MERGER IN THE MAKING…? Powerful CEO Philip Ambercroft prized efficiency, order–and no temptation in the office. So when he needed a temporary assistant, he decided to hire a no-nonsense, matronly type. But then he met the most qualified candidate…. All-too-appealing Madalyn Wier had impeccable references and years of experience–and she soon had her handsome executive boss falling for her womanly charms. But Philip was determined to deny the attraction between them, especially since Madalyn was a single mother who had a daughter to consider. And the confirmed bachelor wasn't prepared to propose a marriage merger…was he?

FAMILY MATTERS THE LAWMAN AND THE LADY Hallie Cates's biological clock was ticking, but there was nary a husband on the horizon. Then she returned to her hometown and discovered Cam Osborne–a gorgeous small-town sheriff straight out of her dreams. He was everything she wanted in a man, but he'd sworn off commitment. And although she tried to steer clear of the handsome lawman, Cam was impossible to resist. Avowed loner Cam liked his bachelor life-style–until he butted heads with the lovely schoolteacher over her law-breaking grandmother. Sweet Hallie with her down-home values was a lady worth chasing. Only problem was, Hallie was the kind of woman a man married, and Cam wasn't looking for a wife…was he? Kisses, kids, cuddles and kin. The best things in life are found in families!

He's My Hero A protector, a provider, a friend and a lover–he's every woman's hero. MOST ELIGIBLE SOLDIER The government wanted protocol specialist Chessey Banks Bailey to teach rough-around-the-edges Lieutenant Derek McKenna how to be a gentleman. And though he was her student, Derek was the sexiest, most intriguing man Chessey had ever met. From the moment he kissed her without warning, Chessey knew she wanted to be his bride. But even though blue blood Chessey had him second-guessing his bachelor status, walking down the aisle was the furthest thing from Derek's mind. Could Chesssey enlist the reluctant soldier for a lifetime of love?

A Kind of Magic Part-time witch, full-time glamorous high-flyer Esme Mcleod rubs shoulders with celebrities for a living, has a sort-of-boyfriend …and just enough magic in her fingertips to solve life’s little irritations; why shouldn’t she cast a little spell to catch the busy barman’s attention, or to summon a latte to aid her all-nighters? Called back to her small Scottish home town and meddling family, stiletto-clad Esme is way out of her comfort zone… But Esme must embrace her abilities as a witch, or watch her family lose their beloved café. Except Esme has never claimed to be a whizz at witchcraft, and her charms are starting to go awry – she certainly never meant to cast a love spell on her ex-boyfriend Jamie! It’s time for urgent lessons in magic as well as love – it seems there’s only so much that muttering a few words over cupcake batter will fix… Don't miss the Could It Be Magic series: 1 – Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered 2 – I Put a Spell on You 3 – Baby It's Cold Outside 4 – I’ll Be There For You 5 – A Spoonful of Sugar (novella) What readers are saying about Kerry Barrett 'I was absorbed from the first page' – Pass The Gin 'It was just lovely! I loved the plot, I loved the spells and the magic, I loved the characters and I loved the writing. Kerry Barrett is a talented writer and I’m so pleased I got the chance to review her debut novel and here’s hoping there will be many more!' – Chick Lit Reviews and News 'This is a story filled with heart-warming characters full of family loyalty, a little romance … sprinkled with magic and humour throughout which will leave you, like me wanting to find out what happen next for Esme and her family.’ – That Thing She Reads

‘First of all, let’s get something straight. This is not going to be one of those stories where the school bitch turns out to have a heart of gold…’ Amie’s the most popular – and the meanest –girl at her exclusive private school, with her trusty second in command Lexy by her side. And she likes it that way. Lexy knows that she deserves Amie’s prized position just as much but dethroning the Queen Bee just isn’t done. Until mysterious twins Elyse and Melanie arrive mid-term, with a magnetic power that’s impossible to deny, and shake up the school’s social rules. As the twins leave darkness and devastation in their wake, Lexy’s suddenly discovering her own powers of manipulation. Whilst Amie’s about to learn that it’s not just lonely at the top – it’s terrifying. A Gemini Rising story

