Blog Tour: Presley Thurman Mysteries Review and Guest Blog

The Presley Thurman Mysteries

by Laina Turner

About The Author:

Who am I? It kind of depends on the day. I am a human compendium of unrelated things. I used to think I was just weird, had shiny ball syndrome and couldn’t focus, scattered, you name it. Then I decided it was OK to be all over the place as long as each avenue I wanted to explore had meaning and purpose or was fun. So I embrace the fact I am a college professor, a writer of fiction and non-fiction, promoter of other authors, human resource professional, business consultant, mom, and all around interesting person (according to my closest friends).

When I’m not working toward my goals I like, ok fine, LOVE wine, coffee, shopping, and books. I enjoy my kids, they are awesome. I hate the cold but yet live in the mid-west. Vegas is one of my favorite spots as I love to people watch and if I ever get married again it will definitely be in a drive through chapel by a fake Elvis.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin

Genre: Mystery Romance

Publisher: Five Seas Ink

Release Date: July 2012

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Smashwords

Book Description:

This six-book set includes...

Stilettos & Scoundrels

Presley tells her boss what he can do with her job in HR and embarks on a new career as a freelance journalist. What seems like a simple interview with a Senator turns to murder when the day after her interview the Senator turns up dead. Does the fact that Presley was one of the last people to see him alive make her a suspect? Her ex-boyfriend Cooper, who was in charge of the Senators security, might think so. Presley is determined to clear her name but can she do it and resist Cooper’s charms?

Necklaces & Nooses

When Presley’s boss is found hanging she thinks its suicide until the police discover its homicide. Who would want to kill a boutique owner? Presley’s not sure but she’s determined to find out. The cute detective assigned to the case makes it all the more exciting.

Handbags & Hooligans

Presley went to Vegas to watch her friend Anna get married and the event turned into solving the mystery of her brothers girlfriend disappearance. But Ashley wasn't exactly the schoolteacher she appeared to be. Who was she and was she kidnapped?

The holiday short…Mistletoe & Murder

In this holiday short story, Presley goes home for Christmas expecting it to be a relaxing holiday until her old boyfriend, Brian, asks for her help finding out who has been stealing from him and it turns from theft to murder. Why would anyone want to kill Tommy and what was he hiding?

Gems & Gunshots

Presley heads to San Diego to hang out with Cooper and enjoy the great west coast weather. She didn’t expect that while hanging out at the local coffee shop she would be a witness to a robbery and murder at Gemstone’s Unlimited. Much to Cooper’s dismay Presley feels compelled to investigate. She discovers that not only was the store owner a womanizer but also was filing false insurance claims for diamonds that weren’t really stolen. Was that why he was being blackmailed? Was that why someone robbed his store? Presley is determined to find out!

As a bonus get the short story prequel, A Day in the Life of Trixie Pristine.

In this short story prequel, Trixie and her friends Berklie and Sophie, considered themselves typical thirty something females until someone turned up murdered in their newly opened bookstore/wine bar. They thought they would be living out their dream in their new shop not trying to catch a killer. Who killed Sylvia and why? Or was one of them the intended target?

Excerpt One:

