‘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

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.

A single father who yearns to be a family man, Logan O'Donnell is determined to create the perfect Christmas for his son, Charlie. The entire O’Donnell clan arrives to spend the holidays in Avalon, a postcard-pretty town on the shores of Willow Lake, a place for the family to reconnect and rediscover the special gifts of the season. One of the guests is a newcomer to Willow Lake–Darcy Fitzgerald. Sharp-witted, independent and intent on guarding her heart, she’s the last person Logan can see himself falling for. And Darcy is convinced that a relationship is the last thing she needs this Christmas. Yet between the snowy silence of the winter woods, and toasty moments by a crackling fire, their two lonely hearts collide. The magic of the season brings them each a gift neither ever expected–a love to last a lifetime.

Vaughn Donnelly's work has taken him to many different villages over the years, and he's never regretted saying goodbye to anyone in them. Until he promises to help Darcy Keegan rescue an orphaned boy from prison. Darcy dreams of a family, a home, a husband… But can Vaughn offer Darcy what she needs?

Bring the performance and security of SQL Server to Linux About This Book ? Design and administer your SQL Server solution on the open source Linux platform ? Install, configure, and fine-tune your database application for maximum performance ? An easy-to-follow guide teaching you how to implement various SQL Server CTP 2.x offerings on Linux—from installation to administration Who This Book Is For This book is for the Linux users who want to learn SQL Server on their favorite Linux distributions. It is not important if you are experienced database user or a beginner as we are starting from scratch. However, it is recommended that you have basic knowledge about relational models. More advanced readers can pick the chapters of their interest and study specific topics immediately. Users from Windows platform can also benefit from this book to expand their frontiers and become equally efficient on both platforms. What You Will Learn ? Install and set up SQL Server CTP 2.x on Linux ? Create and work with database objects using SQL Server on Linux ? Configure and administer SQL Server on Linux-based systems ? Create and restore database back-ups ? Protect sensitive data using the built-in cryptographic features ? Optimize query execution using indexes ? Improve query execution time by more than 10x using in-memory OLTP ? Track row-versioning using temporal tables In Detail Microsoft's launch of SQL Server on Linux has made SQL Server a truly versatile platform across different operating systems and data-types, both on-premise and on-cloud. This book is your handy guide to setting up and implementing your SQL Server solution on the open source Linux platform. You will start by understanding how SQL Server can be installed on supported and unsupported Linux distributions. Then you will brush up your SQL Server skills by creating and querying database objects and implementing basic administration tasks to support business continuity, including security and performance optimization. This book will also take you beyond the basics and highlight some advanced topics such as in-memory OLTP and temporal tables. By the end of this book, you will be able to recognize and utilize the full potential of setting up an efficient SQL Server database solution in your Linux environment. Style and approach This book follows a step-by-step approach to teach readers the concepts of SQL Server on Linux using the bash command line and SQL programming language trough examples which can easily be adapted and applied in your own solutions.

Harness the power of the Cloud, leveraging the speed and scale of Azure Serverless computing About This Book ? Take advantage of the agility, scale, and cost-effectiveness of the cloud using Azure Serverless compute ? Build scalable, reliable, and cost-effecient applications with Serverless architecture and .NET ? Learn to use Azure functions to their fullest potential in .NET Who This Book Is For This book is for .NET developers who would like to learn about serverless architecture. Basic C# programming knowledge is assumed. What You Will Learn ? Understand the best practices of Serverless architecture ? Learn how how to deploy a Text Sentiment Evaluation application in an Azure Serverless environment ? Implement security, identity, and access control ? Take advantage of the speed of deployment in the cloud ? Configure application health monitoring, logging, and alerts ? Design your application to ensure cost effectiveness, high availability, and scale In Detail Serverless architecture allows you to build and run applications and services without having to manage the infrastructure. Many companies have started adopting serverless architecture for their applications to save cost and improve scalability. This book will be your companion in designing Serverless architecture for your applications using the .NET runtime, with Microsoft Azure as the cloud service provider. You will begin by understanding the concepts of Serverless architecture, its advantages and disadvantages. You will then set up the Azure environment and build a basic application using a sample text sentiment evaluation function. From here, you will be shown how to run services in a Serverless environment. We will cover the integration with other Azure and 3rd party services such as Azure Service Bus, as well as configuring dependencies on NuGet libraries, among other topics. After this, you will learn about debugging and testing your Azure functions, and then automating deployment from source control. Securing your application and monitoring its health will follow from there, and then in the final part of the book, you will learn how to Design for High Availability, Disaster Recovery and Scale, as well as how to take advantage of the cloud pay-as-you-go model to design cost-effective services. We will finish off with explaining how azure functions scale up against AWS Lambda, Azure Web Jobs, and Azure Batch compare to other types of compute-on-demand services. Whether you’ve been working with Azure for a while, or you’re just getting started, by the end of the book you will have all the information you need to set up and deploy applications to the Azure Serverless Computing environment. Style and approach This step-by-step guide shows you the concepts and features of Serverless architecture in Azure with .NET.

