Updated
November 28, 2011

 
Readers Helping Readers

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September#1
I'm looking for a book that is a contemporary (Christian, I think) romance (early 2000's) about a lady who pretends to either date or be engaged to a man because of her mother's failing health. When she sees how much better her mom does when she gives her the good news, she afraid to break the truth to her. She begins to develop real feelings for the man and his conservative family.


September#2
I read a novel in the 80s by Mills and Boons/Harlequin but I cannot remember the name nor the hero/heroine.  They shared a son, which he did not know about.  She had to move because of her son’s illness, maybe asthma, and ended up staying with friends. She wanted to keep the son from him but her friend's husband would have nothing to do with it.  The hero came to visit and of course sees her and their son.  She ends up working at his winery in order to keep her son since he threatened to take the child away.  On her birthday he took her out and they danced closely.  She had not been with another man since they separated.  They made love that night and he was puzzled at how she responded to him and felt that she had several lovers while they were apart, but of course he does not know that he was her only lover.  He insults her by throwing money on the bed, and asks her how many lovers she had since they separated. Some time after that, they had an argument and she sped off in her car and got into an accident.  She was not as badly hurt as he thought, because her friend (the wife of the couple) deliberately played with him when she called to let him know the the heroine was injured.   Both the heroine and her friend went along with plan and of course he confessed his love for her at the hospital.

SOLVED!

This sounds like ECHO IN THE VALLEY by Yvonne Whittal.


September#3
I have been looking for a book I read like 8-10 yrs ago. I can’t remember the title or author. It’s a medieval historical romance set in the 12th, 11th, or 10th century I think. The heroin's name is Milli or Mildred ( I think) she is a twin. Her mother is dead and her father has let her do as she pleases and she is kind of a tomboy- wears men’s clothing, likes to hunt with bow and arrow. She has an arranged marriage to a guy whose name has wolf in it. She tries to run away, I think she even gets kidnapped.

SOLVED!

Try JOINING by Johanna Lindsey. The leads are Milisande and Wulfric.


September#4
I am looking for a historical Christian romance. I think It's from the early 2000's. The only thing I remember is one scene, the hero and heroine were travelling together. There was animosity between them, and she *may* have been a former prostitute, but I might be confusing 2 different stories. Anyway, I think they were trying to solve a murder or something, and ended up in a saloon or something and to keep up pretense and to keep them safe the hero had to hit the heroine, even though he'd never before hit a woman and it killed him to do so.


September#5
Hi, I'm hoping to get some help with the name of this romance novel, probably 1980s.  The theme is a French peasant girl is being fostered by a kindly academic landowner.  Her foster brother and her are very close (almost a romantic relationship).  the foster brother brings a friend home, a wealthy and influential man (possibly an aristocrat), who sees the girl and wants her.  He tries to rape her, but the foster brother intercedes.  The aristocrat then plots to have the foster father arrested on charges of treason, thereby making the girl vulnerable.  He coerces the girl into becoming his mistress.  She resists him throughout the majority of the book.  At one point, others conspire to have her arrested and she is put in jail.  She is pregnant by the aristocrat, but he is unaware of this or where she has been taken.  She is starved and abused in prison for the majority of her pregnancy and eventually become deranged.  The aristocrat finally is able to locate her and forces the jailor to release her.  He brings her home and nurses her, but she continues to try to escape him.  She has her baby and regains her senses, and then does escape the aristocrat and finds her foster brother, who has since become a rebel.  He has become cold and abusive, and after forcing her to sleep with him and leaving her baby on the cold ground, she returns to the aristocrat, who is so relieved to have her back that he marries her.


September#6
Hi, this book was a mills and boon historical romance set, I think, in the Regency Period. A young lady out driving her pony and trap has an accident of some sort and she has to spend 1or 2 nights at a gentlemans house because it is snowing. When she gets home he offers for her hand, even though nothing happened between them, but her father says that is not necessary. It transpires that the girl had been raped by about 4 men when her carriage was attacked some time before so was not marriage material. Nevertheless they do marry, he is patient and understanding- he had lost his wife and child in India. There is tension in that one of the men who attacked her starts sending her threatening letters, but she and her husband overcome them and in the end she becomes pregnant/has his baby.

SOLVED!

