Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye.

Money to Burn by Asta Olivia Nordenhof

Why I have it: Spotted on a new-releases list.

Summary: Maggie and Kurt are a couple struggling to hold their marriage together, unable to discuss the events that brought them together (a tragic passenger ferry accident that killed hundreds of people, that was later revealed not to be an accident, but the result of an insurance scam gone wrong).

I’m thinking: No.

Brian by Jeremy Cooper

Why I have it: Reviewed by Madame Bibi.

Summary: Brian has led a solitary life – he works at his local council, lunches every day at the same café and then returns to his flat. It is an existence carefully crafted to avoid disturbance and yet he yearns for more. A visit one day to the British Film Institute brings film into his life, and Brian gains access to a rich cultural landscape, and experiences his first real moments of belonging.

I’m thinking: Yes.

Discontent by Beatriz Serrano

Why I have it: Sucked in by the cover.

Summary: On the surface, Marisa’s life looks enviable – a beautiful apartment, a happily casual relationship, and she’s risen through the ranks at an advertising agency. And yet she’s drowning in a dark hole of existential dread induced by the expectations of corporate life. Marisa hates her job and everyone at it. Her success, which is largely built on lies and work she’s stolen from other people, is in danger of being unraveled when she’s forced to go on her company’s annual team-building retreat.

I’m thinking: Yes.