Damaged HousesA master craftsman, Don Lark could fix everything except what mattered, his own soul. After tragedy claimed the one thing he loved, he began looking for dilapidated houses to buy, renovate, and resell at a profit--giving these empty shells the second chance at life he denied himself.Damaged SoulsThen in a quiet Southern town, Lark finds his biggest challenge: a squalid yet sturdy mansion that has suffered decades of abuse at the hands of greedy landlords and transient tenants. While two charming old neighbor ladies ply him with delicious cooking, they offer dire warnings about the house's evil past. But there is something about this building that pushes Lark on, even as its enchantments grow increasingly ominous. Will finishing the house offer Lark redemption, or unleash the darkest forces of damnation upon him?

Pretty Little Liars meets Beautiful Creatures in this steamy southern suspense novel about a group of powerful teen voodoo queens who will do anything to get what they want.Eveny Cheval has just moved back to Carrefour, Louisiana—a town she left fourteen years ago in the wake of her mother's suicide. An outsider at first, Eveny quickly finds herself embroiled in a web of intrigue, betrayal, and lies. Enter Peregrine Marceau, Chloe St. Pierre, and their group of rich, sexy friends collectively known as the Dolls. They want to bring Eveny into their circle and share their darkest truths with her.Eveny is wary of these girls, but after murder strikes and she discovers that everything she believes about herself, her family, and her life is a lie, she's forced to turn to the Dolls for answers. Something's wrong in paradise, and it's up to Eveny, Chloe, and Peregrine to save Carrefour and make it right.

An edge-of-your-seat original prequel based on Showtime's hit series HomelandBeirut, 2006. CIA operations officer Carrie Mathison barely escapes an ambush while attempting a clandestine meeting with a new contact, code-name Nightingale. Suspicious that security has been compromised, she challenges the station chief in a heated confrontation that gets her booted back to Langley.Expert in recognizing and anticipating behavioral patterns—a skill enhanced by her bipolar disorder she keeps secret to protect her career—Carrie is increasingly certain that a terrorist plot has been set in motion. She risks a shocking act of insubordination that helps her uncover secret evidence connecting Nightingale with Abu Nazir, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Determined to stop the terrorist mastermind, she embarks on an obsessive quest that will nearly destroy her.Filled with the suspense and plot twists that have made Homeland a must-watch series, this riveting tale reveals the compelling untold backstories of the series' main characters and takes fans deeper into the life and mind of one brilliant female spy.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Manny—a vibrant novel of love, life lessons, and learning to trust yourselfAllie Crawford has the life she always dreamed of—she's number two at a high-profile P.R. firm; she has two kids she adores; and her husband is a blend of handsome and heroic. Wade is everything she thought a man was supposed to be—he's running a successful newsmagazine and, best of all, he provides the stable yet exciting New York City life Allie believes she needs in order to feel secure and happy.But when Allie finds Wade locked in their laundry room with a stunning blonde in snakeskin sandals, a scandal ensues that flips her life on its head. And when the woman wants to befriend Allie, an old flame calls, and a new guy gets a little too close for comfort, she starts to think her marriage is more of a facade than something real. Maybe she's fallen in love not with Wade—but with the idea of him.Captivating and seductive, told in the whip-smart voice of a woman who is working hard to keep her parenting and career on track, The Idea of Him is a novel of conspiracy, intrigue, and intense passion—and discovering your greatest strength through your deepest fears.

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller!In the tradition of Kristin Hannah and Susan Wiggs, Mary McNear introduces readers to the town of Butternut Lake and to the unforgettable people who call it home.It's summer, and after ten years away, Allie Beckett has returned to her family's cabin beside tranquil Butternut Lake, where as a teenager she spent so many carefree days. She's promised her five-year-old son, Wyatt, they will be happy there. She's promised herself this is the place to begin again after her husband's death in Afghanistan. The cabin holds so many wonderful memories, but from the moment she crosses its threshold Allie is seized with doubts. Has she done the right thing uprooting her little boy from the only home he's ever known?Allie and her son are embraced by the townsfolk, and her reunions with old acquaintances—her friend Jax, now a young mother of three with one more on the way, and Caroline, the owner of the local coffee shop—are joyous ones. And then there are newcomers like Walker Ford, who mostly keeps to himself—until he takes a shine to Wyatt . . . and to Allie.Everyone knows that moving forward is never easy, and as the long, lazy days of summer take hold, Allie must learn to unlock the hidden longings of her heart, and to accept that in order to face the future she must also confront—and understand—what has come before.

