Every life has a soundtrack.
All you have to do is listen.
Music has set the tone for most of Zoe Baxter's life. There's the melody that reminds her of the summer she spent rubbing baby oil on her stomach in pursuit of the perfect tan. A dance beat that makes her think of using a... read more
After struggling with infertility, Zoe and Max discover they want different things in life - and for Max it does not include a baby. Zoe throws herself into her music therapy business and Max throws himself into the bottle, and eventually an evangelical church family. When Zoe discovers love... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
“Every life has a soundtrack....All you have to do is listen.”
“I taste her and realize I've been starving.”Zoe
“I slip her hands beneath the hem of my shirt. Her palms brand my stomach; I am sure I will wake up with her initials seared into my skin.”Vanessa
“The optimist in me wants to believe sexuality will eventually become like handwriting: there's no right or wrong way to do it. We're all just wired differently.”Vanessa
“Did you ever notice how other people's houses have a smell? I has asked the first time I went over to Vanessa's.Please tell me mine isn't something awful like bratwurst.No, I said. It's clean. Like sunshine on sheets. THen I asked her what my apartment smelled like.Don't you know?No, I explained. I can't tell because I live there. I'm too close to it.It smells like you, Vanessa had said. LIke a place nobody ever wants to leave.”Zoe and Vanessa
“If you ask me, music is the language of memory.”Zoe
“When I was married to Max, I mistook being a lifeline for being in love. I was the one who could save him; I was the one who could keep him sober. But there is a difference between mending someone who's broken and finding someone who makes you complete.”Zoe
““For anyone who hasn’t accepted Jesus into his heart, this is what it feels like: as if you’ve resisted the fact that your vision’s gone blurry and you need glasses. But eventually you can’t see a foot in front of you without knocking things over and bumping into dead ends, so you go to the optometrist. You walk out of that office with a new pair of glasses, and the world looks sharper, burgher, more colorful. Crisp. You can’t understand why you waited so long to make the appointment.””Max
“The music we listen to may not define who we are. But it's a damn good start.”Zoe
““I once told the head of the English department at school that I liked Romeo and Juliet the best,” I say, “and she told me I was a philistine.”“What! Why?”“Because it’s not as complex as King Lear or Hamlet, I guess.”“But it’s dreamier. It’s everyone’s fantasy, right?”“To die with your lover?”Zoe laughs. “No. To die before you start making lists of all the things about him that drive you crazy.””
“Are you attracted to someone because of who they are, or what they are?”
“But I do know that I’m at the stage of my life where I want forever, not right now.”
“"Because,” I say finally, “when you love someone, you don’t see the parts of him you don’t like"”
“That I kind of want to be with you forever. Except forever’s not long enough.”
“Beliefs are the roads we take to reach our dreams. Believe you can do something—or believe you can’t—and you’ll be right every time.”Highlighted by 245 Kindle customers
But there is a difference between mending someone who’s broken and finding someone who makes you complete.Highlighted by 237 Kindle customers
I know that the first person I kissed won’t be nearly as important as the last person I kiss.Highlighted by 185 Kindle customers
“Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.”Highlighted by 176 Kindle customers
This is true of anyone: the music we choose is a clear reflection of who we really are.Highlighted by 172 Kindle customers
The bottom line in both cases is that people don’t change; that no matter how charming you are and how fiercely you love, you cannot turn a person into someone she’s not.Highlighted by 156 Kindle customers
The moment I heard my first love story I began seeking you, not realizing the search was useless. Lovers don’t meet somewhere along the way. They’re in one another’s souls from the beginning.Highlighted by 148 Kindle customers
Imagine if there was a pentatonic scale for life: if no matter what step you took, you could not strike a wrong note.Highlighted by 120 Kindle customers
I tell you this as a cautionary tale: beware of getting what you want. It’s bound to disappoint you.Highlighted by 118 Kindle customers
If you ask me, music is the language of memory.Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers
Track 1: Sing You Home
Track 2: The House on Hope Street
Track 3: Refuge
Track 4: The Last
Track 5: Marry Me
Track 6: Faith
Track 7: The Mermaid
Track 8: Ordinary Life
Track 9: Where Are You
Track 10: Sammy's Song
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