TRULY A FAMILY? What was it that made rugged mountain man Garret Boyd so irresistible to Toni Carlton? Could it be the tenderness she'd glimpsed in his blue eyes whenever he swept his orphaned niece into his strong, sheltering arms? Or was it the heat Toni saw simmering in his gaze from the moment she'd come to his cozy home? In no time Toni had put a smile in Garret's heart–and a burning need in his wounded soul. And suddenly the brooding loner knew the only way to give little Angie a family was to believe that a strong, silent daddy and his vivacious new nanny were truly meant to be….

Hired: one wife! Annabelle Forrester has only ever loved one man–Rand Dumbarton. The gorgeous tycoon had swept her off her feet and proposed marriage. But their whirlwind courtship had ended bitterly. Annabelle had been unable to forgive him for trying to make her choose between him and her job. The pint-size private eye is, however, shocked when her latest client turns out to be none other than Rand Dumbarton. It seems to Annabelle a cruel twist of fate that the man who couldn't accept her occupation now needs her help. But does Rand want her for business–or as his bride? Love Undercover Their mission was marriage!

BACHELOR TERRITORY She's his client Roman Lufka is a rough, tough private investigator. He's been hired to protect Brittany Langford. The easiest way to be by her side, twenty-four hours a day, is to go undercover–as Brittany's husband. …and his wife! But if protecting his "wife" is easy, living with her isn't. They're perfect strangers–and for Roman, Brit is all too perfect. It seems this confirmed bachelor is facing his toughest assignment yet–falling in love! "Rebecca Winters writes from the heart…" –Debbi Macomber There are two sides to every story…and now it's his turn!

THE RIGHT HUSBAND… In two weeks, Lacey McCade was supposed to walk down the aisle and say "I do" to the man of every woman's dreams…except her own. So when she heard about a short-term position at Black's Bluff Ranch, Lacey knew the live-in-job would give her time to think. But think was all she could do…about Ethan Black, her very sexy employer…. From the tender way he cared for his little charges to the tough way he tended to the land, Ethan made Lacey's heart stop, swell and swoon. But the proud, half Native-American rancher had closed his own heart to loving again. Still, something in Ethan's searing, soul-searching gaze dared Lacey to hope he'd make her wedding dreams come true….

JUNE BRIDES HIS MEANT-TO-BE BRIDE When doe-eyed, all gowned-up-and-no-groom-in-sight Megan Morison sought refuge in his arms, bachelor John Vermont offered her a roof over her head, a job to pay the bills and his rugged shoulder to lean on…. HER DESTINED GROOM Megan had had her fill of people trying to run her life, but with strong, silent, steely-eyed John Vermont, she felt truly safe, accepted…and dare she believed loved? But John claimed that marriage wasn't for him, though his longing looks and heated kisses suggested otherwise. And now Megan wished this gorgeous albeit gruff ship captain would take the gift destiny offered and make her his lawfully wedded wife…. Celebrate a month of joyful marriages with Silhouette Romance!

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.

See Jane run? If that's what Jane Conroy's stalker had in mind, he was going to be disappointed. The feisty schoolteacher was more angered than frightened by her shadowy adversary's pranks. Thanks to him, she reluctantly found herself under the watchful deep blue gaze of a handsome lawman bent on keeping her safe — and restoring her lost faith.... See Jane fall... For Kyle Manning? The preacher's son and police officer figured that wasn't likely. After all, Jane made it clear that she didn't trust cops or religion — and that she could take care of herself. But Kyle wasn't just determined to guard her life...he was hoping to share it!

HE COULD HANDLE ANY RISK-EXCEPT HER She was his enemy's daughter. And soldier Jim "Dutch" Dutcher would never forgive Julia Ferrare for her part in the betrayal that killed his brother-or for the vulnerability she'd made Dutch feel. But now Julia had called him for help in escaping her father. And ten years hadn't changed a damn thing about her. She was still beautiful, fragile, kind-and most likely setting him up for another con. She'd stolen from him once-his family, his memories, his heart. He'd be a fool to trust her again. But sometimes even a hardened soldier could be a fool? ?for love.