An esteemed former CIA director dies off the coast of Maine. Another senior CIA officer is found dead of a "heart attack" in a posh Paris hotel. Counterspy Alex Hawke and his friend Ambrose Congreve think this could be more than coincidence. Hawke discovers that the victims are connected through one man: Spider Payne, a rogue intelligence officer whose dangerous exploits got him barred from the CIA. Now Spider believes he's been wronged and is out for vengeance—and Alex Hawke is his number-one target.Hawke's only hope is to lure his deadly enemy into a trap he can't escape—and it's a place Hawke knows better than anyone: his seaside home in Bermuda.Includes a sneak preview of Warriors, the exhilarating new novel in the Alex Hawke series.

With more than 9 million books sold, the My Weird School series really gets kids reading!In this third book in the new My Weirdest School series, the Brain Games are coming to Ella Mentry School! Miss Brown will help the kids do creative projects, like building a bridge out of toothpicks and designing a remote control car. But the kids are up against some tough competition. They will have to compete against the students of Dirk School to win the grand prize: a free trip to PizzaWorld!Perfect for reluctant readers and word lovers alike, Dan Gutman's hugely popular My Weird School series has something for everyone. Don't miss the hilarious adventures of A.J. and the gang.

In this final chapter in James Earl Hardy's groundbreaking B-Boy Blues series, Mitchell "Little Bit" Crawford and Raheim "Pooquie" Rivers are all grown up. Mitchell is a stay-at-home dad renovating his dream house, writing, and raising his godson and half-sister in Brooklyn's up-and-coming Fort Greene neighborhood. He's fairly happy, but he can't help feeling that something -- or someone -- is missing from his life.Fresh from rehab for a gambling addiction, Raheim has a new lease on life, but it's precarious -- his career as an actor has stalled, he hasn't seen his son in years, and the short-lived sexual trysts that punctuated his life no longer satisfy him. Hell-bent on change, Raheim has finally figured out who he wants to be with forever. But will Mitchell give Raheim the second chance he so desperately wants?

For Step Fletcher, his pregnant wife DeAnne, and their three children, the move to tiny Steuben, North Carolina, offers new hope and a new beginning. But from the first, eight-year-old Stevie's life there is an unending parade of misery and disaster.Cruelly ostracized at his school, Stevie retreats further and further into himself -- and into a strange computer game and a group of imaginary friends.But there is something eerie about his loyal, invisible new playmates: each shares the name of a child who has recently vanished from the sleepy Southern town. And terror grows for Step and DeAnne as the truth slowly unfolds. For their son has found something savagely evil ... and it's coming for Stevie next.

Bankers prowl Brooklyn bars on the eve of the stock market crash. A debate over Young Elvis versus Vegas Elvis turns existential. Detoxing junkies use a live lobster to spice up their love life. Students on summer break struggle to escape the orbit of a seemingly utopic communal house.And in the title story, selected for The Best American Short Stories, two film school buddies working on a doomed project are left sizing up their own talent, hoping to come out on top—but fearing they won't.In What's Important Is Feeling, Adam Wilson follows the through-line of contemporary coming-of-age from the ravings of teenage lust to the staggering loneliness of proto-adulthood. He navigates the tough terrain of American life with a delicate balance of comedy and compassion, lyricism and unsparing straightforwardness. Wilson's characters wander through a purgatory of yearning, hope, and grief. No one emerges unscathed.

"It doesn't matter how I got here. What I do with the puzzle pieces that are now in front of me—that's what matters.Save Mr. Vernon.My three-word quest.Why I'm here in this time and space."Portia Kane is having a meltdown. After escaping her ritzy Florida life and her cheating pornographer husband, she finds herself back in South Jersey, a place that remains largely unchanged from the years of her unhappy youth. Lost and alone, looking for the goodness she believes still exists in the world, Portia sets off on a quest to save the one man who always believed in her—and in all of his students: her beloved high school English teacher, Mr. Vernon, who has retired broken and alone after a traumatic classroom incident.Will a sassy nun, an ex–heroin addict, a metalhead little boy, and her hoarder mother help or hurt Portia's chances on this quest to resurrect a good man and find renewed hope in the human raceLove May Fail is a story of the great highs and lows of existence: the heartache and daring choices it takes to become the person you know (deep down) you are meant to be.

The wackiest road trip in history continues in book four of the New York Times bestselling Genius Files series, following twins Coke and Pepsi as they dodge villains and visit weird-but-true landmarks from Texas all the way to Roswell, New Mexico!After their explosive escape at Graceland, twins Coke and Pepsi are ready to resume their trip across America—only now in a convertible instead of the RV. They travel through Arkansas and Oklahoma, visiting weird-but-true tourist stops along the way, and finally end up in Texas, home of the Weird Capital of the Country, Austin. The twins' many enemies—the bowler dudes, Mrs. Higgins, and Dr. Warsaw—all swear that they're done chasing Coke and Pepsi for good. But when the twins start receiving more codes and ciphers from a mysterious robotic voice, they know someone's after them. They just have to figure out who before the mystery villain finds them first.With the real-kid humor that has earned him millions of readers around the world, and featuring all new weird-but-true locations around America, this fourth book in the New York Times bestselling Genius Files series is absolutely batty!

