Friday Freebie: Always Happy Hour by Mary Miller

Congratulations to Theresa Snyder, winner of the previous Friday Freebie for the Big Box of Penguin Classics.

This week’s contest is for the new collection of short stories by Mary Miller, Always Happy Hour. I have a new hardcover copy to give away to one lucky reader. Will it be you? Keep reading for more information from the publisher about the book...

Combining hard-edged prose and savage Southern charm, Mary Miller showcases biting contemporary talent at its best. Fast on the heels of her “terrific” (New York Times Book Review) debut novel, The Last Days of California, she now reaches new heights with this collection of shockingly relatable, ill-fated love stories. Acerbic and ruefully funny, Always Happy Hour weaves tales of young women―deeply flawed and intensely real―who struggle to get out of their own way. They love to drink and have sex; they make bad decisions with men who either love them too much or too little; and they haunt a Southern terrain of gas stations, public pools, and dive bars. Though each character shoulders the weight of her own baggage―whether it’s a string of horrible exes, a boyfriend with an annoying child, or an inability to be genuinely happy for a best friend―they are united in their unrelenting suspicion that they deserve better. These women seek understanding in the most unlikely places: a dilapidated foster home where love is a liability in “Big Bad Love,” a trailer park littered with a string of bad decisions in “Uphill,” and the unfamiliar corners of a dream home purchased with the winnings of a bitter divorce settlement in “Charts.” Taking a microscope to delicate patterns of love and intimacy, Miller evokes the reticent love among the misunderstood, the gritty comfort in bad habits that can’t be broken, and the beat-by-beat minutiae of fated relationships. Like an evening of drinking, Always Happy Hour is a comforting burn, warm and intoxicating in its brutal honesty. In an unforgettable style that distinguishes her within her generation, Miller once again captures womanhood in “a raw...and heartbreaking way” (Los Angeles Review of Books) and solidifies her essential role in American fiction.

If you’d like a chance at winning Always Happy Hour, simply email your name and mailing address to

thequiveringpen@gmail.com

Put FRIDAY FREEBIE in the e-mail subject line. Please include your mailing address in the body of the e-mail. One entry per person, please. Despite its name, the Friday Freebie remains open to entries until midnight on Jan. 12, at which time I’ll draw the winning name. I’ll announce the lucky reader on Jan. 13. If you’d like to join the mailing list for the once-a-week newsletter, simply add the words “Sign me up for the newsletter” in the body of your email. Your email address and other personal information will never be sold or given to a third party (except in those instances where the publisher requires a mailing address for sending Friday Freebie winners copies of the book).

Want to double your odds of winning? Get an extra entry in the contest by posting a link to this webpage on your blog, your Facebook wall or by tweeting it on Twitter. Once you’ve done any of those things, send me an additional e-mail saying “I’ve shared” and I’ll put your name in the hat twice.