10 April 2021

Meet the Character Day: Chatting with Prince Dalton from A Most Intriguing Temptation By Kelli A. Wilkins !! www.KelliWilkins.com


This “Meet the Character Day” blog is part of a series examining my romance novels. In each “Behind the Scenes” blog, I talk about why I wrote the book, share my thoughts on the plot and/or characters, and reveal what I loved most (or least) about writing the book. The “Meet the Character Day” blogs are fun chats with the heroes and heroines from my romances. Warning: blogs may contain spoilers.


Hello romance lovers! Today we’re chatting with Prince Dalton, the hero from A Most Intriguing Temptation by Kelli A. Wilkins. 


Q: Greetings, Prince Dalton. A Most Intriguing Temptation is the second book in Kelli’s Royal Desires series of historical/fantasy novels. Can you tell us about the trilogy?

A: Certainly. As readers may already know, A Most Intriguing Temptation is the second story in a trilogy that began with A Most Unusual Princess and concludes with A Most Unfortunate Prince. Although the books are related, each stands alone as an individual read.


A Most Unusual Princess introduced readers to Princess Elara and myself. The book brought us together through unusual circumstances. (Elara discussed our interesting first-meet in a previous blog.) 


In A Most Intriguing Temptation, I’ve been called away to attend a business meeting with Emperor Salizar. Elara got jealous of the fact I’d be away and surrounded by Salizar’s sultry “kharim” women, so she decided to follow me and her brother, Prince Allan, to the palace. Needless to say, she got into a lot of trouble. 


A Most Unfortunate Prince (the last book in the series) is all about Allan’s banishment from the kingdom and his journey as he finds true love. Elara and I are also in the story, and we play a central role in the ending.


Q: Tell us about yourself. What got you in the crosshairs for your author?


A: I was charged with guarding Elara while she received suitors. Of course, one thing led to another and we ended up falling in love. I’m a very patient and understanding person and it takes a lot to push me to the edge. However, in A Most Intriguing Temptation, Kelli (my author), tested me at every turn. 


In this novel, Kelli explored the themes of fidelity and trust. I was sent to a palace full of women whose only function is to satisfy the male visitors’ every wanton need. When Elara learned where I was going, she followed me, and to my surprise, impersonated a “kharim” woman to test me and my loyalty to her. I admit, I was tempted, but when I learned of her deception, I turned the tables on her to teach her a lesson.


Q: What drew you to Elara?


A: Elara is headstrong and intelligent, and she has a sweet and vulnerable side she only shows to me. Of all the people in her life, I’m the one who understands her best and can “manage” her moods and unpredictability. I love her dearly, and yet, at times, she is vexing. As we spent time together, I realized she was putting on a brave front most of the time and I learned not to be swayed by her tantrums or tricks. Elara needs to be treated like an equal, both in and out of the bedroom. 


Q: A little naughty fun, where was the wildest place you seduced your partner? Or where she seduced you? 


A: A Most Intriguing Temptation is definitely naughtier than A Most Unusual Princess. We’re not shy about our lovemaking at home, or anywhere. Elara (disguised as Oonish) tried to seduce me everywhere—in the bathtub, in bed, in a hallway… In the book, we made very naughty use of a settee, and later we got frisky on a pile of satin cushions (and we were not alone!). After the story ended, we wanted to recreate the wanton atmosphere of the palace, so Elara and I set up a tent outside to engage in a few wild fantasies. She likes fooling around outside in the dark, and it’s something I look forward too, as well.


Q: Do you sometimes want to strangle your author because of the situations she puts you in? 


A: Yes! Kelli put me through several physical and emotional trials in this book. She says it was “for the good of the story” but I would have been content not being tormented, teased, and driven mad with lust on every other page. Kelli thought it was fun and has admitted that creating those scenes was one of the highlights of writing the book.


Q: Tell us more. What was one of the most embarrassing things Kelli did to you in A Most Intriguing Temptation?


