Hurricane Season Quotes
"Readers will devour this story of the hurricanes—both literal and figurative—that shape our lives."
"In Hurricane Season, Denton delivers emotional depth while examining the many types of 'storms' that cause havoc in our lives."
"With characters you’ll want as friends, a setting you can step into, and a poignant story of sisters and family ties and all the messiness of a wonderful life, Denton has penned another tale that will settle in deep and stay awhile, long after the last page is turned."
"Through sisters Jenna and Betsy you will recognize which sister you are, the sister you could be, and the sister you yearn to become—the woman you hope to become."
"It’s true what they say. There’s no place like home."
"An engaging, lyrical story of sisterly love."
"It’s an absolutely lovely story of love, loss, and the hope of new beginnings."
"The Hideaway is the heartwarmingly southern story about the families we are given—and the families we choose."
"It was energy and lethargy, anticipation and dread."
"She felt like she needed to both run a mile and go back to sleep for the next three hours."
"The beauty—almost perfection—of their little space on this earth."
"The swing was the first thing Ty had showed Betsy when he brought her to the farm their senior year of college."
"It seemed every body on the farm consistently obeyed God’s natural order of things, producing and giving life, working and contributing as they should."
"Thoughts of running evaporated like steam over a cup of French roast."
"The only thing I know I want right now is a chance. With you."
"It’s time to get back to it. Drawing hearts in milk foam doesn’t count as art."
"She felt like one of those hamsters on a spinning wheel, going faster and faster but never actually going anywhere."
"Sometimes she longed for that life for herself, missed it as though it was something she’d once had and let slip through her fingers."
"The reality of Jenna’s world, in all its terror and beauty, stared back at her on the sidewalk."
"Behind the camera, she hid herself from reality and escaped to a place where at the click of a shutter, she could make everything perfect."
"You have to take care of yourself so you can go and take care of your kids."
"In her fog, she’d pulled her camera from the back of the closet, popped in some film, and started shooting."
"The idea made her nervous though. It had been a little while since they talked—really talked—and telling Betsy she wanted to go off and do nothing but take photos for two weeks would come out of left field."
"Every night before bed, he set his alarm for 4:30 a.m., an hour he once thought was only for late-night bar hoppers and graveyard-shift workers."
"Nothing quite compared to a fifteen-hundred-pound Holstein sidling up to you, cud breath and all. It made you feel a certain something inside."
"When I was home, I was sort of the mediator between her and my parents. Without me there... well, Jenna’s not naturally submissive."
"His heartbeat was as steady and insistent as the metronome that used to sit on top of her parents’ Steinway."
"She’s wanting to get back into her photography, and this will give her a chance to get away and focus on it."
"Things are different now, you know that. We’ve moved on. It’ll be easier."
"If this is her shot at trying photography again, I want to give it to her."
"We don’t usually ride the cows, but I don’t think Uncle Ty will mind. He’ll pick out the perfect one for you to ride."
"The rain was still light, making a chorus of drips and drops on the branches around her."
"They don’t need much, right? We live on a farm. There’s plenty for them to do outside."
"Maybe this is our chance to see if we have what it takes to be parents."
"There’s nothing to be scared of," she said, cringing as the words left her mouth.
"I’ll take care of Walsh," Addie said in the dark.
"It was as if the darkness softened the hard edges, blurring any anger, frustration, or annoyance until it was easier to manage, easier to pull out into the open."
"But you know what? Your mommy isn’t in a big school bus, and she’s coming back very soon."
"Addie had been still a couple of minutes, not moving a muscle, just like she said, when Walsh grunted in her sleep and flopped over, one arm flinging against Addie."
"You’re like a magnet," Ty whispered, grinning. "Look at them. They can’t get close enough to you."
"She tried to explain about phone coverage and dropped calls, but both girls went to bed with tears in their eyes."
"The beauty around her was so new, so savage and raw, but she couldn’t capture it in a way that felt real."
"We’re all trying to connect to the passion, to that internal drive."
"Betsy already knew Jenna was artistic—she could draw anything, painted with quick and sure brushstrokes, and sometimes stayed after school to help clean paintbrushes in the art room."
"Real life held plenty of good and evil, battles and rescues. And if you worked hard, you really could be anything you wanted to be. Right?"
"The skin on the back of his neck was tan and soft-looking."
"The air between them crackled with anticipation and desire."
"Occasionally she wondered what in the world she’d gotten herself into."
"She worked as hard as Ty did and used muscles she didn’t know she had."
