LET'S GET COZY! THE HOMICIDE HUSTLE: A PREVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED 

THE HOMICIDE HUSTLE:

A Ballroom Dance Mystery

BY ELLA BARRICK

ABOUT THE BOOK:

One of them has been eliminated...permanently.

The traveling TV dance show, Ballroom with the B-Listers, is coming to Washington, D.C., and ballroom dancer Stacy Graysin is first in line to participate. Not only will the publicity propel Graysin Motion, Stacy’s dance studio, into the limelight, but the prize money could help offset her looming debt. Plus, Stacy’s teen idol, heartthrob Zane Savage, specifically requested to be her partner.

But the whirlwind reality contest stumbles when the show’s coproducer, Tessa King, is found dead in the Potomac River. All the clues point to Tessa being murdered—and the suspects are the contestants and crew of B-Listers. Now Zane and the rest of the B-Listers must promenade back to fame, and Stacy will need to hustle to maintain her reputation, win the competition, and catch a killer. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Pseudonym: Laura DiSilverio.
Ella Barrick grew up in the South, but has since migrated West. She spent some time working for Uncle Sam and taught English at the college level before turning her hand to writing mysteries.

Ella and her husband took exactly two ballroom dancing lessons on the quickstep before Ella’s bruised ankles and crushed feet forced them to retire. (Her husband is a wonderful guy, but he doesn’t have a single ballroom dance gene in his whole body.) Thus, Ella relies on the kindness of competitive ballroom dancers and friends who foxtrot fabulously for the dance details in her Ballroom Dance Mysteries. And, of course, she watches Dancing with the Stars for costume and choreography ideas!
Besides writing, Ella enjoys reading, gardening, home decorating, traveling, and long walks or hikes.

SOME OTHER BOOKS BY ELLA BARRICK/LAURA DiSILVERIO:

       

       

       

       

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO KAYLEIGH AND THE GOOD FOLKS

AT OBSIDIAN AND PENGUIN BOOKS,

I HAVE ONE COPY OF THE HOMICIDE HUSTLE,

TO GIVE AWAY TO A LUCKY READER

 
--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO 
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU READ ABOVE ABOUT THE HOMICIDE HUSTLE THAT MADE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS BOOK, AND DON'T FORGET YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG AND/OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK HERE AND LEAVE ME YOUR LINK

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING AT ELLA BARRICK'S WEBSITE HERE 

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU CAN COMMENT SEPARATELY AND EACH WILL COUNT AS AN ENTRY

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON A CURRENT GIVEAWAY THAT YOU HAVE ENTERED ON MY BLOG. IF YOU ENTERED MORE THAN ONE, YOU MAY COMMENT SEPARATELY FOR EACH TO RECEIVE MORE ENTRIES

 

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

6 PM, EST, APRIL 14

   GOOD LUCK!

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HAPPY EASTER!

HERE IS WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL EASTER!

 HOPE TO BE BACK TO FULL STRENGTH SOON!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND SUPPORT!

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THE ABUNDANCE: A PREVIEW OF WHAT'S COMING SOON!

From the Author of the Highly-Praised Novel Partitions, a Breathtaking Portrait of Indian-American Life, Cooking, and the Ties That Bind and Separate Generations

  THE ABUNDANCE

BY AMIT MAJMUDAR

Thank you for your patience as I have to take a few days off from writing due to some unexpected, minor hand surgery. This book will be presented as soon as possible so please watch for it hopefully next week.

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SWIMMING AT NIGHT: A PREVIEW OF WHAT'S COMING SOON!

SWIMMING AT NIGHT

BY LUCY CLARKE

*Due to some unscheduled hand surgery, this book will be presented hopefully next week. 

Thank you for your patience!

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THE MERMAID OF BROOKLYN: A PREVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

 

  GIVEAWAY ENDED 

THE MERMAID OF BROOKLYN

BY AMY SHEARN

ABOUT THE BOOK:

SOMETIMES ALL YOU NEED IN LIFE IS A FABULOUS PAIR OF SHOES—AND A LITTLE HELP FROM A MERMAID.

