Always a Booklover

The magic of books just enchants me. I love reading, what more can I say?

Dystopia Reading Challenge 2014



This challenge is hosted by Blog of Erised!

Love Dystopian books? Then this is just the right thing for you! If you're as big of a fan as I am of post-apocalyptic dystopia books (and even if your are not) you are welcome to join the challenge!

We will try to read 24 Dystopian books in 2014 as the challenge goal, which means 2 per month, if you would like to read them monthly. You can of course make your own schedule and read less or more than that. 2 per month is plenty because it still gives you time to explore and love books from other genres. 

At the end of the year there will also be a giveaway with great prizes!

Rules
> The challenge will run from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014. Each month will have its own link form so you will be able to share your book reviews. You do not have to review the books you read to participate, but only those who read/reviewed at least one dystopian book will be able to participate in the giveaway (you can track your reading without the reviews with Goodreads, Shelfari etc.).
> Books that count in this challenge must include any form of post-apocalyptic theme (book sites like Goodreads are good sources of genre information). The books must be full-length.
> All formats allowed.
Rereads allowed (but not the same book five times in a year!).
It does not matter whether it's a series or a stand-alone book.
If you are participating, grab the challenge button from below and post it on you blog. You can also make a post with the header (the code is also below). Please include the link back to this post so others will be able to participate as well.
If you will participate, put the sign-up link to your blog post (about the challenge) or blog (for the button) directly into the linky below. Sign-ups will be open until December 15, 2014.
You do not have to list your books in advance, go and do as you please. Read as many as you want and whenever you want, as long as you have fun!
Info about the giveaway will be available in December 2014.
> Do not cheat with books of other themes/genres/topics because I do check!

Levels
Level 1Recruit (1 to 6 books)
Level 2Rebel (7 to 12 books)
Level 3Revolutionist (13 to 18 books)
Level 4Leader (19+ books)

Each time you reach a new level, you will receive a badge.

If you have any book suggestions you can leave them in the comment sections for me as well as for others or blog about them in you challenge post. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Seriously Series Reading Challenge 2014



General Overview

How serious about series are you? We'll find out in 2014.

In the summer of 2012, Amanda @ On a Book Bender and I hosted an informal challenge that focused on completing books in series that we owned. It was enough of a success that we decided we wanted to turn it into a year-long challenge--with a few minor changes.

While Amanda is unable to host it with me this year, she is a huge part in the creation and implementation of this challenge and I couldn't have attempted to put it together without her. Thank you, Amanda!

Definitions

For this challenge, a series is defined as a collection of two or more books that belong together and where the second book is published before the end of 2014. This is a pretty broad definition of series, and it includes traditional series like the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, less traditional series like Stephanie Perkins's YA contemps (Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door), and shorter series, like Kendare Blake's Anna series (Anna Dressed in Blood, Girl of Nightmares).

A series is considered complete in one of two ways: either as finishing all the books that you own in the series or as obtaining and reading all the books that have been published in the series to date. Because we don't want this challenge to become a financial burden, how you choose to define completion is left to your discretion.

How It Works

To allow for the greatest level of flexibility, we've separated series into three categories: series started before 2014, series started in 2014, and series rereads.
  • Series started before 2014 are defined as series that you have started reading before Jan. 2014 and that you still have unread books to get current in (or finish) the series.
  • Series started in 2014 are defined as any series that you start reading between Jan. and Dec. 2014, and the second book in the series must be published before December 2014.
  • A series reread is defined as books that are part of a series that were read before Jan. 2014 and that are reread between Jan. 2014 and Dec. 2014. A series reread does NOT have to include the full series.

For each category, there are different levels of seriousness about series that you can choose. Semi-serious is reading 1 to 6 series, seriously serious is reading 7 to 12 series, super seriously serious is reading 13 to 18 series, and seriously spectacular series star is reading more than 18 series. What this ends up looking like is this:


series started before 2014series started in 2014series rereads
Semi-Serious1-6 series1-61-6
Seriously Serious7-127-127-12
Super Seriously Serious13-1813-1813-18
Seriously Spectacular Series Star18+18+18+
FYI, reading novellas and short stories from a series does count here -- if you want it to!

