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Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature newly hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl. If you'd like to participate click here for future topics, and list away! If you are participating please leave a link to your post in the comments below so I can also check out your Top Ten!
Top Ten Non-Popular Authors
There are so many Authors that write brilliant books but just don't get so popular that their name becomes a household name, so I thought I'd share some amazing Authors in hope that maybe it'll shine a little bit of a spotlight on their great books. Check them out, you may find your next fave Author by just doing so.
- Kristin Bailey - I really enjoyed The Secret Order Trilogy. Here's my review of book 1; The Legacy of Clockwork Key here. Check out her other books here.
- M. Beth Bloom - I really enjoyed "Don't Ever Change" check out my review.
- Kris Dinnison - You and Me and Him was great. Here was an interview I did with the Author regarding this book.
- C.J. Duggan - She writes Contemporary YA books. My review of The Boys of Summer which is book 1 to her Summer series.
- Lindsay Emory - Sisterhood is a Deadly. Here's a link to my review and guest post.
- Jeff Gunhus - Writes Middle Grade books, but I thoroughly enjoyed his series'. Check out my blog for reviews of a few of his books.
- J.A. Huss - I enjoyed reading Manic.
- Cameron Jace - I absolutely loved "I Am Alive." He also does some retelling of fairy tales but "I Am Alive" has really stuck to me, it nearly has the vibe of Divergent.
- Stacey Kennedy - I loved The Cat's Meow and actually gave it 5 stars! Check out my review here.
- Skyla Madi - An Australian Author and most of her books on Goodreads are actually quite high rating. I read the first book in The Guardian series. Here's my review and more info on the consecutive books in the series.
Hope you enjoyed my Top Ten, I just like to showcase less known Authors, as there are some gems to be found, it's just hard to find Authors that are not household names, but some of the Indi Authors I have found have been fantastic, hope you find some of these Authors interesting enough to check out their books! Enjoy, if you have heard of some of the Authors above, let me know in the comments and let me know which of their books you enjoyed.
Next week @ Top Ten Tuesday
Frequently used words in [Insert Genre/Age Group] Titles
Saturday, 14 April 2018
Stacking the Shelves #22
Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's main purpose is to showcase the books you've obtained (borrowed, won/gifted, given for review or purchased) for the week gone by. To participate, link to your own STS post here.
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Courtesy of Harper Collins Australia
This is a Kindle buy, I don't really buy many ebooks for my Kindle, but Jessica Spotswood posted on social media that this was 99c so I had to get it. It ended up costing $1.99 AUD for me but still a steal, click here if your interested in adding this to your Kindle ebook collection.
I absolutely LOVED this series, but seeing as Cecelia Ahern is one of my favourite Authors, I was beyond thrilled to find out that she has written a YA duo logy. Review coming up soon.
The above books are series' and both book 1's is a re-read, but because I spotted book 2's of both series' I decided to re-read book 1 before starting book 2....does anyone else do this?
That's the book haul for the week, what books did you get this week? Please link in the comments below.
Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Bout of Books Read-a-thon #16
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
So I'm a bit late to the party but better late than never they say. I love read-a-thons as it pushes me a bit further to read a little bit more and I love the interactions with fellow book lovers in such events. I do live in a different time zone so sometimes the chats are hard to organise but I do try. I'll stop rambling, but this is just to say I'M IN!!! Will update my post with progresses etc tomorrow.
Goals
Wrap-up Update
I was able to complete all my goals, I even outdone myself by averaging to 178 pages per day which is alot better than my 100 pages per day original goal, I may up it to 200 pages per day next time.
I did visit and comment on 50+ updates but I wish I had done it over more days rather than just the 2 days I did it. One of those days I did the 50 and then another day I did about 10-20 more but I love socialising and encouraging participants through readathons, it's fun to meet new people, especially those that love the same type of books.
Hope to see everyone in the next one and thanks Amanda and Kelly for all the great effort and time you both take to organise.
Daily Updates
Monday 9th May
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff = 312 pagesTotal Books Finished = 0
Total Pages Read = 312 pages
Challenge - Describe yourself #insixwords #boutofbooks
"First-time Mum, Book, Makeup, Stationer-lover"
Tuesday 10th May
Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman = 75 pagesTotal Books Finished = 0
Total Pages Read = 387 pages
Challenge - Bookshelf Pic
This is my main bookshelf, it's got two levels not visible in this photo as it's very messy at the moment, I mean look at those shocking haphazard stacked books! 85% of my books are certainly on this shelf excluding my ebook reader.