This sounds like A SCANDALOUS SITUATION by Patricia Frances Rowel


September#7
A romance novel, either adventure or historical in genre that revolved around a girl and her brother who got caught stealing (they were extremely poor). The victim turned out to be some captain so he took her aboard his ship so she can work of her debt (or along those lines). I only remember the ending where she goes back to his house in the hills only to be rejected by his 'high-society' circle but he indeed loves her so she stays with him regardless of their difference in social status. The publication I assume would be late 80's or 90's, with the cover of the couple embracing on a ship (and as typical romance covers, she's wearing a slightly revealing dress).


September#8
I am looking for a book that i read in the 90's i think. it was set in the late 1800's to early 1900's. The heroine's name was either Kathleen or Katherine, and she was a red head, I believe. She was an immigrant, Irish. She had fallen in love in Ireland, and I believe she had gotten pregnant. Her love interest left for America to make money and was going to send for her. I believe her father died, and because of that she came to America early. The ship she was on sunk, and she was presumed dead by her love. She became a maid and had her child, but her employers took the child away and she was told the child had died. She left their employ, and became a reporter. I remember a scene where there was a fire at the local sweatshop and she was there taking notes and interviews. I believe following that her editor, male, yelled at her for it. The hero, meanwhile, had gotten a job at the docks, and his employers' daughter had fallen for him. He was married to his employers' daughter and had a child when the lovers found each other again. It all worked out and the two eventually found their son, a black haired child I think in Manhattan. I cannot remember anymore of the story, however it could be possible that this story was inside another story. i seem to remember that the hero and heroine's granddaughter found Kathleen’s journal and is involved in her own love story as well..... it sticks out in my mind that the granddaughter was a reporter as well, and was attacked in the beginning of the book over one of her stories. I believe that is how she met her own hero, because he was the cop that found and saved her. i think she went to her family home instead of her apartment after the attack and he came to stay as well to protect her.


September#9
Plot: woman rescues man in a storm to find he has amnesia. But he is actually her husband pretending and it is her who has actually lost her memory after their child died (at an aquarium???) and he has come to win her back.

SOLVED!

Try SECRET SEDUCTION by Susan Napier.


September#10
Widow with a young son and a father in law that wants to take the grandson away from her.  At a dance, she is in the corner with the other widow/older ladies (recall that it was scandalous for her to think of dancing), when she is approached by a man (gun slinger, Texas Ranger) to dance.  This man knew her when he lived in town and she was his teacher. They develop, of course, a romance and he helps her to keep her son.

SOLVED!

A reader says this is LAST CHANCE by Jill Marie Landis.


September#11
I read this book about 1-3 years ago. It may be part of a an anthology or a novella. This is a contemporary romance, about a woman whose husband left her. She has a young son. One day, her ex-husband comes back, and he has a new girlfriend/fiancee (can't remember which one). The woman still feels something for her ex-husband, and isn't happy with his new relationship. There is plenty of sexual tension between the woman and her ex, resulting in some encounters when the woman was changing her clothes, and on a boat on a fishing trip where the ex wanted to bond with his son. Oh, also during dinner with her ex and his new girlfriend, she 'accidentally' spills a bowl of salad on her. In the end, the husband drove around all night and decided he wanted to be with her. he asked her where did her ring go, and she replied she was so angry on the day he left her because he didn't come to say goodbye that she threw it into the river. He replied that if he had seen her, he wouldn't have been able to leave.


September#12
Heroine is widow of police officer who used to go out drinking with his buddies and tell them that she was unfaithful (she wasn’t). This was his excuse to beat her up. She either sells/decorates an ugly house on a cliff (great view) to/for the hero who shows up later. I believe it is in Australia because there are references to the “gold coast”.  The houses nursery is haunted (?) strange things happen in there. She goes into the house one night and he is sitting there in the dark and startles her. He may be a relative (brother, cousin) to her dead husband.


September#13
I am looking for a title of a book. It was a Harlequin (maybe Harlequin presents) from the mid to late 90s. The main hero's name was Jamie, and he was a martial arts expert. The heroine was a dancer. He was abused as a child, and was worried that he would be abusive. Some friends of his took him to see a dance performance and that is how the hero and heroine met. I think he may have even teared up at her performance.


