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REVIEW: Nothing Special IX: Fire and Smoke by A.E. Via
Nothing Special: Nothing Special IX: Fire and Smoke – A.E. Via
“A ruthless meth dealer is torching Atlanta’s streets, and God and Day are striking back with two of Hollywood’s legendary pyro experts.”
The war raging through Atlanta isn’t just about drugs—it’s about power, leverage, and survival. God and Day’s task force is the only barrier standing between a growing plague and the city’s safety.
Wes and Law, childhood friends turned blacklisted pyrotechnic rivals, are hiding out in Atlanta until the fire they started in Hollywood is extinguished.
It seemed like a safe choice—until they’re dragged into the task force’s frontline fight. Now they’re trading cinematic special effects for real explosions and blood in the streets.
God and Day’s team is fracturing under secrets and betrayal, as the merciless army of their fiercest kingpin yet slowly closes in.
They used to fight to conquer… now they’re just fighting to survive.
I missed our boys. Glad they’re back!
Fire and Smoke, is Book 9 of Nothing Special by A.E. Via, featuring the biggest badasses of Altanta PD. I loved God and Day and their team of troublemakers since the beginning. Older now but definitely still unstoppable, they’re waging war on drugs with even more firepower.
As if the team isn’t combustible enough, they introduce two pyrotechnic experts who literally play with fire. Law and Wes are childhood friends working the Hollywood scene until their bitter rivalry leads to a stunt gone horribly wrong and so they are persona non grata.
One day they stumble upon a shootout involving God and Day’s team. Their quick assist with a car fire impress God so much he commands, yes commands because he is God, them to join their team in exchange for a shot at redemption and a way back to Hollywood again.
I loved how Law and Wes fit right in. They’re trouble with a capital T, their expertise in pyrokinetics and their bid to outdo one another spark one fiery spectacle after another. Law is the more daring, always pushing the bounderies while Wes plays it smart.
They’re also lovers whose dynamic is similar to Ruxs and Green. Still not boyfriends, still coming around to owning their feels as dorks often do because they’re both stubborn bastards who just had to one up each other. They’re a fun, lovable duo and a worthy addition to the Nothing Special alphas.
Trouble in paradise as God buries himself in work and Day is feeling neglected. I don’t think their relationship needs this kind of drama yet again but I enjoy checking in with the rest of the team. I relish the pure chaos, still gloriously OTT as ever. We all know the team’s antics wouldn’t fly with real life IA yet they walk away with nothing more than an audit that the gang takes as a sign to go to Cancun.
One surprise is Vasquez, the corrupt cop, is given a redemption arc and his blossoming romance with Kiran almost stole the spotlight. Now I want a full story.
Fire and Smoke is a story about turning up the heat and smoking out the bad guys. It is hella entertaining and does what Nothing Special does best, take us for an explosive ride and make us swoon along the way!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Firework
Artist: The Boxer Rebellion
Album: Ocean by OceanP.S.
Nothing Special is best read in order. God and Day’s team is do-gooding chaos and mayhem keeping the streets of Altanta clean.
Nothing Special – God and Day being so ridiculously alpha I was completely hooked but really, I still want a Johnson and Ronowski book
Embracing His Syn – Syn has the most gorgeous boyfriend of all, adult film actor Furi
Here Comes Trouble – Ruxs and Green has no concept of collateral damage
Don’t Judge – bounty hunting Judge from The Bounty Hunters fell hard for team sniper Michaels
Nothing Special V – Steele and Tech hitting the streets and making waves
His Hart’s Command – this is where the series hit its stride with Hart and Free
Ex Meridian – hands down the best, swooniest book of the series, Ex and Meridian, the unforgettable first Ravens had me raving
Swat Ed.: Fox & Bull – Fox, a cunning, smart talking cop sweetly woos Bull, a man of few words
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NOTHING SPECIAL IX: FIRE AND SMOKE: Amazon UK | Audiobook
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SERIES REVIEW: The Last Grift, Bait and Switch, & Skin Game (Subtle Deceptions Books 1-3) by Elle Keaton
Subtle Deceptions: The Last Grift by Elle Keaton
It’s road trip time. Semi-retired grifter Gabriel Karne is in deadly trouble. If he gets out of this ‘situation’, he’s leaving everything behind and heading someplace where no one knows his name, or his face. Heartstone Island or bust.