Formerly an up-and-coming magazine editor, Jenny Lipkin is now your average, stretched-too-thin Brooklyn mom, tackling the challenges of raising two children in a cramped Park Slope walk-up. All she really wants is to survive the sweltering New York summer with a shred of sanity intact. But when her husband, Harry, vanishes one evening, Jenny reaches her breaking point. And in a moment of despair, a split-second decision changes her life forever. 

Pulled from the brink by an unexpected ally, Jenny is forced to rethink her ideas about success, motherhood, romance, and relationships. But confronting her inner demons is no easy task. . . .
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Amy Shearn is the author of How Far Is the Ocean from Here. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota’s MFA program. Her work has appeared in The Millions, Poets & Writers, The L Magazine, Opium, and Five Chapters, and she writes for Oprah.com and RedbookMag.com. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. Visit her online at AmyShearnWrites.com.

AMY SHEARN "REVEALED", TAKEN FROM SIMON AND SCHUSTER WEBSITE HERE:

• What is your birthdate?: 10/10
• Previous occupations: Teacher, Web Editor, Ghost Writer, Babysitter, Barista, Library Page, Balloon Factory Receptionist, Hardware Store Cashier
• High school and/or college: I went to high school in a suburb of Chicago, and have attended colleges in Chicago, New Mexico, Iowa, and Minnesota.
• Favorite movie: It's a Wonderful Life
• Favorite television show: I'm addicted to Mad Men and Downton Abbey, just like everyone else.

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
Due to some unexpected hand surgery, my review will have to follow at a later date. My posts will also be suspended for a few days...sorry!

 

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO JUSTINA WITH SIMON & SCHUSTER

I HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS DELIGHTFUL BOOK,

THE MERMAID OF BROOKLYN, TO GIVE AWAY

  

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO 
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU READ ABOVE ABOUT THE MERMAID OF BROOKLYN THAT MADE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS BOOK, AND DON'T FORGET YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG AND/OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK HERE AND LEAVE ME YOUR LINK

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING AT AMY SHEARN'S WEBSITE HERE

 +1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU CAN COMMENT SEPARATELY AND EACH WILL COUNT AS AN ENTRY

 +1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON A CURRENT GIVEAWAY THAT YOU HAVE ENTERED ON MY BLOG. IF YOU ENTERED MORE THAN ONE, YOU MAY COMMENT SEPARATELY FOR EACH TO RECEIVE MORE ENTRIES

 

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

6 PM, EST, APRIL  10

GOOD LUCK!

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WHEN SHE WAS GONE: MY REVIEW AND BONUS GIVEAWAY ENTRIES

 GIVEAWAY ENDED 
WHEN SHE WAS GONE

BY GWENDOLEN GROSS

REMINDER ABOUT THE BOOK:

What happened to Linsey Hart? When the Cornell-bound teenager disappears into the steamy blue of a late-summer morning, her quiet neighborhood is left to pick apart the threads of their own lives and assumptions.

Linsey’s neighbors are just ordinary people—but even ordinary people can keep terrible secrets hidden close. There’s Linsey’s mother, Abigail, whose door-to-door searching makes her social-outcast status painfully obvious; Mr. Leonard, the quiet, retired piano teacher with insomnia, who saw Linsey leave; Reeva, the queen bee of a clique of mothers, now obsessed with a secret interest; Timmy, Linsey’s lovelorn ex-boyfriend; and George, an eleven-year-old loner who is determined to find out what happened to his missing neighbor. 

As the days of Linsey’s absence tick by, dread and hope threaten to tear a community apart. This luminous new novel by the acclaimed author of The Orphan Sister explores coming of age in the shadows of a suburban life, and what is revealed when the light suddenly shines in. . . 

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gwendolen Gross is the author of five critically acclaimed novels, including The Orphan Sister and The Other Mother. She lives in Northern New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and son.

In the "Author Revealed" section of her bio for Simon & Schuster, the following interesting facts about Gross were revealed:

Q. What is your motto or maxim? 
A. fall in love with revision

Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words? 

