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JT Lawrence
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Sticky Fingers: 36 Deliciously Twisted Short Stories: The Complete Box Set Collection Kindle Edition

by JT Lawrence (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 90 ratings
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Stay up all night with USA Today bestselling author JT Lawrence.

Diverse, dark-humored, and deliciously bite-sized, this compelling collection of 12 short stories is guaranteed to get under your skin.


ESCAPE

A suicidal baby knows he was born into the wrong life. He has to get creative to correct the mistake, much to his mother's horror.


THE ITCH

An intense, uncontrollable, unexplainable itch lands the protagonist in a mental institution.


BRIDGE GATE

In this poignant and charming short story, a daughter yearns to connect with her absent father through the letters they exchange. She's not put off by his pedantic corrections of her writing, despite the slow reveal that he is less than perfect himself.


THE UNSUSPECTING GOLD-DIGGER

A woman gradually poisons her husband so that she doesn't have to break his heart.


***

★★★★★ "Lawrence makes every word count, telling each story with elegance and emotional punch.” — Patsy Hennessey

★★★★★ "JT Lawrence is the queen of short stories." — Dora Bona

★★★★★ "Each story is masterfully constructed ... Humorous, touching, creepy, but most of all entertaining, this collection is superb." — Tracy Michelle Anderson

***

If you're a fan of Roald Dahl or Gillian Flynn you'll love these unsettling stories with a twist in the tale.

Are you ready to stay up all night with USA Today bestselling author JT Lawrence?

Click now to start reading.

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  1. Print length
    617 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    June 11, 2018
  5. File size
    2257 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07DP3R2RS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fire Finch Press (June 11, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 11, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2257 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 617 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 90 ratings

About the author

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JT Lawrence

JT Lawrence

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Stay up all night with USA Today bestselling author JT Lawrence.

www.jt-lawrence.com

JT Lawrence is an author of 28 books, mother to a menagerie of chaos, voracious reader, gin fan, and urban farmer.

* selling dead trees and hallucinations *

Join me on Substack: https://bit.ly/JTLawrenceSubstack

Follow JT Lawrence here on Amazon or on BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jt-lawrence

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
90 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

redvayne
5.0 out of 5 stars Keeps your attention
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2020
Verified Purchase
Very good stories...I listen while I'm in the kitchen working...well narrated.
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Mack
4.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Collection of Dark Humor and Twists
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2018
I purchased these as individual titles so I'm actually a verified purchaser.

I'm not an avid short story reader, mostly picking them up when an outside moves me. In the case of these books, the force is the author herself, JT Lawrence. She's one of my favorite writers and solidly in the "will always read" column. I was familiar with her style from her novels, especially the dystopian When Tomorrow Calls series and its spin off novellas, and was happy when she started giving us short stories to fill in the gap between novels.

The subtitle for these collection is "12 deliciously twisted short stories" and she delivers on that promise. As with any short story collection, the reader will click with some stories and not with others but it is a happy reader who finishes the collection feeling that the author has indeed tricked, twisted, and perhaps emotionally plucked the reader's perceptions. Cut to the chase, I love the stories in this collection.

One of the pleasures of a short story collection is that you can dip into it at any point and that is true with these collection. Howeverr, I will recommend that you read the collection in publication order. Why do I make this seemingly contradictory recommendation? First, you get to see how the author develops certain themes across the three collections. There are stories that are thematically related though not directly. It is fun to see how she can take the same theme and look at it from a different point. Second, there are several stories that directly cross between collections. The longest overlap between collections are the very humorous Trip Advisor stories. No spoilers but when you read the Trip Advisor story in Sticky Fingers 3 your going to go "hold on, wait a minute" and flip back to Sticky Fingers. There are also two sets of police detective procedual stories that feature the same detectives.

As far as recurring themes go, one of the most pervasive is that of a persons disturbed mental condition and ability to handle reality. Here you'll find reaction to trauma, multiple personalities, imposter syndrome. Some of these are very poignant. Several stories look at how a woman handles an unsatisfying marriage. Two stories consider reactions to South Africa after 1993 when apartheid fell. "Kakkerlak" (Sticky Fingers 2, #11) is a particularly bleak, Kafkaesque horror.

Some other stories outside of the ones I described above that I hope will get your interest:

Sticky Fingers

"Grey Magic" – about a modern, somewhat ditzy modern witch. Lawrence expanded it into a novel of the same name. Excellent novel.
"Escape" – was my WTF! story. It features a baby that thinks it was born in the wrong body.
"Pigeon Pain" – is a Hitchcockian bird story

Sticky Fingers 2

"Rockabye Baby" – a pregnant woman seeks help in a strange shelter, West Haven, which seems to have a sinister aspect
"Alpha Lyrae: A Robot Romance" – this story is expanded in volume 3 of the When Tororrow Calls series, What Have We Done. Of I wasn't already a fan of this series, this story would have pulled me in.

