How we cite our quotes: (Story.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Kizzy was so busy wishing she was Sarah Ferris or Jenny Glass that she could scarcely see herself at all, and she was certainly blind to her own weird beauty: her heavy, spell-casting eyes, too-wide mouth, wild hair, and hips that could be wild too, if they learned how. No one else in town looked anything like her, and if she lived to womanhood, she was the one artists would want to draw […]. (1.1.57)
Kizzy may be super dissatisfied with her looks and current romantic prospects, but she's wrong in thinking that she's unattractive. The boys at her school might not appreciate it yet, but Kizzy has her own mesmerizing beauty. She just has to get used to it.
Quote #2
Anamique grew radiant. Other men began to wonder why it had taken that damned James Dorsey to make them see that, silent or not, Anamique was quite the lovelies creature in Jaipur, if not all of India. (2.6.7)
As Anamique falls in love with James, she becomes more confident as a woman, which shows in her radiance and beauty. All of the other dudes in Jaipur are totally jealous that they didn't go after her first.
Quote #3
She wasn't a girl anymore, and she wasn't wearing a girl's gown either. She wore a jazzy shimmering shift that fell to mid-calf, and in her stockings and strappy shoes her ankles felt naked. Her shoulders were bare too and she felt daring and sultry and alive. (2.9.1)
It looks like Anamique doesn't want to just be seen as a little girl anymore—she wants to be seen as a sensual young woman. And that's exactly what James sees when he shows up with a ring in his pocket, ready to propose marriage to the woman he loves.
Quote #4
Indeed, now Esmé was nearly grown, it was hard to tell them apart at a glance. They were so alike, and Mab was so young. They were both small and beautiful with long, long hair as red as persimmons. (3.1.2)
As Esmé grows older, she becomes increasingly like her mother in physical appearance, but less like her in other ways. For one thing, Esmé is starting to think for herself and to question the weird, isolated life that they lead. You go, girl.
Quote #5
Mab's accent was like spice, and out at the shops and the theaters, whenever she had to speak to men, they seemed to Esmé to want to taste the words right off her mother's lips. The way they looked at her! But the way Mab looked back could freeze the saliva in their mouths. There was no room in her life for men, or for anyone but Esmé. (3.1.3)
Mab is the kind of woman who turns heads when she enters a room, but she doesn't want that kind of power. Instead of basking in male attention, Mab tries to avoid it as much as possible. She's not interested in any paramours.
Quote #6
A few months ago when Esmé's bleeding had first come, her mother had turned pale and wept, so Esmé thought for a panicked moment that she must be dying, but Mab had explained in a rush that it meant she wasn't a child anymore. That she could breed. (3.1.36)
Mab definitely isn't the kind of mother who will throw a moon party for her daughter after she starts her period. Instead she freaks out because she equates the start of womanhood with danger. Can you blame her? The Druj Queen totally took over Mab's life—and her body—when she became a woman.
Quote #7
Twice now the boy from the flower shop had smiled at her, his whole face flushing pink as he did, and when he was behind her in line at the bakery last week, he'd held her long braid gently in his hand, thinking she wouldn't feel it, but she had. (3.1.39)
Esmé is used to being invisible to other people, especially because she and her mother don't exactly get out much. But now that she's a teenager, people are starting to pay attention to her, especially boys. And she finds that she doesn't exactly mind the attention.
Quote #8
"I mean, they'll think it's gross. Or missing. But it's kind of pretty, like one of those dogs, you know, the ones that catch Frisbees?" Mab only looked at her, nonplussed, and after a moment Esmé added, "Isn't it bad enough I look like a boy with my hair cut off? I have to look like a pirate boy?" (3.4.5)
What a typical fourteen-year-old girl response. Even when she and her mom are literally on the run from demons, Esmé's thinking about what she looks like with her new eye patch. Does she look like a one-eyed boy now?
Quote #9
Since leaving Tajbel, Mab had never seen a mortal woman whose beauty could touch that of the Druj Queen. She was goddess-like in her perfection, the golden glow of her skin, the facets of her sculpted lips, her face the flawless oval of a cabochon, its delicate bones a perfect counterpoint to the vivid ferocity of her gaze. (3.6.8)
The Druj Queen is more beautiful than any mortal, but she doesn't have a beautiful soul behind her cold exterior. Instead she has no emotions—she just moves around in her lovely body without real purpose or joy.
Quote #10
Over time Tom's kisses learned their way to Esmé's lips, but they stayed gentle and he still blushed every time he saw her. Whether he might be the soul mate with whom she would share her centuries remained to be seen. They were only children, as Mab had never been allowed to be, and it was sweet. (3.17.49)
Now that Esmé's soul is completely hers own she's free to live out the life of a normal teenage girl. This includes growing into her womanhood and learning how to flirt and even date… just for fun.