Stilettos & Scoundrels “Hello?” “Presley! I need to talk to you right away!” It was Helen Daniels, hysterical. I could hardly understand her. “What is it, Helen? What’s wrong?” I had fallen asleep, but the sound of fear in Helen’s voice quickly woke me up. “Just meet me at Gardner’s old warehouse in thirty minutes. If you’re not there, I will not be able to wait. It’s not safe. You have to hurry!” “Helen! Calm down, safe from whom? Why all the drama? Helen…Helen?” She’d hung up. I glanced at my watch. Crap! I’d never make it there in thirty minutes. All I could hope for was Dirt and his deputies were out investigating the Senator’s murder rather than trying to keep the streets safe from speeders. I ran out of the house, running past my mother still working in her garden. “Presley, where are you going? “I’ll be back in a bit.” “For dinner?” “I don’t know.” I said exasperatedly. I didn’t need the third degree. “Where are you going?” “I’ll explain later. Just eat without me if I’m not back.” “Pres!” “Bye, Mother.” I pushed seventy in a forty-five mile an hour zone, my Kia humming, just hoping to get there on time. I was surprised my car could go that fast. In Chicago, the traffic was so bad you didn’t really have a chance to speed this much. My phone rang again, but I didn’t look at it. I needed to concentrate on my driving. Gardner’s warehouse, located about twenty miles outside of town, used to be a production plant for some automotive part. The plant closed years before, when I still lived here. It was so long ago that I couldn’t remember what the company actually produced. I pulled in the parking lot, gravel flying, hoping Helen was still here. The clock on my dash said it had been thirty-three minutes since she called me. I pocketed my keys, not wanting to weigh myself down with my purse, and jogged around to the front entrance. I had on flip-flops, not the best jogging shoes, but I was so startled when Helen called I just ran out of the house without paying attention to what I had on. This was a big place, and I huffed trying to catch my breath. I really must get in shape, I wheezed to myself. Helen hadn’t specified exactly where to meet her, so I assumed she might be at the front entrance. She wasn’t waiting outside for me, so I tried the front door or what I presumed was the front door. It was unlocked, which I thought strange for an abandoned building, but I assumed Helen had unlocked it. Though had it been locked, I could have crawled through one of the many broken windows. I carefully stepped inside the building and the darkness engulfed me. The little bit of light in the building was let in by the broken windows, and it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. It smelled dank and musty, and I could hear the scurrying of what were probably little furry rodents. I shuddered involuntarily and didn’t want to think about what type of creepy crawlies were in this building, especially with me in flip-flops. I wasn’t thrilled about stepping any further into the building. “Helen,” I called softly. No answer. Where the hell is she? I tiptoed a little further into the building in an effort to be quiet, though I still couldn’t see very well, so tiptoeing wouldn’t do me any good if there was anything in my way. All of a sudden, I felt a hand on my arm; I jumped about ten feet and started to scream. “Shh, Presley. It’s just me,” Helen said. “Do you think you could be a little quieter?” “Then don’t ask me to come to an abandoned building and grab me when I’m not expecting it. I can’t see! You could have been anyone or anything,” I retorted. “I am not a big fan of the creepy things I am sure are in this building.” I took one look at Helen and grew concerned. She was usually one of those women who always looked impeccable, but her dark brown hair, usually in a knot at the nape of her neck, was disheveled and loose. I could tell Helen had been crying, from her smudged make-up. She definitely wasn’t her normal well put together self. I could see that, even in this poor light. I still felt a stab of jealousy because, even a little worse for wear, Helen looked better than most women. Not fair at all. “So what is going on, Helen? Why all the cloak-and-dagger stuff? Why did we have to meet here, of all places?” I asked, looking around and waving my arms. “Should we even be here? The place looks about ready to fall down. I’m sure the owners wouldn’t be too happy if we fell through the floor or something. This building is quite a liability.” “It’s the only place I could go where I could easily see if I was being followed. Besides, we own the building. Or rather, I do now,” Helen, replied giving a little laugh—the hysterical kind, rather than the ha-ha kind. “Why would anyone be following you?” I took a step forward, concerned Helen might really be in danger. It seemed so surreal. Helen tried to keep herself from crying again. “They called my house, Presley. They called my house and demanded money. They said if I didn’t pay up, they would make sure I met the same fate as Tom. I knew they would want their money, but I didn’t think it would be like this. I thought I would have some more time. I can’t get my hands on that kind of money right now. It would look too suspicious; besides, I don’t even know yet where I am going to get it!” Helen then burst into tears. I waited for a few uncomfortable moments for the tears to subside. To help Helen, I needed her to calm down and tell me everything she knew. Plus, I had a few questions of my own. “Do you know who it was that called you, Helen? Who did the Senator owe money to?” “I don’t know specifically who the caller was, nor who Tom owed money to. I didn’t recognize any voices and they didn’t tell me their names. Tom tried to hide as much as he could from me about this aspect of his life, I told you that already, and when I forced the issue, he told me as little as possible. Usually just enough to get me to shut up. To be honest, it got to where I didn’t even ask much because I didn’t really care.” “Who else knows about the Senator’s gambling problem? Maybe that’s who called you. Could it be blackmail?” I thought blackmail seemed as good a reason as any. “The only people who know about this, besides the people he owed the money to, are me and Tobey. As the Senator’s assistant, Tobey was privy to a lot more information than I thought he should have been,” Helen explained. “Tom said he would find out anyway, and that we could trust him. I don’t think Tobey is the type to try to blackmail anyone. Other than that, there is no way Tom would have told anyone else. He might have been a gambler, but he wasn’t stupid. At least not that stupid.” “What about Garrison Palazzo.”

