The Daily Face (Sneak Preview)


Book Description

Want a sneak peek? Download this free sample of The Daily Face by Annamarie Tendler. Makeup artist Annamarie Tendler's Daily Face feature on her hugely popular Tumblr blog has inspired hundreds of thousands of followers. Now in her first book, she takes readers around the clock with 25 easy-to-achieve looks for everything from an afternoon first date to a retro-glam cocktail party or a sultry smoky-eyed late night. She even throws in some head-turning costume ideas. It's all about personal expression. Step-by-step photos make it easy for anyone (even the makeup challenged) to follow along. Tendler's pro tips and "less is more" philosophy will appeal to women who want to look amazing without spending hours in front of the mirror. A chic, purse-sized flexi paperback, this is the perfect guide for the girl on the go.




The Book of Deacon


Book Description

The Book of Deacon is the first book of The Book of Deacon series by Joseph R. Lallo. Myranda Celeste’s world has been built on a legacy of bloodshed. For more than a century, her homeland the Northern Alliance has fought the Kingdom of Tressor in what has come to be known as the Perpetual War. While her people look upon the conflict with reverence, Myranda’s hate for the war has made her an outcast. When she finds a precious sword among the equipment of a fallen warrior, she believes her luck may have changed. Little does she imagine that the treasure will draw her into an adventure of wizards and warriors, soldiers and rebels, and beasts both noble and monstrous. The journey will teach her much about her potential, about the origins of the war, and about the threat her world truly faces. Will Myranda unlock the secret of bringing peace once and for all, or will the world be lost to the Perpetual War?




How to Draw Fun, Fab Faces


Book Description

How to Draw Fun, Fab Faces is a fun-for-all-ages, comprehensive guide to drawing simple, beautiful, female faces. With clear, easy to follow step-by-step directions, fun drawing prompts, full color examples and tons of encouragement, drawing pretty faces has never been easier! In addition to 70+ pages of instructions and fun, engaging activities, budding artists can further hone their skills by rendering the bonus coloring pages! This is a great addition to any artists' drawing library and is truly fun and useful for all ages. The book also has an accompanying e-course for those wishing to further their study and practice in the art of drawing fan, fabulous faces. Go to AwesomeArtSchool.com to learn more!




The Face Beneath


Book Description

After years of escaping the past, Danielle Lee decides to return home where she is confronted with facing the people she left behind, including Reed Fischer. For four years, Reed has been trying to get over his first love, but that feat is made impossible when Dannie unexpectedly walks back into his life. Trying his best to move on, Reed ignores her existence, but she's suddenly everywhere he is. A friendship blossoms...until feelings start to blur. Remnants of how they used to be together are still there, but Reed can't forget how much Dannie hurt him when she left, and Dannie is still struggling with her secretive history while living with the aftermath of an assault by an obsessed stalker. With the help of her best friends, Melody and Jemma, Dannie is on the path to healing...until the past meets the present, and she comes face-to-face with the one person she hoped never to see again. The Face Beneath shares the tale of a young woman trying to overcome a traumatic childhood while living with PTSD, but with the love and support of her friends, she finds hope and the courage to face her past, confront her fears, and live again. "A spectacularly written book which broaches a series of very important topics such as abuse, rape, assault and self-harm ... I would recommend it for any high school or college student as well as any adult looking for a story about starting anew and coming to terms with your past."-Online Book Club gives The Face Beneath "4 out of 4 stars" "This novel is a gift to the young adult genre." -Janice Dyck, author of In A Foreign Land




The Hawthorne Legacy


Book Description

OVER 4 MILLION COPIES SOLD OF THE #1 BESTSELLING SERIES! Intrigue, riches, and romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the beloved bestselling The Inheritance Games The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions—including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons. Thanks to a DNA test, Avery knows she’s not a Hawthorne by blood, but clues pile up hinting at a deeper connection to the family than she had ever imagined. As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, two of the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture—by any means necessary. With nonstop action, aspirational jet-setting, Knives Out-like family intrigue, swoonworthy romance, and billions of dollars hanging in the balance, The Hawthorne Legacy will thrill Jennifer Lynn Barnes fans and new readers alike. **The games continue in The Final Gambit and The Brothers Hawthorne, available now, and Games Untold, available for preorder! And don’t miss the start of a thrilling new series set in the world of the Inheritance Games, The Grandest Game, available for preorder now!




