A mother for his son - Dedicated consultant and devoted single dad Hamish Adams is teh heartthrob of the emergency room. Hamish's life is a nonstop juggling act. Between caring for his young son and managing his demanding job, Hamish has no time for women. For the sake of his heart, and his child, that's how he intends to stay. That is, until beautiful nurse Charlotte Porter whirls into their lives! Vivacious, caring Charlotte is just what Jamish and little Cameron need. With Charlotte by their side, Hamish knows they would make a perfect family. But first he must put his heart on the line and ask Charlotte to be his wife.

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.

There's no place like home… Unless, like Kaarl, you are a demon and your home is Hell…literally! While the rest of Hell enjoys cruel games, Kaarl is looking for a new challenge. So he makes a deal with the devil himself: time in the Mortal Realm in return for human souls… The Mortal Realm offers a taste of freedom he could never experience in Hell and Kaarl jumps at the chance to fulfil his dream. But gathering human souls comes with a cost and as more and more souls lose their way, Kaarl realises that he is creating Hell on his beloved Earth. Now to save the Mortal Realm, Kaarl's going to have to switch sides… Praise for JL Morris 'This was a great read. Very entertaining.' - Koeur's Book Reviews 'A great story from a young author who has, I believe, a strong future in the literary world if he can produce more books like this.' - Fiona's Book Reviews

A FAMILY'S GIFT When they were young, cousins Ella, Rachel and Jo were always together at their family’s lake house. As they grew up, though, they grew apart… until now, as the three must band together to grant a beloved aunt's dying wish: to finish the quilt she began as a gift for her daughter's Christmas wedding. LET IT SNOW Searching for vintage quilting fabric, independent Jo is reunited with the man she thought she’d marry. And proves that sometimes the second time's the charm… YOU BETTER WATCH OUT Ella is desperate when the unfinished quilt goes missing in her care. But a cocky lawyer might just help her find it – and find love. “Nine Ladies Dancing” by Sarah Mayberry – Shy Rachel risks exposing her secret life when she falls for her quilting teacher's seemingly perfect son, in this novella by Janice Kay Johnson. Together, Jo, Ella and Rachel create a Christmas heirloom that's both a wish and promise – of happiness, hope and love everlasting.

Fast Fiction Paranormal - quick reads to transport you to another world Erika Cenov has dreams where someone dies - and then it comes true. Her latest nightmare has a young girl being abducted and the man she once loved, Lazlo Brennan, being shot and turning into a wolf. Erika doesn't want to believe her vision. Then a child goes missing and the detective on the case is Lazlo Brennan. Erika knows Lazlo will die. Unless, for the first time, she can change the outcome of her dreams…and save them all.

ON THE WAY TO A WEDDING… BORROWED BRIDE Dark and devastating P.I. Nick Claiborne's love 'em and leave 'em policy was suddenly in jeopardy. Because his new client, Analise Brewster, not only insisted on "helping" him uncover the mystery of her fiancé's past, her irrepressible spirit tempted Nick to forget his vows to stay single–and hers to wed another…. Spending time with a lively, loving woman usually made Nick want to run–but this time he found himself taking Analise with him. Yet once they'd found Analise's gift for her groom, would Nick be the one walking down the aisle? Long-lost twins discover their perfect grooms!

LUCKY CHARM SISTERS KATE MAGGIE SUSAN DESPERATELY SEEKING CINDERELLA… Susan Greenwood had expected a tip, not an offer of marriage! But how could the down-on-her-luck beauty resist when rich-as-a-prince Zach Lowery proposed to her in the middle of the Lucky Charm Diner? Then she got her answer–it was just a role she had to play to soothe Zach's dying grandfather. But Zach never expected his pretend wife to tie him in knots with her selfless gestures and warm embraces. And soon this cynical rancher found himself trying to find a way to make a real future…a real family…with his Cinderella bride. The Lucky Charm Sisters: A boss, a brain and a beauty. Three sisters marry for convenience…but will they find love?

Fabulous Fathers FOREVER A FATHER When single dad Stone Tyler first met the beautiful and free-spirited Dahlia nine years ago, he was a rough-edged cowboy with no intention of getting married–ever. But it wasn't long before he was asking for Dahlia's hand, certain their love would last forever. But then an unthinkable tragedy struck their blissful home and tore his family apart. Although Stone and Dahlia couldn't deny the love that brought them together, they were suddenly separated by a world of pain and grief. Now Stone had to find a way to save his family and somehow convince his wife a lifetime of love awaited them…. This ranchin' dad would do anything to save his family.

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

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

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

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.