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Lost Book Tour and Guest Post

Sometimes you need someone else to help you find your way.

Maria's life was torn apart when she was fifteen, and for seven years she's kept her terrible secret hidden from the world. Now, in her final semester of college, she still struggles against paralyzing fear just trying to speak up in class, and the terror and helplessness linger on in her nightmares.

Across campus, Owen sees his scars in the mirror every morning while he gets ready for class. They remind him of the broken home he left behind, the father he hates and fears, and the little sister he couldn't protect. Now, in his final semester of college, he's scared that he may have to return to the hell he called home after staying away for almost five years.

When Owen becomes a teaching assistant for one of Maria's classes, they find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other. As the two learn each other's secrets and grow closer, they realize that although they may be lost, they're not alone anymore.

This new adult contemporary romance is recommended for ages 17+ due to heavy subject matter.

Released: March 25th 2013 

Purchase: Amazon

I would like to thank Nadia for Coming out and doing a guest post on this little old blog. My very first guest blog... so exciting. And if you haven't picked up lost and read it... do it now.... this book had me in tears most of the time but it was amazing!!!!

About the Author

Nadia Simonenko is a scientist and author currently living in Indianapolis with her husband, two cats and a dog. When she isn’t writing, she develops new oncolytic compounds and dreams about someday getting to take a vacation.

Official links: nadiaromance.com | twitter.com/NadiaSimonenko

Ten Things I Wish I’d Known About Being an Author…

#1 – Writing is hard work.  No duh, right?  Seems like such a no-brainer now that I’ve done it a few times, but when I first started a few years ago, I was like “Oh hey, I’ll write a book.  How hard can it be?”   Really, really freakin’ hard.  Which leads me into number two…

#2 – Ergonomics are really important.  Yeah, I rolled my eyes too.  I had double tendonitis for four months after the publication of Lost.  Why?  Because I was a moron and typed and edited the vast majority of the book on a tiny laptop sitting on my lap with my feet up on the sofa.  I also refused to stop writing when my wrists started hurting, because I’d set myself a release deadline and I had no intention of missing it.  One release date isn’t worth the nearly four months of lost writing time, I’ll tell you that.  Nor the pain.  Tendonitis really, really hurts when both your day job and night job involve a lot of wrist movements.  I now type on a regular desk with an ergo keyboard, use a proper mouse with wrist-rest, and purchased voice recognition software for my planning work so that I can save my hands for the nitty-gritty stuff.  (They’re still not all the way better.)

#3 – Your job is more than just writing.  I’m a self-published author, which means that I have no support network unless I make it for myself.  This means doing your own marketing work as necessary, designing your own covers or finding cover designers, doing self-editing or finding editors, so on and so forth.  I work with a wonderful group of romance authors, and we all share editing duties and critical reads of each other’s manuscripts to try to get around the editing woes, but there’s still a ton of non-writing related work that can’t be helped.