September#14
I'm looking for a book about a saloon owner who gets attacked and is shot and left in a wheelchair and her little girl gets lost and loses her memory.  She is taken in by a woman with twin sons (one good, one bad) and she falls for the good one.  The bad one is responsibile for what happened to her mother and her.  They nicknamed her Kitt or Katt.  It has that Harlequin feel to it but not quite.


September#15
The book for which I am unable to remember the title is a Harlequin or Silhouette written in the late 1990s/early 2000s. It is about a man who pays a single mother to have his child. He offers a bonus if she will conceive the child by having sex with him instead of using artificial insemination, which she does because her child has medical issues. When she becomes pregnant, she and her child move in with the man.

SOLVED!

This is LOVE CHILD by Janice Kaiser.


September#16
The story is about a woman who falls in love frequently and gets engaged, but she matches them with other people and moves on. Until the hero comes along.

SOLVED!

A reader says this sounds like CONVINCING ALEX by Nora Roberts.


September#17
I read in the late 90's early 2000s. It is set in I believe Medieval England or Scotland (maybe even Anglo-Saxon time period). The book's prolouge starts out with a young girl and her sister talking about marriage. And the young girl goes outside to where her father is talking with some warriors. The young girl proposes to the warrior, who only smiles at her. Then, the girl is grown up and the man returns, saying he is going to wed her, that she proposed to him and it is binding. The rest of the book follows a typical romance plot. I remember the book has a blue cover.

SOLVED!

Sounds like THE WEDDING by Julie Garwood.


September#18
The second book takes place in the same time frame (Medieval England or Scotland maybe even Anglo-Saxon time period). A Lord sends his vassal to go into the surrounding countryside to find him a wife to take care of all his children. The girl he finds lives with her family, and is basically their slave. She agrees to the marriage to get away from her family. She moved into the keep, and at first all the kids are wild and mean to her, but she wins their love and her and the children gang up on the lord. They play little tricks and things on him.

SOLVED!

This is CHARMING THE PRINCE by Teresa Medeiros.


September#19
Probably sometime in the 90s I read a romance novel that featured a strong female character who was something like a suffragist or did work in the east end. She was going head to head with someone in the aristocracy. I believe she had a large dog and was able to defend herself. She may or may not of been of the aristocracy as well. I am have been searching trying to figure this out, but I am stumped.

SOLVED!

This sounds like THE LAST HELLION by Loretta Chase.


September#20
These are the recollections I have (as best as can be recalled): It is set in Scotland- 1700's or earlier. A high born lady is sent as an emissary to a Scottish nobleman from an English king or nobleman with the understanding she must negotiate a truce between this Scotsman and the English, and if she is unsuccessful she must marry a man or the Crown's choosing. The Scotsman is a widower, and has a small son, also unique to this story the Scotsman pretends to act mentally challenged to slow and frustrate the English.


September#21
The book is a short contemporary romance I think it is a Harlequin or Silhouette but I am not sure. I think published around 2000 but again I am unsure. It is an amnesia romance, and what makes this a little unusual is that when the heroine meets the hero he already has amnesia. They fall in love and either get engaged or married and then he goes away I think to try to find out who he is or for a job. Of course he gets his memory back and ends up forgetting about the heroine but they end up finding one another again. I don't know if they had a child or not, but I think they did.  One of the more prominent details is that I remember a train station and that they were hoping to find out the guys identity if someone came to pick up his luggage.

SOLVED!

A reader says this sounds mostly like HOME AT LAST by Barbara Kaye.


September#22
It’s a short contemporary romance. She is a publisher at a small publishing house that has just been bought or taken over by a larger company. The owner is someone from her past and they have conflicts as she is now his employee. One of the unique things about this book is that one of the books that her house publishes is a children’s series that she is the author of, but no one knows this. When at a meeting with her new boss and others about the direction of the publishing house will take she categorically refuses to allow the suggestion a snotty woman makes to change the main children character of her book to make him cooler with a baseball cap and I think skateboard. Eventually things get worked out between the hero and heroine.