A New York Times Bestselling Author She'd never trust a man again . . . and all Dana Westlake wanted was to be left alone to mend her broken heart. Then one stormy night, a wounded cowboy appeared on her doorstep. And though Dana tried to protect her emotions while she nursed Chay Lone Elk's wounds, she couldn't stop her pulse from racing at his touch, or her heart from melting.

Become an advanced practitioner with this progressive set of master classes on application-oriented machine learning About This Book ? Comprehensive coverage of key topics in machine learning with an emphasis on both the theoretical and practical aspects ? More than 15 open source Java tools in a wide range of techniques, with code and practical usage. ? More than 10 real-world case studies in machine learning highlighting techniques ranging from data ingestion up to analyzing the results of experiments, all preparing the user for the practical, real-world use of tools and data analysis. Who This Book Is For This book will appeal to anyone with a serious interest in topics in Data Science or those already working in related areas: ideally, intermediate-level data analysts and data scientists with experience in Java. Preferably, you will have experience with the fundamentals of machine learning and now have a desire to explore the area further, are up to grappling with the mathematical complexities of its algorithms, and you wish to learn the complete ins and outs of practical machine learning. What You Will Learn ? Master key Java machine learning libraries, and what kind of problem each can solve, with theory and practical guidance. ? Explore powerful techniques in each major category of machine learning such as classification, clustering, anomaly detection, graph modeling, and text mining. ? Apply machine learning to real-world data with methodologies, processes, applications, and analysis. ? Techniques and experiments developed around the latest specializations in machine learning, such as deep learning, stream data mining, and active and semi-supervised learning. ? Build high-performing, real-time, adaptive predictive models for batch- and stream-based big data learning using the latest tools and methodologies. ? Get a deeper understanding of technologies leading towards a more powerful AI applicable in various domains such as Security, Financial Crime, Internet of Things, social networking, and so on. In Detail Java is one of the main languages used by practicing data scientists; much of the Hadoop ecosystem is Java-based, and it is certainly the language that most production systems in Data Science are written in. If you know Java, Mastering Machine Learning with Java is your next step on the path to becoming an advanced practitioner in Data Science. This book aims to introduce you to an array of advanced techniques in machine learning, including classification, clustering, anomaly detection, stream learning, active learning, semi-supervised learning, probabilistic graph modeling, text mining, deep learning, and big data batch and stream machine learning. Accompanying each chapter are illustrative examples and real-world case studies that show how to apply the newly learned techniques using sound methodologies and the best Java-based tools available today. On completing this book, you will have an understanding of the tools and techniques for building powerful machine learning models to solve data science problems in just about any domain. Style and approach A practical guide to help you explore machine learning—and an array of Java-based tools and frameworks—with the help of practical examples and real-world use cases.

Build Machine Learning models with a sound statistical understanding. About This Book ? Learn about the statistics behind powerful predictive models with p-value, ANOVA, and F- statistics. ? Implement statistical computations programmatically for supervised and unsupervised learning through K-means clustering. ? Master the statistical aspect of Machine Learning with the help of this example-rich guide to R and Python. Who This Book Is For This book is intended for developers with little to no background in statistics, who want to implement Machine Learning in their systems. Some programming knowledge in R or Python will be useful. What You Will Learn ? Understand the Statistical and Machine Learning fundamentals necessary to build models ? Understand the major differences and parallels between the statistical way and the Machine Learning way to solve problems ? Learn how to prepare data and feed models by using the appropriate Machine Learning algorithms from the more-than-adequate R and Python packages ? Analyze the results and tune the model appropriately to your own predictive goals ? Understand the concepts of required statistics for Machine Learning ? Introduce yourself to necessary fundamentals required for building supervised & unsupervised deep learning models ? Learn reinforcement learning and its application in the field of artificial intelligence domain In Detail Complex statistics in Machine Learning worry a lot of developers. Knowing statistics helps you build strong Machine Learning models that are optimized for a given problem statement. This book will teach you all it takes to perform complex statistical computations required for Machine Learning. You will gain information on statistics behind supervised learning, unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning, and more. Understand the real-world examples that discuss the statistical side of Machine Learning and familiarize yourself with it. You will also design programs for performing tasks such as model, parameter fitting, regression, classification, density collection, and more. By the end of the book, you will have mastered the required statistics for Machine Learning and will be able to apply your new skills to any sort of industry problem. Style and approach This practical, step-by-step guide will give you an understanding of the Statistical and Machine Learning fundamentals you'll need to build models.