#4 – You will write to an audience or you will die alone and in pain.  Well, that might be a little bit of overkill.  Maybe.  What I mean is this:  If you can’t tell someone exactly who your target audience is for your book, in very clear, concise terms, your book is almost certainly going to fail.  (You still might not succeed even if you can name your audience, but at least you aren’t guaranteed to fail.)  If you don’t know who your audience is, you either (a) don’t have one, or (b) have no guarantee that what you’ve written will resonate with anyone or even meet their expectations.  As soon as you think of an idea and decide you like it enough to write about it, before you even begin fleshing it out, you should be figuring out who wants to read that idea.  High school through college girls?  Elderly mystery readers in the vein of Agatha Christie?  That sort of thing.

#5 – You have to edit your own book, but you cannot edit your own book.  Seriously.  It’s impossible.  You are too close to the subject matter.  You will miss all sorts of things.  I’m not even talking about grammar here; I’m talking about the plot itself.  You’re going to miss stilted dialogue, excessive word choices, plot decisions that make sense in your head but not to readers, etc etc.  You need to edit your book to make it as good as you can get it and then you need to throw it at fresh eyes who know next to nothing about your manuscript—ideally people with an axe to grind over something you did who will take great pleasure in humiliating you.  If you missed Mother’s Day this year, now might be the time to recruit her as an editor! J

#6 – Your first negative review always hurts.  The second one probably will as well.  Let’s face it… your book is kind of your baby, and you just threw it into the public eye.  There’s nothing I can say like “deal with it,” or “it gets better” or anything like that to make you feel better about it.  It’ll hurt.  You’ll eventually learn how to mentally filter out useless reviews and focus on the helpful ones, and then you can learn from them and keep improving your writing.

#7 – In the vein of negative reviews hurting, someone always hates your book.  Look at some of the most popular books of the last decade.  There isn’t a damned one of them without one-star reviews.  Just accept it.  You can’t please everyone, so just do your best to please most of your audience, and learn from the experience.

#8 – Add two weeks to any deadline you set.  You suck at setting deadlines—you just don’t know it yet.  To quote the inimitable Douglas Adams, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”  I certainly hope to have Found published by July 1^st.  I have lingering tendonitis, just started a move to Pennsylvania, have a husband who misses me since I’ve been hiding in the manuscript for months, really ought to go for a jog eventually or at least walk the dog, and still work a damned day job.  Hitting that deadline is about as likely as finding a winning lottery ticket in my underwear drawer.  That’s why I made it the 15^th.  J

#9 – Butt-In-Seat-Time is the secret to finishing everything.  You will never finish a book if you keep making excuses.  The scene will not write itself while you vacuum the carpet.  Even scrubbing toilets will occasionally seem preferable to finishing that stupid chapter that you just can’t seem to…. aargh!   You know the feeling.  Look… it sucks, but you have to write that chapter.  You either need to write it or you need to revisit the plot and find a different direction.  Either one of these requires that you work on the book, though, which means get your butt in that chair and work until you’ve made it past the problem. 

#10 – Take any opportunity you can to plug a book!  I mean, let’s just say you randomly had the opportunity to post about your writing career on a wonderful lady’s blog—let’s call her Bethany, just for kicks.  Well, what better chance to get some free advertising out of it than to clog up her blog with things about your new book Found coming out in July and concluding the Lost & Found series?  I mean, it’s a really great book and you know all the readers are going to love it, so you should really take the opportunity to tell them about it if you ever get the chance.  (Love you, Bethany!  Please don’t hurt me!)   (Psst… buy my books, everyone!)

That’s it for tonight!  Thanks for having me, Bethany and thanks to the rest of you for reading my wandering pile of blabble about being an author. J 

-Nadia

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Teasing Faking It

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

So I loved Faking it so I actually have two teasers for this book. But if you read "Losing It" then you should definitely read "Faking It" it was just as good.