September#23
It starts on the east coast where you meet a Irish woman who needs to help out her family with money.  She decides it would be for the best to become a bride being shipped to the Washington coast for loggers.  She leaves her father and brothers and sisters to marry a log company owner who is a half breed.  He wants a lady for his house so she assumes another woman's identity to pretend she is the highborn lady she is not. She marries him and they have a visit from his half brother who she knows from her past back east.  He threatens to tell his brother about who she really is if she does not become his lover again.  I remember her father gave her his wedding rings so she would at least have something for her husband but her husband refused to wear his ring.  I would love any help on finding this book if anyone has any ideas. The heroine had red hair and wanted to move all her big Irish family to the west coast with her at one point.  The hero was a half breed, his mother was a native American.

SOLVED!

Try HALF BREED'S BRIDE by Georgina Gentry.


September#24
The characters are a man who has been temporarily blinded and the nurse who is assigned to care for him on the night shift in his home.  He ends up wanting to hire a prostitute, but she can't bear it, so she poses as a hooker.  Eventually he regains his sight, she writes a book, he finds out about it and is very angry...turns out she merely dedicated her newly-written cookbook to him.

SOLVED!

Try SEEING IS BELIEVING by Barbara Case.


September#25
The second book has a man in a sanatorium whom everyone believes is very slow-witted, possibly mildly retarded, but he is actually being drugged to make him appear that way.  The nurse? assigned to him sees him at times when the drugs are wearing off and he seems very intelligent.  She falls in love with him, figures out he is being drugged, and escapes the facility with him.  For some reason I believe the facility has the word Green in it.

SOLVED!

A reader says this sounds like UNTOUCHED by Anna Campbell.

Here are a couple of ideas: WILD THING by Anne Stuart, or RESTOREE by Anne McCaffrey.


September#26
I am trying to find the name of a great vampire romance novel I read in the early 1990's. The main characters name (a vampire) named Adain (I hope this is right) the other main character is a mortal woman who he falls in love with. At the end of the book they both loose their memories and Adain becomes human (he made a sacrifice of some sort or confronted the "vamp council" I'm not sure) they find each other again and are together. She finds this music box that he had given her when he was a vamp - and starts to remember her past with him - and the book ends.

SOLVED!

This is FOREVER AND THE NIGHT by Linda Lael Miller


September#27
It was about a woman that lived in the States and with her mother and stepdad. After her mother passed away she traveled back to where her mom was from. She fell in love and was married. But she fould out she had seven brothers and her dad was still alive. I do remember that all the boys were by different women, and they were all wild and no-one messed with them. And she was the only one that was able to tame her brothers. I think it was part of a series.


September#28
I am looking for a category novel, not Harlequin or Silhouette; maybe Candlelight?  I have to assume it is 80s or 70s since it was already old when I read it as a young adult.  The heroine is possibly named Beth (I believe).  The hero is an ex-convict and the company she works at hires him.  The hero always goes out to a field across from the factory/warehouse at lunch.  She starts sharing lunch (making it at home to share) with him and their relationship develops.  The conflict is that although they are attracted to each other, the hero will not get involved with the heroine because he is an ex-con.  Towards the end of the book she finally wears him down and somehow they are "caught" together when someone comes to the house where they are at and she is wearing only his shirt. 

SOLVED!

This could be SINNER AND SAINT by Prudence Martin


September#29
I'm looking for a book that came out possibly in the 90's. I'm fairly certain that it was a Silhouette/Loveswept type of book. It was a contemporary romance about a young woman who was taken prisoner in a foreign country. She was put in a cell next to another cell holding a military man whose jet was shot down. They both comforted each other by talking and holding hands through the bars. Eventually as the war that was waging through the country got closer the jail was hit by a grenade and they were able to escape and make it to the U.S. embassy.

SOLVED!

This is DESERT ROSE by Laura Taylor.


September#30
I am trying to find a novel I read years ago about a women who is a model who grew up on a ranch, and she returns back home because she is doing a video shoot their. Her old lover I think he was cannot stand models, because of his first wife. He did not recognize her when he was at her photo shoot in the beginning of the book but he does recognize her when she returns home because she looks like her old self, and when he finds out she is a model and begins to treat her differently and he also got upset with her because she made his daughter over so she could have self confidence. AT the end of the book he ends up rescuing her from a rattle snake that she got caught between at her photo shoot and they ended up back together.