You choose which categories you want to attempt and which level to shoot for.

So, for me, this is my goal.
Series started in 2014: Seriously Serious
Series Rereads: Seriously Serious
Series Started before 2014: Seriously Serious

Check this place out, for a record of the books I've read! 

Jumble Your Genres Reading Challenge 2014



I got this off Lovin' Los Libros, so head there to sign up too! :)


So this year Readers Live A Thousand LivesCorrie The Book Crazed Girl, and Lovin' Los Libros have teamed up to host the Jumble Your Genres Reading Challenge! For this challenge, the goal is to mix up the genres/categories we read. We have all had those times when we have gotten stuck in the genre/category we are currently reading and read nothing else for a while. The goal here is to mix that up! Each month we will feature a different genre/category and the goal is to read and review one book or more in that genre/category during that month.

Each month the hosting blogs will have a post featuring the genre/category for that month. There will be a linky for you to link up and share your review for the book(s) for the featured genre/category. So make sure you come back each month to check out our reads and share yours! You do not need a blog to participate, goodreads or booklikes works too! Below is the schedule of what genre/category we plan to read each month! 

January- Young Adult
February- Contemporary
March- Urban Fantasy
April- Middle Grade
May- Dystopian
June- High Fantasy
July- Adult
August- Paranormal
September- Romance
October- Sci-Fi
November- Historical Fiction
December- New Adult

There will be giveaways along the way and a giveaway at the end for the participants who participate each month and complete the challenge. 

So yes, this is my post to say I'm participating in this challenge! 

Check out this page for the list of books! :)

Blog Tour: Good Intentions by DN Simmons - Review






SciTech Labs was handsomely commissioned by the United States Military to design a revolutionary serum that would create the ultimate soldier. If successful, the soldier would have an increase in endurance, strength, awareness and overall speed. They would become the true super soldier. That's if everything went according to plan.


SciTech put its best scientists on the project and gave them a time limit to complete the job or else. With the pressure on and the stakes high, Vincent Masterson and his team put everything they had into the project. Everything was looking hopeful until an experiment went horribly wrong. The scientists mutated their specimen's DNA, turning it into something monstrous. Now, life as we know it will never be the same.

As it stands, the only thing that can save the human race is one of the two things they should be running from.

Can the human race survive being caught in a bloody war between two vicious predators?

Buy on Amazon | B&N | Kobo | OMNILIT | Goodreads




AUTHOR BIO:

D.N. Simmons was born and raised in Chicago, Il. She attended Northern Illinois University majoring in journalism. She began writing short horror stories at the age of eleven and in 2004, she decided to take the plunge into the professional literary world when she published Desires Unleashed. She’s an avid fan of the paranormal and horror genre, finding vampires and shape-shifters fascinating. She’s been voted “New Voice of Today” by Romance Review, “Rising Star” by Love Romance and More and “Author of the Month” by Warrior of Words. Her work has won honorable mentions in catogoeis such as Best Paranormal, Best Book of the Year and Best Urban-Fantasy.

D.N. has a passion for crafting highly entertaining fantasy worlds her readers can escape to, filled with wonders, humor and excitement.

Follow D.N:
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest
Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Blog

Follow the Book Tour





Check out my review of the book!

Finished Reading: 27 November 2013

My Rating

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My Review

I loved Good Intentions. I devoured the book and finished it in one sitting, because it was that addictive. This is the first time I’ve ever read a zombie book but I was pleasantly surprised.

I enjoyed the plot of the book, and how things progressed. It was a very fast-paced book, where we were thrown right into the action. I liked how the author conveyed the feelings of the characters as they faced the situations in the book. I really loved the pace. There was hardly any unnecessary conversation and I felt the fast pace of the book really reflected the characters’ desperation at the time, which certainly drew me further into the book. Perhaps in part, as it was placed in today’s day and age, it felt a little bit closer to heart. And its honestly quite scary to realize how wrong a science experiment can go.