Over 50 recipes to help you build applications hosted on Serverless architecture using Azure Functions. About This Book ? Enhance Azure Functions with continuous deployment using Visual Studio Team Services ? Learn to deploy and manage cost-effective and highly available serverless applications using Azure Functions ? This recipe-based guide will teach you to build a robust serverless environment Who This Book Is For If you are a Cloud administrator, architect, or developer who wants to build scalable systems and deploy serverless applications with Azure functions, then this book is for you. Prior knowledge and hands-on experience with core services of Microsoft Azure is required. What You Will Learn ? Develop different event-based handlers supported by serverless architecture supported by Microsoft Cloud Platform – Azure ? Integrate Azure Functions with different Azure Services to develop Enterprise-level applications ? Get to know the best practices in organizing and refactoring the code within the Azure functions ? Test, troubleshoot, and monitor the Azure functions to deliver high-quality, reliable, and robust cloud-centric applications ? Automate mundane tasks at various levels right from development to deployment and maintenance ? Learn how to develop statefulserverless applications and also self-healing jobs using DurableFunctions In Detail Microsoft provides a solution to easily run small segment of code in the Cloud with Azure Functions. Azure Functions provides solutions for processing data, integrating systems, and building simple APIs and microservices. The book starts with intermediate-level recipes on serverless computing along with some use cases on benefits and key features of Azure Functions. Then, we’ll deep dive into the core aspects of Azure Functions such as the services it provides, how you can develop and write Azure functions, and how to monitor and troubleshoot them. Moving on, you’ll get practical recipes on integrating DevOps with Azure functions, and providing continuous integration and continous deployment with Visual Studio Team Services. It also provides hands-on steps and tutorials based on real-world serverless use cases, to guide you through configuring and setting up your serverless environments with ease. Finally, you’ll see how to manage Azure functions, providing enterprise-level security and compliance to your serverless code architecture. By the end of this book, you will have all the skills required to work with serverless code architecture, providing continuous delivery to your users. Style and approach This recipe-based guide explains the different features of Azure Function by taking a real-world application related to a specific domain. You will learn how to implement automation and DevOps and discover industry best practices to develop applications hosted on serverless architecture using Azure functions.

Over 50 recipes covering all you need to know about AWS networking About This Book ? Master AWS networking concepts with AWS Networking Cookbook. ? Design and implement highly available connectivity and multi-regioned AWS solutions ? A recipe-based guide that will eliminate the complications of AWS networking. ? A guide to automate networking services and features Who This Book Is For This book targets administrators, network engineers, and solution architects who are looking at optimizing their cloud platform's connectivity. Some basic understanding of AWS would be beneficial. What You Will Learn ? Create basic network in AWS ? Create production grade network in AWS ? Create global scale network in AWS ? Security and Compliance with AWS Network ? Troubleshooting, best practices and limitations of AWS network ? Pricing model of AWS network components ? Route 53 and Cloudfront concepts and routing policies ? VPC Automation using Ansible and CloudFormation In Detail This book starts with practical recipes on the fundamentals of cloud networking and gradually moves on to configuring networks and implementing infrastructure automation. This book then supplies in-depth recipes on networking components like Network Interface, Internet Gateways, DNS, Elastic IP addresses, and VPN CloudHub. Later, this book also delves into designing, implementing, and optimizing static and dynamic routing architectures, multi-region solutions, and highly available connectivity for your enterprise. Finally, this book will teach you to troubleshoot your VPC's network, increasing your VPC's efficiency. By the end of this book, you will have advanced knowledge of AWS networking concepts and technologies and will have mastered implementing infrastructure automation and optimizing your VPC. Style and approach A set of exciting recipes on using AWS Networking services more effectively.

