Tag: Lydia Dare

Guest Review: Wolfishly Yours by Lydia Dare

Posted November 14, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Tracy’s review of Wolfishly Yours (Westfield Wolves #6) by Lydia Dare

Accustomed to running wild with her Lycan brothers in the swamps of Louisiana, Miss Liviana Mayeux is shipped off to London where Lady Hadley offers to sponsor and assist her. Before she knows it, Vivi finds herself in the middle of a pack of English wolves who are all vying for her attention. But Lady Hadley’s handsome son Grayson is determined to keep her out of trouble. If only he knew how…

Livi grew up in New Orleans and loves everything about it. She loves the thick air, the smell, the swamps, chasing after her Lycan brothers…just everything. She’s more than a little wild and has seen her share of the extraordinary. Now her father is shipping her off to England to her maternal grandfather so that he can help tame her and help her become a lady, therefore securing a “good match” for her. Livi’s pissed. Yeah, I would be too. Besides incredibly angry she feels hurt and betrayed by the father who she thought loved her as she was.

Almost immediately she meets Grayson Hadley who her Livi’s grandfather thinks is utterly disreputable – and he’d be correct. But there’s a pull to the attraction between Gray and Livi that can’t be denied. As hard as she tries to be a proper lady she can’t change who’s she’s been for the past 20 years in the span of a week or two!

For Gray’s part he is fascinated with Livi and though he never thought of getting married when his brother commands that he marry Livi (because of supposedly ruining her rep) he’s nothing but happy to comply. Things go a bit off track between the two but in the end we have a happy couple.

This was a very cute book. I loved, loved, loved Livi for her irreverence and all around lack of social graces. She was just not brought up to not speak her mind and having to curb her tongue is not easily done. I especially liked when she gets punch spilled on her and she yells “motherfucker” – in French no less – in the middle of a musicale. Holy crap I spit coffee all over the place I was laughing so hard. For all that though she was a sweet girl who was confused with all the things that were happening in her life. She doesn’t know who or what to believe and Gray, for all his rakishness is so very sweet to her – when he’s not acting like an ass, that is. lol

The book is a love story that’s not really high on romance – just enough to satisfy – but makes up for it with crazy family members and humorous scenes.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Series:
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You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Sourcebooks Casablanca. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

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What I Read Last Week

Posted November 12, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 6 Comments

Hey there,

Another week has gone by and wow – they’re going so fast.  Yesterday the fam headed down to Anaheim to have an early family Thanksgiving dinner with my hubby’s family which was really fun.  The girls were apparently having fun with mom’s phone in the back seat while on the way down there.  Here’s just 2 of the MANY photos that were on it lol  Who would know that just 2 hours earlier they were at each others throats?  Ah, the joy of childhood. lol

So on to what I read last week:

I started off the week with The Sergeant’s Lady by Susanna Fraser.  This story was about Anna who was following the drum with her soldier husband but he was a complete ass.  She is on her own and trying to get home when her convoy is detained by the French.  When one of the French commanding officers decides that Anna would make a tasty treat in bed.  She’s saved by Sergeant Will Atkins.  They escape and while traveling start a sexual relationship that turns into so much more.  But they can’t be together because she’s a lady and was an officer’s wife and he’s just a  sergeant.  This was a really great book of love and trying to maintain that love while trying to deal with class differences.  It was emotionally charge and oh so good. 4.25 out of 5

Next up was An Infamous Marriage by Susanna Fraser.  The story follows Elizabeth and Jack’s marriage after he’s been gone in Canada for 5 years and been cheating on her.  But now he’s back and wants to make a go of the marriage.  You can read my full review here. 3 out of 5

My next read was All He Ever Desired by Shannon Stacey.  This is the 5th book in the Kowalski series and it was the story of Ryan Kowalski and Lauren who was once the wife of his best friend. They finally get together after many years but it’s not an easy road  You can read my full review here.  4.25 out of 5

Under the Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis is a short story in the Lucky Harbor series that comes out next month.  This story is one about Tara and Ford’s daughter Mia and her relationship with Nick who hasn’t known love his entire life.  It was a good one and definitely one that shouldn’t be missed.  4 out of 5