A. hatched, ran about, love, make things, write, more

OTHER BOOKS FROM GWENDOLEN GROSS:

                     

                        

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
WHEN SHE WAS GONE by Gwendolen Gross is a story we first think is about the disappearance of a girl who is about to head off to college. While Linsey Hart does indeed walk out one morning and totally disappears, the story then goes on to be about the people in her community that she left behind. The narrative is told from the viewpoints of the neighbors instead of from Linsey. I found myself getting caught up in the people behind the nearby front doors as the drama and angst of their own lives is revealed. How they each deal with Linsey’s disappearance is interesting as it plays out from their own perspective.

Some of them are easy to like while a few were just not the kind of people I would want to have around me especially at a time like this. Linsey’s mother, Abigal, is beside herself and seeks any help she can get and yet some people literally close the door in her face. While the story is supposedly taking only a week, it seemed much longer. I did get a bit tired of not knowing anything about what happened to Linsey for so long. Gross does eventually take readers back to the original premise but by that time, I had almost forgotten the reason for the book to begin with. WHEN SHE WAS GONE was a different kind of story but it held my interest and was an easy read.

   GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO STEPHANIE AND THE GOOD FOLKS

AT GALLERY AND SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS, I 

HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS THRILLER, WHEN SHE

WAS GONE, TO GIVE AWAY TO A FOLLOWER

 
--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO 
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT MY REVIEW ABOVE FOR WHEN SHE WAS GONE AND DON'T FORGET YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS 

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG AND/OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK HERE AND LEAVE ME YOUR LINK 

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU CAN COMMENT SEPARATELY AND EACH WILL COUNT AS AN ENTRY

 +1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE A MEMBER OF SWAGBUCKS AND IF SO, DID YOU SIGN UP IN THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN OF MY BLOG? IT HELPS TO GET MORE POINTS FOR ME THAT I OFTEN USE TO BUY BOOKS FOR GIVEAWAYS ON MY OWN. IF YOU AREN'T A MEMBER, IT IS FREE AND EASY SO YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER JOINING..THANK YOU! 

+1 MORE ENTRY: VISIT THE PREVIEW POST THAT I DID ON MARCH 15 HERE AND COMMENT THERE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY SO YOU CAN GET EXTRA ENTRIES

 

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT 
6 PM, EST, MARCH 28 

GOOD LUCK!

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MAKING IT: A REVIEW AND AN eBOOK GIVEAWAY

MAKING IT

A Novel of Madison Avenue

BY HELEN KLEIN ROSS

  

ABOUT THE BOOK:

From the award-winning author who tweets @BettyDraper comes a debut eBook original about contemporary advertising world shenanigans as experienced by a high-powered, bread-winning mom in the vein of Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It.

Successful, feisty, and approaching a Certain Age, Audrey is afraid of becoming obsolete in the ever-changing advertising business. She has worked for the Madison Avenue firm Tadd Collins for nearly twenty years. When the firm acquires a smaller company, she is promoted and partnered with Kabal Prakash, an ambitious, attractive hotshot from London. Meanwhile, frustration mounts at home as she unsuccessfully tries to help her teenage son, Paley, get into her old alma mater. As she flirts with a relationship with her new boss Kabal, her irritation with her husband grows. Should Audrey give in to her new boss and his youthful corporate ambition? Can she cut it in a quickly changing industry? Or does she belong with her gray-ponytailed husband, whose only ambition is to perfect his recipe for mead?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Helen Klein Ross is a veteran of advertising and has spent many years at global ad agencies in San Francisco and New York City. She created AdBroad, an award-winning ad blog, and her Twitter handle @BettyDraper has earned press coverage in Time and The Wall Street Journal, a Shorty award, and 34,000+ followers. Helen’s fiction and poetry has been published in The New York Times, The Southeast Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Salmagundi, and other journals. She has won numerous awards and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

SOME FUN FACTS A LA AUTHOR REVEALED FROM SIMON & SCHUSTER:

What is your birthdate?: 10/28

Previous occupations: milk maid, waitress, Avon Lady, department store clerk, construction worker, art director, copywriter, writer

Favorite job: writer

High school and/or college: Villa Maria Academy, Utica Catholic Academy, Cornell University

Name of your favorite composer or music artist?: Lady Gaga

Favorite movie: After Life (Wandâfuru raifu)

Favorite television show: Mad Men

How would you describe your life in only 8 words? Bewitched, That Girl, Thirty Something, Mad Men

What is your motto or maxim? The life you save may be your own.

