Category / Contemporary

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Kissing Cowboy By J.C. Wilder

Format: E-book
Opens with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Men of S.W.A.T, Book 3
Sensuality: 4
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Hero: Jeff “Cowboy” Diver
Heroine:  Payton “Pip” Whittier
Date of Publication: February 9, 2010
Started On: February 20, 2010
Finished On: February 21, 2010

The third book in the Men of S.W.A.T series, this is the first book that I have ever come across of this author and I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised considering how hard it is to find good new authors whose books that you can enjoy without giving it any thought.

The author promises this series to be a romance series with humor, suspense and heroes to melt our hearts and I would have to say she has delivered 100% on all counts with this novella. Though my only peeve was that this story wasn’t a novel and a novella, which means issues are resolved quickly, though the author did quite a good job of covering all bases so to speak.

Pip has always been in love with Cowboy ever since she started hanging around with his family. Pip comes from a family of beautiful and artistically made up women, and Pip’s mother’s only disappointment has been the fact that Pip remained her tomboyish self no matter how she tried to tutor and reform Pip otherwise. Pip only felt loved and at home when she was over at the Diver’s place and she and Cowboy had been inseparable as any two beings could be.

But then Pip developed feelings for Cowboy when she was fifteen and he eighteen. Though Cowboy never saw Pip as anything more than a sister, Pip launches a plan to make him want her, and in the end though those few moments spent in his arms has marked Pip for her life, so has the humiliation Cowboy served her right after those heated moments. Getting together with her much beautiful and older sister was the last straw and Pip leaves town and returns 9 years later, wiser and more in control of her emotions, or so she thought.

With a bunch of crazy girlfriends who are there for Pip all throughout, with interesting side characters which I am salivating over to read their stories, this book packs a hard punch with the intense passion between Cowboy and Pip, and of course with moments of absolute hilarity the reader can’t help but laugh aloud at.

Highly recommended for those who love a quick passionate story with two beautiful characters.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Samhain | Kobo

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Dangerous Passion by Lisa Marie Rice

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Dangerous Book 3
Sensuality: 4
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher
Hero: Viktor “Drake” Drakovich
Heroine:  Grace Larsen
Date of Publication: July 21, 2009
Started On: February 6, 2009
Finished On: February 13, 2009

It’s been a while since I posted a review here. Mind you, I haven’t given up on reading but every spare minute I have these days, I end up watching The Mentalist which has got me pretty hooked. Anyhow I managed to finish this book after a week of starting it, and I blame it all on Simon Baker for keeping me so engrossed on watching him solve homicides!

So back to the review, like most of Lisa Marie Rice’s books, this book too has an intense alpha hero with a real dangerous edge to him. Growing up in parts of Russia on the streets, Drake is someone who has learnt to kill with his bare hands at a very early age, just to survive and move onto the next day. Now richer than he has ever hoped to be, and more powerful than anyone can imagine, with his fair share of enemies in all the wrong places, Drake is a weapons and arms dealer.

Though Drake has everything and more in his power he feels restless until he sees these beautiful paintings on one of his rides through the city of Manhattan. There in that little gallery, Drake sees Grace and his world is forever changed. Drake knows too well that he cannot impose on any woman the life he has chosen for himself. His enemies if ever were to find a weakness in him, Drake knows they would exploit it till he is on his knees a broken man in every way. But this doesn’t stop him from going to see Grace once a month in her gallery unknown to her.

But things take a drastic turn when his enemies discover his fascination with Grace and tries to kidnap her to use as leverage against Drake. Drake and Grace narrowly escape with their lives though the killer(s) are intent on finishing what they have started.

Drake doesn’t know the name to give the emotions that Grace rouses in him. Drake wrongfully thinks that tumbling into bed and keeping Grace there would definitely cure him of what ails him whenever he is in her vicinity. However as these two are confined to be in the same place for security purposes, the wall of steel around Drake’s heart starts to crumble bit by bit. And finally after a second fatalistic attack these two are forced to run for their lives and completely disappear from the face of the earth as the relentless killer pursues on his mission to eradicate Drake once and for all.