A: Throughout most of the book, I’m in a state of sexual frustration. Oonish is at my side every minute of every day, and she’s practically naked. She goes out of her way to tease me, arouse me, and test my loyalty to Elara. And since Oonish is Elara, she knows just what to do to get me hot and bothered. At one point in the story, I get very, very excited and want Oonish so bad… I have a naughty dream about her and… Well, let’s say, my body reacted in a physical way to an extremely erotic dream. It was highly embarrassing to be discovered like that, and I’m not thrilled with Kelli for putting me in that awkward situation. Naturally, Oonish/Elara thought it was funny!


Q: Kelli has written romances in all genres in all heat levels. Does she find the love scenes difficult to write?

A: Not at all. A Most Unusual Princess was a mild book (I believe you’d call it a heat level of 1) and A Most Intriguing Temptation is much hotter (a 2 or 3, depending on your taste) and contains a lot of graphic sexual activities taking place at the palace. 

Kelli’s books have different heat levels because she matches the intensity and situations with the characters and plot. She says makes the love scenes as natural and as real for the characters as possible, given the story, the characters’ personalities, motivations, and backgrounds, and what level of intimacy they share. 

She admits that sometimes she’ll be writing a scene and the characters “take over” and decide the scene should go a different way, or something she planned on happening changes. (This can happen during regular scenes or love scenes.) Characters can jump off the page and take the story in a different direction. (“Of course we can,” I told her. “This is our story!”)


Kelli confided in me although she thought knew all about her characters before writing A Most Unfortunate Prince, she was surprised to discover a different side to Prince Allan. (I have no idea what that means exactly, but Allan will be here in a few weeks to address his book, so you can ask him.)


Q: Anything else you would like to add?


A: Although A Most Unusual Princess, A Most Intriguing Temptation, and A Most Unfortunate Prince make up the Royal Desires series, each of our stories stand alone as individual reads. You can start with book 2 and then go back to book 1 to see how everything started, or start with book 3 and go in reverse order. However you read them, I encourage romance lovers to catch up on all of our adventures. I’m content with the way the trilogy ends—but I don’t want to give away the ending. I can say Kelli left all of us in very good places.


I’d like to add that Kelli has written several fantastic books in all genres, not just historical romances. She has contemporary, paranormal, and gay romances that bring incredibly interesting characters to life. 


This visit was fun. Thank you for having me. Elara has arranged for Prince Allan to answer a few questions in another chat. Brace yourself, because he’s a wiseass.


Thank you, Prince Dalton, for joining us today. Readers can learn more about all of Kelli’s books on her site: www.KelliWilkins.com


Missed a blog? Catch up on Kelli’s blog series here: https://www.kelliwilkins.com/blog 



Here’s the book summary:


A Most Intriguing Temptation


After only four months of marriage to Princess Elara, Prince Dalton is sent to Emperor Salizar’s pleasure palace on business. Not wanting to be left behind, Elara risks her personal safety and sneaks along on the trip. 


Aided by her mischievous brother, Prince Allan, she disguises herself as one of Salizar’s sultry “kharim” women and decides to test Dalton’s loyalty. Masquerading as Oonish, Elara goes out of her way to tempt Dalton at every turn. Despite Dalton’s resolve to resist the indulgent girls, he finds himself falling under the spell of the mysterious Oonish. 


After nearly giving in to temptation, Dalton discovers Elara’s trickery and turns the tables on her, making her into his submissive playmate. Their fun and games are quickly shattered when Emperor Salizar learns about Elara’s deception. He holds the royals prisoner and condemns Elara to a fate worse than death. 


Can Dalton save Elara before it’s too late, or will her prank bring about the end of their love?


***

The Royal Desires Series is available on Amazon & other platforms. Catch this hot historical/fantasy trilogy from the start:


Book 1: A Most Unusual Princess:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CBX43D8 

All other platforms: https://books2read.com/u/me00L9  

Read reviews here: https://www.kelliwilkins.com/a-most-unusual-princess 


Book 2: A Most Intriguing Temptation:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D8P8604

All other platforms: https://books2read.com/u/47kkvj 

Read reviews here: https://www.kelliwilkins.com/a-most-intriguing-temptation



Book 3: A Most Unfortunate Prince:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Most-Unfortunate-Prince-Historical-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B01DMBYJ6E

All other platforms: https://books2read.com/u/3yPPM6

Read reviews here: https://www.kelliwilkins.com/a-most-unfortunate-prince 


***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelli A. Wilkins is an award-winning author who has published more than 100 short stories, 20 romance novels, 7 non-fiction books, and 3 horror ebooks. Her romances span many genres and settings, and she likes to scare readers with her horror stories. 

