Guest Blog - Circle of Flames by Jane S. Morrissey

I’m generally a wild, Darwinian gardener. If I plant it, I encourage it to grow and if it lives, it gets to stay. 

It surprised me when I started to seriously consider animal topiary. I honestly can’t tell you what draws me to this form of art. 

It’s odd. And I’m drawn to big game topiary, like elephants, tigers, and giraffes.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/361554676319560189/

Oddly amazing . . .

Plant selection was a bummer because the plants that grow best in my climate and location in the yard are boxwoods, which grow at a snail’s pace. I’d originally thought of welding cages for the plants to grown into with ivy in the heads that would grow down more quickly to meet the boxwood, but welding isn’t one of my particular talents. After a year, my little plants have grown maybe 6 inches, so I’m clipping them back from time to time in the shape of legs and we’ll see what happens when they grow up far enough to complete the body.

My practice in patience . . .

Circle of Flames
Quytel Series
Book Two
Jane S. Morrissey

Genre: Paranormal Romantic Fiction

Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing, New York

Date of Publication: November 14, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-68291-764-0

Number of pages: 339

Word Count: 92,974

Cover Artist: Melody Pond, Soul Mate Publishing

Tagline: Bending time and space to battle evil

Book Description:

Sent back to his homeland to investigate the disappearance of psychic children, Darius Curilian must face the haunting truths of his past. In a remote village, Darius and his team arrive too late to stop a kidnapping but discover a beautiful stranger who could hold the key to finding the missing children.

A self-defined loner, Emma Williams has always been different. Fire breathes in her soul and has set her apart from everyone her whole life. When she stumbles upon a child in danger, she falls into Darius’s unwilling arms and is pulled into the dark world of the Quytel as they fight for their lives.

Amazon

Excerpt:

Sighing, even more tired of her own story than usual, she started up her front steps. Halfway up, she stopped, heart pounding at the sight of a large man sitting on the loveseat on her porch, half hidden by deep shadows.

She knew him. She was sure she’d never met him, but she knew him. His face kept flashing in her mind, sex and danger. Who was he?

“Rough night, Emma?” His deep voice said her name like a sigh on a warm summer breeze. Tingles of desire licked all over her body, settling low in her belly.

Emma’s heart pounded, sparks building into fire, while fear plucked the strings of her nerves like an out-of-tune banjo.

“Who are you?” She was a fool for not running straight back to her car and calling the police.

“My name is Darius.”

The name fit, another piece of the puzzle falling into place.

When he stood he was far taller than she’d expected, broader across the shoulders, with powerful arms and legs, clearly comfortable using his strength to intimidate. Well, she refused to be intimated by him. Fire swirled close, more under her control.

Darius walked to the top of the stairs, near enough that she caught the scent of sandalwood and moss. It teased her senses; tendrils of familiarity trickled along the edge of her awareness.

About the Author:

Jane Morrissey is a paranormal romance writer who loves romance, magic, and writing. Her paranormal romantic mysteries will keep you reading late into the night. Jane spends her time writing, enjoying the glorious California Coast near her home and spending as much time as she can with family and friends.

www.janemorrissey.com

https://twitter.com/janesmorrissey

https://www.facebook.com/janemorrisseyofficial/

https://www.pinterest.com/janesmorrissey/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13403396.Jane_S_Morrissey

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Check Out Book One

Circle of Dreams

Quytel Series

Book One

Jane S. Morrissey

Genre: Paranormal Romantic Fiction

Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing, New York

Date of Publication: 2017

ISBN: 978-1-68291-297-3

Number of pages: 350

Word Count: 100,959

Cover Artist: Melody Pond, Soul Mate Publishing

Tagline: Spheres of power usher a new and dangerous secret

Book Description:

Leader of an elite psychic team, Cole Courtland is a shape-shifting wolf with a deep connection to the power of the Earth. His investigation of a string of mysterious murders throws him into the dangerous world of the Quytel and leads him straight to Brianna Doherty’s door.

Bri is plagued by vicious nightmares of death and pain that leave her wondering about her own history. When her home is under siege, an enigmatic stranger appears out of nowhere to save her.