Sometimes love needs a rewrite The stunning romantic comedy from David Solomans, Winner of the 2016 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize With her debut novel, Happy Ending, JANE LOCKHART pulled off that rare double – critical acclaim and mainstream success. But now, with just the last chapter of the follow-up book to write, she encounters crippling writer’s block. She has no idea how her story ends… This is not good news for her publisher, TOM DUVAL. His company is up against the wall financially and the only thing that will save him is a massive hit, in the form of Jane’s next novel. When he discovers that his most important author is blocked, Tom realises that he has to unblock her or he’s finished. Everyone knows that you have to be unhappy to be really creative, so Tom decides that the only way he’s going to get her to complete the novel is to make her life a misery… Set within the Scottish publishing industry, and filmed against a stunning backdrop of both romantic and hip Glasgow locations, Not Another Happy Ending is perfect for fans of One Day. “Engagingly watchable” – Mark Adams, Screen Daily “…has more heart than most Hollywood rom-coms…an entertaining diversion and an example of mainstream Scottish cinema that easily holds its own” – Rob Dickie, Sight On Sound About the author David Solomons is the BAFTA-shortlisted screen screenwriter of The Great Ghost Rescue, The Fabulous Bagel Boys and Five Children and It. He lives in Dorset with his wife, Natasha Solomons, and their young son. Not Another Happy Ending is his first novel.

Mills & Boon presents the complete Betty Neels collection. Timeless tales of heart-warming romance by one of the world’s best-loved romance authors. He was the last man… Suzannah Lightfoot was alone in the world, without a job or the means to support herself. So when Guy Bowers-Bentinck came to the rescue, she had to accept his help. Guy was hardly a knight in shining armour. He was arrogant, infuriating and bad tempered! He was also difficult to avoid. Even worse, he seemed to have assumed that Suzannah was about to join the ranks of all those females wanting to marry him. What was a girl to do?

In an age of dragons and fairies, you could make a wish to the fire-breathers by sacrificing your most cherished possessions. In an age of digital assistants, you might just find J.J. as your own personal Secret Santa. J.J. is sent by her company's AI computer, Gem, to make River Sierra's wish come true before she realizes what it is—become River's fairy mother and marry her father, widower Raven Sierra. Will the pair have to crush River's dreams of a world with make-believe, or will the two discover that magic can still work its way through their lives?

A Sunday Times Bestseller ‘O’Brien cleverly intertwines the personal and political in this enjoyable, gripping tale.’ -The Times Her children or her crown France, 1399: The Duke of Brittany is dead and his widow, Joanna of Navarre, has inherited control of their land – a testament to her intellect, integrity and political prowess. Then comes an unprecedented proposal from Henry IV, King of England. The price of becoming his Queen? Abandoning her homeland, leaving her children and sacrificing her independence. Henry's hold on the crown is unsteady and war is brewing. With the constant threat of rebellion, Henry will trust no-one – not even his new Queen. Crossing the channel is a dangerous prospect. But the union between Joanna and Henry would bring the chance of a vital alliance between two proud states – if they will allow it. One question. Two paths. A choice that will make history. Praise for The Queen’s Choice ‘A gem of a subject … O’Brien is a terrific storyteller’ - Daily Telegraph ‘Joanna of Navarre is the feisty heroine in Anne O’Brien’s fast-paced historical novel The Queen’s Choice.’ -Good Housekeeping ‘A gripping story of love, heartache and political intrigue.’ -Woman & Home ‘Packed with drama, danger, romance and history.’ -Pam Norfolk, for the Press Association ‘A gripping historical drama.’ -Bella www.anneobrien.co.uk @anne_obrien

Billy and Gracie Myers don’t believe in magic. Not even at Christmastime. They don’t believe in ghosts. Not even when they discover a haunted house in the woods behind their home. Filomena Albright lives in that house, and maybe, just maybe, she can bring a little magic into their lives—and their father’s. Evan Myers is overworked and stressed out, steering his chain of sporting-goods stores through the hectic pre-holiday retail season while raising his young son and daughter single-handedly. He has no time to think, let alone think about the woman who has taken up residence in the mysterious house through the forest. But when Gracie’s preschool teacher warns Evan that he’d better get some help, he turns to the Daddy School—and Filomena. That she dazzles him with her intelligence, her energy, and her beauty is irrelevant. She’ll be gone with the new year. For now, though, for these few weeks before Christmas, maybe she can be everything Evan and his children need her to be. Christmas is a time of magic, after all.