My Teaser:

" Maybe someday I'd be able to look back and laugh at the ridiculousness of this moment. Maybe someday I'd also get on a subway car that didn't smell like urine. The Future had much to look forward to." ~ Faking it Cora Carmack

"I don't know how he managed to be soft and rough at the same time, but I had to hand it to him, it was kind of mind-blowing. It was also the worst idea since Crocs. ~ Faking It Cora Carmack

Waiting on Consumed

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My Pick:

Title: Consumed

Author: Emily Snow

Release Date: July 16, 2013

From Good Reads:

Now that Lucas has declared his love for her, Sienna is sure the drama between them is over.
She’s not afraid of Lucas’s ex-wife or whatever secret the other woman is holding over him. For two blissful days—the remainder of Sienna’s contract with Lucas—they hole up in a vacation house in the mountains of Tennessee, consuming each other. At the end of their stay, Lucas comes to Sienna with a proposition: his band, Your Toxic Sequel, is going on tour with Wicked Lambs, and he wants her with him the entire time. Sienna agrees to work wardrobe and be his official girl.


Life on the road is different from anything Sienna has ever known. Not only does she have to deal with Lucas’s band members, but she’s also forced to be around Cilla, the lead singer of Wicked Lambs, who’s clearly in love with Lucas. Despite horny band mates and a persistent gorgeous rock goddess determined to sink her claws into Lucas, Sienna stays by his side.


Then the threats start.


Lucas’s ex-wife Sam isn’t happy that he’s moved on, and Sam begins harassing Sienna—everything from threatening emails to phone calls and even fake accounts on Your Toxic Sequel message boards slamming her and spreading vicious rumors. Sienna keeps this from Lucas since she knows how bad Sam is for his music.


It’s not until Sienna is attacked by a crazed YTS fan hired by Sam, and Sam starts to aim her verbal threats at Sienna’s grandmother, that Lucas finally reveals his secret. And it’s a big one..

I just purchased the first in this series Devoured and I'm thinking this is going to be a kick ass  Book.

Teasing Infatuation

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

“I want it back!” she cried out, tears streaming from her eyes no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. “Want what back?” Tag looked confused, and she wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time. “My heart,” she told him with as much conviction as she could. “I want it all back. Every single minute I spent with you, every single kiss I shared with you. I want them all back. You don’t deserve them.” 

~ Infatuation Nicole Edwards... I read it in epub form so all I can tell you is that it's near the end of the book

Teasing Rule

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my Teaser:

“Look I have somewhere I have to be and I don’t particularly love that I have to go, but you freaking out and making a scene is not going to do anything other than piss me off.  I hope you had a good time last night and you can leave your number but we both the chances of me calling you are slim to none.  If you don’t want to be treated like crap maybe you should stop going home with drunken dudes you don’t know.  Trust me we’re really only after one thing and the next morning all we really want is for you to go quietly away.  I have a headache and I feel like I’m going to hurl, plus I have to spend the next hour in a car with someone that will be silently loathing me and joyously plotting my death so really can we just save the histrionics and get a move on it"

~Rule by Jay Crownover this it's very close to the Beginning of the book...had me laughing so hard:)

Aberrant Book Tour

Book Info-

Title-Aberrant

By Ruth Silver

Expected Publication Date: April 17, 2013

Cover Designed by Lazy Day Publishing

Blurb-

In the future dystopian society of Cabal, the government instills equality for all and offers its citizens the perfect system.  There is food, shelter and jobs for everyone.  The one requirement is to follow the rules without question, including the government's match in marriage and "The Day of the Chosen", a lottery that randomly selects families to conceive children as natural means hasn't existed in generations.  Following her eighteenth birthday, Olivia Parker accepts her requirement to marry her childhood best friend, Joshua Warren, and is eager to start her work assignment and new life when it all comes abruptly to an end as she's arrested and thrown in prison.  The only crime committed, her existence.  Olivia is unlike the rest of the world born not from "The Day of the Chosen."  The truth haunts the government and puts her life in grave danger as one simple fact would destroy the perfect system.

