where or when someone's going to get off.  There are no promises.  The truth is, if we knew what the ride was like we probably would have just saved the ticket."

"We can't promise our time.  It's not ours to give.   The best we can promise is our hearts.  And the most we can hope for is to live each moment so when it's all over,  there are no regrets."

"I don't know who you are anymore. I don't know what you're thinking.  I'm afraid of you."