Complete your Divergent library with the Four stories!Fans of the Divergent series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth will be captivated by "Four: The Transfer," the first of four stories, each between fifty and seventy-five pages long, set in the world of Divergent and told from Tobias's perspective.In "The Transfer," readers witness Tobias's aptitude test, Choosing Day, and the moment he is given the infamous nickname "Four."

Erin Hunter's New York Times bestselling Seekers series continues in the fourth book in the Return to the Wild story arc. With its thrilling blend of action and suspense, this epic animal fantasy is perfect for fans of the #1 nationally bestselling Warriors series.After a harrowing journey, the four bears finally arrive at Toklo's former home. Toklo is thrilled to be in the mountains, surrounded by warm memories of his cubhood, but his homecoming has come at a price. Yakone is dangerously ill and may not survive. Meanwhile, Lusa is unsure of what her future holds. Is she ready to find her own way if it means leaving her friends—the only family she has left?Also includes a sneak peek at Seekers: Return to the Wild #5: The Burning Horizon!

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

Develop your first interactive 2D platformer game by learning the fundamentals of C# About This Book Get to grips with the fundamentals of *ing in C# with Unity Create an awesome, 2D platformer game from scratch using the principles of object-oriented programming and coding in C# This is a step-by-step guide to learn the fundamentals of C# *ing to develop GameObjects and master the basics of the new UI system in Unity Who This Book Is For The book is targeted at beginner level Unity developers with no programming experience. If you are a Unity developer and you wish to learn how to write C# *s and code by creating games, then this book is for you. What You Will Learn Understand the fundamentals of variables, methods, and code syntax in C# Get to know about techniques to turn your game idea into working project Use loops and collections efficiently in Unity to reduce the amount of code Develop a game using the object-oriented programming principles Generate infinite levels for your game Create and code a good-looking functional UI system for your game Publish and share your game with users In Detail Unity is a cross-platform game engine that is used to develop 2D and 3D video games. Unity 5 is the latest version, released in March 2015, and adds a real-time global illumination to the games, and its powerful new features help to improve a game’s efficiency. This book will get you started with programming behaviors in C# so you can create 2D games in Unity. You will begin by installing Unity and learning about its features, followed by creating a C# *. We will then deal with topics such as unity *ing for you to understand how codes work so you can create and use C# variables and methods. Moving forward, you will find out how to create, store, and retrieve data from collection of objects. You will also develop an understanding of loops and their use, and you’ll perform object-oriented programming. This will help you to turn your idea into a ready-to-code project and set up a Unity project for production. Finally, you will discover how to create the GameManager class to manage the game play loop, generate game levels, and develop a simple UI for the game. By the end of this book, you will have mastered the art of applying C# in Unity. Style and approach This is a step-by-step guide to developing a game from scratch by applying the fundamentals of C# and Unity *ing.

Understand the fundamentals of machine learning with R and build your own dynamic algorithms to tackle complicated real-world problems successfully About This Book Get to grips with the concepts of machine learning through exciting real-world examples Visualize and solve complex problems by using power-packed R constructs and its robust packages for machine learning Learn to build your own machine learning system with this example-based practical guide Who This Book Is For If you are interested in mining useful information from data using state-of-the-art techniques to make data-driven decisions, this is a go-to guide for you. No prior experience with data science is required, although basic knowledge of R is highly desirable. Prior knowledge in machine learning would be helpful but is not necessary. What You Will Learn Utilize the power of R to handle data extraction, manipulation, and exploration techniques Use R to visualize data spread across multiple dimensions and extract useful features Explore the underlying mathematical and logical concepts that drive machine learning algorithms Dive deep into the world of analytics to predict situations correctly Implement R machine learning algorithms from scratch and be amazed to see the algorithms in action Write reusable code and build complete machine learning systems from the ground up Solve interesting real-world problems using machine learning and R as the journey unfolds Harness the power of robust and optimized R packages to work on projects that solve real-world problems in machine learning and data science In Detail Data science and machine learning are some of the top buzzwords in the technical world today. From retail stores to Fortune 500 companies, everyone is working hard to making machine learning give them data-driven insights to grow their business. With powerful data manipulation features, machine learning packages, and an active developer community, R empowers users to build sophisticated machine learning systems to solve real-world data problems. This book takes you on a data-driven journey that starts with the very basics of R and machine learning and gradually builds upon the concepts to work on projects that tackle real-world problems. You’ll begin by getting an understanding of the core concepts and definitions required to appreciate machine learning algorithms and concepts. Building upon the basics, you will then work on three different projects to apply the concepts of machine learning, following current trends and cover major algorithms as well as popular R packages in detail. These projects have been neatly divided into six different chapters covering the worlds of e-commerce, finance, and social-media, which are at the very core of this data-driven revolution. Each of the projects will help you to understand, explore, visualize, and derive insights depending upon the domain and algorithms. Through this book, you will learn to apply the concepts of machine learning to deal with data-related problems and solve them using the powerful yet simple language, R. Style and approach The book is an enticing journey that starts from the very basics to gradually pick up pace as the story unfolds. Each concept is first defined in the larger context of things succinctly, followed by a detailed explanation of their application. Each topic is explained with the help of a project that solves a real real-world problem involving hands-on work thus giving you a deep insight into the world of machine learning.

