Books

This and that January 07, 2022

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I need a little writing therapy so here we are. I don’t have anything in particular on my mind though.

I heard a loud noise earlier, it sounded like something tipped, rolled, and fell over. I went all over the house trying to see what happened. Nothing. I was listening to two guys doing their weekly op-ed type podcast and since I couldn’t find anything in the house I thought maybe one of them had knocked something over at their place. Didn’t seem likely but you never know, right?

In the quiet aftermath of their show ending I heard downspouts rattling on the roof. A storm rolled in when I wasn’t paying attention. The wind must have been strong to make a noise loud enough to be heard over the cranked up volume.

Hopefully the storm won’t blow as hard all night as it is right now. The forgotten bedroom window is open a crack and it’s frozen in place so it can’t be closed. The wind whistling in a narrow space makes a lot of noise, it will be interesting trying to sleep if it keeps this up. Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow and thaw it enough so that it can be closed.

Along with the wild wind tonight we have a blowing snow advisory. That’s one drawback to fine powdery snow, it doesn’t take much wind to move it around. I’m grateful for my neighbor! If the promised amount happens he has plans to clear it out.

Speaking of podcasts, I was listening to another favorite tonight and at one point he was going on a bit of a rant trying to warn his listeners that the people posing as him, asking for money, are scammers. It must happen a lot because he seems to address this on a regular basis. It mostly happens for him on Facebook.

I haven’t had anyone approach me on line but I’ve noticed the scammer phone calls have come up with wild schemes that unsuspecting people could fall prey to. Hopefully people will be suspicious of anyone posing as a bank or some other institution, or of anyone at all asking for money. Never trust someone asking for money.

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So currently I have two things on the go, aside from listening to podcasts. Another read and my Christmas puzzle. The book is a two in one, it includes a full length bonus mystery. I wasn’t sure how I would like them, story one started out like another one from WWII. I was glad to find it was just the introduction, the main part of the story was present day. In the end I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read so far.

A Christmas Eve Promise: a story of hope and joy

It’s December 1941. Thomas is in his third year of college and is about to propose to Emily, his high school sweetheart. But the attack on Pearl Harbor has shocked the nation and is threatening to keep them apart. On a snowy, romantic Christmas Eve, he makes a life-changing promise to her. But fulfilling it will require everything of him and will lead to generational consequences he never could have imagined. Now is the time for a story of hope and joy.

BONUS BOOK INCLUDED: The Lakeside Conspiracy. Max and Michelle Henry had the perfect marriage and an ideal life in the small town of Lakeside, Arkansas where Max is the football coach and Michelle is a teacher. But when Max discovers the police are covering up the death of his star player will he and Michelle uncover secrets someone is ready to kill over?

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One thing for sure; podcasts and puzzles go well together.

Time gets away on me when I find something to get lost in, like two more podcasts. It’s time to quit and get out of here.

It’s been nice chatting with you.

Happy reading…

…and maybe listening to some good podcasts.

Bargain books January 07, 2022

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1531 Entertainment has bargain suggestions for us. Mysteries that look interesting.

The Barrister and the Letter of Marque

As a barrister in 1818 London, William Snopes has witnessed firsthand the danger of only the wealthy having their voices heard, and he’s a strong advocate who defends the poorer classes against the powerful. That changes the day a struggling heiress, Lady Madeleine Jameson, arrives at his door.

In a last-ditch effort to save her faltering estate, Lady Jameson invested in a merchant brig, the Padget. The ship was granted a rare privilege by the king’s regent: a Letter of Marque authorizing the captain to seize the cargo of French traders operating illegally in the Indian Sea. Yet when the Padget returns to London, her crew is met by soldiers ready to take possession of their goods and arrest the captain for piracy. And the Letter–the sole proof his actions were legal–has mysteriously vanished.

Moved by the lady’s distress, intrigued by the Letter, and goaded by an opposing solicitor, Snopes takes the case. But as he delves deeper into the mystery, he learns that the forces arrayed against Lady Jameson, and now himself, are even more perilous than he’d imagined.

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The Domino Effect by Davis Bunn

A Financial Thriller That Will Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats

Esther Larsen, a leading risk analyst at one of the country’s largest banking institutions, is becoming more and more convinced that she has uncovered a ticking bomb with the potential to overshadow 2008’s market crash. And as her own employer pursues “investment” strategies with ever-increasing levels of risk, she becomes convinced she must do something. Yet what can one person really do?