Thrown together in a tangle of desire and danger, they are pulled deeper into the secretive world of the Quytel, an ancient order charged with maintaining the balance of psychic and paranormal power on earth. Staying one step ahead of those who would destroy them, they struggle to unravel the truth of Bri’s past and her family legacy. As her relationship with Cole grows stronger, the reality of who Bri is threatens to tear them apart.

Amazon

Release Day Blitz Circle of Flames by Jane S. Morrissey

Circle of Flames
Quytel Series
Book Two
Jane S. Morrissey

Genre: Paranormal Romantic Fiction

Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing, New York

Date of Publication: November 14, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-68291-764-0

Number of pages: 339

Word Count: 92,974

Cover Artist: Melody Pond, Soul Mate Publishing

Tagline: Bending time and space to battle evil

Book Description:

Sent back to his homeland to investigate the disappearance of psychic children, Darius Curilian must face the haunting truths of his past. In a remote village, Darius and his team arrive too late to stop a kidnapping but discover a beautiful stranger who could hold the key to finding the missing children.

A self-defined loner, Emma Williams has always been different. Fire breathes in her soul and has set her apart from everyone her whole life. When she stumbles upon a child in danger, she falls into Darius’s unwilling arms and is pulled into the dark world of the Quytel as they fight for their lives.

Amazon

Excerpt:

For her safety and ours, Darius reminded himself.

“Scotch?” Emma emerged from the kitchen with two tumblers half full of amber liquid. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a drink after the last couple of days.”

She’d changed into a comfortable looking pair of cotton drawstring pants and a spaghetti-strap tank, leaving a tempting part of her flat belly revealed. Padding into the room on bare feet, her dark, silk-red hair brushed her jawline and fell to her shoulders. His cock hardened.

He stood and crossed the narrow room, taking the glass she offered him. “Thank you.”

“Cheers.” She raised her glass and sat on the loveseat, tucking her feet under her. “So what now?”

“I should leave.” He didn’t move, feeling the weight of Sita’s vial in his pocket. He took a long drink of the scotch and savored the smoke on his tongue.

“Will I see you again?” Those lapis-lazuli eyes met his. They reminded him of Egyptian jewels watching, waiting, her pale skin illuminated by the soft, yellow glow filling the room.

“I’d like that.” He chased the implication of his statement with another swallow of scotch burning his throat. Just because he wouldn’t ever see her again didn’t mean he wouldn’t want to. He was dead certain one night with her would do nothing to quench his hunger.

About the Author:

Jane Morrissey is a paranormal romance writer who loves romance, magic, and writing. Her paranormal romantic mysteries will keep you reading late into the night. Jane spends her time writing, enjoying the glorious California Coast near her home and spending as much time as she can with family and friends.

www.janemorrissey.com

https://twitter.com/janesmorrissey

https://www.facebook.com/janemorrisseyofficial/

https://www.pinterest.com/janesmorrissey/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13403396.Jane_S_Morrissey

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Release Day Blitz LOBOS by Victoria Danann and Teresa Gabelman

LOBOS

Big Bend Wolves

Book One

Victoria Danann and Teresa Gabelman

Genre: paranormal romance

Publisher: dba 7th House, Imprint of Andromeda LLC     

Date of Publication: 11/09/18

Number of pages: 218

Word Count: 39k

Cover Artist: Victoria Danann

Tagline: Sometimes running away takes you straight to the thing you’re running from.

Book Description:

The Three Rivers Pack has been deeply embedded in Kerrville commerce and society for generations. They own businesses and hold government offices, including that of sheriff. But the influx of retirees and well-to-do building second homes in the Hill Country has squeezed the shifters for room to run.

The only answer is relocation to a less populated locale and that will require making a deal with the pack that holds that territory. The alliance struck by the two alphas is blood seal, a political mating between the Lobos alpha’s daughter and the Three Rivers alpha’s son. It’s the perfect solution that benefits both tribes. Except nobody asked Fleet Ryder and Dani Alvarez if they’re willing. And they aren’t.

