Early Review: Between Shades of Gray

Title: Between Shades of Gray

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Publisher: Puffin (Spine breakers)

Publication Date: 7 April 2011

Book source: UK Book Tours

Video of author talking about the book

My Rating: 8/10

Buy the book

Book website

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Summary:

Set in 1941, Between Shades of Gray is an extraordinary and haunting story based on first-hand family accounts and memories.

One night fifteen-year old Lina, her mother and young brother are hauled from their home by Soviet guards, thrown into cattle cars and sent away. They are being deported to Siberia.

An unimaginable and harrowing journey has begun. Lina doesn’t know if she’ll ever see her father or her friends again. But she refuses to give up hope.

Lina hopes for her family.

For her country.

For her future.

For love – first love, with the boy she barely knows but knows she does not want to lose…

Will hope keep Lina alive?

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My thoughts:

This is certainly one of those unputdownable books. I found it really hard to stop reading whenever I needed to just to find out what happens on the next page…and then the next….and the next…

It’s about such a serious topic that it can be a bit heavy at times but it really puts things into perspective for you; we’ve all heard about the concentration camps and the holocaust but what about everything else that happened? It was interesting to read about it from a character who was on the inside as it were.

Lina is taken away from her home with her mother and brother in the middle of the night with no idea of what’s happening. Her father is nowhere to be seen. They can hardly take anything with them. They are forced into a train carriage made for cattle. They haven’t done anything wrong.

Yeah, it’s clearly not made to be read as a sort of pick-me-up but it’s definitely well worth the read. You immediately feel for every character in one way or another as the story starts straight off with a big bang.

I loved the characters. It was by far the best thing about the story. Makes sense right? Characters that you end up hating in a story like this just wouldn’t work; you would end up not feeling sorry for them when needed or feel anything else much evading the point of the story altogether. It’s all about hope and the belief that everything is going to be all right. These characters just took it one step at a time as everything came to them. They encouraged each other and raised each other’s spirit’s and keep their hopes high. Of course, it didn’t always work but in the long run…well I’ll let you read the book first!

It is definitely heart breaking at times but I think that you can’t really pick up this book without expecting it to be. Sometimes it’s horrifying – like, literally sickening – but very moving. It’s one that stays with you.

The only problem I had with the book was the ending – shock horror. I just thought that it went waaaaay too fast which was disappointing since the story builds up a lot of suspense so well throughout the book that it became a little bit anticlimactic.

Overall though this is a fantastic, engrossing read that stays with you for a while. A truly glorious book!

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Ruta Sepetys was born and raised in Michigan in a family of artists, readers, and music lovers. BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY is her debut novel and is based on her family’s history. "It's a story of extreme suffering, tremendous hope, and how sometimes love reveals the miraculous nature of the human spirit," says Sepetys. Ruta now lives with her family in Tennessee.
To read about Ruta's latest escapades, visit her website www.rutasepetys.com

 

 

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In My Mailbox #14

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi with The Story Siren.

This week I got The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove from UK Book Tours:

 A steamy Southern beauty makes one fatal mistake

Natalie Hargrove would kill to be her high school’s Palmetto Princess. But her boyfriend Mike King doesn’t share her dream and risks losing the honour of Palmetto Prince to Natalie’s nemesis, Justin Balmer. So she convinces Mike to help play a prank on Justin. . . one that goes terribly wrong. They tie him to the front of the church after a party—when they arrive the next morning, Justin is dead.

From blackmail to buried desire, dark secrets to darker deeds, Natalie unravels. She never should’ve messed with fate. Fate is the one thing more twisted than Natalie Hargrove.

And Gone by Michael Grant that I swapped on readitswapit.

 

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.

Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...

And I bought Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

Phoebe Kendall is just your typical Goth girl with a crush. He’s strong and silent…and dead.
All over the country, a strange phenomenon is occurring. Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead. But when they come back to life, they are no longer the same. Feared and misunderstood, they are doing their best to blend into a society that doesn’t want them.
The administration at Oakvale High attempts to be more welcoming of the “differently biotic." But the students don’t want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn’t breathing. And there are no laws that exist to protect the “living impaired” from the people who want them to disappear—for good.
When Phoebe falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids, no one can believe it; not her best friend, Margi, and especially not her neighbour, Adam, the star of the football team. Adam has feelings for Phoebe that run much deeper than just friendship; he would do anything for her. But what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy?

Happy reading everyone!