Wolfishly Yours by Lydia Dare was the story of a girl, Livi, who is sent by her father from New Orleans to England to her grandfather to learn how to be a lady.  She’s pissed off and wants nothing more than to be home running wild with her brothers in the swamps.  She meets Grayson who is besotted with her and ends up offering for her hand. When he doesn’t show up for his own wedding though things get a bit hairy.  Cute story but there certainly wasn’t enough shapeshifting with the shapeshifters for my liking.  lol  3.75 out of 5

Heart of Danger by Lisa Marie Rice was my next read.  Fugitive soldiers, psychic scientists and hidden fortresses.  You can read my review on Wednesday.

What Binds Us by Larry Benjamin was an m/m story about friends who meet at college, become lovers but then just friends again.  Dondi is a total playboy and sleeps with any and every man.  He’s definitely in it for the fun.  Thomas-Edward is a black student who loves Dondi but after a year of a relationship Dondi breaks it off in their sophomore year.  Still friends T spends a summer at Dondi’s family home and ends up falling in love with Dondi’s brother, Matthew, but neither make a move.  The story is about friendship, love, the horror of AIDS and the strange ties that bind people together.  It was a really good book and highly emotional especially at the end.  I cried more in this book than any other that I can remember.  The epilogue threw me off a bit and some things throughout the story did as well but overall very good.  4.25 out of 5



Last for the week was Mr. Real by Carolyn Crane.  The story is about a woman who brings a man to life through a spell on her computer and things are not exactly how she expects them to be.  You can read my review on Thursday.

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Charmed by His Love by Janet Chapman
Rescue My Heart by Jill Shalvis

Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted April 16, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Nothing to report this week. Just a pretty quiet week and I LOVE that. I do have to register my oldest daughter for HIGH SCHOOL this week. That’s kind of freaking me out, I must admit. When did that happen? How could she have gotten older and I stayed the same age? How? How? How? lol
I read a lot this past week so let’s get to it:

First up was Taming An Impossible Rogue by Suzanne Enoch. This was the story of Camille Pryce – an Ear’s daughter – who ran out on her own wedding a year ago and was then disowned and shunned by her family and friends. She actually became a maid in her aunts home until she found out about the Tantalus Club and the fact that it was hiring women. She got the job and is now hostess in one of their dining rooms. The man she was to marry is still technically engaged to her but he has been banned from the Club and since Camille never leaves it makes it difficult to talk to her. Lord Fenton employs his scandalous cousin, Keating Blackwood, to get into the club and makes a deal to pay him 10,000 pounds when he gets Camille to the altar to marry Fenton. But Camille and Keating fall in love and where does that leave them and Fenton. I really liked this book. I’m becoming a fan of Enoch’s and really like what she does with a romance. 4.25 out of 5

Wolf Tracks by Vivian Arend is the story of Pam who comes to the Granite Lake pack to be the maid of honor at her best friends’ wedding. Pam has no idea that she is among wolf shifters. TJ – the best man – discovers that Pam, who is VERY human, is his mate. After the wedding Pam goes on a hiking excursion and TJ basically kidnaps her. She discovers his wolf secret and TJ spends the week they are together trying to make Pam believe that they are meant to be together. This was another great addition to the Granite Lake Wolves series. I loved TJ and his tenaciousness and I loved that Pam didn’t just accept TJ without some damned good proof. A fun read. 4 out of 5

Sierra Falls by Veronica Wolff is a book that I read for The Book Binge. This is the first in a series about the citizen’s of Sierra Falls, California. In this story we have the daughter to the tavern/lodge owner and the new sheriff in town. Sorrow is trying to help her parents when a whole lot of things are going wrong at the tavern, along with dealing with her current boyfriend, and Billy thinks that the “accidents” at the tavern aren’t accidents at all. Along with that Billy is trying to get over the death of his wife and move on. While this was a good book there was really just too much going on for me. There were many side stories branching off from Sorrow and Billy’s relationship as well as other relationships between Sorrow and her family and some townspeople. Cute, but not wonderful. 3.25 out of 5

