4 stars I received an ARC of this book from the author, but I got busy and forgot about it. Eventually, I picked it up and was drawn into the story, but I was a bit confused. I didn’t understand the chapter/section headings. They were called variations and the first thing I thought was that they must be variations of the same story. Then I thought perhaps they were a series of short stories. I was wrong on both counts. They’re just oddly named chapters told from differing POVs. I figured that out about halfway through. I was already familiar with this author and the alternative universe of Birdland, and I find the concept fascinating. The characters are, likewise, multifaceted, intriguing, and believable. I only had two problems, and they’re “me” problems, not problems with the writing or the author. I’m very open-minded, but as an editor, I still get hung up on using ‘their’ as a singular pronoun to describe a single person. I understand English and the rules of grammar are constantly evolving, but as a very rule-oriented person, it’s difficult for me to make the mental adjustment. To be clear, it has always bothered me that there wasn’t a singular pronoun that could be interchangeable for any gender. As a she/her myself, I’ve always been infuriated when things are written to say he/him—something which has, thankfully, changed significantly in my lifetime. Lemberg uses ‘their’ universally throughout the book, to the exclusion of he/she. Books like this play an important role in orienting readers, and hopefully, society at large, to use preferred pronouns. The fact that I might have preferred someone give more thought to what those pronouns might be before choosing the genderless and plural “their” is irrelevant. We all need to adjust, and I think books written this way are a tool to help people acclimate. Besides, who is this ‘someone’ I wish had given it more thought? When groups of people are oppressed, it’s best to lift the oppression in the most expedient way possible and worry about the ‘rules’ later. Sometimes, rules need to change. This is a roundabout way of saying I thought the writing was brilliant, with vivid illustrations of the setting as well as the inner turmoil of the main characters. I can’t say I loved the ending, but that’s akin to saying I didn’t like a certain movie because it left the door open for sequels. It’s not a cliffhanger, but there’s a sense of incompletion or uncertainty about it. This ending is very much open to interpretation and requires the reader to give the story more thought after it has finished. Compelling the reader to say, “I wonder what’s going to happen next?” is not such a bad way to end. September 4, 2022
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5 stars I received an ARC of this book from the author and it’s another one of those books that take place in Winchester, CO, and connects to other characters in several different rock bands. It’s hard for me to keep track of who’s who, but I’ve loved all of them. I’m going to describe the plot because I think it’s necessary to understand my review. Some might think it contains spoilers, but I disagree because most of it is fairly obvious from the beginning. I mean, it follows a formula. Nevertheless, if you want to avoid a plot summary, skip three paragraphs. Sierra is caring for Mia who is the child of Mickey (a bass player), but she hasn’t told him Mia is his. There are multiple reasons—when she discovered she was pregnant she went to tell him and couldn’t find him because he had moved, but more importantly, she is convinced her parents would never approve of him. Several years later, she runs into him at the wedding of mutual friends and he wants to catch up with her. She doesn’t want to spend any time with him because she’s afraid he’ll figure out the secret she is keeping. To be clear, she hasn’t told another living soul. Despite her reluctance to spend any time with him, she cannot help herself because she truly cares for him. However, every time she begins to fantasize about having a life with him, she convinces herself they can never have a happily-ever-after. Even when he tells her he loves her, she is stopped by her fear. Every time they get too close, she runs away, a behavior he has commented upon repeatedly. He’s surprisingly patient and understanding. Meanwhile, Sierra’s parents have decided that she should marry Austin—her high school/first boyfriend and son of rich parents whom they wish to tie themselves. At the same time, Mickey confronts Sierra and accuses her of keeping Mia from him. He is disgusted with her, and for good reason, because he has given her so many opportunities to confess and she has lied every time. Austin is very nice and he’s a good friend, so Sierra feels she could be happy with him, even though she’s certain she will never love him. But she can’t get Mickey out of her mind, although things ended badly between them the last time they spoke. Eventually, she realizes she’s in love with Mickey and must come clean to her parents, and risk losing them. Unfortunately, she has hurt him too many times and now he’s gone again. She leaves a message confessing everything and doesn’t hear back from him. She resolves that when he demands visitation/shared custody of Mia, she will do whatever is needed to make things up to him. There