K Slater Quotes

It always amazes me how it is so easy to appear one way to the people around you but to live inside as someone else entirely.

You could say it feels a bit like dressing up in the brightest party clothes so nobody sees how low and lost you feel underneath. You'd be surprised how easy it is to hide your true feelings with a smile and a kind word.

You don't always know how you're going to react to a sudden tragedy breaking your life into little pieces.

Why is that everyone can forget about physical ailments quite easily, but when it comes to mental illness, it sticks to you like glue for the rest of your life?

If hope is like the softest snow, then the dread that replaces it is the razor-sharp ice that will slash and pare your very soul to ribbons

This was a wretched place that most people would never get to see. Lucky them. Hope didn't feel that strong here, but fear loomed large

Just give yourself permission to feel it all, Jenny. The sadness, the anger, the heartbreak… let it come. All your feelings are valid. You don’t have to choose between them.

All the dark stuff nobody’s saying is stacking up in the silences between our words. It lives and breathes in the space around us where we can’t touch it, see it, or escape it.

Sit down, Mum,’ Ben says kindly when he’s finished mopping up the cream. I look down and see that the large area of polished wood is now dull and smeared, and although he’s done his best, the cream has surreptitiously seeped in between the boards where it might never be reached. ‘Mum?

The pork is in the oven with the foil off now, and a quick satisfying peek confirms that the crackling will be done to perfection. Just how Ben likes it. The apple crumble, with my own special oaty topping, sits on the side, and I have a big carton of Marks and Spencer’s vanilla custard stowed away in the fridge. I find nobody notices a little cheat, so long as it’s just here and there. The trick is not to overdo it.

pick Maddy and Josh up from Mum’s house no later than six each day, and we’re always home around ten minutes later. I thought that was enough to qualify me as a good mother, a parent who is there for her children. Yet I feel a niggle deep down that tells me he’s right. Once I get through the door each evening, I simply set my laptop up on the kitchen counter and carry on working. I often cook the children’s tea around updating the InsideOut4Kids website. The reality is, I’m there… but I’m not really there. Not all of me. For the first time, I consider the echoes of my own childhood, when Mum spent so much time in her bedroom. I can’t remember the last time we all sat down and ate together, or watched TV as a family. We often stay in different rooms until it’s time for bed. And the outings to the park or the cinema we used to plan and enjoy at weekends? I seriously can’t remember the last time we did that. I thought I was being Superwoman, and it turns out I’m struggling to tick all the boxes like any other mere mortal. The realisation renders me speechless, and it doesn’t take Tom long to

There is no such thing as a memory-keeper, no entity exists that has the power to declare whether things really happened or not. All we have are the pictures and the short films we play over and over in our mind's eye.

This morning it happens at three thirty a.m. and I am scared to move. Scared of what? I haven't got a clue and that just makes it worse.

Sometimes my memories get a bit blurred, good and bad ones together, until it is virtually impossible to separate them. But after all, what are memories but pictures in your mind?

I can't believe you. You can kiss your cover goodbye because the next time I talk to Kane I'm tellin' him how much of a big, fat, c**k lover you really are!" Aideen gasped. "You wouldn't!" "I would, blow job lips, trust me." Aideen covered her mouth and screeched. "You promise not to call me that anymore!" I smirked when I looked over to find Alec was in a fit of laughter next to me. "Please..." he laughed, "continue!" I looked back at Aideen who was fuming but silent. Just the way I liked it. "You're evil," she hissed at me. I grinned. "I was raised by the Devil, I picked up few things up." "I'll say," Aideen muttered. I chuckled. "I miss you." "I miss you, too. Has anythin' happened? Besides hanky-panky with one of the Slater God’s of course." "Slater God," Alec snorted.

indefinitely and yet nothing I do will ever make what happened right. Nothing.

Life had a funny way of knowing what was best, even if it took some time to get around to actually doing it.

Why not speak your mind, for once? Instead of dismissing your feelings, air them. Feel the difference it makes to accept that you’re angry and upset instead of trying to pretend everything is all right.

There’s so much ugliness in the world, don’t you think? So much distrust and focus on negative events, rather than on making peaceful progress so that the world is a better, more informed place for our future generations.

silly

well,

deep cracks radiate out from the centre like disused roads on an expired map.

I’m not sure whether I distanced myself or they did, but losing touch with people is something I’ve just accepted happens throughout my life. It seems… safer somehow, relying on no one but yourself.

