Take a trip to the South Carolina coast and indulge in the beautiful sunsets that lead to perfect Stargazey Nights.A call from the past and a mysterious inheritance bring Cabot Reynolds to a magical town and force him to make a decision that will change his life forever. Stargazey Point, once a slice of Southern heaven, is in need of tender love and care, something Cab learns he is in desperate need of himself. Stargazey Nights is a tantalizing glimpse into a world that will come to life in the forthcoming novel Stargazey Point.

Find out what happens when you fall for your best friend's worst enemy in this hilarious tale of a forbidden first love and forever friendship. The author of Maine Squeeze and Love and Other Things I'm Bad At, Catherine Clark, has once again crafted a romantic coming-of-age story that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.Lucy can't wait to spend the summer at the lake with her best friend, Mikayla. But when Jackson, the boy she's been avoiding ever since he rejected her, reappears in her life, Lucy wonders if this summer to remember is one she'd rather forget.Mikayla's never had much luck talking to boys, but when she (literally) runs into the cutest guy she's ever seen, and sparks fly, she thinks things might be looking up . . . until she realizes the adorable stranger is the same boy who broke her best friend's heart.As things begin to heat up between Mikayla and the one guy she should avoid, will Lucy be able to keep her cool or will the girls' perfect summer turn into one hot mess?

Explore real-world threat scenarios, attacks on mobile applications, and ways to counter them About This Book Gain insights into the current threat landscape of mobile applications in particular Explore the different options that are available on mobile platforms and prevent circumventions made by attackers This is a step-by-step guide to setting up your own mobile penetration testing environment Who This Book Is For If you are a mobile application evangelist, mobile application developer, information security practitioner, penetration tester on infrastructure web applications, an application security professional, or someone who wants to learn mobile application security as a career, then this book is for you. This book will provide you with all the skills you need to get started with Android and iOS pen-testing. What You Will Learn Gain an in-depth understanding of Android and iOS architecture and the latest changes Discover how to work with different tool suites to assess any application Develop different strategies and techniques to connect to a mobile device Create a foundation for mobile application security principles Grasp techniques to attack different components of an Android device and the different functionalities of an iOS device Get to know secure development strategies for both iOS and Android applications Gain an understanding of threat modeling mobile applications Get an in-depth understanding of both Android and iOS implementation vulnerabilities and how to provide counter-measures while developing a mobile app In Detail Mobile security has come a long way over the last few years. It has transitioned from "should it be done?" to "it must be done!"Alongside the growing number of devises and applications, there is also a growth in the volume of Personally identifiable information (PII), Financial Data, and much more. This data needs to be secured. This is why Pen-testing is so important to modern application developers. You need to know how to secure user data, and find vulnerabilities and loopholes in your application that might lead to security breaches. This book gives you the necessary skills to security test your mobile applications as a beginner, developer, or security practitioner. You'll start by discovering the internal components of an Android and an iOS application. Moving ahead, you'll understand the inter-process working of these applications. Then you'll set up a test environment for this application using various tools to identify the loopholes and vulnerabilities in the structure of the applications. Finally, after collecting all information about these security loop holes, we'll start securing our applications from these threats. Style and approach This is an easy-to-follow guide full of hands-on examples of real-world attack simulations. Each topic is explained in context with respect to testing, and for the more inquisitive, there are more details on the concepts and techniques used for different platforms.