September#31
I am looking for a series, I believe three books, about older women  who meet, form bonds, have adventures and find romance.  The first  book introduces the three women who are residents of a boarding house,  I think in a northern big city.  They get to know each other.  One of  them inherits an old house down south, and they decide to drive an old  car down to see it.  Eventually they decide to redo the house into a B  & B.  The series continues for two more books. Each woman evolves,  finds romance and/or adventure.  The books were perhaps written in the  80's. 


September#32
I read this book over a decade ago and it was about a politician’s daughter who was a bit wild as a teenager, but had grown up. She had a crush on the campaign manager since she was a teenager, but thought nothing would come of it. For some reason, I can’t remember, most of the book took place on a cruise ship where the campaign manager realizes she’s no longer the angsty, bratty teenager and he starts to fall for her. Something happens and she leaves the cruise (i.e. running away from him) and he chases after her because he realizes he loves her. I want to say her name was Meg, but I’m not sure.


September#33
I am searching for the title and author of a contemporary romance about two men who grow up together from childhood. One of the men has a sister who loved the friend.  When the sister is about 15 years old, the friend realizes that he is attracted to her as well and starts spending time with her, but he is 20 to 21 years old. The families of both men, notice the attraction between the girl and the friend and the father and brother of the girl talk to the friend and tell me that his attention was unwelcome. The friend was embarrased and apologized to the father and his best friend. His friendship continued with the brother, but he avoided the girl. He and the brother restored two motorcycles and when they were riding, they were involved in an accident and the girl's brother died in the arms of his friend. As he was dying, he made the friend promise to take care of his sister. The friend put the motorcycle in storage and did not ride again.  He later became a policeman and the sister went to work in a bank. They made love one time and the friend was consumed with guilt after promising the father and the friend that he would leave the sister alone.  Fearing he would never have a relationship with her, she makes plans to move to another town and as a result of the subsequent move, the friend begins to realize his feelings for her and wants to keep her from leaving town.  The father of the girl again comes to his home to talk with him about his relationship with his daughter and explains that the family didn't mean for him to never have a relationship with the daughter, but they only thought he would wait until she was 18.  In the end of the book, he uncovers the motorcycle and rides it to the sister's apartment, over her parents garage, and tells her he loves her.


September#34
I read a book that was one of a series about brothers. It was set as a western and the hero was a half breed Indian that was adopted by the local Doctor and his wife. The hero married the best looking woman in town but she died while attempting to save her new dress in a flash flood. The Indian was a bounty hunter/ U S marshal. Each brother has a book about their finding a wife and settling down. I think there four brothers; but I am getting old and it was quit some time ago.

SOLVED!

Try PROMISES KEEP by Sarah McCarty. It's part of a four-book series.


September#35
This historical novel begins in either Haiti or Jamaica. One of the characters is named Rain. That is all I can remember. I thought rain was in the title.


September#36
I read a historical novel earlier this year and can't remember the title.  It was set in early England and the main character (heroine) is betrothed to a warrior but she doesn't want to be in this marriage.  She tries to escape to a convent to be near her mother's memory but actually comes across the man she is running from.  Her stepbrother escapes from the castle but is cruel to her and actually shoots her in battle between her husband and brother.

SOLVED!

This sounds a lot like THE PRIZE by Julie Garwood


September#37
This is a Mills and Boon series of 3/4 books about 3 sisters ( and possibly their father) Their mother died early and they have now  grown up. Father  is very rich and a businessman ( maybe TV or film)  Each sister has her own book, and I think there may be a 4th about the father and his long suffering but dedicated PA/housekeeper.  One of the sisters is a lawyer, and has a one night stand with a long standing  family friend she has had a crush on for years. She gets pregnant, and he marries her for appearances sake. I think his name is Adam?  He is a director/producer in the media. Her name may be Annie - although that might be the name of one of the other sisters!  The father's name is definitely Rome. 

SOLVED!

This is TO MAKE A MARRIAGE by Carole Mortimer. The first two books are TO HAVE A HUSBAND and TO BECOME A BRID


September#38
I read a historical novel earlier this year and can't remember the title.  It was set in early England and the main character (heroine) is betrothed to a warrior but she doesn't want to be in this marriage.  She tries to escape to a convent to be near her mother's memory but actually comes across the man she is running from.  Her stepbrother escapes from the castle but is cruel to her and actually shoots her in battle between her husband and brother.

SOLVED!