were times while reading this book that I wanted to hit Sierra in the head to knock some sense into her. However, the internal conflicts she experiences were absolutely necessary to the tension in the plot. Truly, all of the tension is inside of Sierra’s head. She struggles to understand herself. She questions her motivations, her desires, her willingness to be brave and to act independently, and she keeps coming up short. The only surprise is the amount of time it takes her to acknowledge what she really wants and to stand up for herself. This is her journey. The POV never switches to any other character, even though it’s told in third-person. There were times when I wondered what Mickey was thinking or feeling, but he was actually fairly transparent. He wanted Sierra in his life, and although he struggled with how to react to her behavior, he still admitted he loved her, and each time she ran away, he waited for her to return. Until he didn’t anymore. And that’s when she realized how much she had hurt him, how much she actually cared for him, and that this was her life and she should choose what would make her happy, rather than striving to earn her parents’ approval. At that point, it doesn’t actually matter whether Mickey forgives her or allows her back in his life. Of course, we want her to spend the rest of her life with him because we want them both to be happy. But she has grown immensely because of her struggles and has become a better person, and that’s what’s really important. I really enjoyed Sierra’s journey and I recommend this book. August 28, 2022 5 stars After the last book in this series, Don’t You Dare, My Dear, in which Edith presented herself as a total and complete hoyden, with a tendency toward petulance and impulsiveness, I cannot believe that I found her character in this book so strong and inspiring. She learned from her mistakes, and although she still demonstrates passion, she has developed the ability to temper her impulsiveness with careful consideration. This is due, in large part, to Griffin, soon-to-be Marquess of Hartfield (since his wicked father is at death’s door, and honestly, cannot die soon enough). The family dynamics in this book are fascinating. Edith has 5 overbearing, arrogant brothers, and a father who shaped them to be the men they are (with the youngest on his way). Edith lost her mother when she was quite young (early teens, I think), as her mother died in childbirth, about to give birth to child number seven, who also died. Griffin observes that Edith’s brothers, whom Edith long ago dubbed The Brutes, and her father, the Earl of Westgrove, have little use for Edith and disregard her feelings and opinions. Really, they only seem to notice her when she disappoints them or disagrees with them. He immediately feels a kinship and an undeniable need to protect her. Griffin adores his mother and despises his father, a despicable man who has never shown any sense of caring for either of them. He is a rake through and through, and we find that when Griffin was much younger, his father actually brought one of his mistresses to the house for dinner with his wife and two sons. Truly appalling. His older brother wasn’t much better and died prematurely from his participation in a curricle race. Now, his father is dying from the pox and seems just as bitter and manipulative as ever. Now, he threatens Griffen that he will expose his mother’s secret if Griffen doesn’t find a woman to marry tout suite. Although he is inexplicably and irrefutable drawn to Edith, he has determined she is unsuitable as a candidate, even though he’s fairly certain he could develop feelings for her. In fact, he actually stomps out and locks down any glimmer of feelings for her. He must find a sensible and respectable wife to rehabilitate the family line that his father so thoroughly destroyed. But Edith is absolutely irresistible. At first, I loved the consistent metaphors for Griffen’s heart—snow, ice, walls of icicles, ice picks, cracking ice—but there are only so many words to describe the same thing so it grew a bit predictable. Okay, so his heart is encased in ice to protect himself. Typical male hiding his hurt and fear of emotions behind a wall of denial and coldness (oh, yeah, that word was also used). But toward the end of chapter one, I understood the reason for it as Griffen observed, “A man made of ice could never guard himself against a summer sun.” Enter Edith, who is repeatedly referred to as the summer sun, sunshine, warmth, passion, and so on. Slowly but surely, she melts away his icy barricades and shows him that passion will not automatically turn him into his father or brother, because deep down, he is not like either of them. It is such a sweet love story, two people lost, drifting, searching for happiness and approval, both unlikely to get it from their families. Ultimately, they both realize that the men in Edith’s family love her but are incapable of seeing past the fact that she is a woman and must be treated as less-than because of her gender. And Griffen realizes that he needs no one’s approval and Edith makes him happy. There were some wonderful quotes sprinkled throughout this book—in fact, many—but I can only share a few. ‘Twas a dangerous web she wove around him. One that sat lightly over his skin, but burned