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Excerpt:

The light was on in the kitchen, which meant Marva was up. When he stepped through the kitchen door not wearing a stitch of clothing, she looked him up and down with a half-smirk and the same lusty interest she’d shown as a teenager. John Ryder thought of himself as being a lucky man to have a mate who loved and craved his body like they were newlyweds, after thirty years together. He returned her smirk with a knowing smile, pulled her in close and kissed her long and deep. When he pulled back, she sighed. He loved that sigh.

“I know that look,” she said.

He kept her tight against his naked body, but pulled his head back to make eye contact. “What look is that?”

“The one that says you’ve made up your mind about something important.”

  He broke away and grabbed the clothes he’d left on the bench by the back door. As he began dressing, he said, “Yeah.”

The pensive tone told her everything she needed to know. “And you’re not happy about it.”

She waited patiently while he finished dressing. She’d been with him long enough to know the difference between John, her mate, and John, the alpha.

At the moment he was seeing the world through the filter of pack alpha. He’d speak when he was ready and wouldn’t be rushed.

“Can I have some of that coffee?” he said.

She turned, poured and handed him a mug. “You want breakfast here or are you gonna eat at the café?”

“Café.” He leaned back against the kitchen counter and took a sip before saying, “We have to go.”

“Go?” Marva stopped what she was doing and turned with a question firmly registered in the crease between her brows. “Go where?”

When his pale gray eyes met hers, she recognized the gravity of the moment.

“I mean we have to move,” he said quietly.

Marva sat down heavily at the kitchen table trying to keep her shock from adding to the burden her mate was clearly carrying with stoic pride. “You mean the whole pack.” It wasn’t a question, but a verbal clarification.

Nodding, feeling much older than his years, he simply said, “Yeah.”

It might have come as a surprise to Marva. It would be a surprise to everybody in the pack. And not the good kind. But truthfully, John had been mulling over the problem for years. As alpha, survival of the pack was his responsibility. With an eye on the encroaching population, he knew there was only one way it could end. Move. Or be exposed as shifters with the vast shit chasm that promised.

Since the latter was just not an option, they were going to have to prepare for a whole-pack migration. Several lucrative business enterprises and a lot real estate was about to go up on the market in Kerrville. But first, pack members had to be told. And he wasn’t expecting even the most adventurous of them to be happy about it. The final decision was his and making it meant that he owned the outcome as well.

The pack was gathered in the barn on the Ryder property. Everybody had brought pot luck. They’d tried to enjoy the food and the company, but there was an undercurrent of anxiety because every adult pack member could read the mood of the alpha well enough to know something was up.

When the alpha finally stood and announced his intention to move them, the responding silence was suffocating. No one wanted to argue, but no one wanted to agree either.

At length, one of the elders cleared his throat and said, “Where are we going, John?”

“I can’t say for certain yet, Emmett. But I’ve been considering options for a long time. The biggest issue is that there’s no such thing as a desirable place that isn’t already occupied by a pack.” There were murmurs as people whispered to each other their fears about what that might mean. John held up his hand. “I know. We’ve had a good stay here. Most of us are connected to families who’ve been here since before Texas was a Republic. Most of us have never lived any place else.

“So I’m not saying it’s going to be easy.” It hadn’t escaped the pack’s notice that he hadn’t answered the question. “But I’m thinking Big Bend. Out around Alpine.”

The emotional current that ran through the pack was mixed. Some were fearful about the prospect of packing up and leaving everything for parts unknown. But mixed with that was an undercurrent of excitement. 

When things settled down, John went on. “Alpine is a small town, I grant you, but there are opportunities there just like there are opportunities everywhere. We’ll make it work just like we always have.” With a small smile he shook his head just a little. “It’s wild out there. You’ll be free in ways you’ve never been free here.”

“Doesn’t that territory belong to the Lobos Pack?” Beverly Mossgreen spoke up.

John’s head swiveled toward her and he stared for a couple of seconds. It wasn’t an official correction, but it was enough unwanted attention from the alpha to make her uncomfortable.

“Yes. Lobos. But I have a plan.” John noticed that both his betas, who happened to be cousins of his, stood opposite each other, off to the sides, leaning against the walls with muscled arms crossed in front of chests. The pose looked casual, leisurely, but would be read by the pack as absolute support for whatever the alpha had to say. “A peaceful transition.”

