The Reward Challenge is almost the complete opposite to a book buying ban as you'll end up buying lots of new books throughout the challenge but only after you've completed a certain amount of reading. It was hosted by Good Golly Miss Holly, so thanks to her for starting it!
OK, so I read Watch Us Crack which counts 3 times as a Edelweiss Book and a SAC 2025, A Deadly Inheritance which counts 4 times as a NetGalley Book, SAC 2025 Book and a WoW Book, Peace Talks which counts twice as a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book, Battle Ground which counts twice as a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book, The Law which counts twice as a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book, Seven All Alone which counts 4 times as a NetGalley Book, SAC 2025 Book and a WoW Book, The Same Forward as Backward which counts 3 times as a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book and a WoW Book, The Alchemary which counts 4 times as a Edelweiss Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book and a WoW Book, Tear Me Apart which counts 4 times as a NetGalley Book, RR Book and a SAC 2025 Book, Kingdom of Tomorrow which counts 4 times as a NetGalley Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book and a WoW Book, How Girls Are Made which counts 3 times as a Edelweiss Book and a SAC 2025 Book, A Grim Reaper's Guide to Cheating Death which counts 5 times as a NetGalley Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book, Sophomore Challenge Book and a WoW Book, Julia Song Is Undateable which counts 4 times as a Edelweiss Book, SAC 2025 Book and a WoW Book.
So I have 41 counts which translates to $20.50 this week! I'll use it to buy books!
Sunday, November 30, 2025
How Well I Stuck to It #593, November 30th
NetGalley: #. Check.
Edelweiss: #. Check.
New Books: #. Check.
vs.
Watch Us Crack by Gabriella Lepore
A Deadly Inheritance by Kelley Armstrong
Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
Battle Ground by Jim Butcher
The Law by Jim Butcher
Twelve Months by Jim Butcher
The Same Forward as Backward by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Alchemary by Rachel Vincent
Tear Me Apart by J.T. Ellison
Kingdom of Tomorrow by Gena Showalter
How Girls Are Made by Mindy McGinnis
A Grim Reaper's Guide to Cheating Death by Maxie Dara
Julia Song Is Undateable by Susan Lee
What about you guys? Happy reading!
Wrote that Review Update #590, November 30th
My reviews to reward is writing all of the reviews of the week, and I motivated myself to write my review for Watch Us Crack
A Deadly Inheritance
Peace Talks
Battle Ground
The Law
Twelve Months
The Same Forward as Backward
The Alchemary
Tear Me Apart
Kingdom of Tomorrow
How Girls Are Made
A Grim Reaper's Guide to Cheating Death
And as always, I want to review this week's reviews!
What about you guys? Happy reading!
Wheel of TBR #288, November 30th
I saw Codie's Book Corner doing the Wheel of TBR, and I thought that sounded like a great way to pick what to read from your TBR. So thanks to her! I'll only do 3 spins, because I'm doing this every week, and so it won't make up my total TBR of the week, but it'll be a start!
Rules:1. For each week of the month, I'll do 3 spins each week to read each week though I do have the rest of the month to read them. Once a prompt is used, I'll randomly choose one from the list, keeping track of how often a colour comes up. If colour comes up 3 or more times in month, I'll do another spin once it comes up 3 times.
2. If I don't read a book that week or at least start it before the end of the month, then for my next week of spins, I have to add a punishment for each book unread. I'll roll for each unread book, and have to apply each and every punishment chosen to the week.
3. Each month I'll get a prompt from my Binge Read Wheel (either specifically picking the prompt, or spinning the wheel) and I have to read at least 9 books, though I can read more!
Of the books from the last week, I read
Binge Read Wheel:
For this month, the wheel picked/I chose . I read , so I've read /9+.
This week I read the past wheel picks of , so I have past spins left,
Prompts Used This Week:
Colour Totals:
Red:
Orange:
Yellow:
Chartreuse:
Green:
Spring Green:
Cyan:
Azure:
Blue:
Violet:
Magenta:
Rose:
Prompts for Next Week:
So those are some of the books I'm going to try to read this week. What about you guys? Happy reading!
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Week 48 Review: Julie Song is Undateable
CEO seeks dating coach
Critically acclaimed and reader-favorite author Susan Lee's hilarious adult debut is a shimmering and joyful look at the magnificent—and sometimes suffocating—weight of family, the ways we limit ourselves, and the irresistible power of love.