Scorching hot passion with a hero who knows what he is doing makes this book a page scorcher. If men in the real world have even a figment of what heroes in these books have, we women would be a pretty happy bunch over on the side of reality.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Kobo | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Shadow Hawk by Jill Shalvis

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Harlequin Blaze #329
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: JT Hawk
Heroine:  Aby Wells
Date of Publication: June 1, 2007
Started On: February 4, 2010
Finished On: February 5, 2010

This was a  book that I stumbled upon by chance during one of my forays into surfing through FictionDB.com. There is a feature on the website that displays books under “featured author”, and I have come across many a good reads this way. Readers on Amazon too seem to have given this book great reviews. Although I do remember reading books by this author in the past, she has not been one who has made a deep impression on me as a reader. However after reading this book I would have to say that this author has got what it takes to write yummy romances.

Both Hawk and Aby are ATF agents. Hawk has been working on a case of known as Kiddie Bombers. Someone or a group of someones have been teaching young kids to assemble bombs and blow them up as well as making them well versed with different other sorts of weaponry. Hawk has his suspicions that moles in the ATF organization were more than responsible for the difficulty they have been facing in apprehending the culprit. Aby too had been working on the case of the Kiddie Bombers when she had been taken hostage and held captive for two days when one of the head agents of the ATF had come to her rescue with guns blazing. Though she has been working in Hawk’s unit for more than six months after the incident, she refuses to let Hawk realize just how susceptible she is to Hawk’s brand of charm.

Things finally take a turn when Aby and Hawk are handed the same assignment, bust up a gathering of the Kiddie Bombers being held at some remote location. Although Hawk senses “setup” right from the beginning, he and his partner Logan still go through the motions before it all blows up in their faces. Logan gets hospitalized with severe injuries whilst Hawk barely escapes with his life intact. Now that Hawk has come face to face with the top manager of the Kiddie Bomber’s organization, he knows that Aby, himself and Logan are loose ends that wouldn’t survive if Hawk doesn’t take matters into his own hands.

Framed as the head of the Kiddie Bombers organization, Hawk has no choice but to take Aby hostage whilst he tries to find enough evidence to point towards the right man. Aby, a reluctant hostage at best got on my nerves at the beginning with her distrustful attitude. However, she does redeem herself later in the novel which otherwise would have made me extremely disappointed in this book.

More than Aby and Hawk’s story, I found myself fascinated with Logan and Callen, the nurse whom Logan meets when he is airlifted to the hospital to treat his injuries. I found the chemistry between these two characters more intriguing than the lead characters, though they didn’t do a bad job themselves in burning up the pages of the book. I feel this book would have been better suited in the Harlequin Intimate Moments series, cos for me a Blaze book is all about intense chemistry between two characters who just can’t help but fall insanely in love with one another at the end.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Against the Rules by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Silhouette Intimate Moments #22
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: Mira
Hero: Rule Jackson
Heroine:  Cathryn Ashe
Date of Publication: October 1, 1983
Started On: February 2, 2010
Finished On: February 3, 2010

Linda Howard is absolutely one of the best romance writers out there. I stumbled upon her  books quite by chance and nearly devoured up all her work in a short period of time. Maybe this is the reason why that I forgot that I had once read this book, and it was only nearly at the end of the book that I realized that I had actually read this book during my initial Linda Howard crazed phase.

Linda Howard writes romances with strong alpha heroes that never fails to entice us women readers. They are strong, stubborn to a fault and oh yes when they do fall, they fall that much harder which makes us women wring our hands and go into a major sighing session. This book is no exception to this rule and it wouldn’t be a crime to say that Rule Jackson is one delicious hero.

Rule and Cathryn were neighbors when they were growing up. Back then Rule had been a happy boy, although intense in nature. However everything changed when Rule was enlisted to go fight in the Vietnam war. Upon his return, Rule had changed into someone entirely different. Gone was the happy carefree young man, instead a sullen, dangerously silent man remained. Getting into endless trouble over time and going on day long drinking binges finally took its toll and at Rule’s weakest moment, Cathryn’s father Ward took him in and gave him a second chance at living.

Given the vast age difference between Cathryn and Rule, it was to Rule that her father left the management of the ranch upon his sudden death. Cathryn has never felt comfortable at all around Rule and things finally come to their explosive conclusion when Cathryn loses her virginity to Rule in succumbing to the combustive passion they find in each other. Seventeen then, Cathryn scared out of her wits at what she has discovered flees to pursue her higher studies and then marries David.

Now twenty five years of age, Cathryn once again returns home a widow, and Rule stakes his claim on Cathryn from the moment she steps off the plane. Though Cathryn cannot deny her all consuming love for Rule, she cannot be sure whether Rule feels the same way about her. Of course it doesn’t help that Cathryn’s half sister Richy thinks she is in love with Rule as well and tries to poison the fragile bond  between Cathryn and Rule with malicious innuendo at every turn.

