Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.  Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines will be, and you’re invited to join in! Hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies.

“I mean, who thinks to do that?” “A guy who was besotted right from the start, and fell deeper in love, the more he saw her.” Mia turned to find Luke staring down at her. “It took her a few months, and a forest of paper, but thank God she finally got the message.”

I love these little romantic notions in novels, whether it takes place in the middle or at the end. It’s pretty cute, and I thought this one was one of my favorites.

It basically talks about the quirkiness of the relationship between Mia and Luke, from how it began to how it grew into something more. Some back story about Mia includes having an ex-boyfriend that was in essence stalking her to the point that she changed her number and moved to Manchester. Since that ex-boyfriend was one that somehow would figure out her number whenever she used to change it – mostly because other friends would probably give it to him – she made sure that only her mom, dad, and sister had her new number. Nobody else would be able to have it to ensure that her number wouldn’t leak out.

Luke wanted to talk to her after meeting her at the bar he owns, but since she was making sure that she kept herself safe, she didn’t give him any contact information. It also just so happened that they live in flats right across the street from one another, so Luke got creative and started writing her messages on white pieces of paper and taping them to his window so she could see it. And that’s how their friendship started, and that was the best way that they could communicate. It was quirky, creative, and something that Mia actually thought was pretty cool. Their friendship ended up being the same way, and that’s the beginning of this novel’s main romantic story.

Basically I liked this quote because it makes me think about some of the things that Mark and I would do that kind of defined our relationships and made it ours. It may not be writing to each other from across the street, but they were pretty fun. We ended up becoming best friends before anything more, and I think that was pretty similar to Mia and Luke’s dynamic.

Mia Abbott’s move to Manchester was supposed to give her time and space from all the disastrous romantic choices she’s made in her past. But then the hot guy who lives opposite – the one who works out every day at exactly 10 a.m., not that Mia has noticed thank-you-very-much – starts leaving notes in his window…for her.

Bar owner Luke Doyle has his own issues to deal with but as he shows Mia the sites of her new city he also shows her what real romance looks like for the first time. And when he cooks up a signature cocktail in her honour, she realises that the man behind the bar is even more enticing than any of his creations. And once she’s had a taste she knows it will never be enough!

I need to do better at prepping these posts ahead of time! I almost wasn’t sure what quote I would be able to use because I hadn’t kept track during my reading of Jade City – something that had a lot of moments that stuck with me – so I was stuck. Maybe as I’m writing my review for it, I’ll come across some quotes again and save that for next week.