TBR Reading Mini-Challenge and Giveaway

So it’s time for March link-up! Link up your TBR reviews for an entry into the $10 choice of book from Book Depository.

Green or Pinched Mini-Challenge:

Go find a green cover. Any green cover and give it a cover review. This can be humorous or an OMG I love it! If you are creative you might even give us a limerick about the cover!

Giveaway Rules:

• Challenge is open internationally
• You must be a March 2012 TBR Challenge Participant to enter.
• You must leave a blog post comment with either a link to the post about the cover or a comment with a link to the cover and a review of said cover.
• Contest will close on April 30, 2012 at midnight.
• Winner has 48 hours to respond to notification.

Enter the Contest:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Link-Up Reviews:

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TGIF: Book Blogger Retreat

TGIF is  a Friday meme hosted by Ginger at Greads. She always has the best questions.

Today’s Question:

Book Blogger Retreat: If you could gather up a handful of book blogger friends to spend a weekend away talking books, where would you go? Tell us about it.

Answer:

 Montana Cabin

I’m a Texan who misses winter, so my location would be a place full of snow. Montana. They have cabins that reside in the middle of nowhere that are full of nature and serenity. During the day there are many activities that can be enjoyed from mellow nature watching to snow boarding down the mountainside.  We would likely retreat to a roaring fire in the evenings with a good book to be enjoyed in a companionable silence with my fellow book bloggers. The library looks a little less comfortable than the great room, but having an in house library where if we tire of the books we all brought we could grab a classic of it’s shelf. Or you know to defend a stance in a literary debate. (I mean how could we possibly tire since we’d likely all be swapping books!)

Great Room

Library

I know that quite a few of my fellow book bloggers are great cooks so it would be great fun to cook meals together within this beautiful kitchen.



And if we tire of the cold and would rather stay in we could watch book to film adaptations in the media room while nursing a glass of our favorite beverage from the bar or wine cellar.



After all the lazing and delicious food we might feel working off some of those calories! We could all head to the gym and re-engerize ourselves before heading back out to the snowy cliffs.




All images of cabin from Home Away.

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

May 1st 2012, HarperTeen
464 pages, ARC
Received from Publisher
Young Adult Fiction

What if there were teens whose lives depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil.

Tenderhearted Southern girl, Anna Whitt, was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage, and her will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

A cross-country trip to meet her father forces Anna to face the reality that hope and love are not options for her kind. When she confronts her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

Cover Review:

Okay, it’s a beautiful cover. Gorgeous, draws my attention, adds mystery to the blurb and promotes the book well. And on a business side that exactly what a cover is supposed to do, but as a reader I would really like to see a cover that has SOMETHING to do with the contents. Very rarely do we ever have scenes where the girls wear dresses within the books but it seems that every single cover is a girl in red dress.

Opinion:

I was excited for this book primarily because of the road trip aspect, which reminded me of Angel Burn. I was delighted to find that this is nothing like Angel Burn, but I enjoyed it just as much.

The road trip is such a bonding experience not only with Kaidan and Anna but also for us to really to get the know the characters in one of the best examples of character building that I have seen. Anna is the girl next door and while she is never judgmental of others behavior is at times a bit too pious for my liking. This relaxes as the book goes on, but she can seem a bit uptight.

I’m claiming Kaidan as my book boyfriend. Hands off. He’s super steamy. He’s the son of the Duke of Lust and as such it’s his job to sleep around. To make women want him so much that they will not ever be content with another man’s touch. He’s done incredibly evil things in his role of Nephilim for his father, but to me he is completely redeemable. And yet in the long run I’m much more on the side of another Neph for being with Anna in the end.

Evil is a central point of this book and I didn’t expect it to get so deep, but I’m glad it did. Anna befriends other Neph’s other than just Kaidan and these characters brought in so much life to this book. You could really see the impact they were having on Anna and each of these characters had very distinct voices.

I loved this book and cannot wait to spend more time with these characters. Sadly, the sequel has yet to be bought so I don’t know if I’ll be getting to spend time with them anytime soon.