Pretty Monsters by Andrea Speed was next. This is a free short and the first story in the Josh of the Damned series. It’s about Josh who works the night shift at the Quik Mart and there’s a hell portal right out back. Josh’s customers range from vampires to zombies and there’s never a dull moment. In this story he meets the hottie, Colin the vampire, and becomes quite friendly with him. This was a fun story and a good introduction to Josh and his world. 3 out of 5

Peek-A-Boo by Andrea Speed is the second free short story in the Josh of the Damned series. This one involved a Yeti who is visiting Josh and slapping dead animals on his counter. Colin comes in and lets him know that the Yeti might have more on his mind with Josh than he originally thought. Again, fun story and funny! I definitely was laughing out loud more than once during this one. Don’t let the monsterish covers freak you out. These are definitely comedic reads. 3.5 out of 5

The Wolf Who Loved Me by Lydia Dare is book 5 in the Westfield Wolves series. This story was about Weston Hadly, a nothing and nobody in the ton, who is caught by Lady Madeline, a Duke’s daughter who has a huge dowry, changing into his wolf form. He manages to corral her and then they’re off to Gretna Green to get married as a mate won’t tell the shifter’s secret. They are soon chased by Madeline’s father but during the trip Madeline manages to fall in love with Weston. I read this one for the Book Binge – you can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5

Josh of the Damned Triple Feature by Andrea Speed was next. This contains 3 short stories that are just great. This one contains a huge man eating mustache, a hentai monster and then Josh has to visit Colin’s boss who is the monster that all monsters are afraid of. Wow. It was really good and I can’t wait to read what happens next. You can read my review here. 4.25 out of 5

Next up was Bride by Mistake by Anne Gracie. This is the conclusion to the Devil Riders series. I didn’t read all the books in the series but I really didn’t need to as this one is good all on it’s own. The story is about Luke who was in Spain during the war and came across a young girl being beaten and raped. He saves her and in order to save her from having to marry her nasty cousin Luke marries the 13 year old – with the thought that the marriage can later be annulled. He drops her off to her aunt in a convent and goes about his life. Eight years later he finds out that the marriage can’t be annulled. He heads to Spain to collect his bride but she is nothing that he expected – she’s better. Bella takes him on a merry ride through Spain and they actually get to know each other. Bella falls completely in love and Luke does as well – while ridding himself of the nightmares that have plagued him since the war. This was a good story. I really liked both Luke and Bella and the whole premise of the story. I thought Spain was a great location for the book. Some parts didn’t work for me as well as others but overall I liked it. 3.5 out of 5

Midnight Rescue by Elle Kennedy was my next read. This is the story of an assassin, Abby, whose cover has been blown. Her boss asks a mercenary group to go in and get her. Her choice to drop her cover was to try to get closer to the young girls that were being kidnapped and held for auction. When she’s rescued she convinces the mercs to go in and save the girls. The story focuses on the mercs getting ready for the mission but also the budding relationship between Abby and one of the mercs, Kane. The story premise was good but a lot of the book didn’t work all that well for me for different reasons. I read this one for The Book Binge so I’ll let you know when my review posts. 3 out of 5

Next was another book for The Book Binge (yes, I’m trying to catch myself up!) called All For You by Lynn Kurland. This was the story of Peaches Alexander who wants the whole fairy tale relationship thing. Nothing else is going right in her life so when she’s invited to a ball at a Duke’s house she’s sure that he’s interested. Also at the ball is Stephen de Piaget who is thoroughly in love with Peaches but gets tongue tied and blows it every time he’s near her. Peaches doesn’t care for Stephen at all but when she walks through a time gate and ends up in medieval England Stephen’s the one that can save her. This was a very sweet and good story. Stephen is lovely and he’s so good to Peaches. (I honestly had a problem with her name though – I know it was her hippi parents but yuck. lol) I liked the story, the romance, the time travel and almost everything else. It just worked. 3.75 out of 5

Wanting by Piper Vaughn is a short free read and one I read about at Tam’s…then realized that I already own it and must have had it for a while – oops. lol Anyway, the story is about 18 year old Jonah who’s got it bad for his older brother’s best friend, Laurie. Jonah asks Laurie to take his virginity. He does and the pair end up in a relationship. It I really liked all the characters in this one. I would have loved this as a full sized book but it really worked as a short and was great. 4 out of 5 Written for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group’s “Hot Summer Days” anthology.