It all sounds so petty said out loud yet when you’re on the receiving end, it’s very real and hurtful.

A childhood like that makes for a nervous adult who spends her time working out how to please others, saying yes to everything and wearing herself ragged in the process.

crop the length a bit so it’s a nice blunt bob and then get a balayage next

gripping

Finally I try on the third outfit. The cappuccino-coloured leather skirt feels as

funds.

One Present day Anna The small silver car coming the other way is moving far too fast, and as it takes the bend, the driver loses control and veers over on to the wrong

mustn’t cough. You don’t want to wake them, set the sillies screaming and crying. Leave them to their dreams, they will learn soon enough. The flames grow larger, then fuse together. You know it’s a sign that they are silently promising to help you and yet, for a second, you actually consider changing your mind. You could stomp down the flames and shout for help. You could wake them up. Then you hear

hear this a lot but reviews are so massively important to authors. If you’ve enjoyed ‘Safe with Me’ and could spare just a few minutes on Amazon or Goodreads to say so, I would so appreciate that. You can also connect with me via my website, on Facebook or Twitter. If you’ve enjoyed this, my debut novel, you might be interested to know that I’ve been

his brother,

I continued. ‘My mother encouraged me to move up to Nottingham. It felt like it was time for us to make a clean break.’ For a moment I couldn’t speak.

Is he going to be alright?’ Ivy presses a fist to her lips. ‘All will be revealed in good time,’ Dr Khan replies without looking at her. ‘Head injuries can be tricky things; no two are the same.’ ‘He doesn’t seem to know me, Doctor,’ Ivy says. ‘Some memory loss can be expected under the circumstances,’ Dr Khan mutters, studying a printout. He looks up sharply with raised eyebrows. ‘Give it time, Mrs—’ ‘Bradbury,’ the nurse supplies. We are asked to move outside to the waiting area in the main ward. Ivy falls silent and sits with her head bowed,

believed she was innocent.

send myself birthday cards every year, but it was the first time I’d done flowers.

You can never be sure quite how much time you’ve got with the people you love

I am trapped in a vacuum that exists between life and death.

He had a good sense of direction. His class teacher had said so last summer when they went on the mini-beast hunt, here at Newstead Abbey. And so Billy forged ahead, his inner compass telling him that the kite was definitely around here somewhere.

because the hospital

buy

how easy it is to hide your true feelings with a smile and a kind word.

In some ways, a long marriage is a bit like embarking on a journey. There’s a point at which you may might realise the journey isn’t really for you any more. But every time you get a chance to change paths, you just stay put because it’s easier. You end up trudging along the same old way and watching as life happens to other people as you pass by. Then one day you just stop looking around you … and well, here we are.

Imagine if someone took away all the chores and pressure and worries and replaced them with the sweetest joy that filled your heart and left you wanting nothing. If you can imagine that, then you start to come close to feeling what a grandparent feels.

As our kids get older and become adults themselves, there’s a stage we unknowingly pass, from which point forward our role as parents diminishes in

The full horror of what he did here is still too much for the village psyche to handle.

I realised a long time ago that unless a person has experienced true terror, there is nothing you can do to make them understand how utterly debilitating it can be. Or how your safe, ordinary life can disappear in the space of a heartbeat.

I start each day promising myself I’ll do better, I tell myself I can stop the destructive eating pattern. But something inside of me is broken and I always let myself down… By nightfall, the early morning hope has turned full-circle, back to self-loathing.

Truth never disappears or deserts us; it’s there forever, shining strong. It can be covered and disguised but it’s still there.

The job and the flat had been sorted for a while, and finally the story of her past was in place. She had rehearsed it all in her head until it had felt real. The waiting had been hellish but she knew it was essential that any loose ends were eradicated.

titivating herself before work had made a change from her usual rushing out

Soon the boys will be here and the house will be transformed into a home once more. Noisy, glorious chaos again, just like when Ben and David were young. Long before the bad decisions and the terrible consequences.

I felt desperate for a few hours of blissful oblivion. I couldn’t face the thoughts and possibilities that were ricocheting around my head.

against the

he

that

would definitely have been filed, and reported to the police as well.’ I bite down on my tongue. What is he saying? That I’m lying? ‘I am not doubting what you say,’ he adds hurriedly, breaking the terse silence. ‘Just that I will need to investigate this issue further with my colleagues.’ He asks me to put everything in an email and send it to him personally. When I end the call, I sit for a moment with my head in my hands. My first thought is that I’ve hit yet another brick wall but it’s swiftly followed by a far more troubling conclusion.