With Joshua's help, Olivia breaks free of prison and is forced on the run.  Together they set out to find the promised rebel town in search of a new home and new life together.  Their situation seems less than promising as they reach the town of Haven.  New rules and customs must be adhered to in order to stay.  Leaving would mean most certain death in the large expanse of the Gravelands.  Time is running out as the government mounts an attack to destroy Olivia and bury her secret with her.  Thrown into a world unlike their own, they must quickly adapt to survive.

Links-

Goodreads

Amazon Kindle

Paperback-(Pre-Order)

About the Author-

Ruth Silver attended Northern Illinois University and graduated with a Bachelor's in Communication in the spring of 2005.  While in college, she spent much of her free time writing with friends she met online and penning her first novel, Deuces are Wild, which she self-published in 2004.  Her favorite class was Creative Writing senior year where she often handed in assignments longer than the professor required because she loved to write and always wanted to finish her stories. Her love of writing led her on an adventure in 2007 to Melbourne, Australia.  Silver enjoys reading, photography, traveling and most of all writing.  She loves dystopian and fantasy young adult stories.  Her debut novel published by Lazy Day Publishing, ABERRANT is scheduled for release April 2013.  Ruth has been actively writing since she was a teenager.  She currently resides in Plainfield, Illinois.

You can visit her online at Write Away Bliss

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Amazon Author Page

Good Reads Giveaway

Review:

So I actually heard about this book long before I signed up for the tour. And was so excited to find out it had a tour and I was going to be reviewing it. This book was a constant change. It started sweet and then bam!!!...that changed. Then it was exciting and bam!!! it went to straight up Nerve wracking. The characters were well thought out and their emotions were very well written. When I got to certain parts, I almost put it down thinking that the book was going to go to a place I didn't like. It was heart wrenching and fast paced, well written and yet kept me wanting more. I was so glad when I got to the end and I knew there was going to be more to the story.  This is a book everyone should read at least once. It's not your average run of the mill dystopian novel...it is so much more.

Excerpt: 

Joshua came into my room, ignoring all rules as he helped push the dresser further from the
wall, knocking it to the floor allowing me more than enough room to grab the journal and go. I
tossed it inside the pack and Joshua put the map inside before we stepped out of my bedroom. I
glanced down the hall, not sure what I expected to see. To the right the dormitory had been hit,
and a roar of smoke and fire filled the confined space. Jacqueline was gone. Hand-in-hand we ran in the opposite direction toward the staircase.
My eyes burned. Coughing, I refused to let go of his hand as we stepped outside. Drones
weren’t the only things attacking Haven. Tanks rolled into town. A few soldiers jumped off, taking
over the perimeter, guns drawn. I paused, gripping Joshua's hand as we were shrouded in smoke.
Just a few feet away, a soldier lifted his weapon and unleashed fury on a group of innocent people. I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from crying out when a child no older than three hit the cement. His eyes remained open as blood seeped from his head. He didn't move. Didn't blink. It took only a moment to realize he’d died instantly. All I could do was stand there in shock.
"We have to move," I heard Joshua's voice, but it didn't register. The smoke swirled around
us and gunfire erupted in every direction. He grabbed my arm. "Olivia, I need you to focus." I
nodded once, trying my best to clear the cobwebs from my mind. I couldn't, though. I wanted to
run out to the child and protect him, but it was too late. I was too late. They were here because of
me, innocent blood on my hands. I felt the heat radiating from the dormitory and my eyes flashed
back. "I need you here with me, Olive."
"I am," I insisted, knowing if I didn't focus we'd both be dead. I spotted more soldiers – their
standard issue uniform and the Cabal crest on their jacket sleeve told me all I needed to know. The government had come looking for us. "Which way?" I couldn't see the exit. With the smoke
enveloping us and the fear coursing through my veins, I forgot the direction we'd come from

Giveaway Info-

Tour Wide Rafflecopter Giveaway: $25 gift card for Amazon, a character is named after you in the sequel, one signed copy of Aberrant.

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