Who are your favorite authors? Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, John Cheever, Evan S Connell, Ian McEwan, Jonathan Franzen, Helen Simpson

What are your 5 favorite books of all time? Mrs. Dalloway, Mrs. Bridge, Remains of the Day, Getting a Life, Harold and the Purple Crayon

You can read more "Author Revealed" by visiting Simon & Schuster's website HERE. 
 

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
I LOVED Helen Klein Ross’s MAKING IT! Presented as being a novel for fans of MAD MEN and books by Jennifer Weiner, it attracted me right away. Hailed as “A Novel of Madison Avenue”, I realized this was a book set in the unpredictably  competitive and fascinating world of advertising. However, MAKING IT is much more than a story about the industry.

MAKING IT centers on the very delightful character of Audrey and right away when an incident at work sets Audrey reeling, I was “turning pages” to find out where life was going to take her. She is easy to relate to, being a woman in her late 40s, working in a field where things change daily, and job security can be tenuous. Audrey is married to Oren and mother of a teenage son, Paley, who is in the process of applying to colleges. Oren doesn’t work outside the home but is a very dedicated house parent, and a somewhat quirky, but interesting and loving husband.

Ross has created this character of Audrey who will capture you dramatically from the start and not let go. She is genuinely likeable and so easy to identify and empathize with. When the company Audrey works for is partnered with another firm, a new boss enters the scene. As the attractive and ambitious Kabal, the new corporate leader, takes over, everything changes for Audrey. What happens to Audrey, her family, the company…yes, even her life, is why Helen Klein Ross’s MAKING IT is such a marvelous story. The well developed characters along with a believable and relatable narrative are what make this a book you will want to pick up and not put down until you finish it. The cleverly plotted twists and turns in MAKING IT, along with life’s normal challenges, make for a provocative and convincingly satisfying literary experience.

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO MELISSA AND THE GOOD FOLKS

AT SIMON & SCHUSTER, I HAVE AN eBOOK 

COPY OF MAKING IT TO GIVE AWAY TO

ONE OF MY LUCKY FOLLOWERS

 
--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO 
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU READ ABOVE ABOUT MAKING IT THAT MADE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS eBOOK, AND DON'T FORGET YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS 

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG AND/OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK HERE AND LEAVE ME YOUR LINK 

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING AT HELEN KLEIN ROSS'S WEBSITE HERE 

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU CAN COMMENT SEPARATELY AND EACH WILL COUNT AS AN ENTRY  

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON A CURRENT GIVEAWAY THAT YOU HAVE ENTERED ON MY BLOG. IF YOU ENTERED MORE THAN ONE, YOU MAY COMMENT SEPARATELY FOR EACH TO RECEIVE MORE ENTRIES

 

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT 
6 PM, EST, APRIL 10 
GOOD LUCK!

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ARE YOU LISTENING? THE WHIZZ POP CHOCOLATE SHOP: A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

WELCOME TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S" 
ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY"
I AM EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE TODAY'S
AUDIO BOOK CHOICE....

GIVEAWAY ENDED 
THE WHIZZ POP CHOCOLATE SHOP

BY KATE SAUNDERS

Read by Jayne Entwistle

ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK:

Welcome to the most magical house in London.

The family of eleven-year-old twins Oz and Lily have inherited it, together with the mysterious shop downstairs. Long ago, the shop's famous chocolate-makers, who also happen to be Oz and Lily's great uncles, were clever sorcerers. Now evil villains are hunting for the secret of their greatest recipe. The terrifying powers of this magic chocolate have the ability to destroy the world.