Julia Song, CEO of Starlight Cosmetics, is at the height of her career. Then why does she feel like such a failure? Maybe because she's thirty and single, with a terrible track record at dating. And in the eyes of her Korean family, that is just unacceptable. It never really bothered her—that is until her beloved grandmother drops the bomb that she is sick and her dying wish is for Julia to get married. Impossible. So in a moment of weakness, Julia asks her family for help. Set her up on three dates to help her find The One. But it will never work—Julia is undateable. If only there was a coach for that…
Tae Kim knows about the weight of familial expectation. He's currently unemployed, living in his parents' basement to care for his ill father. Sure, he's become somewhat of a fix-it man for the Korean community around town, but that's not a real job. And the pressure to get his life together is getting to be too much. So when the Julia Song—his childhood crush—asks for his help, it may be just the distraction he needs. He'll do whatever it takes, even coach her for these three dates. Problem is, the more time they spend together and the closer they get, the more Tae wonders if anyone is good enough for Julia…including him.
My Review:
Author: Susan Lee
Read: November 28th, 2025
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2025 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Published: October 28th 2025
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Week 48 Review: A Grim Reaper's Guide to Cheating Death
When a determined killer targets her brother, a grim reaper risks everything to save him in this delightful cozy mystery.
Nora Bird works for S.C.Y.T.H.E., which might seem odd for someone as terrified of death as she is. But ever since her parents died in an accident when she was six, she's been obsessed with avoiding risk, and what better place to learn how to cheat death than the company that employs the nation's grim reapers?
The work enables Nora to learn all about the myriad ways you can kick the bucket, which is comforting...until one day, a file crosses her desk with a name she recognizes. Her twin brother's.
The twins haven't spoken in six months, but Charlie is all Nora has left. Completely against her cautious nature, Nora steals the file and flees, racing to her brother's house. She begs him to trust her that his death is imminent, and they hit the road (with his parrot, Jessica, who has plenty to say) in an attempt to evade both death and S.C.Y.T.H.E., whose sole mission of collecting souls has been disrupted by Charlie's continued existence.
Alas, every time Nora saves him, a new cause of death appears in his file. Someone is determined to take Charlie out, and Nora will have to use everything she's ever learned about death to discover the culprit.
My Review:
Author: Maxie Dara
Series: S.C.Y.T.H.E Mystery #2
Read: November 28th, 2025
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Love her writing and the first book, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book, Sophomore Challenge Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Berkley
Expected Publication: December 2nd 2025
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Week 48 Review: How Girls Are Made
Sex Education meets Euphoria in this dark contemporary novel that tackles perfectionism, emotional abuse, and the dark side of social media.
Fallon is a fixer. From planning prom to organizing her college applications, she's got it all figured out…except for when her younger sister comes to her with very basic questions about sex. Shocked that she knows so little—and her fellow classmates even less—Fallon decides some practical education is in order. And Fallon isn't above practicing a little civil disobedience by creating a secret underground off-campus group.
Shelby is a fighter. Having her nose broken is nothing new in her semiprofessional career…but this time it's her boyfriend who threw the punch. Now her phone is blowing up with texts from a new guy who tells her she's perfect, she's special, she's everything he's ever wanted…except for a few small details. Shelby's happy to adjust for him, because isn't that what a healthy relationship is about?
Jobie is a failure. She doesn't have enough followers and her posts never go viral, no matter how hard she crushes challenges and applies exactly the right filter. But a friendly DM from a good girl just like her points her in the direction of a whole new audience of admirers. Guys who just want to talk. Guys who give her the attention she's always wanted.
The lives of all three girls intersect in Fallon's secret class, rumors of which have parents up in arms. Fallon needs to keep herself anonymous, Shelby needs to keep her new boyfriend happy, and Jobie needs to keep her followers…who keep asking for more. Each girl finds herself trapped in an inescapable situation—that will leave one of them dead.
My Review:
Author: Mindy McGinnis
Read: November 27th, 2025
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2025 Book!
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: November 18th 2025
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Week 48 Review: Kingdom of Tomorrow
From New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter comes a fusion of modern and fantastical worlds, where a young woman must navigate a secret society, uncover a shocking enemy…and resist an undeniable attraction.
Twenty-year-old Arden Roosa knows only Ourland. Two worlds split and stitched together, with broken pieces from each, statues of fallen gods, and heavenly artifacts that are worshipped…or feared.
But nothing is more fearsome than the night.
A strange madness haunts the darkest hours, turning innocents into gleeful killers. Arden does her best to stay safe, until she reads a book written about her life―The Book of Arden―and everything changes.
Forced to join Fort Bala Royal Academy, Arden is paired with the ruthless High Prince Cyrus Dolion. But while he trains her for combat against a mystical adversary, she can’t deny the sparks burning between them.
If her panic attacks and war games aren’t enough, Arden is also tapped to join the Tome Society, rumored guardians of an invisible library with books that foretell the future. But the more she learns about the society, the less she understands about Ourland, the gods…and the person she’s destined to be.