Rating:

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Under the Never Sky Trailer

Watch the beautifully done trailer. I don't usually post trailers but this one is just amazing!

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Waiting on Wednesday: For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Button from Bewitched Bookworms

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme by Breaking the Spine that allows us bloggers a chance to spotlight upcoming books that we are dying to read!

June 12th 2012, Balzer + Bray

Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Eighteen-year-old Luddite Elliot North has always known her place in this caste system. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. But now the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress and threatening Luddite control; Elliot’s estate is floundering; and she’s forced to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliott wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she abandoned him.

But Elliot soon discovers her childhood friend carries a secret—-one that could change the society in which they live…or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she has lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s PERSUASION, FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

Why I can’t wait:

I haven’t read a futuristic novel in so long!  I really enjoy seeing what people think the future will look like. Also this sounds like an incredibly interesting premise based of a Jane Austen novel. Can’t wait to see if it will live up to it’s blurb!

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

August 23rd 2011, Penguin Aus
421 pages, E-book
Borrowed from the Library
First in Bloodlines series
Young Adult Fiction

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive - this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood.

Cover Review:

Love Sydney’s part of the cover. I’m assuming the other male in image is supposed to be Adrian? Maybe? But he isn’t so much attractive as creepy. I like the cover overall.

Opinion:

I really dragged my feet in reading this one. I wasn’t sure I would like it and didn’t want my love of Vampire Academy to be harmed by a flailing off-shoot. Joey anyone? So I resisted and then going through Overdrive’s library I saw it and I was like gotta read it. I ended up loving it more than I did any of the Vampire Academy series. Mainly because their wasn’t a character that annoyed me as much as Lissa does and I connected with all of them a lot quicker since I had previously loved Sydney and Adrian.

Sydney starts this mission being scared of confrontation, standing up for herself, and is basically a good follower that has tarnished her reputation by helping Rose in the last book of Vampire Academy. As this book goes she starts to feel more comfortable being on her own (instead of simply following orders) and I felt there was tremendous character growth of her character. I like her as she is, but once she becomes completely independent of others opinions I think she’ll be one of the best characters I’ve read in YA.

There was little to no romance in this one. Before going in I really expected more from her and Adrian. I figured that since he got short changed in the last series this one would be his. I was a little disappointed, but hopefully we’ll be seeing more of this relationship as Sydney’s ingrained prejudices fall away.

The plot was quick moving and I loved the storyline, but one major issue for me was the fact we were in Sydney’s POV and we could see things going on, but have absolutely no clue what they meant. She was so kept in the dark about everything and that meant we were too.

Loved this book and cannot wait to read the next!

Rating:

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Attraction to Mutants: Guest Post by Liana Brooks

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Liana Brooks was born in San Diego, California. Years later she was disappointed to learn that The Shire was not some place she could move to, nor was Rider of Rohan an acceptable career choice. Studying marine biology  so she could play with sharks seemed to be the only alternative. After college Liana settled down to work as a full-time author and mother because logical career progression is something that happens to other people. When she grows up, Liana wants to be an Evil Overlord and take over the world.
In the meantime, she writes sci-fi and SFR in between trips to the beach. She can be found wearing colorful socks on the Emerald Coast, or online at www.lianabrooks.com.

Mmmm.... mutants. You know what I'm talking about: Cylops, Wolverine, Spiderman...

We all have our favorites. It's human nature, we're attracted to what's different. Even when we get away from the fiction, who do we gravitate to? That's right, the exotics, the people who are different, the mutants.

Blonde hair and blue eyes? That's a mutation.

Light skin tone? That's a mutation.

Male? Well, that's either a mutation or a broken chromosome depending on who you ask, but we love you anyway (most of the time).

What's odd about our mutation fixation is that the mutants in literature are an Everyman character.

Spiderman appeals to us because he's the outcast, an unwanted geek who becomes powerful and handsome overnight. It's the ultimate appeal to adolescent insecurity. Over the years the X-Men have been the Everyman suffering in the name of racism, gender inequality, homophobia, and general Otherness. We read those stories because we can all relate on some level.

EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE turns the table on the Everyman mutant character and looks at those attributes from the outside. Yes, the superheroes are mutants, but the protagonist is a villain who is relying on his wit and charm to defeat super powered humans. Don't we all have days like that? Can't we all relate to to being the underdog?

So, go ahead, read EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE and fall in love with a freak.

April 4th 2012, Breathless Press

Evan Smith isn't the average man next door. None of the neighbors suspect the handsome father of four is the recently retired super villain Doctor Charm and that's just the way he likes it.

With minions in place so he can take over the world in November 2012 Evan is blindsided by his beautiful wife's decision to return to work. The bombshell in his bed is none other than his arch-nemesis, superhero Zephyr Girl. He's kept her at home, and in his arms, with more than just charm. In the basement Doctor Charm keeps a mind control device meant just for her tuned to Sex Kitten.

When Zephyr Girl returns to the skies, and a lab accident breaks his morality machine, what will become of his happy home life?

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Blog Changes

Quite honestly, the overheated fried hard drive came at an incredibly good time. Just as I was so sick of blogging and all that it entails that I was hating reading and twitter just felt like an extension of stress. Yeah, I’d hit blogger burn-out and it was effecting everything.

In my week off I read more than I have in months. I didn’t write reviews, I didn’t think “is this book applicable to my blog?”, I simply read. I read biographies, historical romance, and a couple of paranormal books that I had been dying to read but simply hadn’t had a chance.

So to the changes.

Reviewing- I will be reading and reviewing books that I enjoy. It may not fit into YA paranormal or even adult paranormal. And it may not even be fictional.

My format for reviews will remain almost the same, but I will not always fit it into that format. If I feel like doing a bulleted list, rant, or just simple spewing I will be.

Memes- I will be alternating between WoW and Top Ten Tuesday and will be doing TGIF every week unless I have commitments to guest posts.

Basically, I’m not going to be so narrowly focused on anything.

Hopefully, you guys will not dislike my changes and it’ll be a more fun environment.

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Absence

My computers hard drive went out and Geek Squad has sent it in to get a new one put in so I will be back as soon as they send me my computer back. I miss my computer! *cries*

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Don’t Breathe a Word by Holly Capula

January 3rd 2012, HarperTeen
299 pages, Paperback
Borrowed
Young Adult

Joy Delamere is suffocating...

From asthma, which has nearly claimed her life. From her parents, who will do anything to keep that from happening. From delectably dangerous Asher, who is smothering her from the inside out.

Joy can take his words - tender words, cruel words - until the night they go too far.

Now, Joy will leave everything behind to find the one who has offered his help, a homeless boy called Creed. She will become someone else. She will learn to survive. She will breathe... if only she can get to Creed before it’s too late.

Set against the gritty backdrop of Seattle’s streets and a cast of characters with secrets of their own, Holly Cupala’s powerful new novel explores the subtleties of abuse, the meaning of love, and how far a girl will go to discover her own strength.

Opinion:

I’ve been hearing a lot about this book in the last two months. All really good things. I was anticipating the release and managed to borrow a copy from a friend. The cover is gorgeous in real life!

This story is amazing. We have a few homeless folks in Orlando, although I’ve never seen an actual teen. Joy’s story gripped my heart knowing that there are abused, neglected, and unloved kids out there. Joy has been sheltered all her life. She has never been given the chance to breathe because one dangerous moment of living life means she could end up in the hospital. Again. But there’s nothing Joy wants more than to escape her ruthless and controlling boyfriend, Asher. That means she must learn how to survive on her own.

She’s got a plan though. There’s a boy that is offering her a new chance at life. A boy who knows what Asher is doing to her. The events that unfold after meeting Creed, her savior, lets her have an exhilarating taste of freedom. Of safety in a family whose rough edges brought them to the streets of Seattle. Joy redefines herself into Triste. And yet, Joy is still afraid. Asher has taken a part of herself that she can’t get back.

