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“Again she dances on the edge of my consciousness, laughing at me in my dreams. This is only fair. I cast myself as her fool from the beginning. When I told her she could have anything of mine; she plundered my heart, dazzled my mind, taking whatever it was of mine that she pleased.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“I was beginning to understand why Harold didn't like being around large numbers of people; if you were at all different, people were apt to stare.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“A soul full of true adoration will not drown you

In affections so false they could kill;

This most urgently, I beg thee, be free!”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“I had the idea that married couples should be in love, though I doubted that either of Father's wives had loved him. There had been more romance between Uncle Alexander and Leonard. Considering how content they both were, with each other and in life, I'd consider myself an extremely lucky man if I ever were as happy as they had been when they were together.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“Fiction is a blessing to those of us who suffer from mental illness; I'm sure many would agree. To be able to escape into the minds and hearts of other people, is such a uniquely thrilling experience, that everyone should indulge in this freedom as often as possible. It will not only expand your mind in what is possible, but your heart as well, growing empathy for those who live lives so different from your own.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“As if summoned by my private musings, Robert came rolling down the hill.

Think of the boy and he appears; what kind of faerie meddling was this?”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“Truthfully, I thought some of Robert's outfits a tad too daring. The necklines on some of his shirts plunged further south than those sported by a courtesan from the continent. He owned more patterned scarves than any sensible man ever should.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“Two towering beasts were brought to us. I do not say this lightly for I am the tallest man I know and Alexander isn't that much shorter than me. These great horses looked me squarely in the eye; which was something most people couldn't manage. They were rather terrifying to behold; made entirely of muscle and grit.

"Yes, they're perfect." Alexander smiles and I wonder if he has lost his mind.

He puts a hand to each of their large muzzles. Rather than destroy him, the two massive horses seem calmed by his presence.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“Determination is charmingly refreshing on you, Robert, I must say."

"Please don't encourage him." Bart mutters to Percy, who ignores him.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“Tonight we are going to dazzle His Lordship's wealthy friends and leave them with empty purses, minds spinning that they allowed a couple of boys who once lived in the gutter to rob them so delightfully blind.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“We are trapped by convention and must marry another.

Every good child knows: duty before your heart's desire.

So in the shadows we remain.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“Omission is not technically a lie. It's a cold comfort.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“If Grandmother were still here, this trip wouldn't have been the disappointment I felt it was. She would have known what I needed. She had raised six children, with the help of the servants, mind you, but still, six children.

I had two girls now; I couldn't imagine any more. Grandmother's strength and wisdom were undefeatable in an age that had taxed women in so many ways; I couldn't even begin to imagine how many.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“Reality is setting in, my lady,
You have no one who will save you-
But yourself.

This kingdom needs a ruler

And that ruler is you.”
― Maddy Kobar, Simply Not Meant To Be: Maddy Kobar's 2014-2018 Poems

“Bart stood quietly by me, letting me spill my senseless tears. I don't know how he managed to tolerate me so well. I didn't even tolerate myself that much.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“Love me as I am or not at all;

If you aren't pleased with what you see

Cast me back into the deep swirling sea”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“I was the great family embarrassment after all. Wren was hardly my first misstep. Father called them missteps but to me they were legitimate romances. Live and let love.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“You deserve better. I'll give you something so, so much better. By all the beating hearts of the rebel poets, I do solemnly swear, my darling, you shall soon be free!”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“Bart stood quietly by me, letting me spill my senseless tears with the patience of a saint. I don't know how he managed to tolerate me so well. I didn't even tolerate myself that much.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“Claude can't understand but his attempts to comfort me are endearing as they are frustrating. He is too kind to be reprimanded. He could have scolded me; many husbands in his place would have. For some reason, this gentle dove of a man will do no such thing. Instead, he pulls me into a protective embrace.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“The trouble with me is that too much of my blood was bad. The doctors couldn't bleed it out of me; whatever it was.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“It was almost physically hurting me not to admit to my whole family that she was mine. Ours was a love that I wanted everyone from St. Petersburg and back to know about. Not that I had ever even been to St. Petersburg, but once they knew who I was there, they'd knew who Wren was too.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“Love, they compare you to an unending battle-
riddled with pain and wracked with tactics

To pull the other down into a deathly embrace
in which there is no loser:
For I am beginning to believe that my loss
Is truly his, and his win is my gain.”
― Maddy Kobar, Simply Not Meant To Be: Maddy Kobar's 2014-2018 Poems

“For all the loose morals Robert and his beloved poets had, they were right to celebrate love for it was one of the most powerful forces on earth.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“It warps reality with its unseen hold:
The colors of your world are drained out,
Bled from your mind until
All you have left is an ashy, unending gray.

You are unable to see beauty any more,
It killed all that was beautiful
And left you to flounder in the ugly abandon.”
― Maddy Kobar, Simply Not Meant To Be: Maddy Kobar's 2014-2018 Poems

“During my last bright upswing, I had thrown all of my school allowance for the term on this coat. Collin teased me something horrible yet he wore bright orange without irony. His taste wasn't always to be trusted.”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“As surely as I wasn't born the most free,
I would like to die with more than I was born with.”
― Maddy Kobar, Simply Not Meant To Be: Maddy Kobar's 2014-2018 Poems

“You didn't ask to be sick. She had said in sympathy and pity. I ignored the pity and embraced the sympathy. What else could I do?”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon

“Though it was hardly a shock to him, because Father knew well by my sixteenth birthday how unpredictably erratic my temperament had become. His sweet Robert had died many years ago, along with his mother, and was replaced by this wicked little changeling who didn't ever care to temper his tongue. I had earned many a rival, enemy and smack upside the head for the mischievous things I said and did.”
― Maddy Kobar, From Out of Feldspar

“A life I'd gladly give for what is living if there is no

Happiness, truth, feeling, nor love?

For surely as I was born of human blood

I am a creature of undeniable emotion that cannot be suppressed”
― Maddy Kobar, With a Reckless Abandon