Over 35 recipes to design and implement uniquely styled maps using the Mapbox platform About This Book Design and develop beautifully styled maps using TileMill, MapBox Studio, and CartoCSS Get to grips with the mapbox.js and Leaflet to create visually stunning web and mobile applications An easy-to-follow, quick reference guide to integrate powerful APIs and services like Foursquare, Fusion Tables, Geoserver, and CartoDB to populate your maps Who This Book Is For If you are a web developer seeking for GIS expertise on how to create, style, and publish interactive and unique styled maps, then this book is for you. Basic knowledge of programming and java*s is assumed. What You Will Learn Get accustomed to the MapBox Editor to visually style your maps Learn everything about CartoCSS, and how it will help you fine tune your styled maps Use MapBox Studio and Tilemill to generate your own tiles and vector maps Publish your maps using a variety of technologies like node.js, PHP, and Geoserver Integrate with third party APIs and services to populate your maps with public or private data Create many different map visualization styles like choropleth and heat maps, add interactivity, and even learn how to animate data over time Work with many different data formats and external services to create robust maps Learn to use MapBox GL to create a mobile application In Detail Maps are an essential element in today’s location aware applications. Right from displaying earth surface information to creating thematic maps displaying plethora of information, most of the developers lack the necessary knowledge to create customizable maps with combination of various tools and libraries. The MapBox platform is one such platform which offers all the tools and API required to create and publish a totally customizable map. Starting with building your first map with the online MapBox Editor, we will take you all the way to building advanced web and mobile applications with totally customizable map styles. Through the course of chapters we’ll learn CartoCSS styling language and understand the various components of MapBox platform and their corresponding JavaScript API. In the initial few chapters we will dive deeper into the TileMill and MapBox Studio components of MapBox and use them to generate custom styled map tiles and vector maps. Furthermore, we will publish these custom maps using PHP, node.js and third party tools like Geoserver. We’ll also learn to create different visualizations and map styles like a choropleth map, a heat map and add user interactivity using a UFTGrid. Moving on, we dive into advanced concepts and focus on integration with third party services like Foursquare, Google FusionTables, CartoDB, and Torque to help you populate and even animate your maps. In the final chapter we’ll learn to use the Mapbox SDK to create and publish interactive maps for the iOS platform. By the end of this book, you will learn about MapBox GL and how to create a fully functional, location-aware mobile app, using the maps styles created in the recipes. Style and approach An easy-to-use recipe driven book that will not just serve code samples, but also explains all the theory and concepts required to fully understand each recipe.

Develop the skills required to create compelling, maintainable, and robust iOS and OS X apps with Swift About This Book Write expressive, understandable, and maintainable Swift 2 code with this hands-on tutorial Unveil the complex underpinnings of Swift to turn your app ideas into reality This book is packed with real-life examples to help you implement concepts as you learn Who This Book Is For If you are looking to build iOS or OS X apps using the most modern technology, this book is ideal for you. You will find this book especially useful if you are new to programming or if you are yet to develop for iOS or OS X. No prior programming exposure is required. What You Will Learn Form a solid understanding of the Swift 2 language Get to know the practical aspects of how a computer program actually works Understand the paradigms used by Apple’s frameworks so you are not intimidated by them Utilize the vast resources written in Objective-C to better inform your Swift programming Develop a basic portfolio of Swift code by learning the critical concepts Experience both object-oriented and functional programming Get to know the new coding techniques made available by Swift 2 Discover resources to ensure you never stop becoming a better developer In Detail Swift is Apple’s new programming language and the future of iOS and OS X app development. It is a high-performance language that feels like a modern *ing language. On the surface, Swift is easy to jump into, but it has complex underpinnings that are critical to becoming proficient at turning an idea into reality. This book is an approachable, step-by-step introduction into programming with Swift for everyone. It begins by giving you an overview of the key features through practical examples and progresses to more advanced topics that help differentiate the proficient developers from the mediocre ones. It covers important concepts such as Variables, Optionals, Closures, Generics, and Memory Management. Mixed in with those concepts, it also helps you learn the art of programming such as maintainability, useful design patterns, and resources to further your knowledge. This all culminates in writing a basic iOS app that will get you well on your way to turning your own app ideas into reality. Style and approach This is an approachable, step-by-step guide to programming in Swift 2. Each topic is separated into compressible sections that are full of practical examples and easy-to-understand explanations. Each section builds on the previous topics so you can develop a proficient and comprehensive understanding of app development in Swift 2.

Master Drupal 8’s new Twig templating engine to create fun and fast websites with simple steps to help you move from concept to completion About This Book Create beautiful responsive Drupal 8 websites using Twig Quickly master theme administration, custom block layouts, views, and the Twig template structure A step-by-step guide to the most common approaches in web design Who This Book Is For This book is intended for front-end developers, designers, and anyone who is generally interested in learning all the new features of Drupal 8 theming. Discover what has changed from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 and immerse yourself in the new Twig PHP templating engine. Familiarity with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and the Drupal Admin interface would be helpful. Prior experience with setting up and configuring a standalone development environment is required as we will be working with PHP and MySQL. What You Will Learn Navigate the Drupal 8 Admin interface Build custom block layouts with reusable and fieldable blocks Create subthemes based on the Bartik and Classy base themes Construct a responsive theme with Twitter Bootstrap Work with the new Twig PHP templating engine Configure Drupal for Twig debugging Enable preprocessing of Twig variables Develop a theme from scratch following a step-by-step project outline In Detail Drupal 8 is an open source content management system and powerful framework that helps deliver great websites to individuals and organizations, including non-profits, commercial, and government around the globe. This new release has been built on top of object-oriented PHP and includes more than a handful of improvements such as a better user experience, cleaner HTML5 markup, a new templating engine called Twig, multilingual capabilities, new configuration management, and effortless content authoring. Drupal 8 will quickly become the new standard for deploying content to both the web and mobile applications. However, with so many new changes, it can quickly become overwhelming knowing where to start and how to quickly. Starting from the bottom up, we will install, set up, and configure Drupal 8. We’ll navigate the Admin interface so you can learn how to work with core themes and create new custom block layouts. Walk through a real-world project to create a Twig theme from concept to completion while adopting best practices to implement CSS frameworks and JavaScript libraries. We will see just how quick and easy it is to create beautiful, responsive Drupal 8 websites while avoiding the common mistakes that many front-end developers make. Style and approach Drupal 8 Theming with Twig is intended for front-end developers, designers, and anyone who is generally interested in learning all the new features of Drupal 8 theming. Discover what has changed from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 and immerse yourself in the new Twig PHP templating engine. Familiarity with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and the Drupal Admin interface would be helpful. Prior experience with setting up and configuring a standalone development environment is required as we will be working with PHP and MySQL.