Love Unspoken

Never before had a guest at Stafford Cottage triggered sensual tremors in the reserved innkeeper, but Colin St. James was like an earthquake to her soul. Hurt once by false love, Lizbeth had poured herself into work, but she deeply desired a family. With Colin. But these were flimsy dreams, for he was filled with wanderlust??? and Lizbeth-lust??? not love. So each time he came near, she would skitter away. And with every kiss she would replace her sounds of pleasure with protest. But what if her ??? rejection??? worked and her dream man disappeared into the night? Maybe she should encourage him??? just a little....

Gentle and kind Natalie McMahon was everything rancher Jared Ryan wanted in his rambunctious children's nanny. While she was the perfect role model for his twin sons, she was also the embodiment of all of Jared's fantasies. But Jared sensed Natalie was hiding something from him, and before he'd open his wary, scarred heart he was determined to unlock the secrets of this beautiful woman. Caring for Jared's kids came naturally to Natalie. And falling for the single dad was just as effortless. Natalie knew the feelings they were both fighting against couldn't be denied--nor could the truth...that Jared's adopted sons were actually hers.

Amanda Shaw's life is almost perfect. She's about to make partner in her New York law firm, she has her own apartment, furnished to her taste and, best of all, she finally has financial security. Then Zach Porter- her childhood friend- shows up to tell her she's needed back home in Vermont. The usually idyllic mountain resort is in chaos. Amanda's father is in the hospital, her mother's at his bedside. Amanda's teenage sister is out of control and the business is losing money. And Zach- her father's new partner- refuses to sell the place. He loves the mountains. and he loves Amanda. As the weeks go by, Amanda realizes what was missing in her almost perfect life. Love and family. . . and Zach.

Create reports and solve common report problems with minimal fuss. About This Book ? Use this unique book to master the basics and advanced features of Pentaho 8 Reporting. ? A book showing developers and analysts with IT skills how to create and use the best possible reports using the Pentaho platform. ? Written with a very practical approach: full of tutorials and practical examples (source code included). Who This Book Is For This book is written for two types of professionals and students: Information Technologists with a basic knowledge of Databases and Java Developers with medium seniority. Developers will be interested to discover how to embed reports in a third-party Java application. What You Will Learn ? The basics of Pentaho Reporting (Designer and SDK) and its initial setup. ? Develop the most attractive reports on top of a wide range of data sources. ? Perform detailed customization of layout, parameterization, internationalization, behaviors, and more for your custom reports developed with Pentaho Reporting. ? Integrate Pentaho reports into third-party Java application with full control over interactions, layout, and behavior in general. ? Use Pentaho reports in the other components of the Pentaho Suite (BA Platform and PDI). In Detail This hands-on tutorial, filled with exercises and examples, introduces the reader to a variety of concepts within Pentaho Reporting. With screenshots that show you how reports look at design time as well as how they should look when rendered as PDF, Excel, HTML, Text, Rich-Text-File, XML, and CSV, this book also contains complete example source code that you can copy and paste into your environment to get up-and-running quickly. Updated to cover the features of Pentaho 8, this book will teach you everything you need to know to build fast, efficient reports using Pentaho. If your interest lies in the technical details of creating reports and you want to see how to solve common reporting problems with a minimum of fuss, this is the book for you. Style and approach A step-by-step guide covering technical topics relating to environments, best practices, and source code, to enable the reader to assemble the best reports and use them in existing Java applications.