Unleash the combination of Docker and Jenkins in order to enhance the DevOps workflow About This Book ? Build reliable and secure applications using Docker containers. ? Create a complete Continuous Delivery pipeline using Docker, Jenkins, and Ansible. ? Deliver your applications directly on the Docker Swarm cluster. ? Create more complex solutions using multi-containers and database migrations. Who This Book Is For This book is indented to provide a full overview of deep learning. From the beginner in deep learning and artificial intelligence to the data scientist who wants to become familiar with Theano and its supporting libraries, or have an extended understanding of deep neural nets. Some basic skills in Python programming and computer science will help, as well as skills in elementary algebra and calculus. What You Will Learn ? Get to grips with docker fundamentals and how to dockerize an application for the Continuous Delivery process ? Configure Jenkins and scale it using Docker-based agents ? Understand the principles and the technical aspects of a successful Continuous Delivery pipeline ? Create a complete Continuous Delivery process using modern tools: Docker, Jenkins, and Ansible ? Write acceptance tests using Cucumber and run them in the Docker ecosystem using Jenkins ? Create multi-container applications using Docker Compose ? Managing database changes inside the Continuous Delivery process and understand effective frameworks such as Cucumber and Flyweight ? Build clustering applications with Jenkins using Docker Swarm ? Publish a built Docker image to a Docker Registry and deploy cycles of Jenkins pipelines using community best practices In Detail The combination of Docker and Jenkins improves your Continuous Delivery pipeline using fewer resources. It also helps you scale up your builds, automate tasks and speed up Jenkins performance with the benefits of Docker containerization. This book will explain the advantages of combining Jenkins and Docker to improve the continuous integration and delivery process of app development. It will start with setting up a Docker server and configuring Jenkins on it. It will then provide steps to build applications on Docker files and integrate them with Jenkins using continuous delivery processes such as continuous integration, automated acceptance testing, and configuration management. Moving on you will learn how to ensure quick application deployment with Docker containers along with scaling Jenkins using Docker Swarm. Next, you will get to know how to deploy applications using Docker images and testing them with Jenkins. By the end of the book, you will be enhancing the DevOps workflow by integrating the functionalities of Docker and Jenkins. Style and approach The book is aimed at DevOps Engineers, developers and IT Operations who want to enhance the DevOps culture using Docker and Jenkins.

Learn how to unify Customer Experience, User Experience and more to shape lasting customer engagement in a world of rapid change. About This Book ? An introductory guide to Experience Design that will help you break into XD as a career by gaining A strong foundational knowledge ? Get acquainted with the various phases of a typical Experience Design workflow ? Work through the key process and techniques in XD, supported by most of the common use cases Who This Book Is For This book is for designers who wish to enter the field of UX Design, especially Programmers, Content Strategists, and Organizations keen to understand the core concepts of UX Design. What You Will Learn ? Understand why Experience Design (XD) is at the forefront of business priorities, as organizations race to innovate products and services in order to compete for customers in a global economy driven by technology and change ? Get motivated by the numerous professional opportunities that XD opens up for practitioners in wide-ranging domains, and by the stories of real XD practitioners ? Understand what experience is, how experiences are designed, and why they are effective ? Gain knowledge of user-centered design principles, methodologies, and best practices that will improve your product (digital or physical) ? Get to know your X’s and D’s—understand the differences between XD and UX, CX, IxD, IA, SD, VD, PD, and other design practices In Detail We live in an experience economy in which interaction with products is valued more than owning them. Products are expected to engage and delight in order to form the emotional bonds that forge long-term customer loyalty: Products need to anticipate our needs and perform tasks for us: refrigerators order food, homes monitor energy, and cars drive autonomously; they track our vitals, sleep, location, finances, interactions, and content use; recognize our biometric signatures, chat with us, understand and motivate us. Beautiful and easy to use, products have to be fully customizable to match our personal preferences. Accomplishing these feats is easier said than done, but a solution has emerged in the form of Experience design (XD), the unifying approach to fusing business, technology and design around a user-centered philosophy. This book explores key dimensions of XD: Close collaboration among interdisciplinary teams, rapid iteration and ongoing user validation. We cover the processes, methodologies, tools, techniques and best-practices practitioners use throughout the entire product development life-cycle, as ideas are transformed to into positive experiences which lead to perpetual customer engagement and brand loyalty. Style and approach An easy-to-understand guide, filled with real-world use cases on process, design, and techniques, helping you build a strong foundation in Experience Design.

