Head to head and pulling no punches He was Jim Colby’s newest Equalizer – but a mystery to everyone else. Until the past caught up to him in the form of beautiful Officer Lisa Smith. Lisa was a straight arrow except when it came to Sam. She knew Sam had been framed for three gangland killings. Now he was a man who trusted no one. But he would have to let Lisa in if they were ever going to expose a brutal killer before it was too late for the next victim…and the Colbys.

Diagnosis：desire Six foot and spicy hot, Sheriff Daniel Galvez wasn’t the kind of man women said no to. Unless you were Lauren Maxwell. Years ago, Daniel had worked a case that had destroyed her family…and her trust in men. Now Lauren’s come home, a trauma doctor, all cool-eyed and distant – and in need of a strong lawman to help her safeguard a battered teenage patient. Holed up together, Daniel swears to bridge the distance between them – even if it means having his own heart broken again.

How will Holly uncover the brooding cattleman’s secret? Nanny Holly O’Mara has formed a close bond with her late cousin’s little twins. When their estranged father, rough, rugged Australian cattleman Gray Kidman, arrives to take his children to the Outback Holly senses that he is out of his depth! Holly is already in love with Gray’s adorable twins, and she’s soon falling for the mysterious man himself. Seeing him light up his children’s world makes her spirits leap and even begins to heal her own emotional bruises. She can tell Gray is far from indifferent to her, but something is making him push her away…

Dare to dream… these sparkling romances will make you laugh, cry and fall in love – again and again! A Family for the Rugged Rancher Gruff rancher Luke’s new live-in housekeeper comes with an unexpected addition…a small son! Emily may be a pretty single mum but a family’s not on this bachelor’s wish list! Yet, slowly charmed by Emily and Sam, Luke begins to wonder if there might be room on his ranch – and in his heart – for a family after all… Soldier on Her Doorstep Soldier Alex promised his dying comrade he’d make sure his wife and daughter were okay. Alex was prepared for tears, but not for the beautiful woman who answered the door – or the little girl hiding behind her. Could Lisa and Lilly help to heal the hero’s heart?

Enter into the world of high-flying Doctors as they navigate the pressures of modern medicine and find escape, passion, comfort and love – in each other’s arms! A miracle child… Paediatric surgeon Naomi Horton longs to have a baby of her own. But with a failed marriage behind her, she’s planning to get pregnant without the risk of a broken heart… Only her gorgeous new boss Rick Weber makes Naomi realise she doesn’t want single parenthood – she wants a loving husband too. She wants Rick… But, while their desire for each other is undeniable, a family is definitely not on Rick’s agenda. How can Naomi break the news to Rick that she’s now pregnant – with his baby!

Enter into the world of high-flying Doctors as they navigate the pressures of modern medicine and find escape, passion, comfort and love – in each other’s arms! A doctor to belong to Dr Ben Brinkley is dedicated to his job, but when a new family moves in next door he cannot help but be drawn to single mum Sarah Hall and her adorable daughter. They seem to bring out his protective side, and soon he is spending more and more time with them. Sarah moved to the beautiful Peak District to make a fresh start after an accident left her with amnesia, yet she still feels lost. Can handsome doctor Ben be the one to show Sarah how special she is, and make her whole again?

Dutiful Princess Julianna has a secret--she's actually happiest makeup free, sailing with the sea breeze in her hair. Her attraction to rebel prince Alejandro is instant-- but her intended is his brother, the proper but dull Enrique For the first time, Julianna's irresistibly tempted. Before long, she's spending her nights sailing with gorgeous Alejandro while the rest of the palace believes she's sleeping. Soon she'll have to choose--remain the perfect princess, or follow her heart and stop sleepwalking her way through life....