his flesh. He was a master at building ice walls, though. So, he settled himself into the snow of his own heart and built them high and thick so no heated net could crack or melt them. Edith is a gifted musician and Griffen discreetly observes her playing the pianoforte. He thinks, “No one else played with such precision and passion. Two things that should have dueled with one another instead of becoming companions, as they did when her fingers fit against the keys.” Griffen is a mathematician at heart and had planned to become a professor, until his brother died and cast him in the role of future marquess. He uses math to calm himself and to make sense of the world. He and Edith knew each other well as children, as he often played with her brothers, but he has only remained friends with the eldest. When he encounters Edith again after many years, he asks her a question and immediately disparages himself, thinking, “Entirely wrong question. He’s mucked it up before he’d even begun. Like getting the first step of an equation wrong.” Shortly thereafter, this thought is followed by another observation about Edith as she gave him “an incomprehensible answer that made five of two and two.” Later, “...she had him cornered. No, less fatal than that. More like his every bone pressed against a steel cage ad there was Edith, unlocking it, opening a door he hadn’t even known existed, tempting him to come out when it was for everyone’s good…” Edith’s heart is always way out in front of her logic and she can feel herself falling for Griffen even though he has told her he cannot love her (he’s lying, of course). “Another heartbreak glowed on the horizon as obvious as the storm crackling across it yesterday. And she could not help herself from taking footstep after footstep closer to it. She must hate happiness.” And this is another great description of her feelings. “Every star in the night sky glowed ten times brighter, cascaded through colors stars are not usually known for, and fell to earth, landing in her own chest. She swallowed the star-colored feeling…” Because holding the key to someone’s heart is such a cliche, I loved this alternative. “He locked his eyes with hers. He might as well have thrown away the key.” And I loved that Devon and Lillian (Kiss or Dare) made an appearance. Ever the flirt with a droll sense of humor, he responds to Edith’s declaration that she is to marry the Marquess of Hartfield by discreetly trying to ask about her betrothed’s accident. She explains that was Griffen’s older, deceased brother, and he responds by saying, “Ah. Excellent. Lively women deserve live husbands…” I think the imagery and other poetic touches make this an outstanding book and one of my favorites from Charlie Lane (so far). It’s sweet and it kinda made my heart melt just a little bit. August 28, 2022 5 stars Over a year after the last book in the series, I finally got an ARC for Backspin, and got to read more about Scarlett and Jake. It’s been about a year for them too, so I guess that’s fair. What’s not fair? It ends with a cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers, but I love this book. I do have another complaint though. I read so many books that when there’s a large gap in a series like this, it’s hard for me to remember details from previous books. There were a few things that helped me to remember Jake’s mother and sister and what they did to his father, but I could have used more details about what they did with Scarlett because I only remember it in broad strokes. This would be helpful for a new reader too—making it easier for someone to just jump into the series with this book and have a good idea of what happens. This one is told from the POVs of Scarlett and Jake this time. How do two people so damaged by trauma manage to overcome all of their internal challenges and find happiness together? Well, don’t look for a happy ending here. Because there is no ending. However, we are given a clue when Scarlett talks to her mom, who gives sage advice: “Love is the core of who we are… It’s the only thing that’s true. Everything else is just an expression of pain.” She goes on, “I believe our true nature when we come into this world is love. Anything else that happens from there...our conditioning, our upbringing, our environment…shapes who we are. And when some of those things are from trauma it affects how we act… Reactions can be an expression of unresolved pain.” And Scarlett is bright enough to understand that you can understand someone’s actions and love them for who they are underneath that, but you mustn’t step over the fine line by making excuses for them. August 1, 2022 3 stars I received an ARC of this book from the publisher. I enjoyed the other two books I read in the Sisterhood of Secrets series (#1 & #3), but I can’t help noticing my reviews earn fewer stars each time I read one of her books. It makes me hesitant to read the next one. It also makes me wonder whether the first was as good as I thought at the time. This one is about Jenny and Nicholas Dowding, the Earl of Deception. As usual, the male lead is given a clever moniker that barely represents the reality of who he is. In one of the previous books, Jenny threw her handkerchief over her shoulder to represent an end to unnecessary flirtations and the beginning of maturity. Nicholas