Review: My Name is Memory

Title: My Name is Memory

Author: Ann Brashares

Publisher: Hodder

Publication date: 20th January 2011

Read an extract

Book Trailer

My Rating: 8/10

Buy the book

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Summary:

Daniel tells me that he's always loved me. That I feel the same. That I always have.
Not just in this life, but in my last life, and all my lives before.
But I don't remember him.
He says he is always searching for me. Always hoping that one day I will remember. But it is only he that carries the memory of our love.
I know that finding true love is never easy. Perhaps you have fought for it. Perhaps, like Daniel, you have endured the pain of it being unrequited.
But I hope your quest ends happily.
I hope you never have to face the heartbreak that inevitably awaits us.
This is our extraordinary, unforgettable story.

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My thoughts:

Okay so I officially need to read all of Brashares books. I have fallen in love with her writing. It’s unbelievable. Reading this book was like sitting by a fire with a hot cup of tea while it’s pouring it down outside – not uncommon in England I have to tell you!

The story itself was really romantic and original. I was initially worried that the love story would be really clichéd and all with the whole idea of soulmates but it really wasn’t. It was lovely.

I think part of the reason the book never got to the clichéd stage was that Daniel’s past lives were interwoven into his present life with Lucy. It was like a break from the usual romance when Daniel describes how he was in wars or dying in a hospital and how he met the same girl with different names and different faces. It was certainly refreshing.

I loved how Lucy’s character developed on its own without Daniel. It was nice to read about rather than her being with a guy all her life in one way or another. Instead she grew up in her own time and made her own mistakes without Daniel there. It made the whole story more believable. Daniel’s character developed too which you wouldn’t think of one that had been through centuries of life experience. That was great to read about too; he wasn’t perfect and still changed throughout the story.

I did think that the story dragged a little in places but it wasn’t really anything that put me off. It was kind of relevant to be honest…sort of emphasising how long Daniel has had to wait. That’s just me reading into things too much though!

All in all, this was definitely a captivating read and one that I would definitely recommend. A truly, glorious book!

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Great quotes:

Love who you love while you have them. That's all you can do. Let them go when you must. If you know how to love, you'll never run out.

Love demands everything, they say, but my love demands only this: that no matter what happens or how long it takes, you`ll keep faith in me, you`ll remember who we are, and you`ll never feel despair.

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About the author: (Goodreads|Website|Twitter)

Ann Brashares grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with three brothers and attended a Quaker school in the D.C. area called Sidwell Friends. She studied Philosophy at Barnard College, part of Columbia University in New York City. Expecting to continue studying philosophy in graduate school, Ann took a year off after college to work as an editor, hoping to save money for school. Loving her job, she never went to graduate school, and instead, remained in New York City and worked as an editor for many years. Ann made the transition from editor to full-time writer with her first novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Ann and her husband live with their three children in New York.

 

 

 

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Review: Night and Chaos by Naomi Clark

Title: Night and Chaos

Author: Naomi Clark

Publication date: 18th January 2011

Series: The Deva Chronicles #1

Source: Book Lovin’ Bitches eBook Tours

My rating: 6/10

Buy the book

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Summary:

Ryan McCarthy fled Applied Paranormal Theory and Tactics, her father, and her lover six years ago, desperate to build life away from the weird science and supernatural experiments of her childhood. But everything she hoped to escape comes back with a vengeance when she's kidnapped and tortured by a possessed APTT employee out for revenge on the man responsible for his possession: Ryan's father.

Now, reunited with the lover she abandoned, Ryan is forced back into a world of danger and darkness she no longer understands, pursued by enemies with powers she can't fathom. But Ryan's not entirely powerless herself. She'll have to use every trick she knows - as well as the mystic gift she hates - to stay ahead of those enemies. And that will be easier said than done.

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My thoughts:

This was one of those reads where I loved the beginning, didn’t like the middle so much and then liked it again towards the end.

The story really does start off with a bang. Ryan is already fighting for her life and is clueless about why. Great start right? I loved how she got out of the situation in that it tells the reader what the story is basically about in the most exciting and engrossing way. It was great.

I loved the plot. The storyline was great. Really different to anything I have ever read before. The idea of experiments gone wrong was great and it worked really well.

I loved the characters too, especially Ryan and Van – Ryan’s former lover. They had great backstories and worked really well.

The only thing I had a problem with was the way events were explained to Ryan. Since she had run from APTT and hadn’t been back for six years she had obviously missed out on a lot of key events. So, of course, she had to catch up.

I just felt that maybe the whole story of what happened with APTT was told in a bit too much detail all at once. It kind of sucked the mystery right out of the story. Don’t get me wrong, what happened with the APTT was intriguing, but I thought it would have been even more mysterious if I, as the reader, was told in bits and pieces where I needed to know to understand it all. To break it down a bit.

Like I said though, the ending was great. Totally unexpected. Plus it ended with a great cliff-hanger. I do really want to find out what happens as soon as possible!