A good read, romance as it should be!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Chicago Stars, Book 2
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: Avon
Hero: Bobby Tom Denton
Heroine:  Gracie Snow
Date of Publication: January 1, 1995
Started On: February 1, 2010
Finished On: February 1, 2010

Though this book wasn’t as satisfying as the last two of the Chicago Stars series that I read, Bobby Tom and Gracie’s is pretty charming in its own way. Gracie Snow, having grown up and worked with old people all 30 years of her life, has never experienced the deep gut wrenching passion that people always talk about. But things make a drastic turnabout when she is hired by the company that is shooting the first movie that ex-Chicago Star football player Bobby Tom has signed onto star in. A fatalistic knee injury which had cut his fantastic football career short, Bobby Tom is a man at odds who doesn’t know what to do with his life when all he has known is to play football and the live the life that goes along with being a football player.

From the moment Gracie sees Bobby Tom, its lust at first sight. Here was a man who could show her everything that she has been missing all her life, though Bobby Tom doesn’t show the slightest inclination that he found her even the least bit attractive, not surprising when he is always surrounded by beautifully made up blonde women with massive chests of which Gracie is the polar opposite. However, this doesn’t deter her from the job she has been handed, that is to drag Bobby Tom’s ass to the movie site so that they could start with the shoot.

However, things hardly go according to plan when Bobby Tom refuses to budge even an inch and leave with Gracie on the flight as planned. Gracie forces Bobby Tom to take her along on the road trip that Bobby would rather take to his hometown (where the movie is to be shot to revive the local economy), and finally they arrive after many detours 3 days later than her boss expected them to. Fired for incompetence Gracie is rehired upon Bobby’s insistence and an arrangement is struck with the producer so that Gracie wouldn’t ever find out that it is actually Bobby who is paying Gracie’s salary.

Before even half way through the novel, Gracie acknowledges that her feelings towards Bobby Tom has turned into love, which she vows Bobby Tom would receive and Gracie be the first person in his life to actually give something to him without expecting something in return.

However, things hardly go according to plan as matters of the heart have a way of their own and to worm its way into someone who has put up such a strong shield against all those women who seem to throw themselves at him, it proves to be a tough journey towards facing the inevitable truth in their feelings towards one another.

A nice little side story of Bobby’s mother and the town’s bad boy Way makes things a bit more enticing for the reader. All in all a pretty good read, recommended for those who love novels with a quirky sense of humor, passion and love.

Purchase Links: Amazon

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: It Had To Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Chicago Stars, Book 1
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Hero: Dan Calebo
Heroine:  Phoebe Somerville
Date of Publication: October 13, 2009
Started On: January 31, 2010
Finished On: February 1, 2010

As I mentioned in my previous review, reading Molly and Kevin’s story made me want to start from the beginning of the Chicago Stars series. And to my surprise once I started reading the first book in this series, I realized that I had in fact read this book sometime back, but decided to go ahead with the read since a book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips never fails to amuse, entertain and tug at your heartstrings.

Phoebe Somerville works hard at projecting the image of the perfect bimbo. With a voluptuous figure that people compare to Marilyn Monroe’s, the sexy simpering idiotic female is a role that Phoebe has perfected over the years since she ran away from her father. Posing for nude art pieces and hanging out with gay men had eventually made her father Bert Somerville, owner of the Chicago Stars football team remove Phoebe from his will. However, it seems Bert once again gets the last laugh from the grave when he wills the ownership of the Stars team to Phoebe till the end of the season thinking to teach his only failure in life a lesson she wouldn’t forget.

Dan Calebo, the head coach of Stars is everything Phoebe abhors in a man. Too masculine and aggressive for comfort, Phoebe finds herself unable to pull off the blonde bimbo facade that has saved her from becoming intimate with men for the past sixteen years. Likewise, Dan cannot stand the idea of someone as scatterbrained as Phoebe managing his football team.

From the moment these two opposites butt their heads together, the inevitable sparks fly. Though Dan has plans to find a nice homely woman and settle down with 2.5 kids, he never factored into the equation how he might start to feel for Phoebe once he gets to know the story of the woman behind all the glitter and makeup. Its inevitable that these two would crash headlong into love with each other, if they could just trust each other just a little and learn to look behind appearances that these two try real hard to keep up.

