Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week I was told I could pick my own topic. So I am traveling off the beaten path and doing my own thing, especially since I am still feeling my book hangover from finishing ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell last week… (My review for the book will come once I can move past the fangirly fluff that still fills my brain every time I think about it… and about Park.)
Until then, here is my Top Ten Favorite Quotes from ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell.
Maybe you will begin to understand why my heart doth beat so much.
Be sure to stick around to the end because I am sharing the love with a giveaway!
I’m giving away a finished copy of ELEANOR & PARK to one lucky winner. (US residents only)
Just fill out the RaffleCopter form at the bottom of the post and you’ll be entered to win!
Fall in love with Eleanor & Park with these ten quotes:
[SPOILER WARNING]
Read on only if you want to feel all the tingles with a few love-related spoilers.
DON’T READ if you want to wait until you have the book in your own hands.
(If that’s the case, skip directly to the giveaway below the quotes.)
“Park didn’t have any luck – or status – to spare on that dumb redhead. He had just enough to keep himself out of trouble. And he knew it was crappy, but he was kind of grateful that people like that girl existed. Because people like Steve and Mikey and Tina existed, too, and they needed to be fed. If it wasn’t that redhead, it was going to be somebody else. And it if wasn’t somebody else, it was going to be Park.”
“Holding Eleanor’s hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive.”
“Nothing before you counts,” he said. “And I can’t even imagine an after.”
She shook her head. “Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t talk about after.”
“I just meant that… I want to be the last person who ever kisses you, too…. That sounds bad, like a death threat or something. What I’m trying to say is, you’re it. This is it for me.”
“I love you,” he said.
She looked up at him, her eyes shiny and black, then looked away. “I know,” she said.
He pulled one of his arms out from under her and traced her outline against the couch. He could spend all day like this, running his hand down her ribs, into her waist, out to her hips and back again…. If he had all day, he would. If she weren’t made of so many other miracles.
“You know?” he repeated. She smiled, so he kissed her. “You’re not the Han Solo in this relationship, you know.”
“I’m totally the Han Solo,” she whispered. It was good to hear her. It was good to remember it was Eleanor under all this new flesh.
“Well, I’m not the Princess Leia,” he said.
“Don’t get so hung up on gender roles,” Eleanor said.”
“He wound the scarf around his fingers until her hand was hanging in the space between them.
Then he slid the silk and his fingers into her open palm.
And Eleanor disintegrated.”
“Maybe Park had paralyzed her with his ninja magic, his Vulcan handhold, and now he was going to eat her.
That would be awesome.”
“What do you want to show me?”
“Nothing, really. I just want to be alone with you for a minute.”
He pulled her to the back of the driveway, where they were almost completely hidden by a line of trees and the RV and the garage.
“Seriously?” she said. “That was so lame.”
“I know,” he said, turning to her. “Next time, I’ll just say, ‘Eleanor, follow me down this dark alley, I want to kiss you.'”
She didn’t roll her eyes. She took a breath, then closed her mouth. He was learning how to catch her off guard.
She pushed her hands deeper in her pockets, so he put his hands on her elbows. “Next time,” he said, “I’ll just say, ‘Eleanor, duck behind these bushes with me, I’m going to lose my mind if I don’t kiss you.'”
She didn’t move, so he thought it was probably okay to touch her face. Her skin was as soft as it looked, white and smooth as freckled porcelain.
“I’ll just say, ‘Eleanor, follow me down this rabbit hole…'”
He laid his thumb on her lips to see if she’d pull away. She didn’t. He leaned closer. He wanted to close his eyes, but he didn’t trust her not to leave him standing there.”
“I don’t like you, Park,” she said, sounding for a second like she actually meant it. “I…”-her voice nearly disappeared-“think I live for you.”
He closed his eyes and pressed his head back into his pillow.
“I don’t think I even breathe when we’re not together,” she whispered. “Which means, when I see you on Monday morning, it’s been like sixty hours since I’ve taken a breath. That’s probably why I’m so crabby, and why I snap at you. All I do when we’re apart is think about you, and all I do when we’re together is panic. Because every second feels so important. And because I’m so out of control, I can’t help myself. I’m not even mine anymore, I’m yours, and what if you decide that you don’t want me? How could you want me like I want you?
He was quiet. He wanted everything she’d just said to be the last thing he heard. He wanted to fall asleep with ‘I want you’ in his ears.”
“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”
“My girlfriend is sad and quiet and keeps me up all night worrying about her.”
Share your Top Ten Tuesday links in the comments below!
(And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!)
Enter to win a finished copy of Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Open to US residents ages 13 and older only.
Ends Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at midnight.
All the quotes make me want to read this book so badly! It sounds like a great book.
Love those quotes! This is a great idea for a top ten. I’d love to read this now:) I’ll admit they gave me goosebumps!
OMG….I’m swooning. So. Hard. Must get this book now. Thanks for sharing!
This book sounds so wonderful… I can’t wait to get my hands on this one. Thanks so much for the giveaway opportunity!
My Top Ten Tuesday!
Holy Toodle, so glad I clicked on this site first!
GAH! This book!!! Loved it so very much. Number 9 is one of my favorites, as well as :
“No.” She lifted up her chin. “No… I just want to lie low, you know? Like as long as I stay out of his way, I’m fine. I just have to be invisible.”
Park smiled.
“What?” she asked.
“You. Invisible.”
She smiled. He let go of her hands and held her face. Her cheeks were cold, and her eyes were fathomless in the dark.
She was all he could see.
Thanks for causing ALL THE FEELS again!! And the giveaway!