Without giving away anything, I must say that towards the end, there was a slight twist that I actually really enjoy. Normally, I’m so sick of this plot in books that I actually groaned when I saw it. Yet, after reading a little bit more and seeing the characters, I feel that it would certainly be very interesting to read about. Well, in my opinion at least, Cassian was hot. Okay, I know, I know, I’m shallow. But hot characters are always a pleasure to read about:)

On the other hand, I didn’t find the writing that amazing. Yes, the plot was good and interesting. Unique, even. But while I didn’t hate the writing in any way, I didn’t care much for it. Yet, it did succeed in pulling me in. It just felt a little bit unnatural to me, at least for the dialogue. And honestly speaking, I didn’t like the main character that much. Many characters felt a bit one-dimensional to me. At the same time, considering how characters are one of the most important for me, I think this just says how much I really enjoyed the plot, because I couldn’t stop reading. I do hope for more character development and seeing more sides to each main character in future books though.

I am really looking forward to the next book in the series, and I cannot wait to pick it up once its out. As this is the first book in the series, I wasn’t expecting so much action but I am certainly not disappointed with the book. In fact, I couldn’t put it down, and I don’t think I did for a second. It was an entertaining read and I cannot wait to see how the plot in its entirety pans out over the series. Combining science together with zombies and more, I feel that this is a series that I could very much enjoy.

Note: This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed here is my own.

P.S. This is one of the first few reviews I’ve written in months. A little bit rusty heh.




Blog Tour: The Tearings by V.C. Repetto


Genre: Young Adult Dysopian
Publisher: Evernight Teen



The Tearings

From the moment the black vans appear to take the sick away, Maya knows there is something wrong. She seems to be the only one to question the sudden disappearances at school and the masks everyone is forced to wear to keep from catching the new disease spreading through the entire United States. Even when word of the new “healing centers” reaches the public, no one dares to ask what is happening.

But when Maya catches the disease, the one they call The Tearings, and is taken to one of these centers along with her mother, the truth becomes all too clear. She is separated from her family and forced to work, becoming one of the more fortunate ones who is not sent to the testing wings. Bullied by the guards to the point of death, she meets David Summers, the enigmatic young Captain who appears to loathe his position of power in the camp and who seems as drawn to Maya as she is to him.

When Maya suddenly becomes the disease’s only survivor, she must put her trust on David to find a way to escape the camp and get the truth, and the cure coursing through her veins, out to the world.

Check it out at Amazon | Evernight Teen | Goodreads


V.C. Repetto


When not planning how to survive the next plague and/or apocalypse, V.C. Repetto likes to submerge herself in as many Victorian Gothic novels as she can find. It is quite a fun place, her head, between all the moldy lace and gas masks. She is an avid quilter and cross-stitcher, who longs one day to buy a weaving loom. V.C. Repetto lives in house much too small for all her pets.



And now, check out my review! :)


Finished Reading: 28 November 2013

My Rating

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My Review

The Tearings was a very good book. The setup was good, the characters interesting and the plot captivating. As I was reading the book and realizing it was about to end, I was just begging that the book wouldn’t end soon. I really enjoyed it, you see. I wanted to learn more, unravel the mystery together with Maya.

From the start, the book captivated me. I liked the confusion that I felt as I was thrown into the book. I desperately wanted to know what was going on

I really enjoyed the character development. I loved seeing how Maya grew from a rather average teenage girl to a girl who never stopped fighting for her life and never gave up regardless of the odds. I did find her response to the deaths around her a little unreal, but I don’t have any experience with that, so who am I to judge? Still, I thought there would be a little bit more heartbreak.

And yes, there was very little real romance between David and Maya. Yet I think they’re so cute together. I totally love the whole forbidden love thing. Its actually the main reason I requested to review this book. I wish there was more tension but I suppose that what was experienced between the characters was very real to the situation. When you’re in a life-threatening situation, I don’t think you’re gonna care about romantic love so much.

I loved the side characters too. I felt that they were a very good fit for the book and I do hope that the future books will have them too. The pace of the book was really good, and I didn’t feel overwhelmed or bored at any point of time. It was simply put, excellent writing where as a reader, I’m presented with enough information to keep me interested and at the same time, just a bit lacking that I need to read more.

