What do you think?
Rate this book
394 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2014
I don’t believe in coincidence or fate
But I know one thing for sure
Your face was meant to be
Burned into the deepest reaches
Of my blackest memories.
Three fateful encounters...
Two heart-breaking tragedies...
One last chance to get it right.
Over the course of five years, Mikki and Crush cross paths on three separate occasions. Their first encounter changes Mikki's life forever, but their second meeting leaves them both buried beneath the emotional wreckage of a violent attack. Mikki is left with more questions and grief than she can handle, while Crush is forced to forget the girl who saved his life.
Now nineteen years old, Mikki Gladstone is tired of the mind-numbing meds. She books a flight to Los Angeles to end her life far away from her loving, though often distant, family.
Twenty-one-year-old Crush has always channeled his blackest thoughts into his music, but he's never had great aspirations. He decides to fly to Los Angeles to record a demo of the only song he's never performed in public; a song he wrote for a girl he doesn't even know: Black Box. He has no expectations of fame and he's never felt like his life had any purpose... until he meets Mikki in Terminal B.
When Mikki and Crush cross paths for the third time in Terminal B, neither has any idea who the other person is; until they slowly piece together their history and realize that fate has more in store for them than just another love story.
"I have to ignore this crazy voice in my head telling me that this whole thing... was fate's way of bringing Mikki and me back together. That kind of stuff only happens in cheesy romantic movies. And, let's face it, if they ever made a movie for Mikki and me, it would probably have to be categorized under horror flicks."
“I feel like I’ve known you all my life... I don’t want that feeling to go away. I want to know you all my life.”
"Spoiler alert: Everything is going to be okay."
"Three fateful encounters.
Two heart-breaking tragedies.
One last chance to get it right."
“This black box is yours to keep, to stash your troubles away. Just lock it up and call my name, and I’ll be there… always.”
“Fate is for fairy tales. Luck is what happens when you’re in the right place at the right time… with the right person.”
“What are you, some fucking superhero for freaks?”
“I feel like I’ve known you all my life … I don’t want that feeling to go away. I want to know you all my life.”
“I hate that your smile makes me want to cry and I don’t know why. I hate that you know how to look so together on the outside when you’re screaming inside. I hate that you always know the right thing to say. I hate the way that I already know what you’re thinking just by the way you’re looking at me… I hate that you saved me. But most of all, I hate that you love me because now I love you and I don’t know how to make it stop.”
“… the world can go black in a split second.”
“Fate. I used to think fate was for religious nuts and people who were too afraid to take their fate into their own hands. Now I know the truth. Fate is death. No one escapes it. But if you stick around long enough, you might find someone to help cheat fate for a while. And when you can’t cheat anymore, and fate finally catches up to you, maybe it won’t seem so scary with that someone by your side.”
'This Black Box is yours to keep, to stash your troubles away. Just lock it up and call my name, and I'll be there always.'
“I hate that you saved me. But, most of all, I hate that you love me because now I love you and I don’t know how to make it stop.”
“Do you think saving someone’s life cancels out taking another person’s life?”
“Don’t tell me I don’t know you when I’ve spent the last three years trying to forget you.”
“I feel like I’ve known you all my life. I don’t want that feeling to go away. I want to know you all my life.”
“In the process of finding the girl I fell in love with three years ago, I found my best friend.”
"Don't worry, son, not all stories have happy endings; but that doesn't mean they're not worth the read."
"This black box is yours to keep, to stash your troubles away. Just lock it up and call my name, and I'll be there... always."- Black Box
"The pain is just a subtle reminder of how alive I felt with you.”- Black Box
"It means that I... Fuck. I think I've loved you for longer than I care to admit and I'm just starting to understand why. And I want you to stay."
"This is called 'Black Box', for the girl who holds the key to mine."
"I hate that you saved me. But, most of all, I hate that you love me because now I love you and I don't know how to make it stop."
"I love that you hate me, too. Both of those emotions require a lot of energy. Don't make me go all Harvard on you and tell you the scientific difference between loving and hating someone."
"I want to kiss you, but I want to do it when you're least expecting it. Is that okay?"
"There's a little blackness inside all of us."
*
"Why is it called Black Box?"
"You'll find that out too, but I'll give you a hint. There's a little blackness inside all of us."
'Having a mental illness is like riding a really fast merry-go-round that never stops. There's no escape. You're stuck.'
'Self ownership is an illusion. This is a lesson I learned at a very young age. How can anyone expect a teenager to cope with that kind of realization?'
'This Black Box is yours to keep, to stash your troubles away. Just lock it up and call my name, and I'll be there... always.'
"What's the difference between fate & luck?"
He smiles and turns his attention back to the view of the city. "Fate is for fairy tales. Luck is what happens when you're in the right place at the right time... with the right person."
"I feel like I've known you all my life. I don't want that feeling to go away. I want to know you all my life."