picked it up and exacted a promise from her to help him at some future date. Neither can get the other out of their minds and eventually, Nicholas decides to cash in on the promise in this book. Jenny has been enamored with Nicholas since their first meeting, to the point that her internal dialogue is rife with schoolgirl fantasies of happily-ever-after with him. Granted, she is a school girl, but she is on the verge of leaving school, and I would have expected a bit more maturity and less impulsiveness. In his relationship with Jenny, Nicholas, although motivated by the desire to exact revenge from his enemies based on his father’s deathbed wishes, is primarily driven by his reluctance to fall in love because he was once hurt. Who hasn’t been? His reaction seemed a bit histrionic to me. Both characters lack depth, although Nicholas is a bit more realistic. Jenny’s head seems to be filled with air, peppered with hopes, dreams, and suspicions. She jumps from believing Nicholas loves her to thinking he is using her, simply based upon whatever circumstances within which she finds herself. One moment, she is impervious to the implied duplicity of Nicholas made by Lady Ayes, the one who broke his heart. The next moment, she has fallen for it hook, line, and sinker for the lies and refuses to allow him to explain. And the exclamation points! I feel certain I’ve mentioned this in the past, but there are entirely too many exclamation points in this book! An author should be able to convey emotions without resorting to punctuation to do so! Maybe try using some action verbs, or simply allow the words to speak for themselves! I’m tempted to give this book only two stars, but I’ll err on the side of generosity. Still, I cannot recommend it. July 30, 2022 5++ stars This is one of those books in which I reach the end, and I’m just speechless. As a fan of Sarah Cradit, I am fortunate to be part of her advanced reader team. I don’t think I’ve ever rated one of her books at less than five stars, and I don’t imagine I ever will. Because even though I think her earlier books are exceptional, I have to admit, she keeps getting better and better. This one had me on the verge of a panic attack more times than I can mention. I was ready to break out the Xanax on more than one occasion, but settled for an edible. What I’m saying is that the tension was extreme—and it wasn’t about someone dying, but just trying to figure out what the hell was going on and what the eventual outcome would be. I couldn’t figure out who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. In a way, it kept changing. Ultimately, the plot gets high marks from me. It’s unique and intriguing. And did I mention? TENSE. There were some wonderful statements made by characters that I want to share. Tyreste is a childhood friend in love with Rhaian, but he’s poor. He tells her, “If desire were currency, I’d have more than enough gold to make you my wife.” As a woman, Rhaian has few choices in her life, and she struggles to express herself within the confines of the strictures that confine her. For example, when told something she dislikes, “Rhiain rolled through her catalogue of contrived dispositions and decided bland derision fit the scenario best.” Without giving away too much of the plot, this image of Tyr’s abode was wonderful: “If he was especially silent, he could hear laughter beyond the thick stone walls, dripping into the earth encasing them.” And when Rhaian has a disturbing encounter with him, she discovers, “There was only one way to keep the tumult of emotion out of her voice when she spoke, which was to not speak at all.” Rhaian finds a great friend and confidant in Sesto, her “lady’s maid,” for lack of a better word. He shares some profound words of wisdom: “You’re only discovering what most of us discover all too early in our lives. That life takes and takes from us. If we let it, it will take everything. When it gives, we’re expected to grovel and then lie back and accept the next loss like it’s a gift and not reparation.” He also tells her, “It’s the men in your life who will get you into the same trouble they’ll later punish you for.” Also, when learning of her love for both Tyr and Asterin, Sesto wryly comments, “Asterin has a preference for redheads. You have a preference for men fluent in the language of brooding.” Rhaian, the heroine of the book, travels a painful journey of self-discovery. This journey shows her that she cannot trust those charged with protecting her. As she determines who can be trusted and who truly loves her, she becomes self-sufficient and proves she is a survivor. Those who decide to help her, do so because they love her and not because she needs them. Initially, she wishes to take on the pain she believes she caused Tyr, before being told, “That’s not how pain works, Rhiain. It belongs to us, like a gift we never asked for but cannot return.” This is just one of the revelations made to her during her quest to uncover the truth. Do I recommend this book? Absolutely, and unequivocally. With so many outstanding books to Sarah Cradit’s credit, I cannot say this is the best, but I can say this is currently my favorite. July 27, 2022 I received an ARC of this book from the authors. I’m a loyal fan of Autumn Birt so I was expecting great things, and I was not