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.

The Confidence Woman by Sophie Quick

Why I have it: Sucked in by the Sally Rooney comparison.

Summary: Christina is a single mother living in the Melbourne suburbs, but to her online clients she is Dr Ruth Carlisle, an ‘executive coach… specialising in high-performing individuals’. Dr Ruth gains her clients’ trust through her coaching business, discovering their secrets and deepest fears. Through this elaborate scam, she’s saving money for the ultimate unobtainable Australian dream: a home deposit. But when she blunders, suddenly everything is at stake.

I’m thinking: Yes.

Mother Tongue by Naima Brown

Why I have it: Cover-love.

Summary: Brynn is a claustrophobic suburban mother on the brink. When she awakes from a coma speaking fluent French, she seizes the opportunity to start a new life in Paris, a seismic personal transformation that leaves a slew of shattered lives in its wake.

I’m thinking: Maybe.

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

Why I have it: Popped up in the best of best 2024 list.

Summary: At a big-box store in upstate New York, the members of Team Movement clock in every morning at 3:55. Under the eye of a self-absorbed and barely competent boss, they stock the shelves and scatter before customers arrive. When an opportunity for a promotion presents itself, the diverse members of Movement band together and set a just-so-crazy-it-might-work plot into motion.

I’m thinking: Maybe.