In January 2021, Kelli released Journaling Every Week: 52 Topics to Get You Writing. This fun and innovative guide to journaling is filled with hundreds of thought-provoking prompts designed to get you writing about your feelings and emotions. 


Her horror short, “A Witch's Wishes” was published in the Nothing Ever Happens in Fox Hollow anthology in December 2020. In October 2020, Kelli had horror stories published in two anthologies. “The Uninvited” was published in Halloween Horror Vol. 2. This tale about a children’s Halloween party gone horribly wrong is one of her favorites. Her unsettling short story, “What the Peeper Saw” appeared in Madame Gray’s Creep Show anthology.


Earlier in 2020 Kelli published Love, Lies & Redemption, a western romance set in 1877 Nebraska. This novel blends a sensual love story with mystery and danger.


Kelli posts on her Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKelliWilkins and Twitter: www.Twitter.com/KWilkinsauthor

Visit her website/blog www.KelliWilkins.com for a full title list and to find all her social media links.



The Corpse Who Knew Too Much (A Food Blogger Mystery) by Debra Sennefelder Book Tour and Giveaway!

The Corpse Who Knew Too Much (A Food Blogger Mystery) by Debra Sennefelder

About The Corpse Who Knew Too Much

The Corpse Who Knew Too Much (A Food Blogger Mystery)

Cozy Mystery 4th in Series

Publisher: Kensington (September 29, 2020) 

Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages 

ISBN-10: 1496728912 

ISBN-13: 978-1496728913 

Digital ASIN: B082WR1YCL

Food blogger Hope Early takes on a cold case that's heating up fast . . .

 

Building on her recipe for success with her food blog, Hope at Home, Hope is teaching her first blogging class at the local library in Jefferson, Connecticut. She’s also learning about podcasts, including a true-crime one called Search for the Missing, hosted by Hope's childhood friend, Devon Markham. Twenty years ago on Valentine's Day, right here in Jefferson, Devon's mom disappeared and was never found. Finally Devon has returned to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother—and she asks Hope to help.

 

The next day Hope discovers Devon's apartment has been ransacked. Her laptop with the research on her mother's cold case is missing, and Devon is nowhere to be found. When her friend's body is later discovered in a car wreck, Hope is convinced it's no accident. Clearly, Devon was too close to the truth, and the cold-blooded killer is still at large in Jefferson. Now it's up to Hope to find the guilty party—before the food blogger herself becomes the next subject of another true-crime podcast . . .

 

Includes Recipes from Hope’s Kitchen!

 Sunshine Corn Muffins by Debra Sennefelder

When my day starts with a corn muffin, I know it’s going to be a good day. This is why I included this recipe in THE CORPSE WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. The muffins are moist, full of corn flavor and have a zip of citrus, hence their name. You can either lemon or orange juice or leave the citrus flavoring out completely. I hope you enjoy the recipe.


Sunshine Corn Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

1 – 2 tablespoons lemon (or orange) juice.

¼ cup canola oil

1 cup milk


Directions:

Pre-heat over to 400 degrees. Grease or line muffin pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl, mix together corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 

To dry ingredients, add in egg, oil, milk and lemon juice. Stir gently to combine.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Remove muffin pan from oven and set on cooling rack. These are best eaten fresh out of the oven with butter.

  About Debbie Sennefelder

Debra Sennefelder is an avid reader who reads across a range of genres, but mystery fiction is her obsession. Her interest in people and relationships is channeled into her novels against a backdrop of crime and mystery.

Her first novel, THE UNINVITED CORPSE (A Food Blogger mystery) was published in 2018. When she’s not reading, she enjoys cooking and baking and as a former food blogger, she is constantly taking photographs of her food. Yeah, she’s that person.