The plan is to collect his inheritance and move right along. No one will need to know his past.
It will be fine. Everything will be fine.Less than 24 hours on the island and Gabe’s made an impression on the locals–possibly not the best. A trespassing citation from an infuriating but compelling forest ranger, and he’s interfered with two local good ol’ boys plans. Not a great way to stay off the radar.
Then, when a local goes missing, Gabe offers to help find him.
Being off his grift is the only explanation as to why Gabe would rather focus on a stranger’s bad luck than his own. But the fact is, he’s always had a soft spot for losers.Jim Rockford’s got nothing on Gabriel Karne.
The Last Grift is the first installment in the Subtle Deceptions series, a small town mystery with romantic elements. The series, part of the Piedras Island and Veiled Intentions universe, is written in the third person and follows the unplanned adventures in the life and love of the disreputable Gabriel Karne.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Grifter’s Grief
Artist: Yard Act
Album: Where’s My Utopia?
Subtle Deceptions: Bait and Switch by Elle Keaton
Gabriel Karne is back
The plan?
Lie low on Heartstone Island and wait for the dumpster fire that is his past life to burn itself out. So far, so good. Until it isn’t.
Gabriel has avoided Ranger Man for days, made a few important repairs to his sailboat, and put a dent in the stack of dime-store mysteries Elton loaned him. Life is at least okay.
Eight days in and his strategy crumbles like a wet cookie.
His ex-partner-in-crime returns, but this time he is very dead. And wearing a baby blue tracksuit, which somehow makes his murder even worse.
Is his body a message from the crime family they mutually pissed off? Did Peter have connections to Heartstone? And if he didn’t, how the hell did he know he’d find Gabe there?
With yet another exceedingly ill-timed murder, Gabe’s luck is once again not the Good Kind. Then there’s his simmering attraction to Casey, which he’s actively sweeping underneath his mental throw rug. Lundin is definitely not Gabe’s type. He’s a walking-talking moral compass that never seems to cease pointing out everything he’s sure is wrong about Gabe. But damn, that man’s uniform fits him like a custom glove.
Adding to it all, snow is in the forecast, there’s a missing brush worker up the valley, and Calvin Perkins is still on the loose. Gabe’s not even going to think about the spiders.
Everything will be fine. FINE.
Bait and Switch is book two in the Subtle Deception series.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Make The Weather
Artist: The Waitresses
Album: Bruiseology
Subtle Deceptions: Skin Game by Elle Keaton
Gabriel Karne is cautiously optimistic. Life seems to be settling down into a nice even keel.
It’s a new year and the former con artist has a permanent-for-now address. Even Keith-the-cat seems to like it there. No more rickety sailboats and living out of go-bags for Gabriel Karne. No surprises. No dead bodies.
Romance-wise, he and Ranger Man are easing into being a couple. A lifetime of habits is hard to break for both of them but they’re getting there.
Gabe even has a job. Will he regret agreeing to it? Probably but it’s almost legal, so baby steps.
Then a strange young woman claiming to be his long-lost daughter appears on his new doorstep, and she has some sketchy documentation to prove it. It’s not impossible, but Gabe wasn’t born yesterday, and Heidi Karne was his mother, after all.
And another damn letter—this one from a stranger—shows up. The author claims to be a friend of Heidi’s and to have some of his late mother’s belongings. Just great.It’s pretty clear that the past isn’t done with him yet.