Harness the power of Dynamics 365 Operations and discover all you need to implement it About This Book ? Master all the necessary tools and resources to evaluate Dynamics 365 for Operations, implement it, and proactively maintain it. ? Troubleshoot your problems effectively with your Dynamics 365 partner ? Learn about architecture, deployment choices, integration, configuration and data migration, development, testing, reporting and BI, support, upgrading, and more. Who This Book Is For This book is for technology leaders, project managers solution architects, and consultants who are planning to implement, are in the process of implementing, or are currently upgrading to Dynamics 365 for Operations. This book will help you effectively learn and implement Dynamics 365 for Operations. What You Will Learn ? Learn about Microsoft Dynamics 365, it's offerings, plans and details of Finance and Operations, Enterprise edition ? Understand the methodology and the tool, architecture, and deployment options ? Effectively plan and manage configurations and data migration, functional design, and technical design ? Understand integration frameworks, development concepts, best practices, and recommendations while developing new solutions ? Learn how to leverage intelligence and analytics through Power BI, machine learning, IOT, and Cortana intelligence ? Master testing, training, going live, upgrading, and how to get support during and after the implementation In Detail Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Enterprise edition, is a modern, cloud-first, mobile-first, ERP solution suitable for medium and large enterprise customers. This book will guide you through the entire life cycle of a implementation, helping you avoid common pitfalls while increasing your efficiency and effectiveness at every stage of the project. Starting with the foundations, the book introduces the Microsoft Dynamics 365 offerings, plans, and products. You will be taken through the various methodologies, architectures, and deployments so you can select, implement, and maintain Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Enterprise edition. You will delve in-depth into the various phases of implementation: project management, analysis, configuration, data migration, design, development, using Power BI, machine learning, Cortana analytics for intelligence, testing, training, and finally deployment, support cycles, and upgrading. This book focuses on providing you with information about the product and the various concepts and tools, along with real-life examples from the field and guidance that will empower you to execute and implement Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Enterprise edition. Style and approach This book is a step-by-step guide focusing on implementing Dynamics 365 Operations solutions for your organization.

Plan, design, and deploy System Center Configuration Manager 1706 like never before, regardless of how complex your infrastructure is About This Book ? The most up-to-date resource on deploying or migrating to System Center Configuration Manager 1706 within your IT infrastructure ? Plan, design, and deploy ConfigMgr 1706 with ease, both on primary and multiple-hierarchy sites ? Master the new features of ConfigMgr 1706, including Windows 10 support Who This Book Is For If you are a system engineer or an administrator planning to deploy Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 1706, then this book is for you. This book will also benefit system administrators who are responsible for designing and deploying one or more System CenterConfiguration Manager 1706 sites in their new or existing systems. What You Will Learn ? Install ConfigMgr servers and the necessary roles ? Design and scale ConfigMgr environments ? Configure and administrate essential ConfigMgr roles and features ? Create software packages using .msi and .exe files ? Deliver detailed reports with an automatic patching process ? Apply proper hardening on your deployment and secure workstations ? Deploy operating systems and updates leveraging ConfigMgr mechanisms ? Create high-availability components using the built-in mechanism for backup and recovery In Detail It becomes important to plan, design, and deploy configurations when administrators know that Configuration Manager interacts with a number of infrastructure components such as Active Directory Domain Services, network protocols, Windows Server services, and so on. Via real-world-world deployment scenarios, this book will help you implement a single primary site or multiples sites. You will be able to efficiently plan and deploy a multiple-site hierarchy such as central administration site. Next, you will learn various methods to plan and deploy Configuration Manager clients, secure them and make the most of new features offered through ConfigMgr 1706 like compliance, deploying updates operating systems to the endpoints. Then, this book will show you how to install, configure, and run SQL reports to extract information. Lastly, you will also learn how to create and manage users access in an ConfigMgr environment By the end of this book, you will have learned to use the built-in mechanism to back up and restore data and also design maintenance plan. Style and approach This step-by-step guide teaches you cool ways to plan, deploy, and configure ConfigMgr 1706. This tutorial, which complements the release of ConfigMgr 1706 with a refreshing new approach and expert guidance, will teach you everything you need to know about the essentials of server.