Trapped in a Video Game


Book Description

Jesse Rigsby hates video games—and for good reason. You see, a video game character is trying to kill him. After getting sucked in the new game Full Blast with his friend Eric, Jesse starts to see the appeal of vaporizing man-size praying mantis while cruising around by jet pack. But pretty soon, a mysterious figure begins following Eric and Jesse, and they discover they can't leave the game. If they don't figure out what's going on fast, they'll be trapped for good! With black-and-white illustrations throughout and a cliff hanger at the end of every chapter, this is a great series for kids who think they don’t like to read!




Reaper of Souls


Book Description

A prince repelled by magic. A king bent on revenge. A witchdoctor who does not walk alone. Brimming with dark magic, high stakes, and serpentine twists, the second book in Rena Barron’s thrilling YA fantasy saga is perfect for fans of Laini Taylor, Sabaa Tahir, and Tomi Adeyemi. After so many years yearning for the gift of magic, Arrah has the one thing she’s always wanted—but it came at too steep a price. Now the last surviving witchdoctor, she’s been left to pick up the shattered pieces of a family that betrayed her, a kingdom plunged into chaos, and a love that can never be. While Arrah returns to the tribal lands to search for survivors of the demons’ attack, her beloved Rudjek hunts down the remnants of the demon army—and uncovers a plot that would destroy what’s left of their world. The Demon King wants Arrah, and if she and Rudjek can’t unravel his schemes, he will destroy everything, and everyone, standing in his way. Set in a richly imagined world inspired by whispered tales of voodoo and folk magic, the Kingdom of Souls trilogy has been optioned for film by Michael B. Jordan and his Warner Bros. production company, Outlier Society. “I couldn’t get enough of Kingdom of Souls. Wonderfully written, and full of dark magic and danger, it was a story I couldn’t wait to escape into. Highly recommended!”—Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series




In the Face of the Sun


Book Description

Be one of the first to read this sneak preview sample edition of Denny S. Bryce's riveting new historical saga. A candy-apple red Ford Mustang is parked outside my building. Unmistakable. My Aunt Daisy, the driver, is an audacious woman that no one in our family actually speaks to. They only speak about her—and not glowingly. Still, she is part of my escape plan . . . 1928, Los Angeles: The newly-built Hotel Somerville is the hotspot for the city's glittering African-American elite. It embodies prosperity and dreams of equality for all—especially Daisy Washington. An up-and-coming journalist, Daisy anonymously chronicles fierce activism and behind-the-scenes Hollywood scandals in order to save her family from poverty. But power in the City of Angels is also fueled by racism, greed, and betrayal. And even the most determined young woman can play too many secrets too far . . . 1968, Chicago: For Frankie Saunders, fleeing across America is her only escape from an abusive husband. But her rescuer is her reckless, profane Aunt Daisy, still reeling from her own shattered past. Frankie doesn't want to know what her aunt is up to so long as Daisy can get her to LA—and safety. But Frankie finds there’s no hiding from long-held secrets—or her own surprising strength. Daisy will do whatever it takes to settle old scores and resolve the past—no matter the damage. And Frankie will come up against hard choices in the face of unexpected passion. Both must come to grips with what they need, what they’ve left behind—and all that lies ahead . . . RAVES FOR Wild Women and the Blues “The best kind of historical novel: immersive, mysterious and evocative.” —Ms. magazine “Vibrant. . . . A highly entertaining read!” —New York Times bestselling author Ellen Marie Wiseman “The music practically pours out of the pages.” —Oprah Daily