It will be fine. Everything will be fine.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Skin In The Game
Artist: Backroad Raised
Album: Skin In The Game
Subtle Deceptions is another series in Elle Keaton‘s interconnected world set in the US Pacific Northwest archipelago. It follows semi-retired con man Gabriel Karne as he leaves his past behind and starts over at Heartstone Island.
The Last Grift is Gabe newly arrived at Heartstone Island to claim his inheritance, a rusty, barely livable boat called Golden Ticket. He immediately clashes with grumpy forest ranger Casey Lundin who turns out to be his pier neighbor. He also meets his late mother’s old friend, the spritely octogenarian Elton, who becomes a father figure to him and Casey.
Gabe’s sordid past seems to catch up to him when a dead body is discovered and he is the top suspect. It didn’t help that he has strained ties with the deputy and his reluctant favorite Ranger Man.
Bait and Switch has Gabe’s ex and fellow con man showing up on his doorstep only to end up dead. Gabe is afraid that the crime family he’s hiding from finally finds him. Also, more missing people that Gabe can’t help but insert himself in the investigation because of his do-gooding tendencies. Meanwhile, Casey is slowly falling under the spell of Charming Fucker who is wooing him with ice cream and persistence.
Skin Game has a young woman claiming to be Gabe’s daughter. But you cannot con a con man and so he rejects her only for the girl to turn up dead. Gabe also recieves a letter asking him to claim his mother’s things and Heidi Karne’s cryptic diaries gives him more questions than answers.
The books should be read in order, each ending in cliffhangers and HFNs. While we also get Casey’s POV, this is firmly a Gabe-driven series. The first book was too slow, with only hints of attraction and mainly antagonistic interactions. The first half is spent setting things up with the second finally getting the plot moving.
But just like Casey, Gabe slowly but surely worms his way to everyone’s hearts and before I know it, this has become a comfort series for me. I loved the idea of a semi-reformed con-man using his grifting powers for good and of course he just has to fall for an LEO.
Gabe was trained in the game by his enigmatic mother. Her presence is so strong that even after death, Gabe hears her in his head reacting to different situations he’s in. Heidi has a way of succintly putting things in persective that punctuates a scene. She is one of the major mysteries in the series, Gabe hardly knowing anything about her that’s not part of a con.
At 44, Gabe might be a seasoned grifter but at heart, he’s a serial do-gooder who operates in grey areas. He has an easy-going, naturally chatty personality that makes people warm up to him. The 30-something Casey, prepared to hate his guts, ends up begrudgingly charmed dubbing him “Charming Fucker”. Tickles me pink everytime he calls Gabe “Charming” and Gabe calls him “Ranger Man”
The succeeding books hit their stride, the romance sparks, Gabe integrates into in town life, and Casey’s brother returns. Elton quickly becomes my favorite character, the formidable old man is protective and sharp, his found family dynamic with Casey and Gabe the beating heart of the series.
The writing is immersive and atmospheric. The plot is slice-of-life mystery, light on the action with mostly Casey and Gabe going about their days. There might be dead bodies, missing people, corrupt cops, petty criminals, and an oft-mention crime family haunting Gabe’s conscience yet the vibe feels cozy to me.
The Delacombes make their appearance when it was revealed Gabe is half brother to Shay (West Coast Forensics) and Niall Hamarsson (Veiled Intentions). WCF is also involved in the investigation of one case. It’s not necessary to read the other series but they’re worth a try. I always enjoy how the author makes the world of Piedras Island come alive.
Subtle Deceptions is an ongoing saga of fresh starts, irresistable charms and inescapable legacies. Slow-paced, and slow-burn, overall, deceptively cozy, subtly compelling, and ultimately comforting.
If you like my content, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links below to buy your copy of The Last Grift, Bait and Switch, and Skin Game. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases at no additional cost to you.
THE LAST GRIFT: Amazon UK | Audiobook
BAIT AND SWITCH: Amazon UK | Audiobook
SKIN GAME: Amazon UK | AudiobookIf you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!