Once Upon a Time in Tarrula After an injury, ex-soldier Troy's too busy putting his life back together to worry about his heart. And his new assistant Stacie deserves a fairytale - not damaged goods. Yet could this Cinderella inspirei 1/2heri 1/2Prince Charming to claim their happy ever after...? To Wed a Rancher When Rachel dumps her cheating boyfriend, he dumps her in a one-horse Montana town. Then a deep, whisky-rough voice offers her a way out. Shane has returned to town to sell his parent's ranch, but could Rachel help put the 'home' back in his homestead?"

The soldier’s homecoming Plucked from obscurity to model in an exciting campaign on the Amalfi coast, Annabelle Marsh can’t wait for her month away! Surely when she’s surrounded by so much natural beauty her emotional bruises can’t help but recover? However, she’s planned to heal her wounds in private – sharing accommodation with a darkly brooding, battle-scarred army pilot is not on the agenda! Ex-nurse Annabelle is compelled to help Lucca, even though he’s got ‘keep out’ written all over him. But once the spark between them ignites, it’s impossible to put out…

He’s the last man she expected to fall for! Take care of her father’s ranch for a few weeks? No problem. Jodie’s a successful lawyer so how hard could it be to oversee a bunch of cows? Turns out it’s pretty hard…especially when she has to beg for help from Sam, the vet her father almost ruined. Between her father’s new prize horse getting injured and the cows that are calving, she’d be done for if not for Sam’s help. Sam’s also the first man who’s fascinated her in a long time. If these sparks between them mean anything, his help could soon turn to love…

Kit Mercer smooths down her skirt preparing to face her boss the morning after spending the most amazing night of her life with him! Surely he can’t wait to sweep her into his arms again? Actually, Alex Hallam tells her what a mistake he’s made! It’s the right thing to do – after his ex-wife’s lies, is he really ready to be a proper full-time daddy? Rodeo Daddy A fall ended Lark Anderson’s rodeo career – and his marriage – leaving him a single dad. The community, suspicious of the new ‘celebrity’ resident, nominated Sophie to keep the hot-tempered cowboy out of trouble. But the sight of Lark hugging his daughter breaks Sophie’s heart, reminding her of what will never be hers…

Italian tycoon Fabian Moritzzoni needs an heir. Marrying for love is not an option, so he needs a bride – and his new PA fits the bill. She’s nothing like the string of beauties usually warming his bed, but delicate English rose Laura Greenwood fires his hot Italian blood like no woman before… … so he’ll make her his bride! Laura has come to Tuscany to rebuild her shattered life. Pale, shy and skinny, she’s stunned when her charismatic boss makes his next demand – marriage! Laura blossoms under the heat of Fabian’s desire, but will he ever see her as more than his convenient wife?

Or at least, that’s lawyer Sadie Oliver’s opinion. Even a simple handshake has her weak at the knees. If only there was time to explore the chemistry simmering between them… But there isn’t. Because Sadie desperately needs Theo’s help. Her brother lies in hospital facing a murder charge, and their sister is missing. And even Sadie herself is being followed by unsavoury-looking characters. Sadie’s not about to take it lying down (unless Theo asks, of course). She’ll play an active role in the case, disguised as a law student and Sadie will seem to be another of Theo’s male interns.

Indulge your fantasies of delicious Regency Rakes, fierce Viking warriors and rugged Highlanders. Be swept away into a world of intense passion, lavish settings and romance that burns brightly through the centuries She had found her man… Miss Laura Middlebrook wanted the chance to experience all that life could offer. For that, she needed a husband – fast. Dangerous daredevil Sean Wilder had to help her! Laura’s marriage would take her from the seedy underworld of turn-of-the-century Paris to the Society parties of London. But a man like Sean Wilder had made his share of enemies. And one of them was determined to make sure that the new couple’s happiness would be brief…

Caroline can't imagine settling into a dull, respectable marriage. Her zest for life and alluring innocence draw the attention of Sir Rathbone - who is far from dull But should she resist the attentions of the most sought-after bachelor in town?