No Strangers Here: Sneak Peek


Book Description

Be one of the first to read this sneak preview sample edition! Set in the striking, rugged countryside of County Kerry, bestselling author Carlene O’Connor’s intriguing new series introduces Dimpna Wilde, an Irish vet grappling with life, death, family dynamics, and the secrets at the heart of this small community . . . On a rocky beach in the southwest of Ireland, the body of Jimmy O’Reilly, sixty-nine years old and dressed in a suit and his dancing shoes, is propped on a boulder, staring sightlessly out to sea. A cryptic message is spelled out next to the body with sixty-nine polished black stones and a discarded vial of deadly veterinarian medication lies nearby. Jimmy was a wealthy racehorse owner, known far and wide as The Dancing Man. In a town like Dingle, everyone knows a little something about everyone else. But dig a bit deeper, and there’s always much more to find. And when Detective Inspector Cormac O'Brien is dispatched out of Killarney to lead the murder inquiry, he's determined to unearth every last buried secret. Dimpna Wilde hasn’t been home in years. As picturesque as Dingle may be for tourists in search of their roots and the perfect jumper, to her it means family drama and personal complications. In fairness, Dublin hasn’t worked out quite as she hoped either. Faced with a triple bombshell—her mother rumored to be in a relationship with Jimmy, her father’s dementia is escalating, and her brother is avoiding her calls—Dimpna moves back to clear her family of suspicion. Despite plenty of other suspects, the guards are crawling over the Wildes. But the horse business can be a brutal one, and as Dimpna becomes more involved with her old acquaintances and haunts, the depth of lingering grudges becomes clear. Theft, extortion, jealousy and greed. As Dimpna takes over the family practice, she's in a race with the detective inspector to uncover the dark, twisting truth, no matter how close to home it strikes . . .




Vector Search for Practitioners with Elastic


Book Description

"This book delves into the practical applications of vector search in Elastic and embodies a broader philosophy. It underscores the importance of search in the age of Generative Al and Large Language Models. This narrative goes beyond the 'how' to address the 'why' - highlighting our belief in the transformative power of search and our dedication to pushing boundaries to meet and exceed customer expectations." Shay Banon Founder & CTO at Elastic Key Features Install, configure, and optimize the ChatGPT-Elasticsearch plugin with a focus on vector data Learn how to load transformer models, generate vectors, and implement vector search with Elastic Develop a practical understanding of vector search, including a review of current vector databases Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Book DescriptionWhile natural language processing (NLP) is largely used in search use cases, this book aims to inspire you to start using vectors to overcome equally important domain challenges like observability and cybersecurity. The chapters focus mainly on integrating vector search with Elastic to enhance not only their search but also observability and cybersecurity capabilities. The book, which also features a foreword written by the founder of Elastic, begins by teaching you about NLP and the functionality of Elastic in NLP processes. Here you’ll delve into resource requirements and find out how vectors are stored in the dense-vector type along with specific page cache requirements for fast response times. As you advance, you’ll discover various tuning techniques and strategies to improve machine learning model deployment, including node scaling, configuration tuning, and load testing with Rally and Python. You’ll also cover techniques for vector search with images, fine-tuning models for improved performance, and the use of clip models for image similarity search in Elasticsearch. Finally, you’ll explore retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and learn to integrate ChatGPT with Elasticsearch to leverage vectorized data, ELSER's capabilities, and RRF's refined search mechanism. By the end of this NLP book, you’ll have all the necessary skills needed to implement and optimize vector search in your projects with Elastic.What you will learn Optimize performance by harnessing the capabilities of vector search Explore image vector search and its applications Detect and mask personally identifiable information Implement log prediction for next-generation observability Use vector-based bot detection for cybersecurity Visualize the vector space and explore Search.Next with Elastic Implement a RAG-enhanced application using Streamlit Who this book is for If you're a data professional with experience in Elastic observability, search, or cybersecurity and are looking to expand your knowledge of vector search, this book is for you. This book provides practical knowledge useful for search application owners, product managers, observability platform owners, and security operations center professionals. Experience in Python, using machine learning models, and data management will help you get the most out of this book.