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BLOG TOUR: P.S. I Love You by Meg Macy (Excerpt)
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COVER REVEAL: Coached Hearts by Phoenix Vale (Giveaway)
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PROMO BLITZ: The Attercop by Peter E. Fenton
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SERIES REVIEW: The Beast Who Bought Me & The Beast Who Broke Me (Clemenza Family Books 1&2) by Leighton Greene
Clemenza Family: The Beast Who Bought Me – Leighton Greene
I used to be a mafia prince. Now I’m marked as prey.
Someone is systematically eliminating my Family bloodline, and I’m the last heir standing.
No money.
No allies.
No way out…except one.An underground auction where the wealthy and the wicked bid on desperate, untouched men like me.
I expect to be sold to a stranger. Used and discarded.
Instead, I’m bought by a man with a two-decades-long vendetta against my dead father. A beast who drops ten million dollars to own me, then drags me home to a prison he built just for me.
He wants vengeance. He wants to break me. But I’m not as easy to break as he expects.
And when danger follows me into his territory, he becomes something I never expected.A protector.
A possessor.
He keeps me safe, even while he keeps me caged.I’m starting to think the most dangerous thing isn’t being owned by him.
It’s wanting him to keep me…
The Beast Who Bought Me is book 1 of an ongoing-couple trilogy and ends on a cliffhanger. Expect dark dealings, obsession, possessiveness, toxic dynamics, and all the red flags. These antiheroes will earn their happily ever after, but they’ll fight hard to get there.
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Unleash The Rage
Artist: Tash Sultana
Album: Return To Roots
Clemenza Family: The Beast Who Broke Me – Leighton Greene
I escaped the beast who bought me at auction. I thought I could take my throne back alone. I was wrong.
I only have one option left.
Go back to the beast.But this time, I have a muzzle for the monster.
A choke-chain to bring him to heel.
I’ll use him. Control him. Pray that he’ll keep me alive long enough to take what’s mine.But every night I’m under his roof, the line between strategy and surrender gets thinner. And every fight ends the same way: with his hand at my throat and me begging him not to stop.
He bought me.
He chained me.
He’s still the only thing standing between me and whoever wants me dead.Losing him would end me.
But letting him break me might be worse.The Beast Who Broke Me is book 2 of a dark MM romance trilogy following the same couple and ends on a cliffhanger. Expect captivity, obsession, possessiveness, toxic dynamics, and all the red flags. These antiheroes will earn their happily ever after, but they’ll have to fight hard to get there.
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Unbreakable
Artist: MIYAVI
Album: WHAT’S MY NAME?
Clemenza Family by Leighton Greene is a mafia romance trilogy set in the interconnected NYC organized crime world. Born from the fallout of the Morelli Family series, where Luca Di Amato killed the Clemenza Don and rose to lead the Commission, this follows the last surviving heir, Caligula Clemenza (love the name).
The Beast Who Bought Me opens with Caligula, on the run with killers hot on his heels after the rest of his family was killed. Penniless and desperate, he offers himself up at auction for protection and to everyone’s shock, Damiano Orsino, the Giuliano enforcer outbid everyone with a staggering $10 million.
Unknown to Cal, Damiano has been bidding his time to get his hands on the son of the man who killed his father. Expecting the worst, Cal’s Clemenza pride made him defiant, determined to get the upper hand on his owner, until his one-year contract is up.
The Beast Who Broke Me picks up after Cal escaped and ran into unlikely allies and the remaining Clemenza loyalists who crown him the new Don. His relationship with Damiano grows dangerously complicated, the Giuliano is the only one who can protect him, yet the irresistable pull toward each other blurs the line between hate and desire.
I loved that we get the perspective of one of the Families affected by the upheavals in the NYC Commission. Cal, grandson of the feared Don Louis, is haunted by the spectre of the old man. He’s a 21-year old virgin born with a silver spoon whose sexuality the old don scorned. Canny and manipulative, he discovers he shares more with his infamous grandfather, wielding seduction and steel alike.