Sticky Fingers 3

"Every Breath You Take" a really, really disturbing look into the mind of a stalker.
"Lucky Strike" – what happens when you betray the wrong woman
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Lomeraniel
5.0 out of 5 stars Clever and imaginative stories
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2018
I avoid short stories compilations like the plague, but I absolutely love J.T. Lawrence writing, so much that her stories trapped me in a way that I could stop listening to this audiobook.

This is a compilation of 36 short stories, which were originally published in 3 books. Some stories are recurrent, and we revisit the same characters in a different point of the story. There is quite a variety of genres mixed here: from epistolary to historical fiction, with some horror, fantasy, science-fiction, dystopian, and other stories that is difficult to frame under just one genre. Janita has achieved what no one has done before: keeping me on the edge of my seat for a complete book of short stories.

What I liked from these stories is that they are clever, imaginative, and many have a feminist touch, something that we don’t see a lot in literature. The stories are vivid, and there is an important sensory factor that brings it closer to the reader, making connecting with the characters easy, even when what we see sometimes is the ugly side of people, that side we all have, and that Janita likes to explore and crush us with it.

The first book is narrated by Bianca Flanders, while Rosina Ratnam narrates the second and third parts. Both women did a wonderful job transmitting the characters emotions and delivering a gripping narration. Janita’s book was already very good, but thanks to these narrations, it became excellent.

This is a must-read for J.T. Lawrence fans. I just can’t have enough of her stories!

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
7 people found this helpful
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Oakley
3.0 out of 5 stars Most Un-engrossing and Unsatisfying
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2020
Verified Purchase
I bought this set because I like to have quick reads on my Kindle for those times when I am reading a hard cover that is not so easily totable to the hairdresser, dentist waiting room, etc. It came in handy recently when I was expecting a pre-ordered hardbound "any day now" and too excited about it to want to start another novel. So for that reason, it was handy to have this collection. However, the stories themselves were rather un-engrossing and unsatisfying. Of the three dozen stories, I might rate half a dozen of them at 4 stars and half a dozen at 1 star. and the rest hovering in between. So I will be generous in giving an overall rating of 3 stars, taking into account the convenience mentioned previously.
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Joni J Mielke
5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT!
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2019
I absolutely loved the short stories in this collection.

Bridge Gate is cleverly told through correspondence between a father and his daughter whose relationship is strengthened despite the father's incarceration, as he helps guide his daughter through her turmultuous teenage years.

The short story for which this collection is named, is convincingly told from a kleptomaniac's point of view. It's clear to see that JT Lawrence has done her research about compulsive behaviour and psychological disorders, which is further evidenced in The Itch (which will have just about anyone scratching their head before they're halfway through), Unhinged and Something Borrowed.

Pigeon Pair and The Unsuspecting Golddigger bring the complexity of human relationships into sharp relief, with disturbing results.

Travelling Slacks brings humour, whilst Escape provides a chilling take on speculative fiction when one regards the world and existence through the eyes of a baby.

All in all, an excellent, well-balanced collection. Every story will make you think, and although you may not remember every title over the years you will never forget the contents.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jennifer Shapcott
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in Canada on September 22, 2021
Verified Purchase
I like short stories normally. Some of these were really interesting but some I just "didn't get." I feel like I missed something. I kinda with the author either added a little more to the stories to explain her thought process or had a blurb at the end for each of the stories for those of us that didn't understand a story. SPOILER ALERT:
For example, Grey Magic, I don't understand how overdosing someone on morphine is considered witchcraft.
In The Little Pink Book, what does she do with the babies?
Off the Hinge completely confused me, is she a cat? Is she human but thinks she's a cat (I lean towards this one)? Did she go crazy when Larry died or was she always mentally ill? What's with the salmon on her head and what's with the dogman? Is he death? Is he death and she thinks he's a dog? Just a weird one.
What was the point of Can We Light a Fire? Just to show how she uses her obsession for good?
Alpha Lyrae, who was the man that showed up if not NASP?
That's only halfway through this box set. Wish I could talk to the author because my OCD likes closure in a story.
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kitsune
5.0 out of 5 stars JT Lawrence has fast become one of my favourite authors, and this collection of short stories is ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2018
Verified Purchase
JT Lawrence has fast become one of my favourite authors, and this collection of short stories is no exception.

Does anyone else love it when an author works in references to their other stories? Because I love it, personally, and JTL is great at it.

Some of my favourites from vols 1-3 are Grey Magic, The Itch, Alpha Lyrae, The Shelter and Memory, Mirrors and the World Inside My Head (which really shows off JTL's incredible imagination)

Can't wait for the next collection!
3 people found this helpful
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SnowyZ
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and bland
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
Not at all what I was expecting, not what I would describe as horror, just seemed like rough ideas someone had for a story which never fully materialised. Not at all entertaining, just bland disappointment.
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