Born and raised in New York City, where she majored in her hobby of fashion buying, she now lives and writes in Connecticut with her family. She’s worked in retail and publishing before becoming a full-time author. Her writing companion is her adorable and slightly spoiled Shih Tzu, Connie.

Author Links - 
  WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/2lQwSNi 
  NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/2jBx9oV 
  FACEBOOK AUTHOR PAGE: http://bit.ly/2qjwHyT 
  INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/2EQh6da 

  Purchase Links 
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09 April 2021

Entanglement: Quantum and Otherwise By John K Danenbarger Author Interview!

 


Entanglement: Quantum and Otherwise

By John K Danenbarger

Genre: Literary Crime Fiction



About the Book


They look like the perfect family. 

But every family has its secrets.


Can we ever know the people we love?


Imagine flipping through old family albums. The faces are familiar; their true stories lost to time—half-forgotten family anecdotes woven together by generations of proud aunts and kindly grandmothers conceal more than they reveal.


"Entanglement" explores the blank spaces in our family trees.


The lives of eight souls intertwine in a sprawling family history. The family story is a legacy of addiction, kidnapping, crime, and murders unresolved and unforgiven.


Enjoy this epic achievement in the experimental tradition of David Mitchell and Ian McEwan, with the darkly exotic undertones of books like Mexican Gothic and The Cutting Season.


Author Interview!

What do you find most challenging about the writing process, and how do you deal with it?

Most challenging. Hmm. Getting started takes weeks and months of thinking about what the underlying theme should be and then how to illustrate it without pontificating. This process seems to depend on the time of year and my brain. I can’t explain the time of year. Maybe it’s the weather, but I write best when it is not cold. I suspect my brain freezes easily, like eating ice cream too fast. I probably live in Italy for that reason. On the other hand, writing is like gelato to me; I love it. And when I am in the groove, nothing seems to be difficult or challenging. I don’t even need to plot out the story threads, but obviously, I have to go through all the processes of revision as anyone else and drive myself crazy trying to decide if this-or-that version is a finished piece of literature. I tend to hire professional editors to help me decide. You would be amazed at the difference in recommendations between one professional editor and another. 

When and where do you do your writing?

I have a seclusion room with a view. Very lucky that way. I write any time of day, except nights. I let my resting mind work up new ideas, so sometimes I have to write down that idea first thing in the morning, before I set up breakfast for the family. I am also so fortunate to have married a woman who is my best critic and support.

What have you learned about promoting your books?

Being an old marketer, I reckoned that I should know how to market my novel. But I was wrong. I knew one should segment the market to find how large the market is and all the who, what, where of that market. But that is not always possible with books like mine since the reader could be anyone, anywhere, at any time. If one’s novel does not fit specifically into one of the major genres, whoops! My novel is literary crime fiction. “Fiction” is way too broad a market. “Crime” is a popular segment of the reading public, but “Literary” means that my novel does not have the formula to fit that genre. It will only be appreciated by those who do not want predictability. Those people are the smallest segment of both readers and movie-goers. I think this phenomenon is just an older-human’s version of the child’s desire to have a story read to them over and over.

What are you most proud of as a writer?

That I have written a novel that should live on for a while because people will discover it long after I am dead. Also, at the time of writing this, I am aware of a literary award situation yet to be announced.

If you could have dinner with any writer, living or dead, who would it be and what would you talk about?

Jodi Picloult, because of her brilliance as an author and incredible capacity as a human being. Sitting at the dinner table, I don’t know whether I would be able to eat or talk since I am in such awe of her. She has done with several novels what I have done with only one. She puts philosophical concepts into an interesting story. I would just like to have absorbed her talent. But, if she was too busy, I wouldn’t mind picking Lisa Genova’s mind. Go ahead. Set it up. I’ll dress up to cover my ineptitude.


About the Author

John was a merchant marine captain, sailing the New England coast (including round-trips to Bermuda), and now writes literary crime fiction. He spends much of his creative time in Italy with his wife.