“What is it?” A female elder sounded anxious and he couldn’t blame her.

A move like the one he was proposing would be hard on any of them, but especially so on those who were older. His face softened for a second as he regarded her. “Don’t worry, Evelyn. Everything will turn out fine.”

He looked over the pack. “In the old days, we would have had to kill the alpha and any loyalists who resisted a takeover. But that was the old days. We’ve made a lot of changes. James owns the auto parts store. Raleigh is a real estate broker. My own mate bakes fucking cookies!”

“I do not bake fucking cookies!” Marva spoke up. “I run a bakery.”

The laughter that rippled through the room helped to ease some of the tension.

“Right.” John smiled her way. “Right,” he repeated. “I bet people in Alpine like cookies just as much as people in Kerrville.”

“I don’t just bake cookies,” she grumbled.

He gave her a look that said, ‘First, I’m teasing you. Second, right now I’m speaking as the alpha. Not as your mate. Take it up with me later. In bed.’

She got the message and ducked her chin slightly in deference. He continued.

“Point is I think it’s time for the old ways to move aside for better ideas. We’re going to try for a bloodless coup.” He glanced at his betas. “Rake, James, and I are going to head on out there and have a talk with the Lobos alpha and his top people. We’ll offer a ‘buy in’ for a piece of their territory around Alpine. I don’t know much about their finances, but I’m guessing that these days it’s hard for even shifters to turn down cash.

“That’s the first part of our offer. Folding money appeals to the two-legged half of our nature. The second part is a little trickier because cash is useless in wolf form. That’s why we need a deal sealed with blood.” He cleared his throat. “The Lobos alpha has a daughter. Mating age. We’re going to arrange an alliance.”

The alpha paused and looked over the gathering, faces almost as familiar as his own in the mirror. He spotted his son in his usual spot, in a far back corner with his friends. The gathering followed John’s line of sight and turned to look at Fleet at the back of the room.

Fleet had been softly chuckling at a joke, only half listening to his dad, when he realized that everyone in the pack had turned to look at him. His world turned serious in a heartbeat and he stood taller, pale gray eyes identical to his father’s, going straight to lock the alpha’s gaze. 

“Our son, Fleet.” John nodded toward Marva even though everyone there knew full well that she was Fleet’s mother. “And Lobos’ daughter.”

A range of emotion flashed across Fleet’s features. Confusion. Shock. Anger. And again, confusion, finally resolving in disbelief. He couldn’t possibly have heard right. Could he?

If he was human, he’d tell his father to fuck off. But Fleet Ryder wasn’t human. He was a wolf shifter with two choices; obey the alpha or leave the pack. Since the latter wasn’t really a choice, that left once course of action. He couldn’t disobey. He couldn’t challenge openly. He couldn’t object in any overt way.

So he did the next best thing. He threw his father a hateful look, turned and left. Four young shifter males filed out behind him, partly because they were compelled on a subliminal level. Fleet was oozing alpha traits and the next generation were already paying homage to that.

About the Authors:

Victoria Danann and Teresa Gabelman are both award winning New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon #1 bestselling authors.

http://www.VictoriaDanann.com

http://www.TeresaGabelman.com

Writing with Kids Guest Blog by J.M. Jinks

Mommin’ ain’t easy. I’m pretty sure I text that phrase to my sisters or my best friends once a week with some new anecdote about my child. Add this to a full time teaching job, being a wife, and an author… life is busy and complicated. 

There is no secret to juggling it all. (If there is and you know, don’t you hold out on me.) I’m a new mom and I struggled with the idea of losing my sense of identity. I’ve asked myself “is a mom all I’ll ever be?” Not to negate the amazing sense of fulfillment a child can bring into your life, but it is a major life change. In a way, I mourned the loss of who I was, because being a mom, I am forever changed (in the best way.)

I’ve found the key to survival as a working mom is balance, wine, and coffee. Okay, add in some tears, a supportive husband, the best girlfriends, and the cutest baby smile you’ll ever see too. 