An enjoyable story of how two strong willed people from polar opposite backgrounds come together, this is a story true romantics would deeply relish, whose characters would stay with the reader for a long time afterwards.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Chicago Stars, Book 5
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Hero: Kevin Tucker
Heroine:  Molly Somerville
Date of Publication: March 17, 2009
Started On: January 30, 2010
Finished On: January 31, 2010

First of all, I just have got to say, what a great read! This book has everything that makes a great romance. Susan Elizabeth’s charm never fails to evoke all the right emotions from the reader.

I haven’t really been reading the Chicago Stars series in order, a fact which I am thinking of remedying by starting from Book 1 of the series, the story of Molly’s sister which I am really interested in reading after seeing quick sneaks into her life with Dan Calebo.

Molly and Kevin’s story is a fascinating one, not just the story of how they find one another and quickly fall in love, but rather a journey these two take in finding the love they could both have with one another if given half the chance. At first glance, Molly and Kevin couldn’t be further apart from one another if they tried. A children’s books author, her characters you find are closely linked with Kevin’s escapades over the years, Molly has had a huge crush on Kevin as long as she can remember. Not that football jock Kevin even knows she exists. With the continuous string of the doll faced women with no brains of their own that parade through his life, Kevin seems to be at the top of his game playing for the football team managed by Molly’s sister Phoebe.

Though Molly doesn’t seem to realize it, she has got this streak of restlessness inside of her which lands her in trouble from time to time. This is what ends her up in Kevin’s bed, seducing him in his sleep and an outraged Kevin who gets rightfully pissed off about being  taken advantage of. Kevin makes Molly promise to him that if there ever were consequences of their coming together she would let him know, which of course Molly doesn’t when she finds herself pregnant.

Molly’s well meaning family, Phoebe and Dan are both shocked when they find out Molly is pregnant and jump to all the wrong conclusions about who took advantage of whom when they find out that Kevin is the father. Kevin slams back into Molly’s life and makes her marry him, though Kevin can barely be civil to the woman who has turned everything in his life upside down.

In the end, mere hours after getting married, tragedy strikes which quickly spins Molly’s world out of control. Once again, its Kevin who shakes her out of depression, takes her off on a trip to Wind Lake, and finds herself running the quaint bed and breakfast that Kevin inherits from his aunt which Kevin wants nothing to do with. Here Kevin faces his demons from his childhood face on, with Molly finally finding peace within herself in this beautiful place.

Tentatively, Kevin and Molly find in one another friendship, and finally red hot desire for one another, that makes Kevin sweat profusely at the idea of getting all his emotions involved in finally inevitably falling for Molly.

This is truly great story with a lovable cast of side characters and of course who wouldn’t love Molly’s fictional characters Daphne and Bunny with their witty and adorable insights into the beginnings of each chapter of the book. Highly recommended for those who love a good romance with a witty cast of characters that could make you smile, make your heart ache just a little and finally end you up with a bunch of happy tears at the truly deserving happy ending!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Dangerous Lover by Lisa Marie Rice

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Dangerous, Book 1
Sensuality: 4.5
Publisher: HarperCollins
Hero: Jack Prescott
Heroine:  Caroline Lake
Date of Publication: July 31, 2007
Started On: January 29, 2010
Finished On: January 30, 2010

This was a book I started reading sometime back, way before I even started this blog, and for some reason I stopped reading through before I reached half way, and now am wondering why I gave up reading a trademark romantic suspense story from this author.

Caroline Lake, a girl who comes from a rich family was the object of then homeless Jack’s adoration. Though he knows that he would never be worthy of Caroline nor would he ever have the means to be with her and her well off family, far removed from the homeless shelters that Jack resides in, that doesn’t stop Jack from yearning for Caroline and wanting her as his own.

On the fateful day that his drunken mess of a father drops dead right in front of his eyes, Jack rushes off in the cold snowy wintry day towards Caroline’s place, just so that he could see her face which would make his bleary existence in this world just a bit brighter. However, Jack sees Caroline with his boyfriend Sanders, which kills something inside of him. He moves on without looking back, never knowing what the future would hold for him.

Now twelve years later, Jack is back. After serving in the military as a tribute to the person who had saved him from merely existing and withering away, Jack returns with 21 million dollars worth of blood diamonds from Sierra Lone, the last mission his ‘adoptive’ father had requested from him. Not knowing that the person who was ruthless enough to kill an entire village for the diamonds was hot on his trail, Jack makes his way back to Summerville, just to see how the woman of his obsession and wants and desires has fared over the years.