My Review:
Author: Gena Showalter
Series: Kingdom of Arden #1
Read: November 27th, 2025
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded fantastic, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Montlake
Published: September 1st 2025
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Week 48 Review: Tear Me Apart
The follow-up to her critically acclaimed Lie to Me, J.T. Ellison's Tear Me Apart is the powerful story of a mother willing to do anything to protect her daughter even as their carefully constructed world unravels around them.
One moment will change their lives forever…
Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she's suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter.
Who knows the answers?
The race to save Mindy's life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart…and someone is going to deadly extremes to protect the family's deepest secrets.
With vivid movement through time, Tear Me Apart examines the impact layer after layer of lies and betrayal has on two families, the secrets they guard, and the desperate fight to hide the darkness within.
My Review:
Author: J.T. Ellison
Read: November 26th, 2025
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series, and it's a RR Book and a SAC 2025 Book!
Publisher: MIRA
Published: August 28th 2018
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Week 48 Review: The Alchemary
Neither amnesia nor the brothers trying to steer her fate will stop Amber Fallbrook from uncovering the truth about herself, the Alchemary, and the legend of the Philosopher's Stone.New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent (Soul Screamers, The Shifters) pens a dark paranormal romantasy centered on alchemy magic—and those who dare harness it.
Naked, knowing little more than her name, Amber Fallbrook does not recognize the stone tower she's awoken in, or the vast, glittering ocean outside the window. Turning, she finds a very a different the beautiful, nearly naked man in the narrow bed is a stranger. So is the man who barges into the room unannounced, clearly expecting to find Amber alone.Who are they? Who is she? Why can't she remember?
Shocked to discover that she's in her dormitory room at the Alchemary—the realm's prestigious university dedicated to the study of alchemy—Amber has no recollection of having been one of the school's top students for the past two years. The two men—brothers—are her childhood friends, even if "friends" is not the exact energy in the room.
One brother claims to want to protect her, and the other to help her recover her memory, but Amber soon realizes that nothing is at it seems at the Alchemary. Not the intentions of her classmates and faculty, not the stunning, labyrinthian campus, not the two brothers she's increasingly attracted to—maybe not even herself.
Despite her memory loss, Amber rejoins her classes and prepares for the deadly Alchemary Trials alongside the other Mastery-level students. But as invigorating as the flowing language and symbology of alchemy is, she can't help but notice that for an institution shining light on the quest for human perfection there are a lot of dark shadows in its winding corridors.
My Review:
Author: Rachel Vincent
Series: The Alchemy Trials #1
Read: November 26th, 2025
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded fantastic, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Hyperion Avenue
Expected Publication: April 7th 2026
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Week 48 Review: The Same Backward as Forward
You've fallen in love with the Hawthorne brothers, now discover the love story of the lost scion of Hawthorne House. Read Hannah's side of the story, then flip the book over to experience their love anew through Toby's eyes in this unforgettable novel that you can read backward or forward.
Hannah Rooney knows how to be invisible. At twenty, she keeps her head down and her eyes open, and so far, she's managed to avoid being pulled into the dealings of her notorious criminal family. Hannah lives her life in countdown mode, biding her time in nursing school as she waits for her beloved sister, Kaylie, to turn eighteen so Hannah can get them both far, far away from Rockaway Watch and start a new life.
Tobias Hawthorne II acts every inch the entitled heir that he is. As the only son of one of the country's richest men, there isn't a door that isn't open to him. Yet behind his razor sharp cheekbones and devil-may-care attitude, Toby is guarding a nest of deadly secrets and a fiery anger fierce enough to burn everything in his path.
Their lives collide in one tragic, stormy night, where an act of arson and nature leave Kaylie and two others dead and Toby just barely alive—with no memory of who he is. The fisherman who pulls him from the ocean enlists Hannah to help save the very person who she knows took away her sister. Fueled by her hatred, Hannah is determined to deny Toby's death wish by keeping him alive. He is the last person that she should ever develop feelings for, and she is the first thing he ever remembers seeing.
Some things cannot happen—and some things cannot be stopped.
*Hannah's side of the story was previously published as a novella in Games Untold
*Reading them all? The ideal reading order The Inheritance Games, The Hawthorne Legacy, The Final Gambit, The Brothers Hawthorne, Games Untold, The Grandest Game, Glorious Rivals, and The Same Backward as Forward.
*Looking for more unputdownable reads from Jennifer Lynn Barnes? Check out The Naturals series (The Naturals, Killer Instinct, All In, Bad Blood, and the enovella, Twelve), The Debutantes duet (Little White Lies, Deadly Little Scandals), and The Lovely and the Lost.
