Reading Some Kindle Samplers (Again)

Ok, I did this a few weeks ago and I kinda enjoyed doing it (here is my first attempt at this), and with still a stupid amount of Kindle Samples on my iPhone's Kindle App, I decided I wanted to do it again.

Basically, it's me reading the whole sample or a small section of the sample. Some are entire chapters, others are just a few pages due to the book's length. So was going to read them and go with my gut reactions to them.

So let's get the weird party started!

DOWN BY CONTACT by Santino Hassell
(Goodreads Link)
I read the first book in the series - Illegal Contact - last year via NetGalley and I gobbled this up. It came at the right time for me. It was light, fluffy, but there was an edge to it that I quite liked. So, when I saw this was on Amazon, I downloaded the sampler and read it, thinking it would be the same fun read I wanted. It was following a side character I liked reading in the previous and this promised angst. But... I don't know. I didn't finish reading the first chapter. Maybe it was my mood, but but I didn't click with this in the same way that I did with Illegal Contact. I can't figure out why, but I was reading it going "This isn't working. Why isn't this working for me?". So, as much as I wanted to enjoy and want to read this, am holding fire on this. Maybe skipping this due to what I read.

THE CAT WHO TAILED A THIEF by Lilian Jackson Braun
(Goodreads Link)
Now, I have read a few books in the series in my past. I have, before I started this blog, read The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare and The Cat Who Talked Turkey and I have read (and reviewed) The Cat Who Saw Red. I do have another title in the series that I bought when the series went through a sale - The Cat Who Went Underground. But, the prices of all these ahem gone up to £3 barring this title and it intrigues me. Sadly, I didn't make it through the sampler. Not because it was bad, but because I didn't enjoy it in the way I hoped I would. I feel that the bit I read felt a bit stiff in language. Maybe it's because I want something to grab me by the throat recently (am going through a fantasy slump at time of writing this) and this is more Sunday afternoon cosy crime. It doesn't appeal to my mood now, though I know I will be reading The Cat Who Went Underground by the end of the year...

GROOSHAM GRANGE by Anthony Horowitz
(Goodreads Link)
People at my new job (how long can I call my current job "new"? Six months?) know I have a blog (hence why I have some control over work's social media) and someone said "I read this years ago when I was younger and you might like it". It is Anthony Horowitz and I do enjoy reading the Alex Rider series (I read Never Say Die last year and I am quite excited to see what he does with James Bond in Forever and A Day) so I knew I was going to like it. And I did, as something light and fluffy. It's not exactly for me (maybe if I was younger, I would hoover this up) but this is fun and can read within a day, but might try and return to Alex Rider and maybe try The Power of Five series...

LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE by Claire Kann
(Goodreads Link)
I can't remember how I came across - Twitter, me thinks. But once I heard a few sentence from the blurb, I knew I was sold on this book. An asexual black teen trying to figure out life - sign me up! So, when I saw this on Amazon by fluke (it doesn't have a UK publisher, to my knowledge), I downloaded it and read while feeling super tired. I gobbled this sampler up in one sitting. I couldn't stop and when it ended, I was a little annoyed as I wanted more. I didn't want this to end. I am currently trying to find out who is publishing this in the UK as I WANT THIS BOOK ON MY SHELVES, DAMNIT!

THE GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE by Mackenzi Lee
(GoodReads Link)
This has bee getting a lot of love on the Book Blogosphere since it's release last year and I have been intrigued over this. When I finally read the sampler (this has been sitting on my iPhone Kindle app for quite a while). It didn't grabbed me like I hoped, not compared to Let's Talk About Love. But there is potential here. I can definitely sense this is something I will enjoy reading, but the start is a tad slow. But I think this might be a book I could love once I found my reading groove.

So, out of the five, which are the ones that call to me. Well, definitely Let's Talk About Love and I think, once I have my reading groove, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue. But, with so many books on my TBR, not sure when am going to read them... or buy them for that matter.