Your one-stop guide for building, configuring, maintaining, and deploying one of the world's fastest growing OSes About This Book Understand the features of CoreOS and learn to administrate and secure a CoreOS environment Develop, test, and deploy cloud services and applications more quickly and efficiently inside lightweight containers using CoreOS This is a complete tutorial on CoreOS, which is the preferred OS for cloud computing as it contains components that facilitate cloud management Who This Book Is For This book is for cloud or enterprise administrators and application developers who would like to gain knowledge about CoreOS to deploy a cloud application or micro-services on a cluster of cloud servers. It is also aimed at administrators with basic networking experience. You do not need to have any knowledge of CoreOS. What You Will Learn Understand the benefits of CoreOS as a cloud orchestration platform Learn about lightweight containers and various container frameworks such as Docker and RKT in CoreOS Manage services and containers across cluster using Fleet and systemd Set up a CoreOS environment using Vagrant Create and manage CoreOS clusters Discover the service parameters using etcd Find out about chaining services running on the cluster using Flannel / Rudder and Weave Create a virtual tenant network and service chaining using OVS In Detail CoreOS is an open source operating system developed upon the Linux kernel. The rise of CoreOS is directly related to the rise of Docker (a Linux container management system). It is a minimal operating system layer and takes a different approach to automating the deployment of containers. The major difference between CoreOS and other Linux distributions is that CoreOS was designed to deploy hundreds of servers. CoreOS immensely helps the users to create systems, which are easy to scale and manage, making life easier for all, be it developer, QA, or deployer. This book is all about setting up, deploying, and using CoreOS to manage clusters and clouds. It will help you understand what CoreOS is and its benefits as a cloud orchestration platform. First, we’ll show you how to set up a simple CoreOS instance with single node in the cluster and how to run a Docker container inside the CoreOS instance. Next, you’ll be introduced to Fleet and systemd, and will deploy and distribute Docker services across different nodes in cluster using Fleet. Later, you’ll be briefed about running services in a cluster with constraints, publishing the services already running on the cluster to new services, and making your services interact with each other. We conclude by teaching you about advanced container networking. By the end of the book, you will know the salient features of CoreOS and will be able to deploy, administrate, and secure a CoreOS environment. Style and approach This practical guide covers the basics and advanced topics related to CoreOS and lightweight containers. The topics are covered in an easy-to-follow manner with each feature explained in detail, beginning with a brief overview and followed by an explanation of its corresponding configuration files.