My Review:
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Inheritance Games #0
Read: November 25th, 2025
Source: Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: November 4th 2025
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Week 48 Review: Seven All Alone
From the author of The Assassin Game and Have You Seen My Sister? comes another gripping thriller that follows seven teens stranded together on a trip in the mountains, cut off from civilization, and hunted by an unknown killer who wants them dead.
Maggie Atkins will never forget what happened in that cave ten years ago when she and six other elementary school kids were kidnapped by their bus driver and kept captive. She will never forget that her friends left her alone to escape, or the image of her kidnapper falling to his death, but she has done her best to put the ordeal behind her and move on.
Her past catches up with her when she's forced to go on a school trip to the mountains with the very same people who abandoned her, and only a stone's throw away from the scene of her kidnapping. She's determined to suck it up and get through it though since it's only one night of her life. But then a brutal storm changes everything and separates her group from their chaperone. With no phones and a limited food supply, the group strategizes how they can survive the elements and make it back to safety.
Then they realize there is someone else on the mountain. Someone who knows what really happened all those years ago. Someone who wants them dead and is willing to take them out one by one. Maggie thought she'd already survived the worst thing she would ever go through—she was wrong.
My Review:
Author: Kirsty McKay
Read: November 25th, 2025
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2025 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Expected Publication: December 2nd 2025
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Week 48 Reviews: Peace Talks, Battle Ground, The Law, Twelve Months
HARRY DRESDEN IS BACK AND READY FOR ACTION, in the new entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files.
When the Supernatural nations of the world meet up to negotiate an end to ongoing hostilities, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, joins the White Council's security team to make sure the talks stay civil. But can he succeed, when dark political manipulations threaten the very existence of Chicago--and all he holds dear?
From Goodreads:
THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET SERIOUS FOR HARRY DRESDEN, CHICAGO'S ONLY PROFESSIONAL WIZARD, in the next entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files.
Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.
But this time it's different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she's bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way.
Harry's mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry's life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.
From Goodreads:
From the number one New York Times bestselling The Dresden Files series, a brand new novella set after Battle Ground, that thrusts Chicago's only professional Wizard, Harry Dresden, back into battle–both a legal one… and the kind with explosions.
Not every danger comes in the form of a mega-threat like a Titan. Some predators are a lot cozier... more personal.
When one such creature threatens an independent tutor, Harry Dresden must shake off the blood and dirt of his most recent battles and rise to the occasion, even when it turns out that the new predator is far more dangerous and connected than first appearances would suggest.
Author: Jim Butcher
Series: The Dresden Files #16, 17, 17.5
Read: November 14th, 14th, 2020, July 7th, 2022
Read: November 24th, 24th, 25th, 2025
Source: Own, Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Rereading, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Books!
Publisher: Ace, Imaginary Empire LLC
Published: July 14th 2020, September 29th 2020, July 5th 2022
Source: Own, Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Rereading, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Books!
Publisher: Ace, Imaginary Empire LLC
Published: July 14th 2020, September 29th 2020, July 5th 2022
Peace Talks:
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Battle Ground:
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
The Law:
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
Week 48 Review: A Deadly Inheritance
After discovering she's an heiress to a billion-dollar corporation, seventeen-year-old Liliana finds herself at a new boarding school where she must navigate secret societies and a deadly competition. Not to mention two handsome boys.
The Reappearance of Rachel Price meets The Inheritance Games series in this new YA thriller from bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.
In the wake of her mother's death, Liliana Chamberlain's estranged (and very wealthy) grandparents swoop in. Or their lawyer does. Her grandparents aren't ready to meet her, but they want her to have the life her mother walked away from, starting with Westwood Academy, the elite boarding school her mother attended. It should be a Cinderella dream come true, but Lili has serious misgivings. Yet she doesn't have a choice, being under eighteen and dead broke.
Westwood Academy is a school of secrets as well as intriguing classmates, including Hollywood golden boy Theo Dubois and the mysterious Maddox Moreno. As she gets to know them all, Lili realizes there's more to the school than elite-level networking. Something deadly.
For the new girl at school, investigating the deaths of past students — including Maddox's own sister — is a very dangerous game. Do those deaths have something to do with why her mother fled Westdale at the cost of her inheritance?
When a fun night out turns bloody, Theo is the prime suspect, and Liliana must race against time to connect the past with the present and discover the truth behind her inheritance.
My Review:
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Read: November 23rd, 2025
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Love her writing, and it's a SAC 2025 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Tundra Books
Published: March 24th 2026
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| 5/5 Hearts |
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| 5/5 Books |
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| 5/5 Stars |
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