Sep 21 2012
Daily Deals: Two contemporaries (finally); a supernatural antihero; and a biography that I’d recommend
Contract with Consequences by Miranda Lee. $2.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Last year, Scarlet King was a blushing bride-to-be, but now she’s alone and more than anything she longs for a baby. This time, she’s determined to prove she doesn’t need a man!
Successful, spine-tinglingly gorgeous John Mitchell has desired Scarlet for years, so he seizes the chance to claim her. But his proposal comes with a devilish price: if she wants a baby, they’ll do it the old-fashioned way!
John reminds Scarlet of the pleasures she’s been missing, but when the affair is over, will Scarlet gain her wish, but lose her heart?
It’s So Easy by Duff McKagan. $3.99.
From Jacket Copy:
A founding member of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver shares the story of his rise to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, his personal crash and burn, and his phoenix-like transformation via a unique path to sobriety.
In 1984, at the age of twenty, Duff McKagan left his native Seattle—partly to pursue music but mainly to get away from a host of heroin overdoses then decimating his closest group of friends in the local punk scene. In L.A. only a few weeks and still living in his car, he answered a want ad for a bass player placed by someone who identified himself only as “Slash.” Soon after, the most dangerous band in the world was born. Guns N’ Roses went on to sell more than 100 million albums worldwide.
In It’s So Easy, Duff recounts GN’R’s unlikely trajectory to a string of multiplatinum albums, sold-out stadium concerts, and global acclaim. But that kind of glory can take its toll, and it did—ultimately—on Duff, as well as on the band itself. As GN’R began to splinter, Duff felt that he himself was done, too. But his near death as a direct result of alcoholism proved to be his watershed, the turning point that led to his unique path to sobriety and the unexpected choices he has made for himself since. In a voice that is as honest as it is indelibly his own, Duff—one of rock’s smartest and most articulate personalities—takes readers on his harrowing journey through the dark heart of one of the most notorious bands in rock-and-roll history and out the other side.
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey. $.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Supernatural fantasy has a new antihero
Life sucks, and then you die. Or, if you’re James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.
Now Stark’s back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But when his first stop saddles him with an abusive talking head, Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you’d expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future.
Resurrection sucks. Saving the world is worse.
Darkly twisted, irreverent, and completely hilarious, Sandman Slim is the breakthrough novel by an acclaimed author.
Better Off Without Him by Dee Ernst. $1.99.
From Jacket Copy:
Mona Berman is an expert at Happily Ever After – after all, she’s a best-selling Romance writer and happy endings are what she does best. So when her husband of twenty years leaves her for somebody 15 years younger, 20 pounds lighter, and French, she’s got a lot of adjusting to do, both personally and professionally. Lucky for her she’s got three savvy teen daughters, a few good friends, and Ben, the world’s sexiest plumber, to help her along the way.
First she decides that her next book will be the anti-romance – her heroine finds the best part of her life AFTER getting dumped. Next her daughters tell her she needs to start practice dating, and summer at the Jersey shore is the perfect place for that. She’s also juggling her soon-to-be-ex, a loony aunt, and a match-making neighbor, while Ben is sending her romance-driven imagination into overdrive. Can Mona’s life imitate art? Can she write her own happy ending?
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Sep 21, 2012 @ 14:39:04
I saw great reviews for Better Off Without Him and so read it. It’s an interesting romance where the heroine basically is in a series of relationships with everyone but the hero. Good voice but definately lacking the real romance vibe.
Sep 21, 2012 @ 14:46:27
For those wanting more info about the Kadrey: If you like the kind of over the top and stylized violence in Quentin Tarantino and Takashi Miike films, you might want to give this book a try. It’s also that rare urban fantasy that specifically acknowledges in the narrative that the protagonist is an asshole. I enjoyed it when I read it but I also haven’t read the rest of the series, either.
Sep 21, 2012 @ 15:10:04
Me, too, Jia, on the Kadrey book. I read and loved this one with the asshole protagonist and have been hoping the others would come down in price. Alas, it’s off to the library to see if the good vibe holds up over the series. I hope others will give Sandman Slim a try.
ETA: Oops, I see the next two titles are $3.99. Bonus!
Sep 21, 2012 @ 17:26:37
I liked Better Off Without Him, but I think it’s more a romantic comedy than a romance. Her other book, A Different Kind of Forever, is a book I really, really liked. It’s a very touching and emotional love story.
Sep 21, 2012 @ 17:30:19
@Jia: I read the Kadrey book about a year ago based on Darlynne’s rec. I remember having trouble with the way the world building laws got bent and broken along the way to the ending. And even though I have the next book already, I still haven’t read it yet.
Sep 21, 2012 @ 17:32:42
@Darlynne: I think I’m going to let you be the guinea pig on the next 2 Kadrey books and then report back to us. ;)
Sep 21, 2012 @ 19:21:27
This was an expensive column to read. The Duff McKagan in Hardcover and the Kadrey in paperback as Christmas gifts. Two gifts down, 30 to go.
I won’t read another book about a woman who was left by her husband for a ‘younger, slimmer, blonder, sexier, etc woman. Really? That’s the only reason men leave their wives? It’s a tired trope. Really tired.
Sep 21, 2012 @ 19:59:20
I read A Different Kind of Forever by Dee Ernst first and really liked it, so I picked up Better off Without Him, even though it was more women’s fiction. Turned out I really liked it also. It was funny, the characters were likeable, and the tone was uplifting. Also, the editing was excellent. It isn’t a romance but I’d recommend it.
Sep 21, 2012 @ 20:03:21
I love the Sandman Slim series. Yes the hero is an asshole, but so is most of Hell, and Heaven. LA is full of weird, broken horrible people, but at least Stark has a sense of humour. It is twisted, but worth it, IMO. I’m reading Devil Said Bang now. So much fun.
Sep 21, 2012 @ 22:30:12
@AMG: That’s a relief. Thanks for letting me off the hook. I cave under such pressure.
Sep 22, 2012 @ 03:44:45
Put me down as another Sandman Slim fan, yes he is an asshole but somehow Kadrey manages to make him endearing at the same time ( to me anyways). Thanks for letting me know about Devil Said Bang, I had forgotten it was out.