Last for the week was Joy & Pain by Celia Kyle. This was another free short that had an ex ballet dancer working at a strip joint. Tevin has a certain “kink” that hasn’t been fulfilled in a while. His boss introduces him to one of his friends, Zeke, who is more than willing to fill the kink for Tevin. This was good but pretty short. I really couldn’t connect with the characters as it was told from Tevin’s pov but it was definitely on the spicy side. 3 out of 5

Free novelette written for the Goodreads M/M Romance group’s “Hot Summer Days” event.

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:

Happy Reading!

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Guest Review: The Wolf Who Loved Me by Lydia Dare

Posted April 13, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Tracy’s review of The Wolf Who Loved Me (Westfield Wolves #5) by Lydia Dare

Lady Madeline Hayburn Has Money Problems…

Specifically, she has so much of it that she’s dogged by fortune hunters, including her bewilderingly attractive, penniless neighbor, with his wild nature and uncouth manners…

Weston Hadley Has An Identity Crisis…

Specifically, he’s just turned into a wolf while Madeline was watching. Now it’s up to the regal lady to tame the wild beast…if she can…

We met the Hadley brothers back in book 4 – they are the half brothers to the Earl of Brimsworth (who in this book they kept calling Eynsford so that was confusing) and Brimsworth is the alpha of their pack. You see they are all wolf shifters and hide that fact from the ton.

The Hadley brothers are not good ton. Sure the oldest brother is a Viscount but they really are quite disreputable and receive invitations quite rarely. They are friends with Robert Hayburn and are therefore invited to Castle Hythe for a week. Others that were invited by the Duke of Hythe are there to vie for the hand of the Duke’s daughter, Lady Madeline. Weston Hadley has been in love with Madeline since he saw her 3 years before but has never even spoken to the woman. During the week Madeline and Wes get to know each other a bit. When Madeline sees Wes hit a man and then pick up the unconscious body she’s concerned and head to the stables to find out what’s happening. What she sees is Wes turning into a wolf – which of course freaks her completely out and she tries to run for help. Wes manages to get her into the woods and then they hop a carriage and are off to Gretna Green to marry because only mates of wolf shifters are to know about them and if Wes marries her then all will be well.

Madeline is none too pleased to be kidnapped and forced to marry but as the trip continues she finds herself liking Wes more and more. He makes her understand that he can give her the passion that she seeks. She’s all for that but unfortunately Wes is dirt poor. He lives off of his brothers and has no means to make money. Madeline is used to the finer things in life and he’s can’t quite figure out how he will support her (as he knows he won’t get her dowry). This ends up being the crux of the couples problem with Wes eventually thoroughly believing that he’s not good enough for Madeline and that causes all sorts of issues.

I gotta tell you that I’ve really enjoyed the books that Lydia Dare has put out – whether they’re wolf shifters or vampires the books are always fun and engaging. This had humor and love as well but it was definitely a little short on both the romance and the paranormal aspect and that was a bit disappointing. Besides Wes shifting that once and them talking about his other powers – sensitive hearing, can run fast, uber strength – there were no other paranormal parts to the book. So sad.

Madeline was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She’s always had everything she’s ever wanted and what she got was the best of the best. Now she’s been kidnapped. Attacked in the woods when she was frightened out of her mind and rolled in the mud. She’s less than perfect and we constantly hear about her hatred of being dirty and her need to be clean. I understood that this was a major point because it was that issue – Madeline wanting and Wes not having – that truly was the major angst point. I know that Madeline was written as a snob to drive home the differences in their stations but that girl really got on my nerves at points. lol I do have to say that Madeline matured substantially during the course of the book. She realized that there were things she needed to give up for love and it shed a whole new light on her life.