This sounds a lot like THE PRIZE by Julie Garwood


September#39
I read it about 10-15 years ago, I believe it was a harlequin novel. It was about a weathy businessman who hired a babysitter/nanny and I think he has a little boy. She comes and they fall in love. I remember she gets hurt towards the end. I remember the cover is brown and there is a pretty brunette with her hair up sitting on the steps and she has on a white blouse and a skirt and heels.


September#40
I read it about 7 years ago. I dont remember the cover or plot summary, but I remember a specific scene from the book.  It was a historical romance. Two women are sitting together and talking. The heroine asks her friend about her husband and the friend tells her about them meeting and that he swore he would come back to get her when she turned sixteen.  They had no contact since that day and her friend said she was offered off to be married, and refused, saying he would come to get her. He came on her sixteenth birthday to get her, and was riding a horse and told her to get down there so he could marry her. The heroine said something along the lines of 'he must be so handsome' and the friend laughed and said he had a pock-marked face and a mean temper, but he loved her and she loved him.

SOLVED!

This sounds like THE BLACK LYON by Jude Devereaux.


September#41
The hero is half English half American, comes to England to visit his mother. The heroine’s uncle, I think , sees him drinking in a pub one night and follows him home only to knock him on the head, then call his niece telling her that the hero needs help, he just happened to see him lying there on the street. If I can remember well the uncle tries to use this situation to marry his niece off with the hero for his money. Then he tells the niece they need to take the hero to a private place to take care of him. After the hero wakes up the uncle tells him that he was alone with his niece that night and people know, so he has to marry her to save her reputation. The hero leaves her with his mother in England and after the wedding goes back to America. The heroine decides to go to America to find her husband and ends up being abducted by her own husband, and she doesn't even recognize him because he looks different, changed, considering that he lives with  Indians. So the journey begins. She finds out that he and another man, his rival are both in love with a woman who died, I think. The hero still holds on for that woman, until he falls in love with the heroine.


September#42
The bridegroom is jilted on his wedding day.  He goes to his house or cabin and begins drinking to try to forget the whole day.  The sister of the bride is the maid of honor and she has loved the bridegroom forever it seems.  She goes to console him that night and they end up in bed together.  The next morning he is distraught and says it never should have happened.  He takes off.  She is devastated and finds out later she is pregnant.  That's as far as I can remember.  But I do know that they finally get together. 


September#43
It was a historical romance, and the woman's true love, I think she believes he's dead, I'm fairly certain there's some bad guy involved who maybe helped to "kill" him, and then he ends up returning as some sort of criminal (he wears a mask), and she falls for him again. There may also be a garden involved at her house, sorry this is so little to go on, it's been a very long time.

SOLVED!

This sounds like NO OTHER LOVE by Candace Camp, the third in her "Montford Heirs" series.


September#44
trying to find a historical romance, probably written in the mid 90s to early 2000s. The man is trying to drive the woman away, I think, by taking her to a brothel (to watch through some peephole, I think) and some lewd sort of casino where he gambles and she watches people lining up to sleep with women in some sort of contest. She ends up fleeing him through a graveyard and shot by a booby trapped grave in the chest, although she survives and it brings them closer.

SOLVED!

This sounds like UPON A WICKED TIME by Karen Ranney.


September#45
I am looking for Mills & Boon where heroine (Sophie?) goes to meet her fiance in desert where he teaches at school, while going there she meets a brooding man,(he has crashed a plane in past, and a girl got killed that time, hence he is brooding) then Sophie gets ill, and this guy stuck with her to help her.. she gets captured by a desert sheikh, hero saves her, they took flight and they had to get married temporarily coz she lost all her documents. Then finally the hero takes her to her fiance, they decide to get annulment, she goes after hero in city, she saves him from financial crisis. And finally they get together.


September#46
Its a story about a wagon train and this mans wife dies during childbirth so the other pioneers talk the man into letting this girl who's baby died into nursing his baby but he thinks she's trash.

SOLVED!

This sounds like SUNSET EMBRACE by Sandra Brown


If you like a challenge, check out the questions in our Needle in a Haystack column. This is where we post the real toughies! They will appear in the column for six months. Help a fellow reader!

Readers, if you have any answers for these questions, please email TRR, and be sure to include the month and the question number so we can list them accurately! As always, thanks for your help!


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