“I'm a rag doll, meant to comfort children. Certainly not to give them nightmares." "My darling, being scary isn't about having green scales or pointed teeth! Why, you could be the most angelic being around and still elicit screams. Here. Let me show you how it's done." He steps back into our bedroom's shadows, where the moonlight falls halfway on his skull. "Play with light and shadow," he says, stretching his jaw into a grin that would look cheerful under normal lighting but, in the half shadows, lends a sinister air. "Then, use your surroundings," he advises as he sweeps toward the fireplace. With his pointed black boot, he nudges a burning log, which shoots out sparks around him that crackle and pop. I squeeze my hands together at my chest, murmuring "oooh" at the impressive display. He takes both my hands in his, holding them against the cage of his ribs, letting me feel the pulse of his undead heart. He captures my gaze and says, "Lastly, understand why you scare." Before I can think on the question, he draws me forward until our lips connect, and when he cups my chin with his bone-smooth palm, I feel a spark jump between us like the ones dancing up toward the ceiling from the log in our fireplace. His hand fits against the curve of my back, and love for him thrums through me. When I gently pull back, I gaze up through my lashes and playfully tease, "What does kissing have to do with being scary?" "Nothing at all," he murmurs, then winks. "But I certainly understand why I did it.” RomanticSally And Jack Book:Hour of the Pumpkin Queen Source: Hour of the Pumpkin Queen
“You and I can accomplish anything when we work together, Sally. You're soft where I'm hard. You're quiet when I am loud. We fill each other's gaps, don't you see?” CompatibleOpposites AttractSallySally And JackJack Skellington Book:Hour of the Pumpkin Queen Source: Hour of the Pumpkin Queen
“Oh, Jack. I know how capable I am, but I still wish he were here to help me solve this. But in a way-- maybe he is here with me. Ever since that magical day we were married, it's felt like I have a second heart nestled next to my own, bound up in string. Jack and I are linked by invisible threads that pluck and pull even across a great distance. Even now, with the two of us separated farther than we've ever been, there's a tiny hum like a cicada buried in my stuffing, still connecting me to Jack.” RomantasySally And JackJack SkellingtonConnected Hearts Book:Hour of the Pumpkin Queen Source: Hour of the Pumpkin Queen
“On the night before our anniversary, Jack and I prepare a feast of herb-roasted gizzards topped with nightshade berry jam, spider-silk pasta, and hemlock brew, and finish off the evening with a decadent graveyard cake topped with black sugar crumbles.” ThemeHalloweenCuisineHerbalSally And Jack Book:Hour of the Pumpkin Queen Source: Hour of the Pumpkin Queen
“You had a bad dream." Jack tenderly tucks a strand of bloodred hair behind my ear. "I've got you now, Sally. Through sweet dreams or nightmares, I've always got you." "Oh, Jack." I bury my face against his rib cage. "It didn't feel like a dream." As I sink into his hold, letting my twisted-up stuffing of cotton and crisp autumn leaves unravel back into place, I try to tell myself that he's right: It was only a dream. I may now be the queen of a land of nightmares-- but I come from a place of sweet dreams. And even though my life is happier now than I ever imagined, it seems that, even in slumber, I still can't find my place between those worlds.” DreamsNightmaresGothic RomanceSally And JackJack Skellington Book:Hour of the Pumpkin Queen Source: Hour of the Pumpkin Queen