Wednesday 11th May
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff = 287 pagesTotal Books Finished = 1
Total Pages Read = 674 pages
Challenge - Top 5 Books Written by Australian YA Authors
- Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
- Obernewtyn Series by Isobelle Carmody
- Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington
- Pretties Series by Scott Westerfeld
- Illuminae by Amie Kaufman
*In no particular order
And OMG what a fool I am! I've been reading The Starbound Trilogy AND Illuminae and just realised that Amie Kaufman is based in Melbourne, Australia!!! Well you learn something everyday and this challenge certainly taught me something new :)
Thursday 12th May
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard = 120 pagesTotal Books Finished = 1
Total Pages Read = 794 pages
Today was a terrible read-a-thon day for me as I had Step-Mum duties; had to pick up my Step-Son who lives 1.5 hours (there and back) from home, followed by lunch, had to take Father in Law to Doctors, then everyone to the movies and then the Dentist for Step-Son.
In between all that I had to make an hour trip (there and back) to pickup a girlfriend from her post-op and drop her off at another girlfriend's home where she'll be recovering for the week. THEN, it was dinnertime and had to drop Step-Son home, take dinner to my two girlfriends (the nurse and the patient).
By the time I got home it was 9pm, I left the house around 9am so I had been out for nearly a whole 12 hours. I really should've listened to my audiobook as I certainly would have gotten some hours in there from all the driving LOL. By the time I got home I had a raging migraine, so I napped for an hour, then got up and FINALLY got to read!
Friday 13th May
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard = 251 pagesTotal Books Finished = 2
Total Pages Read = 1, 045pages
Saturday 14th May
A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray =18 pages
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken = 82 pages
Total Books Finished = 2
Total Pages Read = 1, 145 pages
Actually made it to a Twitter chat, I love the social aspect of readathons! I also visited 50 blogs today, which is always a goal for my #boutofbooks readathon to visit blogs and comment.
I would love to get another 355 pages in before the end but I highly doubt it as I'm very busy tomorrow.
Sunday 15th May
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken = 80 pages
Their fractured light by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff = 20 pages
Total books finished this week = 2
Total pages read = 1,245 pages
Was extremely busy today with one of my Step-kids birthday so I had 5 children which included 3 of my step children, their step brother and one friend. So I was very busy all day with All you can eat lunch and roller skating. Was extremely surprised I even got to read as much as I did by the time I got home I was exhausted.
Was extremely busy today with one of my Step-kids birthday so I had 5 children which included 3 of my step children, their step brother and one friend. So I was very busy all day with All you can eat lunch and roller skating. Was extremely surprised I even got to read as much as I did by the time I got home I was exhausted.
Monday, 29 February 2016
The Selection by Kiera Cass ~ Review
The Selection
by Kiera Cass
Website | Goodreads | TwitterSeries: The Selection #1
Released: April 24, 2012
Format: Audiobook
Publisher: Harper Audio
Narrator: Amy Rubinate
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.
But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.
Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.
~ Review ~
The Selection initially caught my attention soon after it's release because of it's beautiful cover, I just love covers with beautiful dresses! However, with so many newly released books constantly flooding the blogosphere I haven't gotten the chance to read this until now. I borrowed the audiobook from my library and I am so glad as I just loved this book!
America Singer lives in a somewhat dystopian world where the society is based on a caste-system. The lowest being 8s mostly destitute and homeless, and 1s being royalties, the Singers are 5s, they are Musicians, Artists and Performers, and despite not being in the lowest castes they still found great difficulty in making ends meet. So when The Selection was announced, a lottery of 35 women chosen to compete for the Prince's heart, America's Mother was more than ecstatic to finally show to the world how important her America is, however, America doesn't feel the same enthusiasm. After much debate, tears, and fights America decides to enter the lottery, fairly certain that she would never get picked...if she only knew.
The story is great, and unlike many dystopian novels I enjoyed the fact that Cass provides the readers with an explanation as to how the world came to be the way it is and why there is a "selection" process. Kiera really put a lot of thought into the history and background of her story, this I truly appreciate.
The characters are fantastic and I truly felt like I was within the pages of its story, watching people I actually know. They were built and created very well that I could see them in person as if they were acting the scenes in front of me, this is how Kiera Cass made me feel with The Selection.
The writing was well done, Kiera introduces snippets of little information in which you can grasp and later through the book be like "ah...that's when it started happening" or "oh...that's why this happened" and I truly love that because you can see that the writer didn't simply write away, you can tell the writer really constructed the story and did it well.
I enjoyed this novel so much that I swiftly picked up The Elite straight after and currently reading The One. I cannot wait to continue the entire series, so please stay tuned for the rest of the series reviews.