Take Python beyond *ing to build robust, reusable, and efficient applications About This Book Get to grips with Python techniques that address commonly encountered problems in general application development. Develop, package, and deploy efficient applications in a fun way. All-practical coverage of the major areas of application development, including best practices, exception handling, testing, refactoring, design patterns, performance, and GUI application development. Who This Book Is For Do you know the basics of Python and object oriented programmingDo you want to go an extra mile and learn techniques to make your Python application robust, extensible, and efficientThen this book is for you. What You Will Learn Build a robust application by handling exceptions. Modularize, package, and release the source distribution. Document the code and implement coding standards. Create automated tests to catch bugs in the early development stage. Identify and re-factor badly written code to improve application life. Detect recurring problems in the code and apply design patterns. Improve code efficiency by identifying performance bottlenecks and fixing them. Develop simple GUI applications using Python. In Detail Python is one of the most widely used dynamic programming languages, supported by a rich set of libraries and frameworks that enable rapid development. But fast paced development often comes with its own baggage that could bring down the quality, performance, and extensibility of an application. This book will show you ways to handle such problems and write better Python applications. From the basics of simple command-line applications, develop your skills all the way to designing efficient and advanced Python apps. Guided by a light-hearted fantasy learning theme, overcome the real-world problems of complex Python development with practical solutions. Beginning with a focus on robustness, packaging, and releasing application code, you’ll move on to focus on improving application lifetime by making code extensible, reusable, and readable. Get to grips with Python refactoring, design patterns and best practices. Techniques to identify the bottlenecks and improve performance are covered in a series of chapters devoted to performance, before closing with a look at developing Python GUIs. Style and approach The book uses a fantasy game theme as a medium to explain various topics. Specific aspects of application development are explained in different chapters. In each chapter the reader is presented with an interesting problem which is then tackled using hands-on examples with easy-to-follow instructions.

Get your code under control in a series of small, specific steps About This Book Learn to extract and replace legacy artifacts, Improve your application from the ground up while keeping your codebase fully operational, Improve the quality of your legacy applications. Who This Book Is For PHP developers from all skill levels will be able to get value from this book and will be able to transform their spaghetti code applications to clean, modular applications. If you are in the midst of a legacy refactor or you find yourself in a state of despair caused by the code you have inherited, this is the book for you. All you need is to have PHP 5.0 installed, and you’re all set to change the way you maintain and deploy your code! What You Will Learn Replace global and new with dependency injection Extract SQL statements to gateways Convert action logic to controllers Remove repeated logic in page *s Create maintainable PHP code from crufty legacy PHP In Detail Have you noticed that your legacy PHP application is composed of page *s placed directly in the document root of the web serverOr, do your page *s, along with any other classes and functions, combine the concerns of model, view, and controller into the same scopeIs the majority of the logical flow incorporated as include files and global functions rather than class methodsWorking with such a legacy application feels like dragging your feet through mud, doesn’t it?This book will show you how to modernize your application in terms of practice and technique, rather than in terms of using tools like frameworks and libraries, by extracting and replacing its legacy artifacts. We will use a step-by-step approach, moving slowly and methodically, to improve your application from the ground up. We’ll show you how dependency injection can replace both the new and global dependencies. We’ll also show you how to change the presentation logic to view files and the action logic to a controller. Moreover, we’ll keep your application running the whole time. Each completed step in the process will keep your codebase fully operational with higher quality. When we are done, you will be able to breeze through your code like the wind. Your code will be autoloaded, dependency-injected, unit-tested, layer-separated, and front-controlled. Most of the very limited code we will add to your application is specific to this book. We will be improving ourselves as programmers, as well as improving the quality of our legacy application. Style and approach This book gives developers an easy-to-follow, practical and powerful process to bring their applications up to a modern baseline. Each step in the book is practical, self-contained and moves you closer to the end goal you seek: maintainable code. As you follow the exercises in the book, the author almost anticipates your questions and you will have the answers, ready to be implemented on your project.