Get unstuck and start stacking! About This Book Easily fix the nagging problems that commonly plague OpenStack and become the go-to person in your organization Get better equipped to troubleshoot and solve common problems in performance, availability, and automation that confront production-ready OpenStack environments Save time and decrease frustration by solving significant issues that arise from OpenStack deployments pertaining to storage and networking Who This Book Is For You will need a basic understanding of OpenStack, Linux, and Cloud computing. If you have an understanding of Linux, this book will help you leverage that knowledge in the world of OpenStack, giving you confidence to tackle most issues that may arise. What You Will Learn Diagnose and remediate authentication and authorization problems in Keystone Fix common issues with images served through Glance Master the art of troubleshooting Neutron networking Navigate and overcome problems with Nova Troubleshoot and resolve Cinder block storage issues Identify and correct Swift object storage problems Isolate and fix issues caused by Heat orchestration Leverage Ceilometer and other metering and monitoring tools for effective troubleshooting In Detail OpenStack is a collection of software projects that work together to provide a cloud fabric. OpenStack is one of the fastest growing open source projects in history that unlocks cloud computing for everyone. With OpenStack, you are able to create public or private clouds on your own hardware. The flexibility and control afforded by OpenStack puts the cloud within reach of anyone willing to learn this technology. Starting with an introduction to OpenStack troubleshooting tools, we’ll walk through each OpenStack service and how you can quickly diagnose, troubleshoot, and correct problems in your OpenStack. Understanding the various projects and how they interact is essential for anyone attempting to troubleshoot an OpenStack cloud. We will start by explaining each of the major components and the dependencies between them, and move on to show you how to identify and utilize an effective set of OpenStack troubleshooting tools and fix common Keystone problems. Next, we will expose you to common errors and problems you may encounter when using the OpenStack Block Storage service (Cinder). We will then examine Heat, the OpenStack Orchestration Service, where you will learn how to trace errors, determine their root cause, and effectively correct the issue. Finally, you will get to know the best practices to architect your OpenStack cloud in order to achieve optimal performance, availability, and reliability. Style and approach This is straight-to-the point guide to fixing your OpenStack cluster. Common problems are identified and suggestions to resolve these problems are presented in a simple, easy-to-understand manner.

Over 50 practical recipes that will help you realize the full potential of Magento in order to build a professional online store About This Book Take advantage of the latest features in Magento 2 to set up an e-commerce store that fits your business needs Packed with several advanced recipes, not just to manage your online store, but to extend and design it as well Written in a cookbook style, you can pick and choose your recipe to carry out your day- to- day Magento store tasks Who This Book Is For The book is for existing Magento users who want to gain further expertise and insights into managing, designing, and extending their online store in Magento to fit their business needs. Working knowledge of Magento and basic familiarity with programming is expected. What You Will Learn Set up a Magento 2 project on Apache or Nginx. Transfer your Magento 1 database to Magento 2 using the Magento 2 system tools. Boost the performance of Magento 2 by enabling different types of caching. Build a Magento 2 multi-store by creating a root catalog, subdirectories, and products. Create and manage pages, blocks, and front-end apps. Manage your Magento store by setting up the correct TAX rules. Design custom themes within the Magento 2 framework. Create basic and advanced extensions using Magento 2. In Detail Magento 2 is an open source e-commerce platform that has all the functionality to function from small to large online stores. It is preferred by developers and merchants due to its new architecture, which makes it possible to extend the functionalities with plugins, a lot of which are now created by the community. This merchant and developer guide is packed with recipes that cover all aspects of Magento 2. The recipes start with simple how-to’s then delve into more advanced topics as the book progresses. We start with the basics of setting up a Magento 2 project on Apache or Nginx. Next, you will learn about basics including system tools and caching to get your Magento 2 system ready for the real work. We move on to simple tasks such as managing your store and catalog configuration. When you are familiar with this, we cover more complex features such as module and extension development. Then we will jump to the final part: advanced Magento 2 extensions. By the end of this book, you’ll be competent with all the development phases of Magento 2 and its most common elements. Style and approach Step by step guide for real world tasks for Magento users to gain a more advanced insight on managing, extending and designing their e-commerce store to fit their business needs.

Employ the most advanced pentesting techniques and tools to build highly-secured systems and environments About This Book Learn how to build your own pentesting lab environment to practice advanced techniques Customize your own *s, and learn methods to exploit 32-bit and 64-bit programs Explore a vast variety of stealth techniques to bypass a number of protections when penetration testing Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone who wants to improve their skills in penetration testing. As it follows a step-by-step approach, anyone from a novice to an experienced security tester can learn effective techniques to deal with highly secured environments. Whether you are brand new or a seasoned expert, this book will provide you with the skills you need to successfully create, customize, and plan an advanced penetration test. What You Will Learn A step-by-step methodology to identify and penetrate secured environments Get to know the process to test network services across enterprise architecture when defences are in place Grasp different web application testing methods and how to identify web application protections that are deployed Understand a variety of concepts to exploit software Gain proven post-exploitation techniques to exfiltrate data from the target Get to grips with various stealth techniques to remain undetected and defeat the latest defences Be the first to find out the latest methods to bypass firewalls Follow proven approaches to record and save the data from tests for analysis In Detail The defences continue to improve and become more and more common, but this book will provide you with a number or proven techniques to defeat the latest defences on the networks. The methods and techniques contained will provide you with a powerful arsenal of best practices to increase your penetration testing successes. The processes and methodology will provide you techniques that will enable you to be successful, and the step by step instructions of information gathering and intelligence will allow you to gather the required information on the targets you are testing. The exploitation and post-exploitation sections will supply you with the tools you would need to go as far as the scope of work will allow you. The challenges at the end of each chapter are designed to challenge you and provide real-world situations that will hone and perfect your penetration testing skills. You will start with a review of several well respected penetration testing methodologies, and following this you will learn a step-by-step methodology of professional security testing, including stealth, methods of evasion, and obfuscation to perform your tests and not be detected! The final challenge will allow you to create your own complex layered architecture with defences and protections in place, and provide the ultimate testing range for you to practice the methods shown throughout the book. The challenge is as close to an actual penetration test assignment as you can get! Style and approach The book follows the standard penetration testing stages from start to finish with step-by-step examples. The book thoroughly covers penetration test expectations, proper scoping and planning, as well as enumeration and foot printing