In many ways, being a writer and mom is a blessing. I, of course, have less time to write now, but having an outlet. I am able to escape in a world of my creation, it is rewarding, and an amazing way to refuel. Where other moms may watch reality TV or read a raunchy book to escape, I get to write. 
I do think the key is balance. Finding time for yourself, for your writing, for your husband, for your baby, for you day job… it is all overwhelming. Don’t forget the mom guilt you’ll have if you drop the ball on something. But it’s time to throw the guilt away, you are only one person doing the best you can. If you dedicate specific time for all of those things every week, especially including time for yourself, it won’t all look so daunting. 

Once I established a routine, found a halfway decent dictation app for writing, and focused on taking time for myself, life became easier with my sixth month old and my day job. 

Sometimes, it still all goes wrong. And that is okay. That’s when I have a good cry and go back to the wine and the coffee I mentioned before.  

Mostly Innocent
A Powers That Be Novel

Book One

J.M. Jinks

Genre: Paranormal Romance/ Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Champagne Books

Date of Publication: 10/22/2018

Word Count: 58K

ASIN: B07JMCGNM6

Tagline: If you can’t beat them, seduce them

Book Description:

Meet Layla James, your typical smart and snarky chick—except for the whole succubus thing. After nearly a millennium on Earth, Layla’s settled down in a boring life in Palm Springs, until a smoking-hot hunter comes to arrest her for murder. But Layla knows the rules—she'd never kill someone and incite the wrath of The Powers That Be.

Elijah Daines is a hunter, maintaining the balance of good and evil in the mortal realm, his power stronger than any hunter she’s ever encountered. Plus, he’s a seriously sexy distraction. Too bad he’s accused her of a crime she didn't commit.

As the killer continues a murder spree that not only frames Layla but threatens to expose the existence of supernatural creatures to humans, Layla and Elijah team up to investigate. Hopefully, they can fight off their escalating attraction for each other long enough to exonerate her and stop the murder madness.

Amazon

Excerpt:

He approached the counter. I, or maybe my succubus, decided on a whim I would not be intimidated by his power. I wasn’t sure where my sudden courage came from. He had to have felt my succubus signature. We weren’t a violent race when we controlled our urges. I’m Queen of Control over here. I’m sure he knows I won’t, hurt him. Right?

 But why was he here? Something must have been wrong.

As I walked toward him, I got a better look. His dark hair was in slight disarray and his bright blue eyes scoured my face. He towered over me in every sense of the word.

He and Jolene should go back-to-back so I can get an accurate measure of his height.

I shook away my thoughts of him—it was obvious he came here on a mission. Greek god or not, he was still a hunter, and I—I was a product of evil, aka something he hunts.

“Succubus,” he growled. The one little word was filled with eons of unabashed hatred. The word vibrated through me. All hopes of him wanting a new bathroom paint color vanished. No, this visit wasn’t going to be pleasant, not at all.

Perhaps I could seduce him. Hell, he could do me right on the floor of aisle nine next to the light fixtures, if it kept him from killing me. I bit my lip. But…hunters weren’t typically susceptible to succubi charms. A failed attempt of Aprhodisia could earn more problems.

I released a breath. Some buried deep natural instinct rolled through me again. With that feeling, I decided to stand my ground. I looked him in the eyes, stood up straighter, and replied, “Hunter?”

About the Author:

J.M. Jinks was born and raised in Southern California. She lives with her husband, two dogs, and two cats in her hometown. J.M. has a Bachelor’s in French and a Master’s of Education. She is a teacher by day and a writer by night. J.M. and her husband welcomed a baby boy in May 2018.

J.M. has always had a love of reading that progressed into writing. Mostly Innocent is her first completed manuscript.

Http://www.authorjmjinks.com

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Stalk by Victoria Danann

Stalk
Book One
Victoria Danann

Genre: paranormal romance

Publisher: 7th House, Imprint of Andromeda LLC

Date of Publication:  October 19, 2018

Number of pages: 388

Word Count: 82,000

Cover Artist: Victoria Danann

Tagline: Every breath you take.

Book Description: 

The first coming of chaos. Twelve thousand years ago, members of a more advanced race crossed into our dimension when the barriers temporarily collapsed.

Trapped in our world, the aliens, who were also shifters, built structures that eventually caused the great flood and the sinking of Atlantis.

