Don't Kiss Me Stories

"Mesmerizing . . . visceral . . . exquisite. Hunter's portraits are heartbreaking. She cares about characters we don't want to think about, issues we would rather not face. These are not lovable characters; they make you sad and sometimes sick. But Hunter wants to know: Who are these girls inside? She doesn't shy from speaking their truths. And reading these stories? They kind of make you feel like your heart could kick the windows out." --Hope Reese, "Chicago Tribune" "Hunter's stories feel incredibly urgent. Hunter is such a talented writer that she makes the unimaginably unpleasant seem natural, and terrifyingly so . . . Those who've read Hunter's excellent debut, "Daddy's," won't be surprised by her feats. If that collection announced a formidable and refreshing prose stylist, "Don't Kiss Me" cements that reputation." --Eugenia Williamson, "The Boston Globe" "The cover alone is great, but what's inside will make you laugh and scream and cringe and cry--in the best of ways, of course." --Jen Doll, "25 Books to Beach-Read This Summer," "New York" Magazine "Hunter is remarkably talented at taking sentences and twining them around the brain, creating a beautiful pattern out of ugliness . . . use[ing] language as a tool to excavate our entrenched humanity." --Michele Filgate, "Minneapolis Star Tribune" "Hunter's magical prose is the sort of thing that might happen if George Saunders and Gertrude Stein co-edited Raymond Carver. The stories vary wildly in pace and procedure, but each has its own visceral language that goes straight to the gut." --Ashley Baker, "Nylon""" "The collection creates a genuine sense of discomfort, forcing us to contemplate the presence of beauty in the ugliest of phenomena." --Angela Sundstrom, "Time Out New York" ""Don't Kiss Me," Hunter's second short story collection, is a bold, haunting, and beautiful observation of lives lived outside the scope of the mainstream . . . Hunter near-effortlessly captur