I can’t possibly imagine what it’s like to be homeless, but I do know what the need for escaping does to a person. I’m pulled into her life as the story gives us flashbacks of her time with Asher. He seemed harmless enough and even much-liked by her parents. Asher gave her the chance to be free from her family’s worries. I was dying to find out that one thing he did that was her breaking point. When I did, it was so much harder to keep my emotions level. At least she had Creed, and with him, May and Santos. They all had broken stories to tell.

Don’t Breathe a Word is fast-paced and intense. Holly Capula does not leave much to the imagination. I have to thank her for that. Joy can hide herself from everyone she loves but she can’t hide from herself. This is the gritty truth of the streets. It’s the ending I have a bit of a problem with. I guess it moved too fast for me to gauge Joy’s reactions and emotions. I didn’t feel like I was connecting to her anymore. Maybe it was the way everything wrapped up too fast. I guess I felt a little frustrated with her non-actions, knowing she doesn’t have to be passive anymore. Still, I’m happy for the bittersweet ending. I need for Triste to be Joy again.

My compliments to Ms. Capula and her fantastically gripping book. I hope teens as well as YA contemp fans give her book a chance too.

Rating:

The elusive Linda-saurus:

Mover and shaker by day, book-ninja by night. Only native to Florida. Afraid of small children but has an affinity to the elderly. Beware of her sarcastic humor.

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TGIF: Why I Love Dani Harper

TGIF is  a Friday meme hosted by Ginger at Greads. She always has the best questions.

Today’s Question:

Promote An Author: Is there a particular author you wish got more recognition? Pick one author & tell us why we should read their work.

Answer:

Dani Harper, hands down. Usually it takes me a while to come up with answers for Ginger’s questions, but when I saw this question I had an immediate answer. My favorite adult paranormal series is by Dani Harper and I wish everyone would read it so I can chat about the epicness!

Reviews of the series:

Changeling Moon

Changeling Dream

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Linda’s Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

January 24th 2012, Harper Collins
370 pages, Hardcover
Bought
First in Everneath series
Young Adult Fantasy

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

Opinion:

First thing I have to say is that I need the second book now. Like right this second. That ending! Wow. I want to shake Mrs. Ashton and plead with her to write faster. It's been weeks since I've finished and I'm dying to reunite myself with Nikki and Jack. Next, I'd like to thank the dear Rie here for loving this book so much that I was past being over-eager to read it. You can check out her gushing review here. As you can see, I absolutely love this book. To pieces. Seriously, it's one of my favorite books of all time.

Everneath is so different, but everything comes together in one cohesive piece.  Mythology plays a really important and riveting role in this book. I'm a BIG fan of having myths especially the Persephone and Orpheus ones featured. Nikki has been in the Everneath with Cole, an Everliving, for a century; six months in real time. She's lost her ability to think and feel. Now she has Returned. For the chance to say good-bye before leaving again. For the chance to escape her fate looming six months from now. For the hope brought by the face she has loved and pictured everyday in the Everneath.

We cheer. We chant. We praise. Jack. Jack. Jack!!! And the team Jack crowd goes wild! Because even as Cole tries to pull Nikki back, he can't compete with Jack. I must admit that Cole is definitely persuading. He's strong and sweet. But he's got a purpose that Nikki won't give in to. Then comes his promise of them being able to control the Everliving, something Nikki cannot even consider. By the end of this book, I think I've thrown a few death threats at him. Jack, on the other-hand, is the hero. He is there for her even when Nikki believes she’s doomed. He’s the boy who can still say to Nikki, “Ever Yours”. There’s no one else for her.

Ah, Brodi Ashton is a world-building genius! Although Nikki has only six months before she must go back, we still get a glimpse of her last few years gone. It hasn’t been what she thought it would be. Her soul belonged to Cole. Now the Tunnels are coming for her. It’s the world of the immortals she desperately wants to escape.
.
So once again, here's my praise for the gorgeously written Everneath. Yes, the rocking cover does indeed to the actual book proud. I love this book. Rie loved this book. I hope you buy this book because I wish I could buy a copy for all of you. And I hope you love it as much as I do!

Also, if you've gotten your hands on Everneath, let me know what you think in the comments.