Develop programmatic functions to create powerful database applications About This Book Write complex SQL queries and design a robust database design that fits your application's need Improve database performance by indexing, partitioning tables, and query optimizing A comprehensive guide covering the advanced PostgreSQL concepts without any hassle Who This Book Is For If you are a PostgreSQL developer with a basic knowledge of PostgreSQL development and you’re want deeper knowledge to develop applications, then this book is for you. As this book does not cover basic installation and configurations, you should have PostgreSQL installed on your machine as a prerequisite. What You Will Learn Write more complex queries with advanced SQL queries Design a database that works with the application exactly the way you want Make the database work in extreme conditions by tuning, optimizing, partitioning, and indexing Develop applications in other programming languages such as Java and PHP Use extensions to get extra benefits in terms of functionality and performance Build an application that does not get locked by data manipulation Explore in-built db functions and data type conversions In Detail PostgreSQL is the most advanced open source database in the world. It is easy to install, configure, and maintain by following the documentation; however, it’s difficult to develop applications using programming languages and design databases accordingly. This book is what you need to get the most out of PostgreSQL You will begin with advanced SQL topics such as views, materialized views, and cursors, and learn about performing data type conversions. You will then perform trigger operations and use trigger functions in PostgreSQL. Next we walk through data modeling, normalization concepts, and the effect of transactions and locking on the database. The next half of the book covers the types of indexes, constrains, and the concepts of table partitioning, as well as the different mechanisms and approaches available to write efficient queries or code. Later, we explore PostgreSQL Extensions and Large Object Support in PostgreSQL. Finally, you will perform database operations in PostgreSQL using PHP and Java. By the end of this book, you will have mastered all the aspects of PostgreSQL development. You will be able to build efficient enterprise-grade applications with PostgreSQL by making use of these concepts Style and approach Every chapter follows a step by step approach that first explains the concept , then shows you how to execute it practically so that you can implement them in your application.

Dive in to the cutting edge techniques of Linux KVM virtualization, and build the virtualization solutions your datacentre demands About This Book Become an expert in Linux virtualization Migrate your virtualized datacenter to the cloud Find out how to build a large scale virtualization solution that will transform your organization Who This Book Is For Linux administrators – if you want to build incredible, yet manageable virtualization solutions with KVM this is the book to get you there. It will help you apply what you already know to some tricky virtualization tasks. What You Will Learn Explore the ecosystem of tools that support Linux virtualization Find out why KVM offers you a smarter way to unlock the potential of virtualization Implement KVM virtualization using oVirt Explore the KVM architecture – so you can manage, scale and optimize it with ease Migrate your virtualized datacenter to the cloud for truly resource-efficient computing Find out how to integrate OpenStack with KVM to take full control of the cloud In Detail A robust datacenter is essential for any organization – but you don’t want to waste resources. With KVM you can virtualize your datacenter, transforming a Linux operating system into a powerful hypervisor that allows you to manage multiple OS with minimal fuss. This book doesn’t just show you how to virtualize with KVM – it shows you how to do it well. Written to make you an expert on KVM, you’ll learn to manage the three essential pillars of scalability, performance and security – as well as some useful integrations with cloud services such as OpenStack. From the fundamentals of setting up a standalone KVM virtualization platform, and the best tools to harness it effectively, including virt-manager, and kimchi-project, everything you do is built around making KVM work for you in the real-world, helping you to interact and customize it as you need it. With further guidance on performance optimization for Microsoft Windows and RHEL virtual machines, as well as proven strategies for backup and disaster recovery, you’ll can be confident that your virtualized data center is working for your organization – not hampering it. Finally, the book will empower you to unlock the full potential of cloud through KVM. Migrating your physical machines to the cloud can be challenging, but once you’ve mastered KVM, it’s a little easie. Style and approach Combining advanced insights with practical solutions, Mastering KVM Virtualization is a vital resource for anyone that believes in the power of virtualization to help a business use resources more effectively.