In this eye-opening, authoritative biography, Adam Begley offers a captivating portrait of John Updike, the author who saw himself as a literary spy in small-town and suburban America, and who dedicated himself to the task of transcribing middleness with all its grits, bumps, and anonymities. Updike explores the stages of the writer's pilgrim's progress: his beloved home turf of Berks County, Pennsylvania; his escape to Harvard; his brief, busy working life as the golden boy at The New Yorker; his family years in suburban Ipswich, Massachusetts; his extensive travel abroad; and his retreat to another Massachusetts town, Beverly Farms, where he remained until his death in 2009. Drawing on in-depth archival research as well as interviews with the writer's family, friends, and colleagues, Begley explores how Updike's fiction was shaped by his tumultuous personal life including his enduring religious faith, his two marriages, and his firsthand experience of the adulterous society he was credited with exposing in the bestselling novel Couples.With a sharp critical sensibility, Begley probes Updike's best-loved works from Pigeon Feathers to The Witches of Eastwick to the Rabbit tetralogy and reveals a surprising and deeply complex character fraught with contradictions: a kind man with a vicious wit, a gregarious charmer who was ruthlessly competitive, a private person compelled to spill his secrets on the printed page.Candid, intimate, and utterly absorbing, Updike is a masterful biography of a national treasure whose writing continues to resonate like no one else's.

The definitive A to Z reference on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln The first book of its kind, The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia is a truly indispensable guide to one of the most dramatic and fascinating events in our nation's history: the murder of the sixteenth president of the United States. Written by Edward Steers, Jr., acclaimed author of Blood on the Moon and one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, here is an exhaustive, highly readable resource that includes: All the known persons, places, events, and conspiracies connected to the tragedy More than 150 period photographs and maps, many never before published The truth behind the hoaxes, myths, and legends surrounding the assassination A comprehensive narrative and timeline of events . . . and more With a foreword by James L. Swanson, bestselling author of Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia is the perfect addition to every Lincoln library.

From his less than auspicious start in 1755 on the Caribbean Island of Nevis to his untimely death in a duel with his old enemy Aaron Burr in 1804, Alexander Hamilton, despite his short life, left a huge legacy. Orphaned at thirteen and apprenticed in a counting house, Hamilton learned principles of business that helped him create the American financial system and invent the modern corporation. But first the staunch, intrepid Hamilton served in the American Revolution, acting as General Washington's spymaster. Forging a successful legal career, Hamilton coauthored the Federalist Papers and plunged into politics. Irresistibly attractive, he was a man of many gifts, but he could be arrogant and at times a poor judge of character. In this meticulously researched, illuminating, and lively account, Willard Sterne Randall explores Hamilton’s life his illegitimate birth, little-known military activities, political and diplomatic intrigues, and scandalous affairs and its indelible impact on modern America.

Raising Twins guides you through the physical, emotional, and cognitive developmental differences and challenges specific to twins. Straightforward and reassuring, this book addresses the key issues that impact twins from babyhood all the way through adolescence: Sharing and comparisons Competition and rivalry The "secret language" of twins The good twin/bad twin myth Teen-specific issues like dating and applying for college And much more including lively, candid discussions with twins and their parents

A must-have for any aspiring actor or stage parent––the definitive guide to breaking into film, television, theater, and even YouTube from a top casting directorPacked with information that aspiring actors clamor for, this up-to-the-minute advice from a true expert is essential reading for anyone pursuing an acting career. Longtime casting director Jen Rudin demystifies the intimidating and constantly changing audition process, sharing insider tips on how to prepare for every type of audition, from musical theater, television (including reality TV), and film to voice-overs, animated movies, and even Web series. In this comprehensive guide, Rudin covers everything that today's actor needs to succeed on subjects like: finding an agent or manager, using technology to your advantage, understanding the world of child acting, living in New York versus L.A., turning a callback into an offer for the role, and many more.Every actor should walk into an audition room feeling confident and prepared, and this book is full of the dos and don'ts and surefire tricks to help turn rejection into that first big break. Complete with checklists, easy-to-follow game plans, and advice from successful actors, agents, and industry professionals, Confessions of a Casting Director is like having a private audition coach in your back pocket.