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About the author: Blog/Twitter/Goodreads

Naomi Clark lives in Cambridge and is a mild-mannered office worker by day, but a slightly crazed writer by night. She has a perfectly healthy obsession with giant sea creatures and a preference for vodka-based cocktails. When she's not writing, Naomi is probably either reading or watching 80s cartoon shows, and sometimes she manages to do all three at once.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: i am a member of the Book Lovin' Bitches Ebook Tours and a copy was provided to me by the author. although payment may have been received by Book Lovin' Bitches Ebook Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review nor was there an obligation to write a positive one. all opinions expressed here are entirely mine and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, the book's publisher and publicist or the readers of this review. this disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

 

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In My Mailbox #13

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi with The Story Siren.

Received from author: 

A United States diplomat disappears in front of hundreds of onlookers while attending a religious ceremony in the bushveld of Zimbabwe.

Dominic Grey, Diplomatic Security special agent, product of a violent childhood and a worn passport, is assigned to investigate. Aiding the investigation is Professor Viktor Radek, religious phenomenologist and expert on cults, and Nya Mashumba, the local government liaison.

What Grey uncovers is a terrifying cult older than Western civilization, the harsh underbelly of a country in despair, a demagogic priest seemingly able to perform impossibilities, and the identity of the newest target.

Himself.

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I also got this from Book Lovin’ Bitches eBook tours:

 

Ryan McCarthy fled Applied Paranormal Theory and Tactics, her father, and her lover six years ago, desperate to build life away from the weird science and supernatural experiments of her childhood. But everything she hoped to escape comes back with a vengeance when she's kidnapped and tortured by a possessed APTT employee out for revenge on the man responsible for his possession: Ryan's father.

Now, reunited with the lover she abandoned, Ryan is forced back into a world of danger and darkness she no longer understands, pursued by enemies with powers she can't fathom. But Ryan's not entirely powerless herself. She'll have to use every trick she knows - as well as the mystic gift she hates - to stay ahead of those enemies. And that will be easier said than done.

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These came from UK Book Tours which I’m super excited to read:

 

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously—and at great risk—documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

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And finally I bought:

 

e's looking for peace, quiet, and a little romance...
There's never a dull moment when hunky all-star pitcher and shapeshifter Jason Falco invests in an old Boston brownstone apartment building full of supernatural creatures. But when Merry MacKenzie moves into the ground floor apartment, the playboy pitcher decides he might just be done playing the field...

A girl just wants to have fun...
Sexy Jason seems like the perfect fling, but newly independent nurse Merry's not sure she's ready to trust him with her heart...especially when the tabloids start trumpeting his playboy lifestyle.

Then pandemonium breaks loose and Merry and Jason will never get it together without a little help from the vampire who lives in the basement and the werewolf from upstairs...

 

Happy reading everyone! Be sure to check out my giveaway!

 

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On My Wishlist #19

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I want but haven't haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

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 Like most girls at Rosemound High School, seventeen-year-old Lily Crane is acutely aware of Ryder Kingscott. Hands down the cutest guy in school, Ryder is cool, mysterious, and utterly untouchable…especially for Lily. For when she touches someone, Lily instantly learns all about their lives. And while such a skill might seem nifty, in truth it is wrecking Lily’s life. So she is shocked when Ryder asks her out — and even more shocked to discover he has a rival. Lucian Bell is the gorgeous new kid who can’t take his eyes off of Lily. Being pursued by two hotties should make a girl happy, but Lily is sceptical. The boys act as if they’ve met before, hating each other with a passion that could only be rooted in a dark, dangerous past. A past full of terrible secrets. The kind of secrets that could get a girl killed.

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My name is Lottie Biggs and in three weeks time, I will be fifteen years old. At school, most people call me Lottie Not-Very-Biggs. I’ve never found this particularly funny . . . My current hair colour is Melody Deep Plum which is not as nice as Melody Forest Flame but definitely better than the dodgy custard colour I tried last week . . .

And this is my book – it’s about important things like boys and shoes and polo-neck knickers and rescuing giraffes and NOT fancying Gareth Stingecombe (even though he has manly thighs) and hanging-out with your best friend having A BLATANTLY FUNNY TIME. It is definitely not about sitting in wardrobes or having a mental disturbance of any kind!

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Lottie Biggs is recovering from her mental disorder of a significant nature with the help of her counsellor. She has a Saturday job in a hairdresser and Gareth Stingecombe and his manly thighs are still the love of her life. When Gareth undoes his trousers, she comes to the realization that, unlike everyone else she knows, she is a virgin.

 

 

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Have you ever wondered how lone wolf Clayton Danvers finally got bitten by the last thing he ever expected: love? Or how the hot-blooded bad-girl witch Eve Levine managed to ensnare the cold, ruthless corporate sorcerer, Kristof Nast in one of the Otherworld’s most unlikely pairings? Would you like to be a fly on the wall at the wedding of Lucas Cortez and Paige Winterbourne, as their eminently practical plans are gradually upended by their well-meaning friends? Or tag along with Lucas and Paige as they investigate a rather gruesome case that looks to be the result of a rogue vampire?