Use scikit-learn to apply machine learning to real-world problems About This Book ? Master popular machine learning models including k-nearest neighbors, random forests, logistic regression, k-means, naive Bayes, and artificial neural networks ? Learn how to build and evaluate performance of efficient models using scikit-learn ? Practical guide to master your basics and learn from real life applications of machine learning Who This Book Is For This book is intended for software engineers who want to understand how common machine learning algorithms work and develop an intuition for how to use them, and for data scientists who want to learn about the scikit-learn API. Familiarity with machine learning fundamentals and Python are helpful, but not required. What You Will Learn ? Review fundamental concepts such as bias and variance ? Extract features from categorical variables, text, and images ? Predict the values of continuous variables using linear regression and K Nearest Neighbors ? Classify documents and images using logistic regression and support vector machines ? Create ensembles of estimators using bagging and boosting techniques ? Discover hidden structures in data using K-Means clustering ? Evaluate the performance of machine learning systems in common tasks In Detail Machine learning is the buzzword bringing computer science and statistics together to build smart and efficient models. Using powerful algorithms and techniques offered by machine learning you can automate any analytical model. This book examines a variety of machine learning models including popular machine learning algorithms such as k-nearest neighbors, logistic regression, naive Bayes, k-means, decision trees, and artificial neural networks. It discusses data preprocessing, hyperparameter optimization, and ensemble methods. You will build systems that classify documents, recognize images, detect ads, and more. You will learn to use scikit-learn’s API to extract features from categorical variables, text and images; evaluate model performance, and develop an intuition for how to improve your model’s performance. By the end of this book, you will master all required concepts of scikit-learn to build efficient models at work to carry out advanced tasks with the practical approach. Style and approach This book is motivated by the belief that you do not understand something until you can describe it simply. Work through toy problems to develop your understanding of the learning algorithms and models, then apply your learnings to real-life problems.

Harness the power of Scala to program Spark and analyze tonnes of data in the blink of an eye! About This Book ? Learn Scala’s sophisticated type system that combines Functional Programming and object-oriented concepts ? Work on a wide array of applications, from simple batch jobs to stream processing and machine learning ? Explore the most common as well as some complex use-cases to perform large-scale data analysis with Spark Who This Book Is For Anyone who wishes to learn how to perform data analysis by harnessing the power of Spark will find this book extremely useful. No knowledge of Spark or Scala is assumed, although prior programming experience (especially with other JVM languages) will be useful to pick up concepts quicker. What You Will Learn ? Understand object-oriented & functional programming concepts of Scala ? In-depth understanding of Scala collection APIs ? Work with RDD and DataFrame to learn Spark’s core abstractions ? Analysing structured and unstructured data using SparkSQL and GraphX ? Scalable and fault-tolerant streaming application development using Spark structured streaming ? Learn machine-learning best practices for classification, regression, dimensionality reduction, and recommendation system to build predictive models with widely used algorithms in Spark MLlib & ML ? Build clustering models to cluster a vast amount of data ? Understand tuning, debugging, and monitoring Spark applications ? Deploy Spark applications on real clusters in Standalone, Mesos, and YARN In Detail Scala has been observing wide adoption over the past few years, especially in the field of data science and analytics. Spark, built on Scala, has gained a lot of recognition and is being used widely in productions. Thus, if you want to leverage the power of Scala and Spark to make sense of big data, this book is for you. The first part introduces you to Scala, helping you understand the object-oriented and functional programming concepts needed for Spark application development. It then moves on to Spark to cover the basic abstractions using RDD and DataFrame. This will help you develop scalable and fault-tolerant streaming applications by analyzing structured and unstructured data using SparkSQL, GraphX, and Spark structured streaming. Finally, the book moves on to some advanced topics, such as monitoring, configuration, debugging, testing, and deployment. You will also learn how to develop Spark applications using SparkR and PySpark APIs, interactive data analytics using Zeppelin, and in-memory data processing with Alluxio. By the end of this book, you will have a thorough understanding of Spark, and you will be able to perform full-stack data analytics with a feel that no amount of data is too big. Style and approach Filled with practical examples and use cases, this book will hot only help you get up and running with Spark, but will also take you farther down the road to becoming a data scientist.