Facebook: http://bit.ly/danenbargerfb

Twitter: http://bit.ly/danenbargertw

Amazon: http://bit.ly/danenbargerjohnk

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/entanglementgoodreads

B&N: http://bit.ly/3kP5aha 


Excerpt

Glacial ice. Layered. Thick. Forming after the bewildering storm in her head and creeping up her spine. The courier’s delivery from Joe Tink lies like a white patch of snow on her desk. Being alone in her office, she doesn’t have to explain to anyone why she is waiting for it to melt. But it doesn’t. Finally, with curiosity spreading like hoar-frost, she feels forced to open this unwarranted denunciatory thing in front of her. To decide if she should leave.

Your father is dead.

That’s it? She’s vexed. Almost angry. What’s with this couriered letter? He could just as easily have called her from Bangor. Always had. They were close, weren’t they? Closer than normal.

Besides, she had long hoped her father would kill himself.

But Joe wrote more. Pages and pages.

This late-September afternoon, in some sort of unfamiliar circuitous telepathy, Geena has been thinking about Joe—Pickled Tink Joe—more than usual. She was reminded of him earlier by two different women in her Kansas City office asking Geena about the fall season back in New England, presuming that she knew all about New England and its leaves.

You know, Geena, how beautiful it must be!

With Geena’s children out of the nest and her ex a near-forgotten fugitive from marriage, she had moved to a smaller apartment in Prairie Village, west of Kansas City, to live alone, but rarely feeling alone. Her two boys, or more probably their spouses, dependably call about visiting her with the grandchildren during holidays, and neighbors in the building complex drop in daily to see if she needs anything.

While early on in younger years if she had lived there in Prairie Village—if she would have had time to think—she might have found this neighborly spontaneity a bothersome lack of privacy. Now, in her fifties, she loves this place and the midwestern populace who go nowhere. No New Englander had ever seemed as outgoing and optimistic as these Kansas busybodies. And, although Geena found that the religious tethering of the Bible Belt could be a nuisance, she has several local social friends who are comfortably unbridled and who distract Geena from her shrouded pathos, often recruiting her into playing bridge on Sunday afternoons and in occasional local tournaments.

Geena would never tell any one of these people, or anyone else for that matter, how she had grown up seeing the fall season as death-and-dying. Invariably depressing. Kansas is nosy neighbors, but still, New England is the epitome of fall presenting itself in all its dispiriting glory. In New England she had thought she smelled the dying in the rotting leaves, and she had heard death’s unambiguous footsteps in Maine’s ice and snow, inwardly cringing with the sound of each bone-crushing footfall in the long, dark winters.

Or maybe not. Maybe the winters are not the reason at all. Maine reminds her, in overkill, of the past, the shivers of buried darkness, ruining sleep. Anguish, grief, agony. Words that mean nothing compared to the reality.

Thus, many years ago, when offered a full-time position after temping in Kansas City during college, she decided to continue living in Kansas, away from New England. Geena is running her own construction consulting business, her towering height underscoring her authoritative presence, both for her few employees and for her clients. She has made sure her office staff have only seen her as a stoic engineer, a just but distant boss. Thus, the arrival of Joe’s letter forces her to leave the office as if struck by a sudden illness, which is, in fact, substantially true. She has escaped—not remembering the drive home—to hide her soul in the bedroom corner with her mother’s memories, in the few things she has kept: the cushioned chair—a maudlin carver chair she would never have bought—and the dorm-room lamp, as stringent as its droll Ikea name, that her mother bought Geena years ago.

Lost in the bedroom corner to scrutinize this bewildering letter, she doesn’t remember having ever screamed before, but at the end of this letter, she has screamed. Now crying quietly, the soft reverberations of her emotional outburst, Geena feels a punishing sensation sweeping harshly over her with the intensity of a squalid wind, a punishment for all things hidden inside her.



Revelations Series: Artemis, Book Three by Mary Eicher New Release Blitz and Giveaway! #bookstagram #LGBTQIA+ @ninestarpress @indigomarketingdesign

Title: Revelations

Series: Artemis, Book Three

Author: Mary Eicher

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 04/05/2021

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 73300

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy, LGBTQIA+, Lit, sci-fi/fantasy, action family-drama, ancient aliens, good v evil, end of the world, astrophysicist, pope, refugees, war, four horsemen of the Apocalypse

Add to Goodreads


Description

The moment is rapidly approaching when humanity must choose its future. What appears a simple choice between love and fear is complicated by the desires of two opposing cosmic forces. Artemis Andronikos rushes to discover a message the ancients left in stone ruins around the Earth. Aided by her partner Lucy and the rogue astrophysicist Wolfgang Strang, Artemis assembles a team of brilliant young scientists to decode when, where, and how the choice is to be made.