Build your own enterprise applications and integration flows with JBoss and its products About This Book ? Build fast, smart, and flexible applications using JBoss ? Couple one or more JBoss products to effectively solve various business problems ? Explore the JBoss product ecosystem for improving the performance of your projects Who This Book Is For If you are a Java developer who wants to have a complete view of the JBoss ecosystem or quickly explore a specific JBoss Product, then this is the book you want. Integrators and consultants, familiar with JBoss, who want integrate several JBoss products within their ongoing project will also find this book useful. What You Will Learn ? Create new applications or integrate existing systems with JBoss products ? Setup and manage a JBoss domain ? Setup and manage a JBoss Fuse cluster with Fabric and Apache Karaf ? Create and deploy OSGi applications on JBoss Fuse containers ? Manage enterprise data with JBoss Datagrid ? Aggregate various data sources with JBoss Data virtualization to offer data as a service ? Optimize your business and workflows with both JBoss Business RulesManagement System and JBoss Business Process Management platforms. In Detail Have you often wondered what is the best JBoss product to solve a specific problem? Do you want to get started with a specific JBoss product and know how to integrate different JBoss products in your IT Systems? Then this is the book for you. Through hands-on examples from the business world, this guide presents details on the major products and how you can build your own Enterprise services around the JBoss ecosystem. Starting with an introduction to the JBoss ecosystem, you will gradually move on to developing and deploying clustered application on JBoss Application Server, and setting up high availability using undertow or HA proxy loadbalancers. As you are moving to a micro service archicture, you will be taught how to package existing Java EE applications as micro service using Swarm or create your new micro services from scratch by coupling most popular Java EE frameworks like JPA, CDI with Undertow handlers. Next, you will install and configure JBoss Data grid in development and production environments, develop cache based applications and aggregate various data source in JBoss data virtualization. You will learn to build, deploy, and monitor integration scenarios using JBoss Fuse and run both producers/consumers applications relying on JBoss AMQ. Finally, you will learn to develop and run business workflows and make better decisions in your applications using Drools and Jboss BPM Suite Platform. Style and Approach The book works through the major JBoss products, with examples and instructions to help you understand each product and how they work together.

Just after ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ author Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker for ‘Wolf Hall’, she fell gravely ill. This is her remarkable hospital diary. Originally published in the London Review of Books, this diary by the acclaimed author Hilary Mantel explores in forensic detail her loss of dignity, her determination, the concentration of the senses into an animalistic struggle to get through, and the attendant hallucinations she was plagued by during her stay in hospital. With her health now improved, and the acknowledgement of the Man Booker prize-winning follow-up to ‘Wolf Hall’, ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ as one of our greatest works of fiction, ‘Ink in the Blood’ remains a significant testament to the traumas of illness, and one of the most incredible and haunting essays published in a very long time.

Bachelor Gulch The Bachelor: Wyatt McCully, dedicated–and extremely eligible–town sheriff. Though husband-hungry women were flocking to Jasper Gulch, there was only one single gal Wyatt wanted. The Bride: Lisa Markman, a woman with a yearning for marriage, and with a secret. She couldn't dare consider lawman Wyatt as a potential groom. The sexy sheriff could tell when a woman was interested, and Lisa had all the signs of succumbing to his charming ways. So why did she refuse to take his heartfelt proposals seriously? Wyatt decided he had to uncover everything about the mysterious woman he intended to claim as his wife, and set out to make the pursuit his pleasure…and hers! Bachelor Gulch. This little town wanted women–but are these bachelors ready for marriage?

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!

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.

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....