Damiano is massive, tattooed, and hella determined to exact his revenge. Like a serial killer collecting trophies, he obssessively gathered pieces of the Clemenzas, with Caligula Clemenza the piece de resistance of that collection.
He will risk everything to protect that precious piece even as the aristocratic Cal pushes all his buttons. Dami who came from humbler origins and had built himself up still felt inadequate in the face of Cal’s innate hauteur that spoke of old money and privilege even in collar and leash.
Damiano is more bark than bite. There’s the build up of omininous pronouncements, promises of unspeakable tortures, and a contract whose implications made me sick to my stomach, but when it’s time for fangs to come out, Damiano holds himself back.
Dami and Cal’s connection is built upon a twisted blend of obsession, possession and revenge. A riff on the Beauty and the Beast trope, if Beauty is a viper and the Beast is a grizzly, it is a game of who breaks who. While the hatefucks are not exactly nuclear, the lust is explosive, the feels a slow-burning simmer spreading across two installments. They’re still not officially a couple at the end of the second book but by this time, the bond is unbreakable.
Dami’s found family of Rosa, Sammy, and Vito shows a softer side to the hard man and Cal uses that to his advantage, although he is also protective of them, especially Sammy, a victim of Clemenza hate crime. The ending of Book 2 had me worried about their fates.
The plot blends mafia politics with captive romance, excelling at both. The pacing is deliberate but the prose is compelling, capturing the delicious swirl of antagonism, danger and want with twists that kept me hooked.
I did not expect the books to end in cliffhangers so best to wait for the series to be completed if cliffhangers are not your thing. I also recommend audiobooking this, Michael Ferraiuolo knocked it out of the park as usual. It’s also best to read Morelli Family first, the events there resulted in Cal’s predicament here.
Clemenza Family is the ongoing saga of the fate of the last Clemenza. Shamelessly devious, ruthlessly single-minded, overall, a captivating tale of survival and obsession.
P.S.
Clemenza Family must be read in order. Also, I recommend picking up the Morelli Family first because who doesn’t melt a little everytime Luca calls Finch baby bird. Michael Ferraiuolo is narrating this too so best consumed as audiobook.
If you like my content, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links below to buy your copy of The Beast Who Bought Me & The Beast Who Broke Me. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases at no additional cost to you.
THE BEAST WHO BOUGHT ME: Amazon UK | Audiobook
THE BEAST WHO BROKE ME: Amazon UK | AudiobookIf you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!
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RELEASE BLITZ: Be My Ruin by Davidson King
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COVER REVEAL: The Attercop by Peter E. Fenton
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SERIES REVIEW: Signs and Wonders & Cursed (Witchbane Books 7 & 8) by Morgan Brice
Witchbane: Signs and Wonders – Morgan Brice
When a coven of dark warlocks killed Seth Tanner’s brother, Seth became a man driven by vengeance, sworn to stop the cycle of ritual killings, willing to die for the cause. He never expected to fall head over heels in love with the witches’ next intended victim. Evan Malone didn’t believe the supernatural was real until Seth swept in with his magic and motorcycle to save him from being the next sacrifice.
Now they’ve gone on the road together, hunting the rest of the coven while they figure out how to keep the white-hot, once-in-a-lifetime bond between them. Days are filled tracking their paranormal quarry, honing their monster hunting skills, and gaining control of the small magics that have made a life-or-death difference. Nights are spent together, entangled in adrenaline-fueled passion, learning how to make this love last forever despite the odds. Seth fears that if they don’t eliminate the rest of the coven, they’ll be on the run forever, and more people will die. Evan is afraid that Seth’s obsession with revenge means they might not survive to get a happily ever after.
Seth and Evan head to West Virginia to confront one of the dark warlocks, a master con man running a cybercrime empire. Can Seth and Evan save the warlock’s next target, bring down his crime syndicate, and live to tell the tale?