I’ve always thought it amazing how, up to about nine or ten years of age, kids see chores and responsibilities as proof of a kind of grown-up status. But once they get any older than that, it’s like pulling teeth to get them to do anything to help.

up to her bedroom and lay her in her cot. I sit in the comfy chair next to it and hold her hand through the

You asked about death? Well, not once did I consider he might go before me, I thought... I honestly thought he would eventually kill me. Or that I would kill myself because of him. I was so far gone it never occurred to me I had a choice in the matter

His reactions were at the centre of my world and I was completely absorbed in just getting through the day on that basis

There are a thousand ways to control or be controlled." Simone gave a sad smile. "We put our faith in out partner, our friend, a close relative, We want to believe they are good and true and so we do. We run with that. Then suddenly we can't see what's around us anymore; we can't spot the signs. We're blind to anything other than what they place right in front of our eyes and tell us is the truth.

You can't accept that people have their own lives... you can't accept your way is not always the best way.' The words bled out of her. "You try to control every last detail in your life, including the people around you, because if not... well, you'd have to stand back and look at yourself, wouldn't you? See you're far from perfect, see that you don't always know best. Could you cope with that? I don't think so.

I see it all the time. People will readily accept violence from men if they're pushed to their limits, but a woman? She's just expected to keep taking it and never complain. It's an attitude rooted in our society

I felt an electric bolt shoot through me, and I knew, in that moment, I probably wouldn't be able to fully trust another human being again

The gradual disintegration of their close relationship meant that Justine felt she couldn’t air her concerns with Esme.

Inside, I felt hollow. Years together, wiped out in what felt like an instant.

We want to believe they are good and true and so we do. We run with that. Then suddenly we can’t see what’s around us anymore; we can’t spot the signs. We’re blind to anything other than what they place right in front of our eyes and tell us is the truth.’ ‘I

If only people with busy lives understood that kindness, however brief, could linger and get a soul through a long, quiet evening.

or

happened to help her make sense of it. ‘It seems

and I strain to

do about it.

Detective Superintendent Grey offered Adam her office to take the Zoom call with Asmin Khalil. He sat behind her desk and she sat over the other side of the office with Nell. Sitting in Grey’s chair felt like when he’d once gone on a trip to Kensington Palace with school and for a dare had sat on one of the roped-off thrones. He’d got a week’s worth of detentions and his mum had stopped his pocket money for a month

let you carry on putting our daughter in danger

Adam swallowed, racking his brains for what Grey might consider a reasonable excuse. Saskia would have him by the balls if he wasn’t ready to go out at seven tonight. One cancelled meal with her boss was serious; two and it would be curtains for him

clipping

The physical pain in my chest is unbearable; the thought of losing my daughter is an ache like no other.

Cole learned to shrug his shoulders each time and walk away with a smile on his face when inside, he crumbled a little more.

There’s a solution for every problem. You just have to be creative enough to find it.

some people crave familiarity, but it’s not for me.

some people crave familiarity, but it’s not for me. I don’t feel as if I belong around here anymore.

It’s so true that small tasks can give a sense of achievement far beyond their perceived importance. Little pleasures, like a short nap, time to enjoy a simple lunch without multitasking. Just giving myself some time for me, rather than family, home or work.

Try to avoid going from zero to one hundred miles an hour on the strength of a look, a comment or mere suspicion.

People always seem too busy to pass the time of day any more, but us invisible oldies … well, we see a lot more than people give us credit for.

When the chips are down, the mother is the one who is expected to step into the breach.

looking efficient and

the more nervously you act around people like that, the more power they draw from it.

You can’t see into the future so stop telling yourself the story of how bad things are going to get,

Feel the difference it makes to accept that you’re angry and upset instead of trying to pretend everything is all right.

It almost felt like he was making a great effort to appear a star-struck debutant artist when in actual fact he was confident and entitled. Looking at Jack was like looking at the surface of a calm and beautiful stream and unexpectedly catching a shadowy movement undulating beneath the surface.

and

Sometimes, we have to be brave enough to give life’s surprises a chance.

murdering

You’ve got to learn to let go of stuff that doesn’t matter. Whatever happened, it’s all in the past. It has no bearing on your own happiness today.

Probably in

Karma has no menu. You get served what you deserve.

bleached

Karma has no menu. You get served what you deserve