Fourteen-year-old Ronan Boyle is the youngest and lowliest recruit to the secret Garda, an Irish police force that handles the misdeeds of numerous magical creatures. Ronan’s parents are in jail, but Ronan is convinced that they were framed by the wee people. So, despite his small size, poor eyesight, and social awkwardness, he’s determined to learn all he can in the Garda in order to prove his parents’ innocence. To show he’s got what it takes, he’ll have to confront a fiery leprechaun, a sinister harpy, and a whole world of monsters hidden in plain sight next to real-life Ireland. Fast paced, action packed, and completely hilarious, this is the start to an exciting new middle-grade series by actor and writer Thomas Lennon.
This humorous picture book from sister duo Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie and illustrator Victoria Maderna follows Ronan the Barbarian as he grows from being just a rough-and-tumble warrior to Ronan the Librarian--a rough-and-tumble warrior who loves books. Ronan was a mighty barbarian. He invaded. He raided. And back home, he traded. He always found the greatest treasures. Until one day, Ronan found something no barbarian wants: A BOOK. At first, his fellow barbarians are skeptical of his newfound passion for reading, but in the end, even they aren't immune to the charms of a good book.
Stealing Ronan wasn't the plan. I'd never imagined I'd steal a boyfriend from my sister, but when I saw him strutting to my couch with his perfect body, gorgeous face, and that mouth-God, that mouth, it was like he was plucked from my wettest dreams and brought into my life just for me.Lusting after a straight guy who's dating my sister is a problem in itself, but the bigger problem comes when he's invited on a family trip with us for Christmas. Just as I thought I was doing a pretty good job ignoring his soft lips and curious gazes, we're hit with a furious blizzard, leaving me and Ronan locked up together. Alone.We're only snowed in for two days, but things heat up quickly, because it turns out I'm not the only one with a fascination.
The hilarious sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller, set in the world of law-breaking leprechauns, from actor and writer Thomas Lennon—now in paperback Ronan Boyle may not be the strongest, or the smartest, or the best looking, or the most dexterous member of the secret Garda . . . So why was he picked to save the captain from the harpy who dragged her into Tir Na Nog? He’s not entirely sure. But he may be the captain’s only hope—if he can outrun cannibalistic elves, escape a job in a unicorn’s lounge act, and find the captain before she’s sacrificed to a cult. Eventually Ronan must battle the scariest monster of all: imposter syndrome. Fast-paced, action-packed, and utterly hilarious, the second book in the New York Times bestselling series delivers laughs and much, much more.
US foreign policy is undergoing a dire transformation, forever changing America’s place in the world. Institutions of diplomacy and development are bleeding out after deep budget cuts; the diplomats who make America’s deals and protect its citizens around the world are walking out in droves. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. We’re becoming a nation that shoots first and asks questions later. In an astonishing journey from the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to some of the most remote and dangerous places on earth—Afghanistan, Somalia, and North Korea among them—acclaimed investigative journalist Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history. His firsthand experience as a former State Department official affords a personal look at some of the last standard bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan. Drawing on recently unearthed documents, and richly informed by rare interviews with whistle-blowers, a warlord, and policymakers—including every living former secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Rex Tillerson—and now updated with revealing firsthand accounts from inside Donald Trump’s confrontations with diplomats during his impeachment and candid testimonials from officials in Joe Biden’s inner circle, War on Peace makes a powerful case for an endangered profession. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, shortsightedness, and outright malice—but it may just offer America a way out of a world at war.
A disarming novel that asks a simple question: Can gentle people change the world? In this charming and truly unique debut, popular Irish musician Ronan Hession tells the story of two single, thirty-something men who still live with their parents and who are . . . nice. They take care of their parents and play board games together. They like to read. They take satisfaction from their work. They are resolutely kind. And they realize that none of this is considered . . . normal. Leonard and Hungry Paul is the story of two friends struggling to protect their understanding of what’s meaningful in life. It is about the uncelebrated people of this world — the gentle, the meek, the humble. And as they struggle to persevere, the book asks a surprisingly enthralling question: Is it really them against the world, or are they on to something?
The last of the "Waverley Novels" in point of time reaches a period only a few years prior to its day of writing. It is also "upon a plan different from any other that the author had ever written''—that of depicting contemporary social life. The chief thread of the plot, relating to the victimizing of an unfortunate young woman, is somewhat involved (and perhaps weakened by the author's subsequent change in his original MS.) and can be explained more clearly at the outset than by following the development of the story. Clara Mowbray, the only daughter of a wealthy landowner in southern Scotland, is at sixteen the romantic comrade of an older and more unprincipled cousin, Hannah Irwin. Together they roam the countryside and read exotic works of fiction. In the course of these jaunts Clara meets a handsome young stranger, Francis Tyrrel, whose birth is under a cloud. They declare a mutual passion which is fostered by Hannah. Francis's half-brother, Valentine Bulmer, the ostensible heir of their father, the Earl of Etherington, acts as go-between for the young people and arranges a secret marriage at night; but at the ceremony Bulmer substitutes himself as the bridegroom ...
"'St. Ronan's Well' is not so much my favourite as certain of its predecessors," Lady Louisa Stuart wrote to Scott on March 26, 1824. "Yet still I see the author's hand in it, et c'est tout dire. Meg Dods, the meeting" (vol. i. chap. ix.), "and the last scene between Clara and her brother, are marked with the true stamp, not to be matched or mistaken. Is the Siege of Ptolemais really on the anvil?" she goes on, speaking of the projected Crusading Tales, and obviously anxious to part company with "St. Ronan's Well." All judgments have not agreed with Lady Louisa's. There is a literary legend or fable according to which a number of distinguished men, all admirers of Scott, wrote down separately the name of their favourite Waverley novel, and all, when the papers were compared, had written "St. Ronan's." Sydney Smith, writing to Constable on Dec. 28, 1823, described the new story as "far the best that has appeared for some time. Every now and then there is some mistaken or overcharged humour--but much excellent delineation of character, the story very well told, and the whole very interesting. Lady Binks, the old landlady, and Touchwood are all very good. Mrs. Blower particularly so. So are MacTurk and Lady Penelope. I wish he would give his people better names; Sir Bingo Binks is quite ridiculous.... The curtain should have dropped on finding Clara's glove. Some of the serious scenes with Clara and her brother are very fine: the knife scene masterly. In her light and gay moments Clara is very vulgar; but Sir Walter always fails in well-bred men and women, and yet who has seen more of both? and who, in the ordinary intercourse of society, is better bred? Upon the whole, I call this a very successful exhibition."