Now, Otherworld reader can share these moments with some of their favourite characters—as well as catching welcome glimpses into the minds of some of the lesser-known players. But even readers new to the Otherworld universe will find much to love in these seven tales of friendship, adventure, and enduring romance.

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Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shape shifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She's never known any others of her kind. Until now.

An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River-one that her father's people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help...

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When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her that “pregging” for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

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The higher you aim, the farther you fall….

It’s Violet’s junior year at the Westfield School. She thought she’d be focusing on getting straight As, editing the lit mag, and figuring out how to talk to boys without choking on her own saliva. Instead, she’s just trying to hold it together in the face of cutthroat academics, her crush’s new girlfriend, and the sense that things are going irreversibly wrong with her best friend, Katie.

When Katie starts making choices that Violet can’t even begin to fathom, Violet has no idea how to set things right between them. Westfield girls are trained for success—but how can Violet keep her junior year from being one huge, epic failure?

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Darien Oceina is the youngest son of the Great Dragon Lord of the Water. For years he's loved and cherished Tai Dawson from afar. Tai is a simple, ordinary girl who doesn't even know Darien exists. On his eighteenth birthday, he chooses her as his wife. But there’s one problem: She thinks his choice means she's going to be offered as a sacrifice to the Dragon Lord, but instead, she’s forced to move to his home, far away, to give up her life and be his bride.

When she first sees Darien after the ceremony, she doesn’t expect to feel anything but hatred toward him. The two are struggling with the complications of a new marriage when their nation is attacked by a rival dragon species. Together they learn to love one another while they struggle to stay one step ahead in a game where the prize is their survival.

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Werewolves can be dangerous if you get in their way, but they'll leave you alone if you are careful. They are very good at hiding their natures from the human population, but I'm not human. I know them when I meet them, and they know me, too.

Mercy Thompson's sexy next-door neighbour is a werewolf.

She's tinkering with a VW bus at her mechanic shop that happens to belong to a vampire.

But then, Mercy Thompson is not exactly normal herself ... and her connection to the world of things that go bump in the night is about to get her into a whole lot of trouble.

So that’s what is on my wishlist this week! A lot of books huh? They all look so good though! Happy reading everyone! And be sure to check out my giveaway!

 

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Early Review: Sanctus by Simon Toyne

Title: Sanctus

Author: Simon Toyne

Publication date: 14th April 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins

My Rating: 10/10

Buy the book

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Summary:

An explosive apocalyptic conspiracy thriller from a major new British talent that will set the world alight…

REVELATION OR DEVASTATION?

The certainties of the modern world are about to be blown apart by a three thousand year-old conspiracy nurtured by blood and lies …

A man throws himself to his death from the oldest inhabited place on the face of the earth, a mountainous citadel in the historic Turkish city of Ruin. This is no ordinary suicide but a symbolic act. And thanks to the media, it is witnessed by the entire world.
But few understand it. For charity worker Kathryn Mann and a handful of others in the know, it is what they have been waiting for. The cowled and secretive fanatics that live in the Citadel suspect it could mean the end of everything they have built – and they will kill, torture and break every law to stop that. For Liv Adamsen, New York crime reporter, it begins the next stage of a journey into the heart of her own identity.

And at that journey's end lies a discovery that will change EVERYTHING …

SANCTUS is an apocalyptic conspiracy thriller like no other – it re-sets the bar for excitement and fascination, and marks the debut of a major talent in Simon Toyne.

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My thoughts:

I have seriously fallen in love with this book! I don’t really read many books of this genre either so I wasn’t expecting my reaction to it to be so enthusiastic about how great it really is! See…I’m rambling already!

The story takes place in the religious city of Ruin where the monks who live in the religious community have longer life spans and excelled healing. It’s one of the oldest and most secretive places on Earth.

Until a suicide of one of the monks sets off a chain of events leading up to the uncovering of a three-thousand year old conspiracy.

This book is the definition of a page-turner. I couldn’t stop! I only wished life wouldn’t get in the way of me finishing it sooner! Having to put the book down to eat, study and sleep was torture

The build up of suspense was perfect. It really did get my heart racing at times with the anticipation of what was going to happen next.

The plot was brilliant. It got you guessing in all sorts of ways only to surprise you when you end up completely wrong. There were all sorts of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat.

I also loved the way the chapters jumped between characters. Each character had a different story and were great in their own unique ways. Especially Gabriel. Pretty amazing character right there.

Sanctus was truly a glorious book. An exciting, gripping read that will get your heart racing. Definitely a must read!

 

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