Wes was great. He was kind of lost in the shuffle of life at times and his self-esteem has really taken a hit because of it. His face had been scarred so people had a hard time looking him in the eye. (Madeline didn’t have an issue with the scar at all and I liked her all the more for it.) He hadn’t planned on being married although he loved the fact that he was going to be able to marry his lady love. He wanted what was best for her but in the end he cut off his nose to spite his face and that just didn’t work at all. He was willing to give up something he loved to make someone else happy. As much as my heart ached for him I wanted to shake him and tell him to cut it out!

In the end it all worked out – of course, with a great HEA. I do have to say that the scene where Wes and Madeline come back together was a bit too much for me. Madeline actions and words, while seeming romantic at first, were highly inappropriate and I was almost embarrassed for her.

I will continue to read this series as I can’t wait to see Wes’s brothers, Gray and Archer, fall in love.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Series:
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You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Sourcebooks Casablanca. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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What I Read Last Week

Posted March 19, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 13 Comments

Happy, happy day!
How are you? I’m very busy at work with Easter and Holy Week coming up (since I work at a church…and all of you who are wondering about church/my potty mouth? What can I say – I’m a one of a kind church lady. lol) and that has us all working out tails off. I’d like to say it keeps me out of trouble but…it doesn’t!
You’ll all be happy to know that we bought a refrigerator!!! Yippee-ky-yay motherfucker! OMG I’m just the happiest woman alive. I can’t wait for it to get here on Wednesday. You’re all wondering what happened with the hubby/Tracy fridge debate, aren’t you? Who won? Neither. We ended up going with neither fridge we looked at prior and bought a Kenmore from Sears that would knock your socks off. It was $1500.00 less than the original price and though that still made it a couple hundred more than what I was looking to spend, we got a nicer and bigger fridge. I’m just happy that the search is over!
Another exciting thing happened this past Friday. I got home from work and both my parents were there and gave me an early birthday present (when I say early I mean 6 weeks early) of a brand new laptop! Holy shit. My other laptop was a hand-me-down from my hubby and it was very slow with very little memory and disk space which was about 9 years old. The new one is a Dell Inspiron and is small, light, has lots of memory and a 500GB hard drive. I love it to pieces and couldn’t thank my parents enough. I have never had a new laptop – I felt so spoiled!
So enough about my life…let’s get on to the books!
I started off the week with As You Are by Ethan Day. This was the story of Julian and his roommate Danny. Julian’s had the hots for Danny for as long as he’s known him. Danny has steered clear of Julian because he doesn’t want to screw up their friendship. Julian’s like: screw with it, please! lol Just when Julian meets a great guy Danny makes a move and he and Julian fall into bed. But things don’t always work out the way you plan them and that is SO true for Julian. This was a wonderful and hilarious story. I loved Julian to death and his sense of humor was killer. He was snarky and sarcastic and a man after my own heart. lol The issue that I had with this story was that even though it was in the first person I really got to see the other side of the secondary characters – Julian’s mom & Julian’s best friend Gwen…but not so with Danny. I ended the story not really knowing who he was and though I could see the physical attraction that Julian had for the man I was a bit in the dark as to what the appeal was. Don’t get me wrong, I still wanted them together I just wanted to know Danny as well as I knew the two female characters. 4 out of 5
Next up was Midnight Remedy by Eve Gaddy. This story followed Piper Stevenson who gave an herbal remedy for dry skin to a friend. The friend ended up making it as a tea for her husband (what????) and ended up curing his impotence. Ok, weird. So, Dr. Eric Chambers heads over to talk to Piper to try and find out what was in the recipe for the dry skin so that he can pass it on to his friend who is doing research on impotence. But Piper isn’t willing to give up the secret – not that she doesn’t want to find a cure but she wants absolutely NO publicity for her and her son due to her past. The story was decent and the love story was very sweet. I did have some issues with it but you’ll have to read my review to find out what they were. lol I’ll let you know when it posts on The Book Binge. 3.75 out of 5