The markets are edging closer to a tipping point–like the teetering first domino in a standing row that circles the globe. And when Esther does sound the alarm, she wonders if anyone will take her seriously. But as public support grows for her ideas, so does the desperation of those whose conspiracy of greed she seeks to expose. With global markets on the brink, and her own life in danger, Esther is locked in a race with the clock to avert a worldwide financial meltdown.

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I stumbled over an irresistible Susan Sleeman bargain suggestion.

Night Moves: (Nighthawk Security Book 4)

If you’re in his sights…

County social worker, Natalie Dunn discovers a horrible secret about the father of her juvenile clients. The man not only killed one woman, but Natalie suspects he’s killed several others. She plans to go to the authorities, but before she can, the killer turns his sights on her. Fearing for the lives of this man’s children, she removes them from their home and calls in former U.S. Marshal, Drake Byrd of Nighthawk Security to protect her and the children and help her prove their father is a ruthless killer

You’re as good as dead.

As they investigate, Drake learns the father is a former elite sniper and assassin, and he has done a professional job of hiding any evidence of his wrong doing. Drake vows to protect Natalie and the three children—all of whom he has come to care for—putting everything on the line for them. When bullets start flying, can he save them all from a certain death?

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You know it has been a good day for books when we have popular authors involved. All three look to be great reads.

It’s another cool day here with an extreme cold warning. That usually means there will be a hefty wind chill that will cut right through you. I hear it’s supposed to warm up a bit and bless us with more snow. In this part of the country we don’t complain about snow, the winter sports enthusiasts love it. Besides it’s dry and fine and doesn’t accumulate all that much. It will never reach the top of the doorways like it can with wet snow.

Staying inside where it’s warm, it won’t be a boring weekend with awesome books to read.

I hope you are happy reading too.

Free and bargain books January 06, 2022

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BookBub and 1531 Entertainment have bargain suggestions for us. I’ve read the first one. The second one is new to me.

Runaway Tide (Sea Glass Inn Book 2)

“You meant the world to him, cara mia …”

Meg finds herself at a crossroads when ex-flame, Jackson Riley, becomes her boss. She had made a promise to Jackson’s late father to stay working for the chain of inns, but how can she now?

After years away, Jackson has something to prove … to his family and to Meg. But after mounting conflicts with one of Jackson’s family members bubble over, Meg must decide if her promise is worth keeping.

Will a spontaneous trip to the ancient city of Florence, Italy have the power to reignite lost love? 

Or push Jackson and Meg even farther apart?

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The Dress Shop on King Street (Heirloom Secrets Book #1)

Harper Dupree has pinned all her hopes on a future in fashion design. But when it comes crashing down around her, she returns home to Fairhope, Alabama, and to Millie, the woman who first taught her how to sew. As Harper rethinks her own future, long-hidden secrets about Millie’s past are brought to light.

In 1946, Millie Middleton–the daughter of an Italian man and a Black woman–boarded a train and left Charleston to keep half of her heritage hidden. She carried with her two heirloom buttons and the dream of owning a dress store. She never expected to meet a charming train jumper who changed her life forever . . . and led her yet again to a heartbreaking choice about which heritage would define her future.

Now, together, Harper and Millie return to Charleston to find the man who may hold the answers they seek . . . and a chance at the dress shop they’ve both dreamed of. But it’s not until all appears lost that they see the unexpected ways to mend what frayed between the seams.

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My current read is enjoyable and it is still FREE. I’m not too far into it but I’m definitely engaged in this story with it’s characters.

Her Hope Discovered (Welcome to Ruby Book 1)

Is the sure thing worth risking for the possibility of maybe?​

Charla Winthrop, a savvy business woman seeking a permanent lifestyle change in small-town Ruby, learns that things aren’t always what they appear when she takes up residence in a house steeped in charm and a hint of mystery.

Rumor has it that Sam Packard the town carpenter is her go-to guy for home remodeling, but can Charla convince him to help her—with no strings attached, of course?

Alone far too long, Sam’s prayed that God would send him a wife and a mother for his daughters. However, the new Ruby resident is hardly what he imagined. A new place to call “home,” the possibility of what might be, and the answer to someone’s prayers unite this unlikely pair with the help of the town’s residents.