Learn how to build an exciting 3D game with LibGDX from scratch About This Book Implement an exhaustive list of features that LibGDX unleashes to build your 3D game. Write, test, and debug your application on your desktop and deploy them on multiple platforms. Gain a clear understanding of the physics behind LibGDX and libraries like OpenGL and WebGL that make up LibGDX. Who This Book Is For If you are a game developer or enthusiasts who want to build 3D games with LibGDX, then this book is for you. A basic knowledge of LibGDX and Java programming is appreciated. What You Will Learn Learn the potential of LibGDX in game development Understand the LibGDX architecture and explore platform limitation and variations Explore the various approaches for game development using LibGDX Learn about the common mistakes and possible solutions of development Discover the 3D workflow with Blender and how it works with LibGDX Implement 3D models along with textures and animations into your games Familiarize yourself with Scene2D and its potential to boost your game’s design In Detail LibGDX is a hugely popular open source, cross-platform, Java-based game development framework built for the demands of cross-platform game development. This book will teach readers how the LibGDX framework uses its 3D rendering API with the OpenGL wrapper, in combination with Bullet Physics, 3D Particles, and Shaders to develop and deploy a game application to different platforms You will start off with the basic Intellij environment, workflow and set up a LibGDX project with necessary APIs for 3D development. You will then go through LibGDX’s 3D rendering API main features and talk about the camera used for 3D. Our next step is to put everything together to build a basic 3D game with Shapes, including basic gameplay mechanics and basic UI. Next you will go through modeling, rigging, and animation in Blender. We will then talk about refining mechanics, new input implementations, implementing enemy 3D models, mechanics, and gameplay balancing. The later part of this title will help you to manage secondary resources like audio, music and add 3D particles in the game to make the game more realistic. You will finally test and deploy the app on a multitude of different platforms, ready to start developing your own titles how you want! Style and approach A step by step guide on building a 3D game with LibGDX and implementing an exhaustive list of features that you would wish to incorporate into your 3D game

Master the art of testing and automating your SOA using SoapUI About This Book Design real-time test automation frameworks for Enterprise applications using SoapUI Learn how to solve test automation issues for complex systems A complete guide to understanding SOA automation from quality assurance to business assurance Who This Book Is For The book is intended for test architects, SOA test specialists, automation testers, test managers, and software developers who have a good understanding of SOA, web services, Groovy Scripting, and the SOAP UI tool. What You Will Learn Familiarize yourself with Test Web services from functional, nonfunctional, and security aspects Learn to test real-time service orchestrations Design test automation solutions for SOA-based Enterprise applications Learn multilayer test automation Selenium plus SoapUI under a single umbrella Integrate your SoapUI framework with Jenkins In Detail SoapUI is an open-source cross-platform testing application that provides complete test coverage and supports all the standard protocols and technologies. This book includes real-time examples of implementing SoapUI to achieve quality and business assurance. Starting with the features and functionalities of SoapUI, the book will then focus on functional testing, load testing, and security testing of web services. Furthermore, you will learn how to automate your services and then design data-driven, keyword-driven, and hybrid-driven frameworks in SoapUI. Then the book will show you how to test UIs and services using SoapUI with the help of Selenium. You will also learn how to integrate SoapUI with Jenkins for CI and SoapUI test with QC with backward- and forward-compatibility. The final part of the book will show you how to virtualize a service response in SoapUI using Service Mocking. You will finish the journey by discovering the best practices for SoapUI test automation and preparing yourself for the online certification of SoapUI. Style and approach Filled with real-time examples, this book will help readers take their knowledge to the next level. This book is a comprehensive guide that will cover the end-to-end life cycle of implementing SoapUI in various phases of software testing and the software development life cycle.