"At the end of each day, they collapsed in bed, exhausted but happy."
"She always thought she’d be done having kids by the time she was thirty."
"I thought I was supposed to have a mentor to offer some guidance."
"It was easier that way. Well, it wasn’t easy, but at least I wasn’t trying to force something that obviously wasn’t supposed to work."
"Without color as a distraction, the contrast between light and dark is the focus."
"You were patient. Rather than shooting the first scene you came to, you waited until you saw something of worth."
"If something is important enough, you’ll squeeze it in."
"A lot of people, myself included, probably would have walked right by it in search of something less... mangled. But you saw a different kind of beauty. Sometimes perspective is more valuable than technical skills. You’ve got that instinct."
"It’s all you. You have a knack for getting just the right angles, but you also see things others might not notice."
"Sometimes the best stuff happens—when we’re not overthinking. It’s a good way to live, really. Don’t overthink, just do."
"You are an artist. Get it through your head now or when you leave this place, you’ll go right back home and pick up your life as if this experience were nothing more than a blip on your radar."
"What is a photographer if not an artist? Are you not creating something beautiful, something that will make the viewer feel, or escape, or dream?"
"It’s just that I had to give a quick answer or they would have offered the extension to someone else."
"I’ve worked hard to take care of my girls, and there’s no way I’d leave a steady job if I didn’t think what’s happening here could put me in the position to make a better life for them."
"If anyone could squeeze something meaningful and life-changing out of all this, it’d probably be you."
"I can’t give you all this. I’ll give you everything I can, but there’s no way it’ll be like this."
"I’ve worked so hard to show I’ve changed from who I used to be, but then here I go making yet another impulsive, selfish decision."
"I’m here for my girls. And for me too. To try to make things better for all three of us."
"You need to decide now—today—to trust that the decision to stay was a good one."
"It matters to me that you believe in yourself. If you do that, your girls will too."
"I disappointed everyone in my life when I chose photography over a steady, stable job."
"A retreat like this makes you feel refreshed. Energized."
"Reality is still out there churning away. Your time away changes you, but it doesn’t change anyone else."
"Your mom is going through a process, trying to figure things out so she can be better for you and for her."
"It's not any calmer over here, but you're welcome to come by. I have wine in the fridge and a glass with your name on it."
"Sometimes the best thing we can do is just to be there for each other, even when it’s not easy."
"She’s a kid. Just needed a little attention. Someone to tell her she’d be okay."
"The cicadas’ wild vibrations in the trees sounded electric. It was the sound of summer, familiar and safe."
"All she wanted to do was reach over and touch his cheek, his neck, his hair. Anything to bring him closer, to erase their separation, to prove they were okay."
"You have no idea how much it kills me not to be able to give you children, to do something to make it happen for you. For us. But I wanted you long before kids were even a thought in my mind, and that hasn’t changed."
"Good things can happen even when you’re not looking for them."
"You never know what may happen down the road, my dear."
"It’s already a success. Her hands in the dirt, the quiet twilight around her, new life waiting to be sunk down into the ground."
"When things get rough, we have to deal with it. We talk, we fight, then we make it okay. We make it better. That’s what we do. But it has to be both of us together."
"I miss them. A lot. But I’m trying to be someone they can be proud of."
"Trust me when I say in the long run, sincerity is a good quality to have in a man. Much better than those flashy bozos I see strutting down the street when I go out to get my hair done."
"You’re young and smart and you have your whole life ahead of you. Don’t make the mistake of thinking there’s only one road you can take, only one life you can live."
"Chocolate chips go great with breakfast, in my opinion."
"All that wind and rain shows you which plants are the strongest. Those are the ones you keep, plant more of next season."
"Real life was calm and chaos, fights and forgiveness, that delicate dance of marriage."
"I'm not asking you to follow me just for the fun of it. It's a job for you too."
"California's a beautiful place for photography. It could be a fresh start."
"You'd be helping me with grading and paperwork, but you'd have plenty of time to do your own thing."
"I need to get going. I have a lot to do tonight."
"Your mentee has done a great job with Micah."
"I don't know how to put these two parts of my life together."
"I've worked with a bunch of photographers over the years. Most of them were good. A couple were really good. But you're different."
"Come with me to California. You can have the creative life you want and nothing will get in the way of it."
"I can't uproot them too. I can't do that to them."
"You made the choice to give up a life in the arts when you had your children."
"All of a sudden, going home sounded like the simplest thing in the world."