disappointed. To be honest, I didn’t love the prequel (?)to this book, The Rift and the Mage. I found it confusing. This one was so much better. Descriptions were clear, characters were complex and relatable, even if this takes place in a fantastical place, and the plot was intriguing. One of the descriptions I loved was this one because it did such a great job of describing how I feel when I’m forced to wake up: “For a fleeting moment, his rise from heavy slumber weighted his head. The cool air of the room slipped underneath his bed covers. He shivered.” I also loved this one: “Fear found him, whispering in his ear with an old cackle.” Roar, the main character, is described as being on the autism spectrum. He doesn’t know how to interpret facial expressions and he avoids touching anyone. I found the authors’ depictions of Raor captivating and affecting. His unwillingness to experience any emotions is frustrating, yet understandable, as anyone who has ever been hurt can attest. The reader never really knows if he is the way he is because he was born that way or because he made himself that way to protect himself. He feels a strong connection with Rosalyn and will do anything to help her, but he cannot acknowledge that what he feels is love. On his quest, he meets Koss Mal, an Ember Dwarf (universally despised by all other species), who is described as a being disgusting in every way imaginable. He smells, he looks greasy and gross, he grunts and dribbles while eating, and so on. However, he is loyal and becomes a reliable friend to Raor, despite Raor’s constant criticisms. Near the end of hte book, Koss says to Raor, “Do you know how difficult it be to fit in when you don’ know the people you are living amongst?” Raor yawned again before answering, “Believe it or not, I completely know what you mean.” Another person who probably knew how they felt was Dramna, the White Elf sent to collect the Primer held by Raor, and by the way, also kill him. She is a blind assassin who wants nothing more than to go back to teaching young White Elves how to be assassins. The descriptions of her interactions with the world are fascinating. Without sight, she has more reliable perceptions of her surroundings than most with sight have. Even Raor makes the silent observation that without an ability to read peoples’ facial expressions, he feels as blind as Dramna. So, we have three misfits. Roar, who may have ASD, Koss, who is an outcast because of his ancestors, and Dramna, who is blind. Each is a misfit, in slightly different ways, yet each manages to overcome their challenges. Although Dramna is not present at the end of the book, I suspect she will reappear in the next one. This story is incomplete, but it’s not a horrible cliffhanger. It’s clear this is meant to be an ongoing saga, a long hero’s journey for Raor, and it would be unfair to expect it to conclude in one book. However, I won’t be tortured by images of Raor about to die, or experiencing some other significant challenge, as I wait for the next book in the series. I appreciate that. This book has the best kind of cliffhanger—really, the only acceptable kind of cliffhanger. July 24, 2022 5 stars I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. This is my first time reading something from this author. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised. It’s an incredible read which left me in tears by the end. I mean, sure, I knew it was impossible that this story could have a happy ending, considering the circumstances. It was 1948. I don’t think there was anywhere in the United States where Eva and Courtland could have found their happily-ever-after, but hope springs eternal, I guess. In true Shakespearean tragedy fashion, Eva and Courtland are destined for heartache, but like Romeo and Juliet, they know what their hearts want, even if no one else wants them to have it. But there’s something about Eva and Courtland’s story that’s even more heartbreaking because it’s not make-believe, and still within recent memory. It’s not some silly family feud kind of situation. It’s reality. It’s our shameful history. And it makes that history concrete and palpable, something that the reader can easily feel and suffer along with the characters, which is something that can never be gleaned from a history book. This is living history, in that the reader is compelled to live something that happened countless times to countless people over too many years. Fiction is a tool to help the reader feel the experiences of other people, possibly people with whom they have nothing in common. What we discover is that the human experience is what ties us all together. It takes a monster to be offered a window into the struggles of someone else and think they deserved it. To be unaffected by the pain of someone else is to show a total lack of compassion, and really, humanity. There are those who would like to take us back to this time—a time when America was “great.” Unfortunately, I don’t think reading something like this can have an impact on minds that have already been closed to anything that contradicts their worldview. I’d like to be wrong about that. Luckily, there are others, people like me, who feel compassion on a mostly theoretical level because we have never personally experienced the struggles of those who are