Noteworthy Kindle Samples

I know many of you don’t load samples to your Kindle. Maybe I’m the last reader standing in this department—the sole person who still does it. Does it clog my Kindle? Yes. Do I get to all the samples? No. Yet, it’s still the best way for me to determine if a book is worth my time and money. I can usually tell within the first few pages if I want to continue…or not.

That said, quite a few samples were deleted from my Kindle last night. They didn’t make the cut. Here are a few that did:

Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in government and industry. This means that women’s voices are still not heard equally in the decisions that most affect our lives. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg examines why women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential. 

Written with both humor and wisdom, Sandberg’s book is an inspiring call to action and a blueprint for individual growth. Lean In is destined to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can.

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies.

        

That's what Sky Davis realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she's never had before.  He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of their first encounter.

        

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. Unable to deny their intense connection, Sky finally caves to his unwavering pursuit.  However, she soon discovers that Holder's erratic and unpredictable behavior comes with a very good explanation.  One that will ultimately test her faith in the hopeless boy she's fallen in love with.   

A beautiful, vibrant memoir about growing up motherless in 1970s and ’80s San Francisco with an openly gay father.

After his wife dies in a car accident, bisexual writer and activist Steve Abbott moves with his two-year-old daughter to San Francisco. There they discover a city in the midst of revolution, bustling with gay men in search of liberation—few of whom are raising a child.

Steve throws himself into San Francisco’s vibrant cultural scene. He takes Alysia to raucous parties, pushes her in front of the microphone at poetry readings, and introduces her to a world of artists, thinkers, and writers. But the pair live like nomads, moving from apartment to apartment, with a revolving cast of roommates and little structure. As a child Alysia views her father as a loving playmate who can transform the ordinary into magic, but as she gets older Alysia wants more than anything to fit in. The world, she learns, is hostile to difference.

What are you interested in reading next? 

Noteworthy Kindle Samples

I have way too many samples on my Kindle, so I had a brainstorm: Why don't I actually read some of them! Brilliant, huh?

Here are some of the noteworthy ones:

Writing 21^st Century Fiction by Donald Maass

I’ve read and implemented Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, which was extremely helpful in enriching my writing. This one looks equally appealing.

Polar Night by Julie Flanders 

Reading the sample immediately pulled me in. Both the story and character are well-drawn and left me wanting more.

The Taste of Fear by Jeremy Bates 

Talk about a cliffhanger in a Kindle sample! Wow! Plus the voice is outstanding. This one is getting pushed up on my TBR list. 

Have you sampled any interesting books on the Kindle lately? Do you own a Kindle or an e-reader? Have you read any of these books?

Noteworthy Kindle Samples

Like many, I truly appreciate the sampling feature on Amazon. It enables me to decide whether or not I want to buy a book or completely abandon all thought of it.

Recently, I downloaded some book samples onto my Kindle and took them along on my latest trip. Here are the noteworthy ones; the ones I am now adding to my to-buy list:

Bestest. Ramadan. Ever. by Medeia Sharif. YA Contemporary

From Amazon:

No pizza. No boyfriend. (No life.)

Okay, so during Ramadan, we're not allowed to eat from sunrise to sunset. For one whole month. My family does this every year, even though I've been to a mosque exactly twice in my life. And it's true, I could stand to lose a few pounds. (Sadly, my mom's hotness skipped a generation.) But is starvation really an acceptable method? I think not.

Even worse, my oppressive parents forbid me to date. This is just cruel and wrong. Especially since Peter, a cute and crushable artist, might be my soul mate. Figures my bestest friend Lisa likes him, too. To top it off, there's a new Muslim girl in school who struts around in super-short skirts, commanding every boy's attention-including Peter's. How can I get him to notice me? And will I ever figure out how to be Muslim and American?

What immediately hooked me with this book was the voice. It is authentic, teen-agey, and funny. I actually laughed out loud in a few sections (and I’m only talking about the sample here). Plus, I am already taken in by the characters that are clearly well-developed and quirky. I downloaded the sample, read it, and found myself unable to buy it right away because I was without internet service. I am looking forward to continuing the novel now.

White Lies by Jeremy Bates. Adult Thriller

From Amazon:

While driving to a charming village tucked away deep in the Cascade Mountains of eastern Washington, where she is to begin a new job teaching high school English, Katrina Burton picks up a young hitchhiker who turns out to be drunk and predatory. Fearful for her safety, she lies about her destination in order to get him out of the car. But when she later discovers that he is a teacher at the same school, she finds herself feeding that initial lie with more lies. Then Katrina meets a mysterious man. Handsome, charismatic and strong, he is exactly what she needs to extricate her from the expanding network of lies, now spinning out of control. She falls fast and hard for him. But her perfect solution soon becomes a nightmare that lands her in the middle of a grisly murder. And Katrina's problems don't stop there. She must decide whether to betray her new love or to cover up the murder and hope for the best.

This sample was a perfect hook. Bates created a suspenseful and nail-biting opening about a woman who picks up a hitchhiker on a dark and rainy road. The setting, the descriptions, and the interactions between the driver and the hitchhiker blended together to form ultimate suspense and creepiness. I have to know what happens! Have to!

The Mama’s Boy Myth by Kate Stone Lomardi

From Amazon:

New York Times contributor Kate Stone Lombardi unveils the surprisingly close relationship between mothers and sons. Mother after mother confessed to Lombardi that her husband, brothers, and even female friends and family criticize the fact that she is "too close" to her sons. Many of these women are often startled by the strong connection they feel with their sons; but rarely do they talk about it because society tells them to push their little boys away and not "baby" them with too much cuddling and comforting. It is as if there were an existing playbook-based on gender preconceptions dating back to Freud, Oedipus, and beyond-that prescribes the way mothers and their sons should interact.

I have to admit, I stole this book idea from Marie at EveryDay is a Miracle . She featured the book on her blog. The idea resonated with me since I have two boys with whom I am very close. The sample did not disappoint. Lombardi challenges the mama’s boy stereotype, questioning why it is still considered unacceptable for mothers to teach their sons emotional intelligence when society embraces the “daddy’s little girl” notion. This is definitely on my to-buy list, too!

Do you have any noteworthy Kindle samples you absolutely want to buy?