Nestled in the Ozarks’ hills and hollows is Ruby, Missouri, a quaint, cozy town where “neighbor” is merely another word for “friend.” Ruby will charm and delight as will her quirky, lovable characters who will steal your heart, but hand it right back—with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Savor your new friends’ sorrows and successes in the community where offbeat is perfect and mishaps and mayhem never tasted so good.

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Happy Reading!

Free and bargain books January 05, 2022

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BookBub has a mystery collection for us. There are three books and I’ve read one of them. I’ve met and enjoyed the other two authors, but have not read these books.

The Cost of Betrayal: Three Romantic Suspense Novellas 

In Dee Henderson’s novella “Betrayed,” Janelle Roberts is freed–thanks to people she doesn’t know–after serving six years of a twenty-year sentence for a murder she did not commit. But a murderer is still at large, and Janelle needs to be somewhere safe with someone she can trust. She may not survive another betrayal.

In Dani Pettrey’s “Deadly Isle,” Tennyson Kent is trapped on the isolated island of her childhood by a storm surge, and she is shocked when the typically idyllic community turns into the hunting grounds of a murderer. Cut off from any help from the mainland, will she and first love Callen Frost be able to identify and stop a killer bent on betrayal before they become the next victims?

In Lynette Eason’s “Code of Ethics,” trauma surgeon Ruthie St. John saves the life of Detective Isaac Martinez. After a betrayal leads to him getting shot and then attacked while in recovery, Isaac is now a key witness determined to testify. But someone is intent on silencing him–and those around him–forever. Together, Ruthie and Isaac go on the run, desperate to escape the killers hunting him. 

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BookRunes has a FREE suggestion with an author new to me. After reading the first few pages I’m excited about reading this one.

Her Hope Discovered (Welcome to Ruby Book 1) 

Is the sure thing worth risking for the possibility of maybe?​

Charla Winthrop, a savvy business woman seeking a permanent lifestyle change in small-town Ruby, learns that things aren’t always what they appear when she takes up residence in a house steeped in charm and a hint of mystery.

Rumor has it that Sam Packard the town carpenter is her go-to guy for home remodeling, but can Charla convince him to help her—with no strings attached, of course?

Alone far too long, Sam’s prayed that God would send him a wife and a mother for his daughters. However, the new Ruby resident is hardly what he imagined. A new place to call “home,” the possibility of what might be, and the answer to someone’s prayers unite this unlikely pair with the help of the town’s residents.

Nestled in the Ozarks’ hills and hollows is Ruby, Missouri, a quaint, cozy town where “neighbor” is merely another word for “friend.” Ruby will charm and delight as will her quirky, lovable characters who will steal your heart, but hand it right back—with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Savor your new friends’ sorrows and successes in the community where offbeat is perfect and mishaps and mayhem never tasted so good.

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Visiting with four tall grandsons for a day was a wonderful and exhausting experience. I can hardly wait to do it again.

Sleep is looking very attractive right about now though, so I’m going to say…

Happy Reading!

Until tomorrow.

Why relationships fail and what to do about it. January 04, 2022

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Do you ever wonder if as a traumatized person you could break the dysfunctional cycle and connect with a healthy person. I’ve wondered, many times.

I found this podcast had so much hope and inspiration to share. There was a wealth of helpful information and advice on how to become a healthier person, equipped to recognize old patterns and ways to avoid them.

Pitfalls in partnering with a healthy person were also addressed. We gravitate to the familiar. To the abused and traumatized, dysfunctional is familiar. Healthy is not. It would be easy to reject the unfamiliar to our own detriment.

Psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb has written a popular book called Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.

I am teetering on the brink of buying her book.

Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose of­fice she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
 
As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients’ lives — a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can’t stop hooking up with the wrong guys — she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.
 
With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.
 
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is rev­olutionary in its candor, offering a deeply per­sonal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly reveal­ing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.

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For me, another take-away from the podcast was an unexpected point of view on narcissism.

I’ve decided on the book. I’m going to enjoy it if it’s anything like the podcast and I think it will be.

Happy Viewing and Reading

Free and bargain books January 03, 2022

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LPC Free Books has several FREE suggestions. They both showed up in 2019 and they are on my read and enjoyed list.

Hidden Things (Faded Photographs Book 2)

Kylie had her life all planned out—with marriage to Matthew and a “happily-ever-after” in their sleepy Wisconsin hometown. But when she opens a wedding invitation and a decades-old faded photograph falls out, she uncovers a side of her mother Kylie never suspected.

