Starbucks's first non-music "Pick of the Week"—a program where they give free digital files away to a limited number of customers—is an e-book version of Erin Morgenstern's much-buzzed-about novel The Night Circus. That's great, right? Except the SeattlePI Big Blog points out that customers are unhappy to learn that the e-books they're getting are "extended samples:"

I downloaded the book using a redemption code, and was only given 330 pages out of 400 pages of the book, with the last page telling me to purchase the complete book.

The "Pick of the Week" card certainly does not say anywhere that its just a sample. This is very disappointing...

I've read a couple of advance copies of thrillers that leave out the last chapter of the book, in an effort to convince reviewers to buy their own copies in order to find out what happens. I'm assuming that these disgrunted Starbucks customers are going to do exactly what I did when I encountered a "What happens next?" tease at the end of a nearly completed book: They're going to go to a bookstore (or library), finish reading the last seventy pages of the book right there, and then leave without buying the book. This is a dumb way to try to get people excited about the book, and it's a good way to frustrate brick-and-mortar booksellers who are going to have a bunch of unpurchased copies of The Night Circus sitting around with well-thumbed last chapters.

Here's what you should do if you're interested in The Night Circus: Go to her reading next Monday at Elliott Bay Book Company. Listen to her talk about the book and read from the book. It's totally free! It's just as free as Starbucks's extended sample with the benefit of giving you something fun to do with other people after work and without the false advertising. Then, if you're interested in the book after that, you should buy a copy. Or take it out for free from the library! I know it's not as sexy as a card in a Starbucks, but it's a hell of a lot more satisfying in the long run.