Soon, Oz and Lily are swept into a thrilling battle, helped by an invisible cat, a talking rat, and the ghost of an elephant. It's up to them to stop the villains and keep the magical chocolate recipe out of harm's way. Their family and the world depends on it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kate Saunders worked as an actress until she was twenty-five and then became a writer. She is the author of six novels for adults and had edited a collection of short stories. For children she has written the very successful Belfry Witches series, on which a major BBC TV series was based, and 'Cat and the Stinkwater War', described by the Observer as '....a beautifully written, rip-roaring, claw-sharpener of a novel'. As a journalist she has worked for the 'Sunday Times', the 'Independent' and the 'Sunday Express'. She can also be heard regularly on BBC Radio 4. She lives with her family (and her cats) in London. 

ABOUT THE NARRATOR:

Jayne Entwistle is a native of the UK but now makes Los Angeles her home. Luckily for Random House and Books on Tape, she found her way into the studio and has since narrated the delightful Flavia de Luce series, winning multiple AudioFile Earphones awards for her stand-out performances.

SOME OTHER BOOKS FROM AUTHOR KATE SAUNDERS:

                         

                                          

                       

                        

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:

The title of Kate Saunders’ THE WHIZZ POP CHOCOLATE SHOP is a bit misleading because it really isn’t quite what one might suspect. I was waiting for a story about a shop where they sold chocolate and that is not really what it is all about. However, for intermediate level readers, the book would be a great deal of fun, shop or not. With the highly talented narrator, Jayne Entwistle,  the magical tale comes to life, set in a house in London, that is sure to tantalize young readers with its secret passages as well as all the different kinds of delectable mechanisms for making chocolate.

The basis of THE WHIZZ POP CHOCOLATE SHOP is simple enough, or is it? A family moves into a house on Skittle Street that they inherit rather than try and sell it. It is from this basic foundation that the magic of the story takes hold. There is a set of twins in the family and they are the only ones who see and hear the magical creatures who inhabit the house. From there, the twins find out about their connection to the house and their family's past. The parents don’t seem to be too careful caring for their children and so when something happens to one of them, they are simply talked into thinking the child is away at camp, even though readers know he has been kidnapped by an evil, long dead relative.

The story conjures up a magical cast that includes the eternal talking rat as well as an immortal talking cat, and one can’t leave out the ghostly character of a one time famous elephant. Notably, there is a set of triplets who have magical powers and formerly ran the chocolate shop and of course, there is the prerequisite wicked mastermind. It is the secret of these triplets and the evil that comes from them that brings about the main action in the story. The twins become the only ones who can stop the evil and possibly save themselves and their family, but can they do it? Listen to Kate Saunders’ THE WHIZZ POP CHOCOLATE SHOP to find out what happens as well as to be entertained, and to entertain the younger set in your family. 

GIVEAWAY 

THANKS TO RICHARD AND THE GOOD PEOPLE

AT RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO BOOKS, I HAVE ONE

COPY OF THIS ENTERTAINING AUDIO BOOK,

THE WHIZZ POP CHOCOLATE SHOP,

TO GIVE AWAY TO A LUCKY FOLLOWER 
  

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE
--INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS IN COMMENT
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE IN 
ORDER TO COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY
 

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT THE WHIZZ POP CHOCOLATE SHOP THAT WOULD MAKE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS AUDIO BOOK 

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND LEAVE A LINK I CAN FOLLOW IN THE ENTRY 

 
+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE OTHER CURRENT GIVEAWAY YOU HAVE ENTERED ON MY BLOG. IF YOU ENTERED MORE THAN ONE, YOU CAN COMMENT ON EACH ON SEPARATELY AND GAIN MORE ENTRIES THAT WAY 

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU CAN COMMENT SEPARATELY AND EACH WILL COUNT AS AN ENTRY

 

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
 6 PM, EST, APRIL 100

 

   GOOD LUCK!  

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