Rating:

The elusive Linda-saurus:

Mover and shaker by day, book-ninja by night. Only native to Florida. Afraid of small children but has an affinity to the elderly. Beware of her sarcastic humor.

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Waiting on Wednesday: Even Villains Fall in Love by Liana Brooks

Button from Bewitched Bookworms

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme by Breaking the Spine that allows us bloggers a chance to spotlight upcoming books that we are dying to read!

Blog | Twitter | Facebook
April 4th 2012, Breathless Press

Evan Smith isn't the average man next door. None of the neighbors suspect the handsome father of four is the recently retired super villain Doctor Charm and that's just the way he likes it.

With minions in place so he can take over the world in November 2012 Evan is blindsided by his beautiful wife's decision to return to work. The bombshell in his bed is none other than his arch-nemesis, superhero Zephyr Girl. He's kept her at home, and in his arms, with more than just charm. In the basement Doctor Charm keeps a mind control device meant just for her tuned to Sex Kitten.

When Zephyr Girl returns to the skies, and a lab accident breaks his morality machine, what will become of his happy home life?

Why I can’t wait:

Well, for one this was written by one of my long time friend, so there’s that. For a small press this cover is pretty amazing! The premise is unusual and from what I know of Liana’s writing I’m in for a treat with this one!

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Review: Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning

May 29th 2007, Dell
375 pages, E-book
Overdrive from Library
First in Highlander series
Adult Fiction

He would sell his warrior soul to possess her. . . .

An alluring laird...

He was known throughout the kingdom as Hawk, legendary predator of the battlefield and the boudoir. No woman could refuse his touch, but no woman ever stirred his heart--until a vengeful fairy tumbled Adrienne de Simone out of modern-day Seattle and into medieval Scotland. Captive in a century not her own, entirely too bold, too outspoken, she was an irresistible challenge to the sixteenth-century rogue. Coerced into a marriage with Hawk, Adrienne vowed to keep him at arm's length--but his sweet seduction played havoc with her resolve.
A prisoner in time...

She had a perfect "no" on her perfect lips for the notorious laird, but Hawk swore she would whisper his name with desire, begging for the passion he longed to ignite within her. Not even the barriers of time and space would keep him from winning her love. Despite her uncertainty about following the promptings of her own passionate heart, Adrienne's reservations were no match for Hawk's determination to keep her by his side. . . .

Cover Review:

A bare chest in blue light. Umm... why do all romance novels have to have half naked people on them and why is the light filter such a standard practice among the art departments for romance? UGH!!!

Opinion:

This is a charming book that I fell in love with quickly. The characters are full of personality and are what make this book so enjoyable. The plot isn’t as well fleshed out and is much like all other romance novels, but it still charming.

Adrienne is a woman with a brutal past and with a beautiful man at the helm of that unfortunate past she is reluctant to trust Hawk. She is from the 1990’s but never mentioned missing the conveniences of modern day life other than coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker and barely remember the 90’s but I would have liked to hear her miss SOMETHING other than coffee. I mean hot steamy showers, phone service, tv, most things we simply cannot live without today. This little thing is my only grievance with Adrienne. She is quick witted, sweet, bold, and holds her own.

Hawk is a male. Dense at times, but protective, loving, and passionate. He has a backstory of his own that he’d rather forget. He is a legend among the locals and even further on into worlds of fairies and this shapes the book. The legends of his prowess in bed is the catalyst for the storyline and even the subplot. The size of his “appendage” is lauded and quite honestly there was too much importance on it.

The secondary characters add so much charm and make this story truly stand out. Hawk made a wish that set the plot up and felt guilty about it from the beginning. Fairies and the legends of the Norse gods make up the paranormal element of this story besides the aforementioned time traveling by Adrienne. But the most charming of all the secondary characters is Hawk’s mother and her companion. Their love story stirred my heart.

Characterization make this book what it is and as such I am quite in love with it. I can’t wait to read the rest in series. I’ve heard the first two are the least favorite within the series and if the rest are simply as good I’m sure I’ll be quite in love!

Rating:

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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