While I felt the romance happened too late in the book and a little bit too short for my liking, I must say I did kinda enjoy it. I do hope that in future books, the romance gets fleshed out a little more and that there is a clearer plot. While this book was excellent in character development and introducing us into the whole plot, I do recognize that not much has actually happened. I would really love to see more of the romance but also, more of a fleshed out plot.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I simply cannot wait to read the next book in the series. I also look forward to reading other books by the author in the future. The Tearings is a great start to this series and I do recommend it for anyone who likes an easy, yet interesting and captivating read.

Note: I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed here are my own.


So yep, that's about it for today! Go here to check out the other tour stops! You'll find loads of awesome stuff on the other tour sites too! :D

I'm back!

So, A Levels are almost done! I do realize I haven't actually been active for the longest time. But now, I really can't wait to come back to blogging and reviewing and being a blog tour host again! Its been so long, I really wonder whether I can remember how to write a review haha. But I'm looking forward to it:)

Twitter

I have a new Twitter account! Figured it was finally time to unlink my personal Twitter and my books/blog related twitter! Here you go:)

http://www.twitter.com/flame_booklover

Do follow me on Twitter for more updates:) I'm a much more frequent tweeter as compared to blogger haha:)

Love,
Victoria

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

First Published: 1 February 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 411
Format: Paperback
Finished Date: 14 August 2013

Synopsis

Lena Haloway is content in her safe, government-managed society. She feels (mostly) relaxed about the future in which her husband and career will be decided, and looks forward to turning 18, when she’ll be cured of deliria, a.k.a. love. She tries not to think about her mother’s suicide (her last words to Lena were a forbidden “I love you”) or the supposed “Invalid” community made up of the uncured just beyond her Portland, Maine, border. There’s no real point—she believes her government knows how to best protect its people, and should do so at any cost. But 95 days before her cure, Lena meets Alex, a confident and mysterious young man who makes her heart flutter and her skin turn red-hot. As their romance blossoms, Lena begins to doubt the intentions of those in power, and fears that her world will turn gray should she submit to the procedure.


My Rating

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My Review


Delirium was fantastic. I loved it. The story was really good and I felt that this book was a great premise to the beginning of the entire series. In this book, love, something that seems rather amazing to all of us, is seen as a disease. Its seen as something that one can have a cure for because it’s the root of all problems and without it, things will be better. Maybe in some ways, things were better. People didn’t fight over love, over emotion essentially. But their lives were devoid of that spark that love could bring you. The thing is, they all actually wanted it.

Lena and Alex are our two main characters. I have to say, I didn’t really like Lena in the beginning. I felt that she was too afraid to live, and that just rubs me the wrong way. Still, I like how the author is able to convey her fear and all the reasons for her being afraid. It was a little bit repetitive though, I must have read Lena’s reasons for being afraid many many times. I loved her character development. She transformed from a girl who was so afraid to love, to a girl who couldn’t live without love. Who did everything for love. And that touched me. It was the depth of love and the power of love that was the message conveyed through everything Lena did. It was beautiful.

Alex on the other hand, was someone we didn’t know much about. I would have liked to understand Alex a little better. It’s nice that he’s an enigma, which makes him just a bit more attractive. Still, I would love to know why he feels the way he does, what made him that way. I do think there are side stories of him, so I’m definitely going to check those out. His character development here wasn’t fantastic, he doesn’t develop per se. Because he started out believing in love, and I think there wasn’t much space for him to develop.

Yes, I have to admit, there were many parts of the book that was draggy. But Lauren Oliver made up for it with the love story she wrote. I think the most beautiful part of this book was how she captured love in it's simplest form. Everything she said, it just rings a bell of when you first find someone, when you first fall in love with that person and it reminds you of how beautiful love can be. Maybe it's also because of my own experiences and also because Lena's the same age as me and hence I can identify rather well. 

And oh gosh, at the end, what he did for her, that told me he loved her in ways that nothing else could. And while the action only came towards the end, I loved the build up to it. I loved how they fell in love. The ways she described how being in love felt was just so real. I love the way she captures teenage angst. When I was reading about how Lena felt love was like, and all the things that love made her feel, I was just yes yes yes, that's exactly what I felt! 

It's not the best romance in the world, but there's something so endearing about it. It was so sweet and I just found myself rooting for them. They weren't my favorite characters, but I adored them together. 