As she digs into the past, Kylie uncovers a whole world of hidden surprises, including grandparents she never knew existed. Suddenly, Kylie faces a choice between two worlds—and doesn’t feel she fits in either. As the past changes, so does her future with Matthew.

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A Place Called Morning

Mae Demaray retreats from life after her young grandson dies accidentally while under her care.

What was once a quiet life in an old clapboard house on a quiet Minneapolis street, rich with the hues of security and love, is now shattered. But a decades-old family secret, based on an unlikely friendship over the years, brings redemption and restoration once it is revealed.

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1531 Entertainment has a bargain mystery for us. I’ve read and enjoyed this book too.

Threads of Suspicion (An Evie Blackwell Cold Case)

Evie Blackwell’s reputation as a top investigator for the Illinois State Police has landed her an appointment to the governor’s new Missing Persons Task Force. This elite investigative team is launched with plenty of public fanfare. The governor has made this initiative a high priority, so they will have to produce results–and quickly.

Evie and her new partner, David Marshal, are assigned to a pair of unrelated cases in suburban Chicago, and while both involve persons now missing for several years, the cases couldn’t be more different. While Evie opens old wounds in a close-knit neighborhood to find a missing college student, David searches for a private investigator working for a high-powered client.

With a deep conviction that “justice for all” truly matters, Evie and David are unrelenting in their search for the truth. But Evie must also find answers to the questions that lie just beneath the surface in her personal life.

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Happy Reading y’all

Free book January 02, 2021

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BookRunes has a FREE suggestion for us. I have read one other book by this author, This story doesn’t look to be a frivolous read, which is always nice.

The Ruthless Billionaire: A Clean Billionaire Romance (California Elite)

He needed to marry one of the women on his father’s list. She wanted to find her missing brother. Neither of them counted on falling in love.

Lucas Armstrong didn’t believe love existed. He was a ruthless man, ready to follow in his father’s footsteps. When he received an ultimatum to marry one of the women on his father’s preapproved list or risk losing his inheritance, he set out to win over a self-absorbed socialite, vacationing in Kauai. He wanted a marriage in name only so he could take over his father’s empire. Separate lives. No love. No attachments.

When Aria Dasher accepted a position cleaning Lucas’s house in Kauai, she had no idea she would fall for him. She was there for one reason only: she needed to save enough money to hire a private investigator. After she and her brother, Chase, were separated in foster care, he ran away and hadn’t been seen in four years.

Aria had to keep her eye on the goal and couldn’t allow any distractions in her life. She was determined to keep Lucas at arm’s length, and he was equally determined to push her away. A connection developed that neither of them anticipated, one that drastically changed everything.

But Lucas would have to do the unthinkable in order to be with Aria. He would have to give up his inheritance. And then there was that one issue with the secret he held. Once Aria found out, it would rip apart their relationship before it even had a chance.

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This romance may be a needed break after the intensity of my current read. I’ve barely started this book and have no real opinions yet but I’m liking it so far.

Silent Night, Deadly Night by Richard Mabry

The colored lights on the snow gave it a holiday appearance, but the dead woman’s body in the yard added a grisly touch. How did Ina Bell Patrick die?
Who killed her? And why?

The dead woman had no direct heirs, so two nephews and a niece stood to inherit. Dr. Laura Morris was left to make all the arrangements, attorney Roger Morris could certainly use the money, and Zack Morris had disappeared two years earlier. Then there was neighbor and “best friend” Fay Autrey, who was certain the woman intended to leave her some money—a great deal of money.

The police were still looking for the killer who left the frozen body in the snow when it became apparent someone was trying to pick off the heirs, one by one. Who would win the race—the police or the killer?

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It’s a slow book day and one new one is all we have today. Tomorrow may be better.

Happy Reading…

…on this day that is somewhat warmer than yesterday.

A book and a podcast January 01, 2021

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I want to remember this podcast and this post will help with that. My favorite aspect of this discussion was the encouragement we are given to think outside the box, Erwin McManus stresses the importance of exercising this ability.

The second item on the agenda for this post is an introduction a WWII Novel by one of the writers in our monthly critique group. I have not read it but I have enjoyed Robert’s writing and expect this story will not disappoint.

Stealth

1944. American bomber pilot, Jack Swaggart, has led his squadron countless times into hostile German territory, hit the assigned target, and returned to base none the worse for wear.

