Daily Deals: A thought provoking YA, an Australian set chick lit, Brothers of the Old West, and a freebie short story collection
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The Kiss: An Anthology About Love and Other Close Encounters by C. A. Newsome. $ Free
From the Jacket Copy:
A kiss is a simple communication. It can also be an exchange, a betrayal, an assault, a promise, a hope…or it could be a goodbye. The intimacy of a kiss cannot be denied. Whether shared, stolen or simply dreamed of, its recipient will be affected. Thirty-one stories by authors from around the world will tease your imagination as you anticipate ‘The Kiss’ in each weird or wonderful tale.
This cross-genre anthology contains stories by Kate Aaron, Saxon Andrew, Jacques Antoine, Alison Blake, E. B. Boggs, Shirley Bourget, Ben Cassidy, Jason Deas, Sharon Delarose, Meghan Ciana Doidge, Suzy Stewart Dubot, Corrie Fischer, Brandon Hale, Traci Tyne Hilton, Colleen Hoover, Mona Ingram, J. L. Jarvis, Elizabeth Jasper, Anna J. McIntyre, Jess Mountifield, C. A. Newsome, S. Patrick O’Connell, Suzie O’Connell, Jeanette Raleigh, J. R. C. Salter, Molly Snow, Holli Marie Spaulding, Cleve Sylcox, Robert Thomas, Chris Ward and George Wier.
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The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt. $ 1.99 AMZN | Google
From the Jacket Copy:
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn’t share his brother’s appetite for whiskey and killing, he’s never known anything else. But their prey isn’t an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm’s gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a living–and whom he does it for.
With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters–losers, cheaters, and ne’er-do-wells from all stripes of life–and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.
Love that. If McCarthy had a sense of humor. LAWL.
Jayne emailed me and said this was terrible and that she couldn’t even bring herself to write a review of it.
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Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty. $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Australian triplets Lyn, Cat, and Gemma Kettle are about to turn thirty-three and one is pregnant, one has just had her life turned upside down, and one is only just keeping hers from skidding off the fast lane. Meanwhile, their divorced parents have been behaving very oddly indeed.
In this family comedy by Liane Moriarty, we follow the three Kettle sisters through their tumultuous thirty-third year — as they deal with sibling rivalry and secrets, revelations and relationships, unfaithful husbands and unthinkable decisions, and the fabulous, frustrating life of forever being part of a trio.
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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson . $ 1.99 AMZN | Google Play.
From the Jacket Copy:
The first ten lies they tell you in high school. “Speak up for yourself–we want to know what you have to say.” From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether.
Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him.
But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself. Speak was a 1999 National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature.
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Speak is so good. Definitely a book I remember strongly from my teen years.
The Sisters Brothers is a very good book. If you like Coen brothers movies (O Brother Where Art Thou, Fargo, Inside Llewyn Davis, etc.) you will probably like it – it has the same kind of wonderful, not quite like real life sensibility.
The Kiss is now free at Amazon, too.
Yesterday I bought Mariana Zapata’s Lingus (the hero is a porn star) after seeing a recommendation in the deal comments, and I’m glad that I did. Ignore the silly cover, it’s a really good book. I enjoyed it better than Changing His Game, the book with the porn star hero that was featured as a deal. That book had a hot cover but extremely clunky writing, and I nearly deleted it from my kindle, but I persevered and found a not-terrible story.
I second the Speak recommendation. I read it as an adult, and think it’s about time my teenager (just started high school) reads it too. It’s very powerful. Some of the local private all-girls schools actually have it as required reading.
Don’t even get me started on the people who ban books.
I also bought Lingus after reading yesterday’s comments and I loved it. Seriously awful cover though. I also enjoyed Stinger by Mia Sheridan which also features a porn star hero. It had some problems but I really, really liked it.
Speak is an EXCELLENT, powerful book. I completely recommend it.
I couldn’t persevere even to the end of the sampler for Changing His Game–way too “Penthouse letters” for me (you know the kind? “I was wearing my tiny tank top and itty bitty shorts when this hot guy walks in and asks me to be in a movie…”). I’ll hope for better from Lingus–I really want to see what an author can do with that premise for the hero.
Speak is quiet and internal and really powerful. Just thinking about it is sometimes enough to make me teary.
The Sisters Brothers is worth a read, especially at that price. It’s in the same vein as Charles Portis but a bit less funny.
If you like paranormals, Bitten By Books has a weekly list of free/cheap Kindle reads here:
http://bittenbybooks.com/69726/free-reads-friday-mammoth-list-of-books-72414/
I also highly recommend Speak – it is a beautiful story!