Mastering Drupal can lead to a mighty website - discover what Drupal 8 can really do with hidden techniques, best practices, and more! About This Book ? The most up-to-date advanced practical guide on Drupal 8 with an in-depth look at all the advanced new features such as authoring, HTML markup, built-in web services, and more ? If you are looking to dive deep into Drupal 8 and create industry-standard web apps, then this is the ideal book for you ? All the code and examples are explained in great detail to help you in the development process Who This Book Is For This book is ideally suited to web developers, designers, and web administrators who want to dive deep into Drupal. Previous experience with Drupal is a must to unleash the full potential of this book. What You Will Learn ? Discover how to better manage content using custom blocks and views ? Display content in multiple ways, taking advantage of display modes ? Create custom modules with YAML and Symfony 2 ? Easily translate content using the new multilingual capabilities ? Use RESTful services and JavaScript frameworks to build headless websites ? Manage Drupal configuration from one server to another easily In Detail Drupal is an open source content management system trusted by governments and organizations around the globe to run their websites. It brings with it extensive content authoring tools, reliable performance, and a proven track record of security. The community of more than 1,000,000 developers, designers, editors, and others have developed and maintained a wealth of modules, themes, and other add-ons to help you build a dynamic web experience. Drupal 8 is the latest release of the Drupal built on the Symfony2 framework. This is the largest change to the Drupal project in its history. The entire API of Drupal has been rebuilt using Symfony and everything from the administrative UI to themes to custom module development has been affected. This book will cover everything you need to plan and build a complete website using Drupal 8. It will provide a clear and concise walkthrough of the more than 200 new features and improvements introduced in Drupal core. In this book, you will learn advanced site building techniques, create and modify themes using Twig, create custom modules using the new Drupal API, explore the new REST and Multilingual functionality, import, and export Configuration, and learn how to migrate from earlier versions of Drupal. Style and approach This book takes a practical approach with equal emphasis on examples and illustrative screenshots.

A guide to mastering Visual Studio 2017 About This Book ? Focus on coding with the new, improved, and powerful tools of VS 2017 ? Master improved debugging and unit testing support capabilities ? Accelerate cloud development with the built-in Azure tools Who This Book Is For .NET Developers who would like to master the new features of VS 2017, and would like to delve into newer areas such as cloud computing, would benefit from this book. Basic knowledge of previous versions of Visual Studio is assumed. What You Will Learn ? Learn what's new in the Visual Studio 2017 IDE, C# 7.0, and how it will help developers to improve their productivity ? Learn the workloads and components of the new installation wizard and how to use the online and offline installer ? Build stunning Windows apps using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) tools ? Get familiar with .NET Core and learn how to build apps targeting this new framework ? Explore everything about NuGet packages ? Debug and test your applications using Visual Studio 2017 ? Accelerate cloud development with Microsoft Azure ? Integrate Visual Studio with most popular source control repositories, such as TFS and GitHub In Detail Visual Studio 2017 is the all-new IDE released by Microsoft for developers, targeting Microsoft and other platforms to build stunning Windows and web apps. Learning how to effectively use this technology can enhance your productivity while simplifying your most common tasks, allowing you more time to focus on your project. With this book, you will learn not only what VS2017 offers, but also what it takes to put it to work for your projects. Visual Studio 2017 is packed with improvements that increase productivity, and this book will get you started with the new features introduced in Visual Studio 2017 IDE and C# 7.0. Next, you will learn to use XAML tools to build classic WPF apps, and UWP tools to build apps targeting Windows 10. Later, you will learn about .NET Core and then explore NuGet, the package manager for the Microsoft development platform. Then, you will familiarize yourself with the debugging and live unit testing techniques that comes with the IDE. Finally, you'll adapt Microsoft's implementation of cloud computing with Azure, and the Visual Studio integration with Source Control repositories. Style and approach This comprehensive guide covers the advanced features of Visual Studio 2017, and communicates them through a practical approach to explore the underlying concepts of how, when, and why to use it.