I know there's a lot of people that say it's unrealistic that she would kiss him in public if there were so huge consequences. Ok to be honest, I didn't even realize that. But on further thought, I just feel that sometimes when you're so young and you have so strong feelings, it just spills out. You heck the consequences because you just can't imagine not kissing him right there and then. 

And one of the parts I loved most? It was when she said, "It [love] will kill me. And I don't care." I just felt that little bit summed up love so simply yet it captured the essence. When you're in love, sometimes you just don't care about anything. You don't care about the consequences, all the things that could go wrong, all you can think about is how right it feels. And there was another part where she said how happy she was. How love brought her happiness. And that was beautiful too. You see, all of Lena's life, she was brought up thinking love was a disease, that it had to be cured. Yet, when it happened to her, when she fell in love, everything went away. And only love mattered. I know she’s young, I know she fell in love really easily and really quickly. But still, love comes at unexpected times, and maybe that’s the beauty of it.

The ending broke my heart. Still, it was for the best. I think when the book ended, I put it down and I started to cry. By how much they loved each other, how much he was willing to sacrifice for her. That touched me to the core.

There was one part I had a little bit of an issue with. It was the pacing. I honestly got a bit confused here and there because I didn’t know what was the timeframe like. Everything seemed to happen together that it got a little confusing. Its like one moment she’s preparing for something, the next we skip forward a few days because she has gotten an epiphany about the situation or something. Still, it was just a small annoyance and it didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Delirium was fantastic. I loved it. The plot, the characters, and especially, the love. I would read it again in a heartbeat, just to cry over the sweet scenes.

Edit: After reading the rest of the series, I must say they were a bit of a letdown compared to this book. This wasn’t the most interesting or the most action packed, but it showed what love could be like, and that made it so beautiful.



Blog Tour: No Greater Illusion by K. Baskett



Hey guys! Welcome to today's blog tour! No Greater Illusion is a self-published dystopian novel of about 318 pages by K. Baskett. Check out the blurb! It sure looks interesting! I love dystopians:)



No Greater Illusion


In the very near future, surging advancements in technology have afforded American citizens with a number of conveniences. Of these, most notable is the SmartTag, a microchip embedded under the skin between index finger and thumb, housing all manner of personal information such as bank account details, medical history, voter registration and more.

This tightly-woven tale follows the lives of several very different people – Tealia, a free-spirited and intelligent photographer battling with conflicting emotions for her ex-lover; Mercer & Viera Scott, a power couple barely holding on to their marriage as the priorities of success and parenthood slowly become skewed between them; impoverished single mother, Naria, content with her reliance on both her current lover and government assistance to make ends meet; and the Holton family, wealthy beyond measure, enjoying carefree days of privilege and luxury.

Their status quo, however, is about to be undermined as America reacts violently to the brutal assassination of a highly esteemed female presidential nominee on the evening of the debates. As the entire nation struggles to make sense of the ensuing chaos, fear and distrust ramp up to dizzying heights. The end result is a series of grave consequences that will drastically alter life as they know it, making them all wonder how much of their world is but an illusion.

A captivating story that is at once gripping and dark, this brilliantly painted picture of a dystopian America cautions against the power of technology and the folly of taking anything for granted. Haunting and lyrical, No Greater Illusion is an astounding debut novel with a powerful message that lingers long after the final page is read.





K. Baskett
Jack of all trades, master of none - save for the art of procrastination - K. Baskett lives by the motto, ""Never do today what can be put off until tomorrow."" K. firmly believes that you aren't really interested in the author's hometown, spouse, children or pets, and has therefore decided to spare you the details. No Greater Illusion is the author's debut novel.



Time for a short excerpt!