different. This is where books like this, fictional in only the strictest sense of the world, can have the biggest impact. Sure, every situation is different, but having a touchstone for comprehending things is enormously helpful to those who want to understand. Add this to your list of books to read before it gets banned for revealing too much history. July 20, 2022 5 stars “If every, single, filthy thing I’ve learned from the internet was distilled into an expression, it would be this smirk.” I loved this statement by Olivia so much that I’m using it to start my review. This is the story of Massimo and Olivia,“Via,” as only Massimo calls her, and their rocky path to happiness. Let me preface this by saying, I always knew Massimo would be my favorite. There were times when I read his brothers’ books that I wondered because they made dramatic transformations, but Massimo had shown himself to be reliable and true over and over again in the other books, so this was exactly what I expected. One of the things I like best about this story is that Massimo never has any doubt about his feelings for Olivia. No matter how stupidly she continues to deny her feelings for him, to the point of Olivia questioning herself, wondering why she is such an idiot, Massimo is the rock to her flailing life choices. He’s always there for her, even when she thinks he’s not. Sure, he’s a man of his word, and he’ll do what he’s promised to do, but he continues to try to figure out a way to get everything they want without letting anyone down. Unfortunately, every time he presents one of these possibilities to Olivia, she shoots him down. I don’t want to ruin any of the details of this story because, even though I knew it would be a happy ending, I did not anticipate the twists and turns it would take to get there. And I felt anxious waiting for it to happen. I can’t tell you how many times I questioned why Olivia had to be so dense and self-absorbed. But L Steele knew what needed to happen, and my complaining only served to make this a stronger and more rewarding story. I hope that my editing helped. I highly recommend this story, but like all books from this author, it’s for mature audiences only. July 12, 2022 5 stars I received an ARC of this book from the author. This is the first book from her that I’ve read, but I loved it, and I’ll be sure to read more. It’s short; it felt to me like a novella, but I’m not sure. For such a short book, though, it packs a punch. The characters are well-developed and relatable, and the plot is really good. Actually, some of the plots from Harrison Daniels’ horror books are mentioned and those are truly horrific (he’s the dead guy in this story). For that reason, I wouldn’t want to read any of them, but they do add some spice to this story. Speaking of spicey… This book definitely falls into that category, so I’d recommend it for the mature reader (whatever that means). I don’t always mention this, but this time, I didn’t know the author’s style so I didn’t know what to expect. Here it is, in a nutshell: Genevieve is married to Harrison, a very successful author, but still in love with Tyler. She wakes up one morning to find her husband is dead, or more precisely, killed. And she is the primary suspect. Enter: Tyler. Naturally, Tyler is still in love with Genevieve and wants to help her, but he’s angry with her for leaving him. Until he finds out why she married Harrison. He’s still not happy about it, but when they discover some things about Harrison, neither is Genevieve. It’s pretty obvious that Genevieve didn’t kill Harrison, even though she occasionally wonders whether she might have and doesn’t remember. I’m not saying it’s impossible that she thought that, but it’s a ridiculous thing for her to think. So the question is, who did? Luckily, Tyler is just the person to figure that out. On that subject, I have to admit, I wasn’t entirely clear on what Tyler did for work. I know that’s what interfered with their relationship and drove Genevieve and Tyler apart four years ago, but I still don’t know what he was doing. I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s enough to know that he has some experience in what I’ll call espionage and fighting bad guys. Tyler has some funny inner dialogue that I enjoyed. It all happened when he went back to Genevieve’s house to look for evidence. He finds a picture of her and Harrison together and says, “I turn it face down out of spite and continue my self-guided tour.” When he enters Genevieve’s closet, he thinks, “It smells like her in here, only wealthier.” And when he discovers Harrison’s password, he thinks, “What a sucker, using his wife’s birthday as a password. Never mind that I too use his wife’s birthday as a password as well.” It’s easy to identify with some of his sentiments and this makes him a more likable character. Genevieve is a little more “damsel in distress,” but that doesn’t make her any less likable. After all, she just found her dead husband’s body and is accused of murdering him. It makes sense she’d be in need of support. Overall, the characters’ actions were believable. Combined with a compelling plot, I can’t help but recommend the book. July 16, 2022 |
Elizabeth J ConnorWriter. Editor. Proofreader. Archives
September 2022
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