Over 80 recipes to help you breeze through your data analysis projects using R About This Book ? Analyse your data using the popular R packages like ggplot2 with ready-to-use and customizable recipes ? Find meaningful insights from your data and generate dynamic reports ? A practical guide to help you put your data analysis skills in R to practical use Who This Book Is For This book is for data scientists, analysts and even enthusiasts who want to learn and implement the various data analysis techniques using R in a practical way. Those looking for quick, handy solutions to common tasks and challenges in data analysis will find this book to be very useful. Basic knowledge of statistics and R programming is assumed. What You Will Learn ? Acquire, format and visualize your data using R ? Using R to perform an Exploratory data analysis ? Introduction to machine learning algorithms such as classification and regression ? Get started with social network analysis ? Generate dynamic reporting with Shiny ? Get started with geospatial analysis ? Handling large data with R using Spark and MongoDB ? Build Recommendation system- Collaborative Filtering, Content based and Hybrid ? Learn real world dataset examples- Fraud Detection and Image Recognition In Detail Data analytics with R has emerged as a very important focus for organizations of all kinds. R enables even those with only an intuitive grasp of the underlying concepts, without a deep mathematical background, to unleash powerful and detailed examinations of their data. This book will show you how you can put your data analysis skills in R to practical use, with recipes catering to the basic as well as advanced data analysis tasks. Right from acquiring your data and preparing it for analysis to the more complex data analysis techniques, the book will show you how you can implement each technique in the best possible manner. You will also visualize your data using the popular R packages like ggplot2 and gain hidden insights from it. Starting with implementing the basic data analysis concepts like handling your data to creating basic plots, you will master the more advanced data analysis techniques like performing cluster analysis, and generating effective analysis reports and visualizations. Throughout the book, you will get to know the common problems and obstacles you might encounter while implementing each of the data analysis techniques in R, with ways to overcoming them in the easiest possible way. By the end of this book, you will have all the knowledge you need to become an expert in data analysis with R, and put your skills to test in real-world scenarios. Style and Approach ? Hands-on recipes to walk through data science challenges using R ? Your one-stop solution for common and not-so-common pain points while performing real-world problems to execute a series of tasks. ? Addressing your common and not-so-common pain points, this is a book that you must have on the shelf

Simplify machine learning model implementations with Spark About This Book ? Solve the day-to-day problems of data science with Spark ? This unique cookbook consists of exciting and intuitive numerical recipes ? Optimize your work by acquiring, cleaning, analyzing, predicting, and visualizing your data Who This Book Is For This book is for Scala developers with a fairly good exposure to and understanding of machine learning techniques, but lack practical implementations with Spark. A solid knowledge of machine learning algorithms is assumed, as well as hands-on experience of implementing ML algorithms with Scala. However, you do not need to be acquainted with the Spark ML libraries and ecosystem. What You Will Learn ? Get to know how Scala and Spark go hand-in-hand for developers when developing ML systems with Spark ? Build a recommendation engine that scales with Spark ? Find out how to build unsupervised clustering systems to classify data in Spark ? Build machine learning systems with the Decision Tree and Ensemble models in Spark ? Deal with the curse of high-dimensionality in big data using Spark ? Implement Text analytics for Search Engines in Spark ? Streaming Machine Learning System implementation using Spark In Detail Machine learning aims to extract knowledge from data, relying on fundamental concepts in computer science, statistics, probability, and optimization. Learning about algorithms enables a wide range of applications, from everyday tasks such as product recommendations and spam filtering to cutting edge applications such as self-driving cars and personalized medicine. You will gain hands-on experience of applying these principles using Apache Spark, a resilient cluster computing system well suited for large-scale machine learning tasks. This book begins with a quick overview of setting up the necessary IDEs to facilitate the execution of code examples that will be covered in various chapters. It also highlights some key issues developers face while working with machine learning algorithms on the Spark platform. We progress by uncovering the various Spark APIs and the implementation of ML algorithms with developing classification systems, recommendation engines, text analytics, clustering, and learning systems. Toward the final chapters, we’ll focus on building high-end applications and explain various unsupervised methodologies and challenges to tackle when implementing with big data ML systems. Style and approach This book is packed with intuitive recipes supported with line-by-line explanations to help you understand how to optimize your work flow and resolve problems when working with complex data modeling tasks and predictive algorithms. This is a valuable resource for data scientists and those working on large scale data projects.