Saturday, 27 February 2016
Stacking the Shelves #21
Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's main purpose is to showcase the books you've obtained (borrowed, won/gifted, given for review or purchased) for the week gone by. To participate, link to your own STS post here.
Book Hauls!
This is my little book haul from a city St Vincent's de Paul Shop, and whilst these books are simply amazing and I'm yet to see it anywhere else they were oh so expensive compared to the normal prices of shops like these at my area...but oh well, it's going to charity.
I'm really excited to read The Penguin Book of Etiquette by Marion von Adlerstein as I really loved The Passionate Shopper (pic below), so I'm hoping that this Author does it again for me. Do you have any recommendations on books with a similar theme to these? Please comment below if you do.
That's all for me for now, see you next time.
Have a Great weekend!
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh
Burning Midnight
by Will McIntosh
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | TwitterReleased: February 11, 2016
Publisher: Pan MacMillan
Genre: YA Adventure
Source: Publisher
Buy It Now
How much would you pay for superpowers? Fast-paced action adventure with a world-changing twist...
For fans of The Maze Runner and The 5th Wave, this debut YA novel from Hugo Award-winner Will McIntosh pits four teens against an evil billionaire in the race of a lifetime.
Sully is a sphere dealer at a flea market. It doesn't pay much - Alex Holliday's stores have muscled out most of the independent sellers - but it helps him and his mum make the rent. No one knows where the brilliant-coloured spheres came from. One day they were just there, hidden all over the earth like huge gemstones. Burn a pair and they make you a little better: an inch taller, skilled at maths, better-looking. The rarer the sphere, the greater the improvement - and the more expensive the sphere.
When Sully meets Hunter, a girl with a natural talent for finding spheres, the two start searching together. What they find will change more than just their lives... Because the entire world fights over spheres, but no one knows why they're here or what their powers are... until now.
~ Review ~
Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh is a fast-paced and exciting journey which will take its readers from the seat of their homes to hunting super-power-giving-spheres, along the way dodging very dangerous people and all the while forging unbreakable bonds.
From the premise of the synopsis I did not think I would enjoy this novel as much as I did. Upon receiving this book I had not heard of this novel nor of its Author so I wasn't sure what to expect, sure the premise sounded interesting but I certainly did not think I would enjoy it as much as I did. From its first few pages, it had me hooked, asking questions and turning pages just to find out the answers to these questions.
The world in which Burning Midnight is set at isn't much different to our world, the main difference being this world has spheres, when two of the same coloured spheres are "burnt" (touching both to either side of your temples) it gives that person some kind of power whether it be forgetting a memory, being better looking, smarter, faster etc. Like all things with a value, humans soon finds a way to exploit it financially.
David Sullivan is a sphere trader at the local markets, trying to help his single-Mother out financially, Hunter Valdez is a sphere hunter, when the two meet paths their adventure begins.
I absolutely enjoyed the fast paced adventure ride that McIntosh takes his readers on. Everything about it was fantastic, the story line was original and inventive, the pacing was fast and adventurous but not rushed, the characters were multi-dimensional and their relationships and friendships were relatable and realistic. Even the Villain you can come to understand, I certainly didn't sympathise with his greed but you understand him as a person.
The story is truly fantastic and it is certainly worth the read. Being a standalone novel, the Author tied the end up nicely which is where I find a lot of adventure books lacking. I would still love to read more about this world and the characters, but alas it was still a satisfying ending and I found myself feeling wowed once I turned the last page. I highly recommend this book to those that enjoy adventure stories and I cannot wait to read other Will McIntosh novels.
From the premise of the synopsis I did not think I would enjoy this novel as much as I did. Upon receiving this book I had not heard of this novel nor of its Author so I wasn't sure what to expect, sure the premise sounded interesting but I certainly did not think I would enjoy it as much as I did. From its first few pages, it had me hooked, asking questions and turning pages just to find out the answers to these questions.
The world in which Burning Midnight is set at isn't much different to our world, the main difference being this world has spheres, when two of the same coloured spheres are "burnt" (touching both to either side of your temples) it gives that person some kind of power whether it be forgetting a memory, being better looking, smarter, faster etc. Like all things with a value, humans soon finds a way to exploit it financially.
David Sullivan is a sphere trader at the local markets, trying to help his single-Mother out financially, Hunter Valdez is a sphere hunter, when the two meet paths their adventure begins.
I absolutely enjoyed the fast paced adventure ride that McIntosh takes his readers on. Everything about it was fantastic, the story line was original and inventive, the pacing was fast and adventurous but not rushed, the characters were multi-dimensional and their relationships and friendships were relatable and realistic. Even the Villain you can come to understand, I certainly didn't sympathise with his greed but you understand him as a person.
