Dec 26 2012
Daily Deals: A New Adult, a Classic Biography, and another chocolatier romance hero
The Perfect Game by J. Sterling. $ .99
From the Jacket Copy:
He’s a game she never intended to play.
And she’s the game changer he never knew he needed.
The Perfect Game tells the story of college juniors, Cassie Andrews & Jack Carter. When Cassie meets rising baseball hopeful Jack, she is determined to steer clear of him and his typical cocky attitude. But Jack has other things on his mind… like getting Cassie to give him the time of day.
They’re both damaged, filled with mistrust and guarded before they find one another (and themselves) in this emotional journey about love and forgiveness. Strap yourselves for a ride that will not only break your heart, but put it back together.
Sometimes life gets ugly before it gets beautiful…
This is a New Adult book intended for audiences 17+
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jennifer Lawson. $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
“When I tell people that my father is kind of a total lunatic, they laugh and nod knowingly. They assure me that theirs is too, and that he?s just a “typical father”.
And they’re probably right, if the typical father runs a full-time taxidermy business out of the house, and shows up at the local bar with a miniature donkey and a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator, and thinks other people are weird for making such a big deal out of it. If the typical father says things like “Happy birthday! Here’s a bathtub of raccoons!” or “We’ll have to take your car. Mine has too much blood in it,” then yeah, he’s totally normal.”
When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father and a childhood of wearing winter shoes made out of used bread sacks. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humour in the strange shame-spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.
Lawson’s long-suffering husband and sweet daughter help her uncover the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments — the ones we want to pretend never happened — are the very same moments that make us the people we are today. Like laughing at a funeral, LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED is both irreverent and impossible to hold back once you get started.
“The Bloggess writes stuff that actually is laugh-out-loud, but you know that really you shouldn’t be laughing and probably you’ll go to hell for laughing, so maybe you shouldn’t read it.” Neil Gaiman
“Even when I was funny, I wasn’t this funny.” Augusten Burroughs, author of RUNNING WITH SCISSORS
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation and the first president of the United States. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one volume biography of George Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his adventurous early years, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America’s first president. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereotype of George Washington as a stolid, unemotional figure and brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods.
Melt Into You by Lisa Plumley. $ 2.99.
From the Jacket Copy:
A sexy chocolatier and his under-appreciated assistant discover you can’t have too much of a good thing in USA Today bestselling author Lisa Plumley’s delectable new novel. . .
After ten years of saving her boss’s (admittedly gorgeous) butt, stifling her crush, and being endlessly inconvenienced, administrative assistant Natasha Jennings has had enough. True, chocolatier Damon Torrance is every bit as irresistible as the confections created by Torrance Chocolates. The man is sex on a stick dipped in 70% Tanzanian Cacao. But for the sake of her career, her sanity, and possibly her heart, Natasha has to go.
Money, success, women. . .everything comes easily to Damon. Until Natasha hands in her notice. He needs to get her, and his mojo, back–fast. But from the moment Damon rings Natasha’s doorbell and steps into her personal life, he starts feeling things he never has before. For once, the notorious playboy wants to be good. Which makes it extra inconvenient that Natasha is suddenly tempted to try being a little wicked. And the results may be sweeter than either ever anticipated. . .
Send to Kindle
Dec 26, 2012 @ 14:19:50
Well, here I was wondering what to buy for my new Kobo mini. Thanks!
Dec 26, 2012 @ 16:00:26
I just finished The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand because I saw it here and really liked it.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 16:13:28
Is it just me or do all NA books sound the same? We’re in college and we’re SO angsty. Woe, woe. I’d like to know if any light-hearted ones exist.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 16:17:24
@Rosie: Maybe Alice Clayton’s Wallbanger?
Dec 26, 2012 @ 16:43:12
@Jane: I’ve heard of that one. Didn’t realize it was NA. Thanks.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 17:33:19
I thought Let’s Pretend This Never Happened was great. Non-fiction isn’t usually my thing, but Lawson’s voice is very engaging. She is different from Anne Lamott, but I appreciate both of them for taking on the crazy so I don’t have to; it’s much less exhausting for me that way.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 18:46:16
@Rosie: I totes agree. The sameness in the plot for most of the NAs I’ve seen recommended here (and elsewhere) is the big reason why I’m so disinterested in that genre. :-/
Dec 26, 2012 @ 19:08:56
@Jane: Have you read it? I’ve talked myself out of buying it a number of times for fear it’ll be a letdown..
Dec 26, 2012 @ 19:36:36
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is one of the few non fiction books I read this year. It’s funny and moving and at $1.99 it’s a bargain.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 21:56:46
I third the rec for Let’s Pretend. Her website (TheBloggess.com) is one I save for when I need a laugh, although there are occasional moments of introspection that are as satisfying as the laughs.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 22:10:47
Thanks for the pointer to the Lawson book. I have been enamored with her since the Giant Metal Chicken story, but hadn’t had a chance to pick up her memoir yet.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 23:30:40
@Loosheesh – I’ve not read it. Someone in an Amazon forum provided the link to the fan fiction and I started reading it but it was fairly ridiculous. I saw that January just posted a review of it so that will be published here at DA in about two weeks.
Dec 27, 2012 @ 03:57:24
I keep hearing Wallbanger mentioned all over the place and my heart sinks each time. I just know it’s going to be the next Twilight fanfic to get some ridiculous publishing deal. Sigh.
Someone at Kensington must have a sweet tooth as both books are published by Kensington
Hah, that’s funny since I just read the first two Cupcake Club books by Donna Kauffman. Also published by Kensington.
Dec 27, 2012 @ 05:56:13
I just read the sample for Wallbanger. Not for me.
Dec 27, 2012 @ 06:23:36
@Jane: Well, I went ahead and got it; I’m over a third way in and you’re right, it is kinda ridiculous. His two friends are dating her two friends and it’s “my boys” and “my girls”, all the time. And the words “gush” and “coo” (and “cockblocker”, which I really, really detest) are used. More than once. Not the most egregious things I dislike about it so far but certainly the most ‘peeving’. It’s not awful, but I’m already fatigued. I love Clive the cat, though.
Dec 27, 2012 @ 11:22:44
@Rosie:
Or whether any have a plot beyond a love triangle? Any where the female has to choose between the boy she already loves and the job or college of her dreams? Or one that isn’t about angsty romance but the joy during that time of life when your horizons are expanding and you realize the world is a bigger and more wonderous place than you ever thought?
Dec 27, 2012 @ 16:47:30
There is something sexy about a man who cooks for you, especially if he makes you chocolate. Now that I think about it, one of my keeper novellas has a chocolatier hero – Eliza’s Gateau by Lisa Cach in Seduction by Chocolate (now oop and it doesn’t look like there’s an e-version, sadly). I love this story – an American dietician meets a Belgian chocolatier while on vacation in Europe. And since it’s in the title, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that he woos her by making her a super special chocolate cake (sigh).