Convincing the former Harbinger children to grow beyond their Ivy League training and listen to their inner voices is the first step. Preparing them to accept a new version of reality proves more difficult. And Artemis must deal with an existential threat of her own; one that could separate her from her soulmate for eternity.

Theories of consciousness and philosophy battle as the cosmos bears down. How does one select a future when everything one has been taught is wrong? When knowledge fails, only the gods of one’s own heart remain.

Excerpt

Revelations
Mary Eicher © 2021
All Rights Reserved

The absence of a single speck of light in the night sky was hardly a catastrophe. Except to Dr. Wolfgang Strang. Mystified, the astrophysicist removed his reading glasses and rubbed his temples. Objects, even unexplained objects, did not simply vanish. Suspicious of the sterile numeric data, Strang set it aside and stepped into the yard to inspect the cosmos with his own eyes. The “great river,” as the Inca had called the Milky Way, floated serene and seemingly unchanged in the southern sky. But to Strang the universe was regrettably diminished, and he felt the loss deep in his soul.

“Stargazing, Wolf?”

Strang turned to find a tall, slender figure emerging from the shadows. “No, my dear. I am merely looking for an old friend.”

He flashed a self-deprecating smile and accepted an affectionate hug in response. The astrophysicist offered his arm to his companion and noted how well moonlight suited her. The pale rays illuminated Artemis’s ebony tresses and lent a violet cast to her pale, intelligent eyes. “What causes your noctambulant wanderings this night, Temmie?”

Artemis closed her fingers about his arm and gently nudged him to walk with her. “You know me, Wolf. I came to commune with the moon as usual.”

Strang chuckled. “Ah yes. Artemis and the moon are legendary companions.”

Echoing the small laugh, Artemis glanced at her friend, noting how the light deepened the lines at his eyes and accentuated the folds on his bristled cheeks. Strang was looking older of late, as if he were struggling with a burden grown too heavy.

“What is it, Wolf?” she asked, pausing their leisurely stroll.

“The object has vanished.” Strang motioned to the lower edge of the Milky Way. There, amid a plethora of unnamed bits of light, a single object had captivated him seventeen years ago. It was the birth star marking the moment the Harbinger had awakened and reality had vaulted into chaos.

Artemis glanced at the familiar stellar formation Strang was indicating and shook her head. “You can’t possibly tell just by looking, Wolf. Perhaps it has merely dimmed once again.”

Strang patted her arm. “No, no. My darling girl, I realized the object has never been visible to the human eye. I am referring to the latest information from the observatory. I assure you there is no mistake. The object is no longer there.”

A chill skittered down Artemis’s spine. She had not expected a sign. The question of the Harbinger’s purpose had faded over the years. A generation endowed with precognition had reached maturity. Gifted. Blessed. Awakened with the ability to foresee events. To most, the Harbinger was considered an evolutionary gift to the human race. And Artemis had chosen to merely let it be. Allowing herself to cease the quest to understand the reason behind the Harbinger, she had put away her suspicions for a decade.

She could feel apprehension in Strang as well. He shared her concern, she knew, just as it had been with the Harbinger’s mysterious awakening, the object’s sudden disappearance presaged an approaching danger.

Artemis closed her eyes and willed a nascent panic to subside. Taking a calming breath, she lifted now darkened eyes to Strang and whispered, “Then it has begun.”

Purchase

NineStar Press | Books2Read

Meet the Author

I live in Southern California with my two daughters. I have degrees in English and Psychology from the University of California and twenty plus years of writing experience from technical manuals to short stories. As an executive with a major computer firm, I managed customer documentation and field training and have traveled extensively. I have a passion for history, alternative theories about life’s mysteries life and dolphins. Find Mary on Facebook.

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