Leverage Scala and Machine Learning to study and construct systems that can learn from data About This Book ? Explore a broad variety of data processing, machine learning, and genetic algorithms through diagrams, mathematical formulation, and updated source code in Scala ? Take your expertise in Scala programming to the next level by creating and customizing AI applications ? Experiment with different techniques and evaluate their benefits and limitations using real-world applications in a tutorial style Who This Book Is For If you’re a data scientist or a data analyst with a fundamental knowledge of Scala who wants to learn and implement various Machine learning techniques, this book is for you. All you need is a good understanding of the Scala programming language, a basic knowledge of statistics, a keen interest in Big Data processing, and this book! What You Will Learn ? Build dynamic workflows for scientific computing ? Leverage open source libraries to extract patterns from time series ? Write your own classification, clustering, or evolutionary algorithm ? Perform relative performance tuning and evaluation of Spark ? Master probabilistic models for sequential data ? Experiment with advanced techniques such as regularization and kernelization ? Dive into neural networks and some deep learning architecture ? Apply some basic multiarm-bandit algorithms ? Solve big data problems with Scala parallel collections, Akka actors, and Apache Spark clusters ? Apply key learning strategies to a technical analysis of financial markets In Detail The discovery of information through data clustering and classification is becoming a key differentiator for competitive organizations. Machine learning applications are everywhere, from self-driving cars, engineering design, logistics, manufacturing, and trading strategies, to detection of genetic anomalies. The book is your one stop guide that introduces you to the functional capabilities of the Scala programming language that are critical to the creation of machine learning algorithms such as dependency injection and implicits. You start by learning data preprocessing and filtering techniques. Following this, you'll move on to unsupervised learning techniques such as clustering and dimension reduction, followed by probabilistic graphical models such as Na?ve Bayes, hidden Markov models and Monte Carlo inference. Further, it covers the discriminative algorithms such as linear, logistic regression with regularization, kernelization, support vector machines, neural networks, and deep learning. You’ll move on to evolutionary computing, multibandit algorithms, and reinforcement learning. Finally, the book includes a comprehensive overview of parallel computing in Scala and Akka followed by a de*ion of Apache Spark and its ML library. With updated codes based on the latest version of Scala and comprehensive examples, this book will ensure that you have more than just a solid fundamental knowledge in machine learning with Scala. Style and approach This book is designed as a tutorial with hands-on exercises using technical analysis of financial markets and corporate data. The approach of each chapter is such that it allows you to understand key concepts easily.

Build simple, maintainable, and easy to deploy machine learning applications. About This Book ? Build simple, but powerful, machine learning applications that leverage Go’s standard library along with popular Go packages. ? Learn the statistics, algorithms, and techniques needed to successfully implement machine learning in Go ? Understand when and how to integrate certain types of machine learning model in Go applications. Who This Book Is For This book is for Go developers who are familiar with the Go syntax and can develop, build, and run basic Go programs. If you want to explore the field of machine learning and you love Go, then this book is for you! Machine Learning with Go will give readers the practical skills to perform the most common machine learning tasks with Go. Familiarity with some statistics and math topics is necessary. What You Will Learn ? Learn about data gathering, organization, parsing, and cleaning. ? Explore matrices, linear algebra, statistics, and probability. ? See how to evaluate and validate models. ? Look at regression, classification, clustering. ? Learn about neural networks and deep learning ? Utilize times series models and anomaly detection. ? Get to grip with techniques for deploying and distributing analyses and models. ? Optimize machine learning workflow techniques In Detail The mission of this book is to turn readers into productive, innovative data analysts who leverage Go to build robust and valuable applications. To this end, the book clearly introduces the technical aspects of building predictive models in Go, but it also helps the reader understand how machine learning workflows are being applied in real-world scenarios. Machine Learning with Go shows readers how to be productive in machine learning while also producing applications that maintain a high level of integrity. It also gives readers patterns to overcome challenges that are often encountered when trying to integrate machine learning in an engineering organization. The readers will begin by gaining a solid understanding of how to gather, organize, and parse real-work data from a variety of sources. Readers will then develop a solid statistical toolkit that will allow them to quickly understand gain intuition about the content of a dataset. Finally, the readers will gain hands-on experience implementing essential machine learning techniques (regression, classification, clustering, and so on) with the relevant Go packages. Finally, the reader will have a solid machine learning mindset and a powerful Go toolkit of techniques, packages, and example implementations. Style and approach This book connects the fundamental, theoretical concepts behind Machine Learning to practical implementations using the Go programming language.