My sister read this one a few weeks ago and said it was adorable. I loved these quotes and I can see why it has been getting such great reviews. I’m also a little in love with the cover, it’s adorable. Crossing my fingers that I can read it soon! Thank you!
I did not care much about this book when it released because the setting is in the past. But those quotes won me over, this is a must read for me =)
What I love the most about these quotes is that they’re such real characters in a real romance! It’s goofy and awkward but oh so sweet:)
Thank you:)
Love the quotes. Especially number six, “Maybe Park had paralyzed her with his ninja magic, his Vulcan handhold, and now he was going to eat her. That would be awesome.”
Hehe I need to know more about this. Looking forward to reading ELEANOR & PARK. Thank you for featuring it and for the giveaway.
I have SO MUCH LOVE for this book. And oh, those quotes–they gave me FEELS. Excellent book!
Rachel @ Beauty and the Bookshelf
I’ve heard SUCH great things about this book. Seriously. I’ve been dying to get my hands on a copy. Sounds so sweet!
I just want to read this book so bad. Quote 6 is hilarious and I absolutely love quotes 8,9 and 10. Geez they just make you swoon. 😀
I LOVE THIS LIST! This was one of the most special books I’ve read in a long time. It made me laugh, cry and everything in between! You chose some of my favourite quotes as well!
Awwww. This sounds so cute. I still haven’t read E&P, but maybe once I do Park will make it on my Book Boyfriend list! (That’s what topic I picked for this week, oddly enough.)
The quotes– *O* I want this book now! Wonderfurr.
I keep hearing about how good this book is. Now I’m even more excited to read it after your enthusiastic review. Thanks for your thoughts and the chance to win!
I’m dying to read this book! I own it but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet (stupid me).
This book is woefully far down my TBR list right now. Cannot wait to get my hands on it! This post is just making me more tempted to skip ahead to it. Great TTT!
~Dannie @ Left to Write
All of these quotes are so great! Rowell has an amazing voice/
I love Rainbow Rowell, so glad you made following her on Twitter part of your giveaway!
Gotta promote the lady behind the masterpiece, that’s for sure! 😉 Thanks for stopping by!
I loved her first book for adults, “Attachments”! Definitely worth checking out since you loved “Eleanor & Park” so much. And FYI: Rainbow Rowell has another YA book coming out in September 2013 called “Fangirl.” I’m already fangirling over it. (I just couldn’t resist the pun.)
Yes, ironically my copy of Attachments will be arriving today. I will definitely be digging right into it. And I am already fangirling over Fangirl, too! Pretty soon Rainbow fangirls will conquer the WORLD! 😉
My only disappointment with “E&P” was that the dialogue between the main characters used on GoodReads.Com to promote the book (and thus in your review), is only partially included in the book itself. So witty!
Aww, the eighth and tenth quote. So cute. I’ve been dying to read this book, I only hear great things about it.
I love the “follow me down the rabbit hole” quote, Rowell has a way of making you look differently at the world, like the quote about holding hands is like holding a butterfly. Even the year seems to add to the story somehow, like you couldn’t get the same reactions if it was from this year. It is just too good a book to put into words!
I didn’t read the quote because I want to wait until I have the book in my hands 🙂 I already read your review because I’m a little late to reading my emails and you just loved it so much and usually books that you love don’t let me down! 🙂 I really can’t wait to read this and having my own copy would be grand 🙂 Thanks, Jenna!
I’ve heard such amazing things about this book–really want to read it! And those quotes…so swoon-worthy!! 🙂
I’ve read so many good things about this book and I want to read it so bad!!! And now that I heard John Green gave it a stellar review, I want to read it all that much more!
The quotes itself are giving me butterflies. This book sounds so good, especially after reading your take on it.
xx
Eeeep! I’ve heard only the best about this book and the WANT I’ve developed is practically killing me! I’m so glad to know that I’m bound to love it. 😀
I haven’t read this one yet but I’ve read lots and lots of great reviews about it. I *did* read her book Attachments and really liked her writing style and sense of humor so I’m hoping Eleanor & Park has the same funniness to it–or at least in parts.
I didn’t want to be spoiled, so I admit that I skipped to the end. I’ve seen this book around the blogosphere and people have loved it. Contemporary YA books aren’t my usual read, but there’ve definitely been some good ones recently!!! I’d definitely give this one a try. Thanks so much!
Christina @ Ensconced in yA
I love love love contemporary books and I will be definitely reading this some time. I was given the opportunity to read the ARC from NetGalley but I kept putting it off. 🙁
Leigh
Little Book Star
I absolutely loved this book! Great choice of quotes.
I’ve been meaning to pick up this book but I never had the chance. Now I want it even more! Those quotes were totally swoon worthy <3 Thanks for the giveaway! I want this book so much~! I hear so many good things 🙂
I have been curious about this book for a while, but I wasn’t in any hurry to read it….. until all of the reviews started coming in. Now, I am seriously excited about getting my hands on it. I have this feeling that it will be another special one for me, like The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. So, thank you so much for this giveaway! And the great post that goes along with it!
It’s 1986. There´s nothing more fabulous to me than than, a love contemporary book set in 1986. I honestly love the 80´s, and combining that with an amazing love story. I donñt know if this would be really amazing, I mean, after The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (the first time in my life I literrally cried while reading a book) It´s difficult to pick up a contemporary book and love it so much but I´ll give Rainbow Rowe a try 😀 Besides, I´m a nerdy romantic.
I adored E&P. to an extreme.
But what I find hilarious is that while I jotted down all my favorite quotes, NONE matched yours! Isn’t is crazy how books affect people in such profoundly different ways?
OMG! I also made a similar post before discovering this! I super loved the book. And the quotes…ahhh. Tingling sensations everywhere.
Five Feet of Awesome