Be My Vampire Tonight by Renee Field was a free Kindle read that I downloaded. This is the first in a series and though we meet the characters from the next 2 books in this book we are really left in the dark as to what’s going on with them. I guess that’s supposed to intrigue you enough to read the next two. Anyway, the story was about a woman who recently inherited a boatload of money and heads to a charity auction with her friends. She ends up bidding on a masked man and later finds out not only is HE a vampire but wow, so is she (well a half-breed). The problem is is that masked man became a vampire by selling his soul to Satan so getting it back may be tricky. It was a good story but didn’t make me want to run out and read more by this author. 3 out of 5
Never Been Bit by Lydia Dare is 3rd in the Regency Vampire trilogy. This story followed characters that we’d met in previous books – Alec who was turned into a vampire and Sorcha the youngest witch of her coven. Sorcha is visiting England from Scotland and is looking to find a Lycan man to fall in love with. Her fellow coven witches did it and she thinks they are hotter than hell so she sets off to snare one. But Alec McQuarrie who is a family friend ruins her plans by kissing her and making her think of nothing but him. Unfortunately what Sorcha eventually thinks of as Alec loving her isn’t that at all. I have to say that Lydia Dare always provides me with an entertaining read. They blend the paranormal with the historical so well and there aren’t many of those that I like besides this authors. I will definitely be reading the next books by them that also have continuing characters (even though it’s a new series). 4 out of 5
One of my Tracy’s TBR Challenge Read for the week (the others were Never Been Bit and As You Are) was Silver Shark by Ilona Andrews was really good, I just wanted it to be longer! It’s a novella about a woman from a planet that has been at war for hundreds of years. She manages to get off planet as a refugee by shielding her mental powers. She begins work as a secretary for a man who’s mind is almost as powerful as hers. She imagines the guy in a million different compromising positions but holds herself back for fear of discovery of what she really is. I loved the story but as I said wanted it to be longer. Though I liked the romance we didn’t get to see much beyond when they finally got together and I wanted to see it all. I know, I’m greedy that way. lol  4 out of 5
Much Ado About Rogues by Kasey Michaels was a highly intriguing mystery/suspense/romance. This is the 3rd book in the Blackthorn Brothers series and it was good. Jack and his former lover Tess set out to find Tess’s father who has gone missing. You can read more in my review here. 3.75 out of 5
Trust in the Lawe by Stacey Joy Netzel was my next read . I read a short story by this author and really liked it so decided to get this book. The premise of the story is that Kendra and her brother Noah are on the run and hiding from her older half-brother (from her dad) who wants to kill them so that he can get all of his father’s money – like 15 million dollars – before Kendra turns 25 and gets control of it all. Kendra heads to Colorado to meet another half-brother (from her mom) who doesn’t even know that she and Noah exist. The ranch manager is skeptical for many reasons about Kendra and if she’s on the up and up. Colton and Kendra are attracted to each other but it takes them a while to act on it. So there’s the romance and then the wondering when the brother, Robert, will show up to kill her and her brother. The story was good and honestly I couldn’t stop turning page after page so the author obviously had a way with words that attracted me but Kendra and Colton really pissed me off. lol I understood the mistrust at first but they couldn’t stop slinging insults at each other and then they’d fall in bed. Ok, it was more complicated than that but it was frustrating to not see any of the good parts of the relationship and only be shown the bad. So there was good and bad. I certainly won’t give up on the author as I think she’s got something I like about her writing. 3 out of 5
Last up for the week was Winning the Wallflower by Eloisa James. This is a novella in the Fairy Tales series #2.5. The story follows Lucy who is tall and plain but engaged so, right on. But then her great aunt leaves her a great deal of money and now she’s an heiress. Her mother wants her to break off her engagement because the man is “beneath” Lucy now. Lucy really doesn’t want to but when she sits and talks to her fiancé, Cyrus, she realizes that she was just the best of bunch of titled women that he had to choose from – he never really SAW her. Well, when it’s brought to Cyrus’s attention he realizes what he’s missed and makes an effort to win Lucy back. This was a very cute story. It was short so I expected the I love you’s to come quickly but they came even quicker than expected. Despite that I thought it was lovely. 3.75 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Happy Reading!

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