Life hadn’t been one smooth ride for Caroline. Her parents killed in a fatalistic car crash rendering her younger brother crippled and a couple of bad investments his father had made rendering them penniless with the costly care required for her brother, Caroline was at her wits ends after her brother had finally succumbed to death, leaving her all alone, with a mountain of debt and no way of paying it off.

On Christmas Eve, Jack comes by to her bookstore looking for a place to stay. Although Jack has a dangerous vibe around him, Caroline cannot help but respond to his dark magnetism. Thinking Jack to be hard down on his luck, she offers him a place to stay at her home, and finds in Jack more than she ever hoped possible. However, though Jack may have found Caroline and got her at last, the person who is after the diamonds is relentless in his pursuit, pulling all the stops and stopping at nothing to get back what he claims rightfully as his.

As usual, Jack is pure alpha male, Caroline the true version of a damsel in distress with the power to bring the strong alpha to his  knees. Highly sensual, this book is a good read for those who love romances with the bite of a thriller in it to make things a bit more interesting.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Unforgiven by Delilah Devlin

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Lone Star Lovers, Book 2
Sensuality: 4
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd
Hero: Cutter Standifer
Heroine:  Katie Grissom
Date of Publication: January 12, 2010
Started On: January 28, 2010
Finished On: January 29, 2010

This book deals with an issue that I have never come across before in a romance novel. That is the infidelity of the heroine. Usually in romance novels, its a real turn off to find out either the hero or the heroine had strayed to ‘greener pastures’. Most of the time rather than actually actually committing the act of infidelity, there is a misunderstanding between the hero and the heroine which is always later resolved in the novel. However it is not the case in the story of Katie and Cutter.

In the first book of this series which I didn’t read but was able to make out what happened by reading this book, Katie sleeps with Justin Cruz, now husband of Cutter’s sister Dani Standifer. Although Katie was in a relationship with Cutter at that time, no matter how wrong infidelity is, Katie was feeling vulnerable and alone cos Cutter wouldn’t really open up to her and give her what she needed.

Katie has regretted sleeping with Justin from the moment Cutter finds out what happened between the two. Resolving never to let Katie into his life again, which is a bargain he has held till now, seeing Katie gatecrash Dani’s wedding party is the last straw for Cutter. Thinking Katie had come to mourn over Justin, Cutter treats Katie like trash and takes what he has always wanted from her. Katie gives herself to Cutter thinking that she might get a second chance to work things out with him if she lets him have his way with her.

These two embark on a purely sexual relationship, the consequence of which renders Katie pregnant. I felt that this story was too rushed and thus the resolving of the conflict between Katie and Cutter didn’t quite give the satisfaction that I was craving as the reader. This story would have been much better and a more memorable one if the author had taken time to actually develop Katie and Cutter’s characters a bit more and resolve the trust issues Cutter had with Katie in a more believable manner rather than just all of a sudden confessing that he loves Katie and wants her to be his wife.

Anyhow okay for a quick read that doesn’t require much thinking on the reader’s part.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Midnight Angel by Lisa Marie Rice

Format: E-Book
Read with: Microsoft Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Midnight, Book 3
Sensuality: 4
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: Douglas Kowalski
Heroine:  Allegra Ennis
Date of Publication: August 17, 2007
Started On: January 26, 2010
Finished On: January 27, 2010

Lisa Marie Rice writes wonderful stories with strong alpha heroes that fall so deeply in love with the heroine that it moves the reader deeply. This book is in no way an exception to the rule.

Where Allegra Ennis is beautiful, cultured and talented, Douglas is a former SEAL, tough as nails and scarred from his various battles for his country. As much as people are drawn to Allegra and her beauty and her amazing music, people tend to stay away from Douglas and look the other way and walk away rather than be in his presence. Which has suited Douglas just fine until he first hears the haunting notes of beautiful music that Allegra makes.

Allegra has known her fair share of grief and sorrow. With a talent that could have taken her places in the world, all of it was destroyed in one night when her father was brutally murdered and Allegra beaten so much that she was rendered blind with her memory blocked of the events that took place that night so that her father’s murderer got away on an insanity plea and landed up in a psychiatric institution for the rich.

From the harrowing first moments during which Allegra and Douglas bond, over to the way in which these two souls find the one thing they have both been yearning for in each other, this read is at times sweet, hot and thrilling at the same time. Allegra’s father’s murderer puts his final plan in motion to kill and eliminate Allegra once and for all, and its Douglas who literally moves heaven and earth to keep his precious Allegra safe.

A good read, recommended for those who love romances with a bit of a thriller in the mix.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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