Some of the alien DNA survived in progeny that carried an untraceable shifter gene, dormant until awakened by mating with a full blooded werewolf.

Excerpt: 

Shortly after the incident, the event came to be known as May Day simply because it occurred on the first of May. The term would be forever after altered to represent the pandemonium that followed the dimension overlap that left so many stranded. It worked because it was a good choice because of disassociating the incident with high emotion.

Some from other places were left here. Some that belonged here had disappeared and, even though every city had a centralized location where loved ones could post photos and leave flowers or burning votives, everybody knew somebody who had lost someone. And the world had been turned on end in the blink of an eye.

The conventional wisdom about withholding news panic-inducing news from the public was bypassed. Cover up was impossible in this case and overnight, everyone knew that we experience reality alongside many others, invisible to us. Everyone also learned conclusively that other species exist in those realities.

One of the species that had been stranded in this dimension were canine shifters, werewolves as they were sometimes called in fantasy. Being disinclined to panic, the werewolves, each individually, used their cunning to quickly assess their circumstances and determine what was required to survive. Utilizing their innate talent for strategy, and seduction, they were able to identify missing humans who were a reasonably close match to anthropoid bodies, were without families and were, basically, antisocial. Being shrewd as well as cunning, they made matches with candidates with financial assets.

New lives could be built in a new world without money, but money could go a long way toward building walls of privacy and providing the one thing they needed most, after company, of course. That thing was territory. Freedom.

The government made it almost too easy by publishing an open database of the missing and requested that corrections be made if someone listed was present and accounted for. Each shifter made his choice then notified the government that they were not missing. They were sorry for the misunderstanding, but had been sailing in the Caribbean or fishing in the Gulf or on an archeological expedition in the Amazon.

By the time the dust of the catastrophe began to settle, seven shifters had found each other through a curious intersection of tech and primeval instinct. Each of the seven, while dealing with his own personal disorientation and sense of loss, quickly identified the Pacific Northwest as the most suitable habitat on the North American continent. Millions of acres of national parks and wildlife reserves was attractive. That, and the cooler temperatures, made the locale almost ideal as shifter temperatures run a full three degrees warmer than humans.

It took only a few weeks to come across each other. Shifters in wolf form can cover great distances. In so doing they came across the scent of others who were similar to themselves if not identical, but definitely distinctive from wild wolves. And each felt immeasurable relief to find others. For social animals, abject solitude would be a sentence to hell.

That was one of the reasons why Ken Sahabe was admitted to the pack without hesitation even though he was not a canine, but a spotted hyena. The pack decided Ken’s social and hunting needs were close enough and admitted him.

The hard wiring of pack behavior hadn’t changed for millennia. However, the language used to describe certain facts of pack life was altered for modern times so that it seemed more politic. For example, rather than saying the alpha decided, which was true, the thought would be expressed as ‘the pack decided’. In Ken’s case, though the actual wolves didn’t have a real vote, they accepted him like one of their own species.

About the Author:

Eight times #1 Amazon Paranormal Romance Bestseller

OVER ONE MILLION BOOKS SOLD

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, Victoria Danann, has won the prestigious Reviewers’ Choice Award for BEST PARANORMAL ROMANCE SERIES the past four years in a row! Click follow to get notifications of new releases.

Knights of Black Swan – BEST PARANORMAL ROMANCE SERIES (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)

A Summoner’s Tale – BEST PARANORMAL ROMANCE NOVEL (2013)

Moonlight – BEST VAMPIRE/SHIFTER NOVEL (2013)

Solomon’s Sieve – BEST VAMPIRE NOVEL (2014)

Falcon – BEST PARANORMAL ROMANCE NOVEL (2016)

In addition to the brave and beautiful vampire hunting knights, Victoria writes other paranormal romances that often touch on scifi/fantasy along with contemporary bikers for those who love it when the bad boys are soooooo good.

Victoria co-hosts the popular ROMANCE BETWEEN THE PAGES podcast which can be found on itunes or at www.romancecast.com. She and co-host, Riley J. Ford, interview the biggest names in romance every week. Ever wonder about the personalities behind your favorite books? Some of them just might surprise you with their interests, wit, lifestyles, and sense of humor.

www.VictoriaDanann.com

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