Eventually, Jack’s luck runs out. With his B-26 Marauder heavily damaged by flak, Jack is forced to ditch his crippled airplane in the German countryside.

Separated from his crew, Jack trusts an unlikely ally, Hilde Augsburg, a plucky young woman, a decision which catapults them into an adventure neither could have envisioned. Coincidentally, they spot a new type of German warplane in flight–a design unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.

In that moment, Jack realizes that the Nazis have developed a formidable new bomber, one that could dramatically alter the course of the war. In the blink of an eye, Jack’s mission shifts from survival to thwarting the Germans, just when the Allies are on the verge of triumph.

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Carey picks titles that must be relevant to the bulk of his audience but generally, I find the actual interview always covers more ground than the title suggests. This podcast is no exception. I found the discussion to be challenging and thought provoking. It needs more than one viewing for a person to get the most out of it.

The whole interview will have us thinking outside the box.

Happy reading and viewing.

Current read with favorite coffee Jan 01, 2022

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I’m very excited to have found a coffee blend that stands out above the rest for me. The last few years I’ve been rotating through a number of different possibilities and while there were variations in flavor nothing struck me as special. This year I happened upon one and I love the taste. The biggest drawback and disappointment will be it’s a seasonal coffee. And then, by next year I may have even forgotten it, this post will immortalize it for me.

It will be be iffy finding the same experience next year. It’s a generic brand, they may not use the same supplier and things will change. I’d better make sure to enjoy this package to the fullest.

Not only did I find a favorite coffee I happened on a favorite new mug too. I bought it because I liked the look, I had no idea I would like the mug itself. It’s funny how the material used in manufacturing can make such a difference to the enjoyment experience. I’m a happy camper.

The third thing making this day special is my current read. I’m loving it. Coffee, mug, book, a perfect combination.

Fatal Mistake: A Novel (White Knights Book 1)

An FBI agent must protect the woman who can identify a terrorist bomber in bestselling author Susan Sleeman’s riveting romantic suspense novel.
Each day could be her last…but not if he can help it.
Tara Parrish is the only person ever to survive an attack by the Lone Wolf bomber. Scared and emotionally scarred by her near death, she goes into hiding with only one plan–to stay alive for another day. She knows he’s coming after her, and if he finds her, he will finish what he started.

Agent Cal Riggins has had only one goal for the past six months–to save lives by ending the Lone Wolf’s bombing spree. To succeed, he needs the help of Tara Parrish, the one person who can lead them to the bomber. Cal puts his all into finding Tara, but once he locates her, he realizes if he can find her, the Lone Wolf can, too. He must protect Tara at all costs, and they’ll both need to resist the mutual attraction growing between them to focus on hunting down the bomber, because one wrong move could be fatal.

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I haven’t checked yet to see if we have any awesome book suggestions. If there are any I will be sure to share.

Happy Reading

Loving my current read December 31, 2021

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Yesterday I was complaining but not today. Today’s book had me reading until 3 am on a night when I had planned for a midnight lights out. Good intentions right out the window. I’ve read every single page, every single word. No skimming.

I was thinking about cooks this morning. Some are better than others and then there are chefs, able to outshine everyone else. Writers are like that. Some can dish up amazing stories. Today’s story is one of the best.

Falling For The Petticoat Physician

She’s a woman in a man’s profession.
Puma Ridge needs a doctor, but they never expected a woman to step off the stagecoach in response to their advertisement, and no one wants to be the first to use her services. Dr. Charlotte “Charley” Adams isn’t afraid of a little skepticism and disapproval, though. She overcame much bigger challenges while becoming a physician, and sooner or later, need will outweigh the townsfolk’s reluctance. So why does the disapproval of one grouchy, gray-eyed stagecoach driver thoroughly rattle her customary composure and resigned heart?

He hates the profession.
Experience is the best teacher, and Cooper Knight has enough of it to know that physicians are bad news. However, his protective instincts won’t let him ignore the pretty tenderfoot when she gets herself into trouble, and before long, he begins to see the woman behind the medical bag. But when an unexpected discovery fractures their developing relationship, will Cooper allow forgiveness to heal them both? Or will the tragic mistakes of the past destroy their future?

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That’s all I have for now but I’ll post again later if there is more.

In the meantime…

Happy New Year and Happy Reading everyone.