Signs and Wonders is a thrill-packed supernatural thrill ride with plenty of paranormal suspense, hurt/comfort, hot nights, found family, deadly magic, immortal witches, determined hunters, haunted places, creepy ghosts, impressive explosions, spooky chills, and sexy thrills, and features an evolving, established romantic relationship with all the feels.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Vigil
Artist: The Mars Volta
Album: The Mars Volta
Witchbane: Cursed – Morgan Brice
Seth Tanner and Evan Malone head to Savannah, Georgia, to hunt the seventh of the coven members responsible for the death of Seth’s brother and so many other victims over the past hundred years.
Seth and Evan fell in love when Seth rescued Evan from one of the dark witches, and they went on the road together to stop the murders. Their relationship is new and intense, growing deeper with the danger, giving them both a reason to survive and gain vengeance.
Sterling Vernon is a prominent restaurateur with a thriving array of businesses, and he’s also the seventh witch-disciple with a new victim in his sights. His reputation and wealth protect him, and his dark magic enables him to evade consequences. Vernon needs to work his ritual to replenish his power soon, and that requires a new sacrifice.
Paxton Miller is Vernon’s next intended victim. When Vernon puts a killing curse on Evan to force a confrontation with Seth, it’s going to take all of Seth’s courage and cleverness, as well as help from their friends with supernatural abilities, to save Evan and Paxton and stop Vernon once and for all.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: The Curse of the Fold
Artist: Shawn James
Album: The Dark & The Light
Witchbane by Morgan Brice has become my comfort read, and by now it’s easy to see how the series has evolve while still delivering everything we love about Seth and Evan’s scenic paranormal quest.
Signs and Wonders, the 7th book and possibly the shortest installment so far, takes our boys to West Virginia’s National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ), where radio transmissions are heavily restricted due to scientific and military reasons. What started as a mission for two now involves a network of friends across states, with delightful cameos from the author’s other series.
This time, the witch they’re hunting runs a wellness retreat inside the zone and taking him down is tricky as magic and technology don’t mesh well. Seth and their hacker allies target the witches’ cybercrime empire while Evan infiltrates the wellness orientation seminars.
While the plot is straightforward, the writing is fast-paced and there’s plenty of tactics and action to keep things exciting. I loved going over the how-tos of the mission and Seth and Evan collaborating with the secondary characters made it even more dynamic.
There’s also a change in internal dialogue, Seth and Evan think less of revenge and more about life after the mission. Despite lingering fears, they remain rock solid, comfortable and settled yet always passionate. I enjoyed their cozy boyfriends dynamics and how they’re still as endearing as ever.
Cursed, the 8th book, took our boys to the food havens of Savannah, Georgia which seriously made me hungry. The witch is a prominent restaurateur mentoring his next victim, a food truck owner. This is another tricky setup because how would Seth and Evan convince him of the danger? Also, Evan was hit by a curse which left him in the sidelines.
Like in the previous book, our boys had help from friends and the local good witches. The culinary angle has a gruesome aspect with monster meat being sneaked in. The victim’s boyfriend is a musician and I loved the neat musical spell he and Evan used in the end to power up the good guys.
There’s a change in Seth and Evan’s hectic pace, our boys finished dealing with the bad guys early and took some downtime. They went on a proper date, sight seeing around Savannah and enjoying the food. There’s more talk about dreams of a life after the mission and while I’m rooting hard for a happy ending for our boys, I couldn’t help but feel a pang that the series might be ending soon.
Witchbane is my tour guide across America, taking us to real life weird and wonderful places. I hope the author could give us a map of Seth and Evan’s roadtrip because if ever I could afford a trip to the US, I want to trace their journey.
Overall, I’m happily tagging along till the end!
P.S.
Witchbane should be read in order. Follow the map below:
Burn
If you like my content, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links below to buy your copy of Signs and Wonders and Cursed. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases at no additional cost to you.
SIGNS AND WONDERS: Amazon UK | Audiobook
CURSED: Amazon UK | AudiobookIf you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!
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COVER REVEAL: Be My Ruin by Davidson King