The story is truly fantastic and it is certainly worth the read. Being a standalone novel, the Author tied the end up nicely which is where I find a lot of adventure books lacking. I would still love to read more about this world and the characters, but alas it was still a satisfying ending and I found myself feeling wowed once I turned the last page. I highly recommend this book to those that enjoy adventure stories and I cannot wait to read other Will McIntosh novels.
This post is sponsored by
Saturday, 5 December 2015
Stacking the Shelves #20
Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's main purpose is to showcase the books you've obtained (borrowed, won/gifted, given for review or purchased) for the week gone by. To participate, link to your own STS post here.
How is everyone going? I've been very busy as of late trying to get out the reviews I need to get out as I've been so lucky in receiving some AMAZING books. My Stacking the Shelves post are normally written a few weeks in advance but when I receive a soon to be released book, of course I so want to feature those first, right?
So here I am, quite jumbled, so if I double up on books, as in mention it on two #STS posts, don't think I'm just rubbing it in, I've simply overlooked that I've already mentioned it. So without further ado, here's what my week looked like in the book world.
Book Hauls
Huge Thanks to Pan MacMillan and Penguin Books!
Now I've only ever read Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park but did I love that book so...ok I can't spoil it as the review is coming shortly, so you'll have to wait in suspense, or you'd probably have read it already in which case, comment below so we can fangirl/guy over it. So there you go, I still leaked my "opinion" out of the bag, did you get the hint?
We don't need to get into Richelle Mead and my love for her, right? Just a hint, Soundless definitely does not disappoint.
I also attended the #BTCYA Event hosted by Harper Teen at Harper Collins Sydney office, here's a recap of the event. All attendees got super awesome swag bags, hence why it is included in my STS post.
Since it is a crappy photo...I'm yet to learn to take decent ones for my blog. I'll describe the contents:-
Harper Teen "Epic Reads" Tote - and this tote is AHMAZING! It is truly designed for multiple and heavy books, it is strong y'all!
Ten Thousand Skies About You by Claudia Gray poster
Between The Covers catalogue showing the 2016 YA Releases for Harper Teen
ARC of Demon Road by Derek Landy, Author to the Skulduggery Pleasant Series
ARC of Lady Helen & The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
A few book swag, I picked up 2 buttons and a postcard of The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly.
A very generous swag pack, some of the bags contained Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, had I known this I would have diligently searched for one of those bags LOL.
Thanks so much to Amanda & Tim and the rest of the team at Harper Collins for such an amazing and entertaining night, it was certainly an honour to be part of this wonderful community.
Last but certainly not least, I'm gonna count this as a "book haul", these two darling books from my #OTSPSecretSister.
Gorgeous right? These book necklaces are from Cait at Paper Fury Ink an Aussie Etsy seller. Thank you to my wonderful #OTSPSecretSister you truly spoil me each and every month.
That's all for me for this week, till next week...
Have a Great weekend!
Tuesday, 1 December 2015
BTCYA Sydney; A Harper Collins Event
Between The Covers is a blog hosted by the Harper Collins Publishers team, hence the name BTCYA. I was so very thrilled to have been given an invite to this wonderful event and was beyond excited. This is the first time I've attended a blogging event and I went alone which was a bit intimidating as many of the old-time bloggers probably knew each other.
There were many giveaways, I was too embarrassed to raise my hand and answer the questions, but I was so jealous of the books that everyone got to choose. I didn't realise there were signed copies of Claudia Gray's Firebird Trilogy, I may have braved the embarrassment had I known LOL,
The host of the evening, Amanda and Tim were hilarious and I truly enjoyed the event. They ran through the books that are to be released in 2016 and a short snippet of what they thought of it. They seriously have the best job and they are total comedians! I'm sad to hear that they're leaving.
There were these gorgeous and delicious cupcakes, drinks and snacks.
And of course a table of books for sale courtesy of Dymocks. I really want to read The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand, Amanda and Tim really sold that book to me, and Peony Lantern by Frances Watts also sounds quite interesting.
All photos are sourced from #BTCYA Twitter courtesy of Harper Collins
We also got a very generous swag bag which included an ARC copy of Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club by Aussie Author Alison Goodman and Demon Road by Derek Landy, Author of the Skulduggery Pleasant Series, along with a beautiful poster of Claudia Gray's Ten Thousand Skies Above You, the second book to A Thousand Pieces of You, both of which I can't wait to read.