THAT NIGHT, I BECAME an eye witness to murder. The cop who pulled the trigger might have claimed it was “self-defense” or “protection from an imminent threat,” but all I saw was a 90-pound woman brandishing a lug wrench that was almost too heavy for her to lift.
“Conspiracy!” she yelled at the top of her lungs and used all of her might to swing the weapon at a nearby car, shattering the driver’s side window.
“Stand down,” ordered the nearest police officer in a booming voice, as he and countless others surveyed the entire riot scene unfolding before us.
“Never. We want justice,” the lady screamed, successfully breaking out the rear passenger’s side window this time. The officer made a move toward the woman and she turned to him, struggling for purchase as she raised the lug wrench over her head. A crazed expression morphed her face into a vacant wasteland, so that she appeared to be gazing at and through the officer at the same time, eyes and mouth sloping downward, gaping. She looked to be coming straight from the office, dressed conservatively in a pencil skirt and high heels, which I noticed because they were so inappropriate. Skinny as the tool in her hands, she posed little to no physical threat and could have easily been subdued by some other method, so I was surprised when the police officer drew his gun.
“I’m warning you. Stand down,” the officer growled, his eyes two hard pebbles of flint, sparking as he aimed the gun squarely at the woman’s heart.
She moved with no forewarning and surprising quickness. Like a lioness, she pounced, and got close enough to the officer to be able to see the color of his eyes before he fired his weapon. It was nothing like in the movies. His gun made more of a popping sound rather than a loud bang. In all the noise it could have been mistaken for something else, like a car backfiring or a tire exploding. She collapsed instantly, freefalling, slamming to the pavement with so much force her body seemed to bounce once before landing in a final thud, facedown, her fist still clutching a tool used for changing flat tires. Her entire back was a mass of gore from the exit wound, blood so dark it looked black in the low light, soaking her smart silk blouse and pooling around her body in an ever expanding puddle.
Even in the midst of the mayhem, there seemed to be an almost pure silence that descended over the immediate circle of people surrounding the woman’s corpse. Their stillness attracted even more attention than the gunshot and the crowd around the fallen woman grew. The officer began to slowly back up, a look of dread on his face. He spoke into his shoulder radio, “Two-forty-eight requesting backup at Sixth and Watson. Code thirty. I repeat: I need units at Sixth and Watson, immediately.”
The officer’s call for backup shifted the crowd’s focus from the dead woman to him.
“He did it,” someone spoke clearly from the group. “The cop.”
The officer continued to step backward, gingerly almost.
Another yell came from my right. “Ol’ racist ass cop!”
The crowd closed in and began to slowly advance toward the officer. I stood on the perimeter, not sure if I wanted to get involved.
“Fall back,” the officer ordered, pointing his gun into the crowd now, aiming in the general direction from where the slur came.
Various shouts rang out in response, more people getting agitated now and too many of them yelling at once to clearly decipher any one phrase.
“I will not hesitate to discharge my weapon,” he warned.
We see that, I thought. Obviously he was ready to pull the trigger yet again.
The closer the crowd got, the more the officer seemed to be losing his aura of authority, his confidence getting smothered by fear, his eyes now showing uncertainty where before there was boldness. Not a soul had responded to his call for backup. The city’s police force was sorely understaffed and everyone knew that in this chaos there weren’t nearly enough officers to go around. The gun trembled slightly in his hand as he pointed it at the closest target, a young black man in his early twenties advancing to the front of the crowd. He was shirtless, wearing nothing above the waist but several large black tattoos, his athletic body coiled with intent.
“Crooked cops,” the young man stated passionately, as a matter of fact. “I fucking hate the police.” He glanced back at the others and raised his voice with that last statement.
They thundered their hearty agreement.
“So what we gonna do about this racist motha fucka?” the young man snarled, having assumed leadership of the crowd by their earlier assent.
“Don’t try me,” the officer shrieked. He made another useless call for backup, panicked and on edge. The crowd had backed him into a wall and like any cornered animal he was ready to attack.
“Grab him!” The suggestion came in the form of a growl.
The young man sprang forward, all that tension uncoiling from his chiseled muscles in a single smooth leap. With a wild look in his eye, the officer pulled the trigger. In his agitation, he actually missed the young leader and instead his bullet found someone else who screamed out in agony as their flesh was torn. This indiscriminate shooting incited the crowd even more, and in the time it took the cop to fire another shot into the group, he was completely buried under a pile of angry bodies, swarming around him like bees to the hive.

Enter the giveaway here! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway



So yep, that's about it for today! Go here to check out the other tour stops! You'll find loads of awesome stuff on the other tour sites too! :D

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