You can't spell truth without Ruth.Only Ruth Bader Ginsburg can judge me.The Ruth will set you free.Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg never asked for fame she was just trying to make the world a little better and a little freer. But along the way, the feminist pioneer's searing dissents and steely strength have inspired millions. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, created by the young lawyer who began the Internet sensation and an award-winning journalist, takes you behind the myth for an intimate, irreverent look at the justice's life and work. As America struggles with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, Ginsburg stays fierce. And if you don't know, now you know.

When kids start going on TV binges or devouring fistfuls of cookies, it's easy to say, "They'll grow out of it." More likely, they're acquiring bad habits that could lead to childhood obesity and chronic adult diseases, from diabetes and depression to heart trouble and osteoporosis. But by making simple changes now, you can help your children avoid these problems later. Good Kids, Bad Habits supplies the tools you need, starting with the unique RealAge Healthy Kids Test. Based on the proven RealAge Test, which measures biological not calendar age, the Healthy Kids Test reveals where children are doing fine and where they're headed for health trouble. Regardless of the problem from sleeplessness to video-game addiction Dr. Jen has seen and solved it all, working with parents and kids together. Her insightful tips, preventive steps, and kid smarts, learned from working with thousands of children, make this book invaluable. It will help your kids grow into the healthiest adults they can be while still allowing them to be kids.

An exploration of the darker side of maternal behavior drawn from scientific research, psychology, and the real-life experiences of adult daughters, Mean Mothers sheds light on one of the last cultural taboos: what happens when a woman doesn't or can't love her daughter.Mean Mothers reveals the multigenerational thread that often runs through these stories many unloving mothers are the daughters of unloving or hypercritical women and explores what happens to a daughter's sense of self and to her relationships when her mother is emotionally absent or even cruel. But Mean Mothers is also a narrative of hope, recounting how daughters can get past the legacy of hurt to become whole within and to become loving mothers to the next generation of daughters. The personal stories of unloved daughters and sons and those of the author herself, are both unflinching and moving, and bring this most difficult of subjects to life.Mean Mothers isn't just a book for daughters who've had difficult or impossible relationships with their mothers. By exposing the myths of motherhood that prevent us from talking about the women for whom mothering a daughter is fraught with ambivalence, tension, or even jealousy, Mean Mothers also casts a different light on the extraordinary influence mothers have over their female children as well as the psychological complexity and emotional depth of the mother-daughter relationship.

Focusing on the author's own marriage and on a group of case studies, this book vividly illustrates the obstacles married couples face today and offers help in overcoming them.

This singular guide presents the straightforward facts on affairs, as well as advice to affairees and spouses on how to cope with them.Since 60% of marriages are affected by affairs, you should know the facts: Women under 30 are as likely as men to have an affair. Love affairs are different from sex affairs. Most affairs last between and three years, but the consequences can last a lifetime. Fewer than 10% of affairees divorce their spouses then marry their lover. Over 75% of those who do divorce and marry their lover divorce again. Nearly 80% of those who divorce during an affair are sorry later. Most marriages survive affairs. If you want to stay married, you can. Prevention works. You can -- and should -- affair-proof your marriage right now.

It's going to be a wild ride… Lady Alexandra Summersby is not your average society miss. Not only is she more likely to climb a tree than she is to wear a dress, but she has also sworn off marriage. Alex loves taking chances, which is how she finds herself embroiled in a secret mission as she races across the country with the Earl of Trenton. But Alexandra is about to discover that the real danger lies not in duels, but in her completely unexpected reaction to Lord Trenton's company. Michael Ashford, Earl of Trenton, is a man of duty. Honorable, charming, and a hit with the ladies, he's never had trouble staying focused—until now. Lady Alexandra is like no other woman he's ever met, and suddenly the prospect of marriage seems far more appealing. Now, to convince Alexandra that a life together could be an adventure like no other…