Discover the power of Drools 6 and Business Rules for developing complex scenarios in your applications About This Book Implement and model different rules using the DRL full syntax Model complex business decisions and domain models in order to automate and improve your operational decisions with the Drools framework A practical, fast-paced, hands-on guide to help you use the different components provided by the Drools Rule Engine Who This Book Is For This book is for Java developers and architects who need to have a deep understanding of how to create or integrate your applications with the Drools Rules Framework. The book assumes that you know the Java language well and also have experience with some widely used frameworks, such as Spring. You should also know the basics of Maven-based applications. What You Will Learn Automate your application’s decisions, such as promotion applying, discount policies, fraud detection, and more. Quickly get started with writing your first rules using the DRL full syntax. Discover the power of the new syntax components of the rule language. Define inferences in your business rules to simplify complex decisions. Write decision tables, templates,domain-specific languages, and scorecards, and learn how to map them to the Drools framework. Harness the full operational power of Drools through all of its configuration points. Use Drools configurations and architectures for different environments and scenarios. In Detail Mastering JBoss Drools 6 will provide you with the knowledge to develop applications involving complex scenarios. You will learn how to use KIE modules to create and execute Business Rules, and how the PHREAK algorithm internally works to drive the Rule Engine decisions. This book will also cover the relationship between Drools and jBPM, which allows you to enrich your applications by using Business Processes. You will be briefly introduced to the concept of complex event processing (Drools CEP) where you will learn how to aggregate and correlate your data based on temporal conditions. You will also learn how to define rules using domain-specific languages, such as spreadsheets, database entries, PMML, and more. Towards the end, this book will take you through the integration of Drools with the Spring and Camel frameworks for more complex applications. Style and approach Approached from a developer’s perspective, the book teaches you all the advanced concepts of Business Rules applicable examples with helpful screenshots, diagrams, tutorials, and examples.

Master the skills required to steer cross-platform applications from drawing board to app store(s) using Xamarin About This Book Develop your Xamarin development skills with this comprehensive guide on various patterns and features so you can create elegant and high-quality applications Create adaptive user interfaces on separate platforms without compromising the user experience and platform identity Implement application lifecycle management concepts to manage and finalize cross-platform projects and efficiently collaborate with others Who This Book Is For This book is ideal for those who want to take their entry–level Xamarin mobile development skills to the next level to become the go-to person within their organization. To fully understand the patterns and concepts described, you should possess a reasonable level of knowledge about the core elements of Xamarin and cross-platform application development with it. What You Will Learn Configure your environment for cross-platform projects with Xamarin Gain memory management skills to avoid memory leaks and premature code cycles while decreasing the memory print of your applications Employ asynchronous and parallel patterns to execute non-interactive and non-blocking processes Create and use SQLite databases for offline scenarios Integrate network resources with cross-platform applications Design and implement eye-catching and reusable UI components without compromising nativity in mobile applications Manage the application lifecycle of cross-platform development projects Distribute Xamarin applications through public or private channels In Detail The main goal of this book is to equip you with the required know-how to successfully analyze, develop, and manage Xamarin cross-platform projects using the most efficient, robust, and scalable implementation patterns. This book starts with general topics such as memory management, asynchronous programming, local storage, and networking, and later moves onto platform-specific features. During this transition, you will learn about key tools to leverage the patterns described, as well as advanced implementation strategies and features. The book also presents User Interface design and implementation concepts on Android and iOS platforms from a Xamarin and cross-platform perspective, with the goal to create a consistent but native UI experience. Finally, we show you the toolset for application lifecycle management to help you prepare the development pipeline to manage and see cross-platform projects through to public or private release. Style and approach This is a comprehensive guide on various Xamarin features and patterns. Each topic is explained and demonstrated with code samples, which are revised in each section in an iterative manner and analyzed with available diagnostic tools to demonstrate the benefits of different patterns.