She is consistently but not deformingly alert to irony, to satire, to humor in its high and low forms.

And what about the husbands? Yes, these yearned-for women were, in many cases, married, but you never get these schmos' side of the story.

But the next undulation would raise us, showing the island ablaze in the sunlight, an emerald of dazzling beauty resting lightly on the bosom of the sea.

A paper-thin line of blood welled up to meet the metal, and Lily, who had become very still from the moment the blade touched her, drew in a ragged, painfilled breath.