The tote bag is amazing, very sturdy and will definitely carry alot of books, which if you've been searching for a tote to carry multiple books you'd have found how hard that is to find.
Thanks so much for Harper Teen for the amazing event! And thanks so much Tim & Amanda for the very entertaining evening, I certainly would not have spent my Friday night any other way ;)
My Highly Anticipated 2016 Reads
Check out Thoughts by J and Happy Indulgence for a more in depth recap of the event.
If you were there leave me a comment below to let me know what you thought of the event, or leave a link to your event recap post.
Saturday, 28 November 2015
Stacking the Shelves #19
Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's main purpose is to showcase the books you've obtained (borrowed, won/gifted, given for review or purchased) for the week gone by. To participate, link to your own STS post here.
Books for the week!
Publisher - Many thanks to Pan Macmillan
The Book of Days by K.A Tucker; my review
Firewalker by Josephine Angelini, book 2 in the Worldwalker Trilogy
Bought
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Never, Always, Sometimes by Adi Alsaid
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Won
Courtesy of Author and The Fantastic Flying Bookclub
Ruthless by Carolyn Lee Adams; my review
#OTSPSECRETSISTER
My #OTSPSecretSister gave me Red Queen AND The Secret Lies of Minnow Bly, this was my first ever box so she totally spoilt me!
For those that do not know the #OTSPSecretSister it is somewhat a Secret Santa for the book blogging community but it goes on for 6 months, if you want to join the next round click here for more info. It's International too!
Have a Great weekend!
Friday, 20 November 2015
Zeroes by Westerfeld, Biancotti & Lanagan ~ Book Review + Giveaway
Zeroes
by Scott Westerfeld + Margo Lanagan + Deborah Biancotti
Genre: Young Adult Sci-FiReleased: September 23, 2015
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Format: Softcover 496 pages
Source: Publisher
Buy It Now: Publisher | Booktopia | Book Depository
Don't call them heroes. But these six Californian teens have powers that set them apart
Ethan aka Scam has a voice inside him that'll say whatever people want to hear, whether it's true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn't - like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren't exactly best friends these days.
Enter Nate, aka Bellwether, the group's 'glorious leader.' After Scam's SOS, he pulls the scattered Zeroes back together. But when the rescue blows up in their faces, the Zeroes find themselves propelled into whirlwind encounters with ever more dangerous criminals. At the heart of the chaos they find Kelsie, who can take a crowd in the palm of her hand and tame it or let it loose as she pleases.
Filled with high-stakes action and drama, Zeroes unites three powerhouse authors for the opening instalment of a thrilling new series.
~ Review ~
I am a huge Scott Westerfeld fan so when I heard about this book I knew I had to get my grubby hands on it and boy was I not disappointed. Like all other Westerfeld books I have read in the past this was definitely astounding, well written, great characters and lots of action! I truly loved it and was seriously amazed at how well three writers could write a book that read this well, it was well written and flowed nicely which is not what I would expect from a book written by multiple Authors.
Zeroes takes us on an adventure with six American teens who all have superpowers and were all born in 2000, this is where their similarity ends. Each teen has a different power and a different personality to boot. Together the team were simply playing on their powers, doing fake "assignments" to further improve their power and to gain a better understanding as they were truly just learning about themselves, however, an unfortunate team drama shattered their group, separated and no longer corresponding with each other...until now!
Zeroes was seriously astounding and I cannot wait for the second instalment! The characters are very dimensional and the premise of superpowers but the price you have to pay for these powers are very intriguing. I loved seeing these"heroes" not be so "heroic" and perfect, making stupid decisions, but working together to fix the problem as they arise. I love the team work, despite the drama from the previous year and no longer being "friends" they still came together immediately when one of them was in danger, I loved this aspect of friendship.
What I really love about Heroes is the reality of the characters, it is unlike the thousands other teen superhero stories we have watched or read in the past, these superheroes are geeky, totally selfish, and all the other adjectives of a teen, on top of that they've been blessed/cursed with superpowers, so we are seeing these teens coming to terms with their superpowers and totally screw up alot on the way to their self discoveries. It is truly refreshing to see these teen superheroes in a very realistic manner, hence why the story was so captivating to me. It is unlike the other plot lines done before with world changing, world saving teen superheroes, not at all!
Zeroes is a well written, fast-paced, action pack start to what I could imagine in becoming a fantastic series! The characters were all real and likeable, their fumbling through their superhero status and powers is what I truly loved about this book. The writing is great, coming from three spectacular Authors, and it flowed smoothly despite it being written by three Authors. I cannot wait till the release of the consecutive books.
Many Thanks to Allen & Unwin Australia
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