Books with author Brent Hartinger

Book 1 in the Russel Middlebrook Series.Now a feature film starring Scott Bakula and Nikki Blonsky! The first book in the Russel Middlebrook Series.Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Robert L. Goodkind High School. Then his online gay-chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students too. There's his best friend, Min, who reveals she's bisexual; Min's soccer-playing girlfriend, Terese; and Terese's politically active friend, Ike.But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves?"We just choose a club that's so boring nobody in their right mind would ever in a million years join it. We could call in the Geography Club!"Geography Club for anyone, gay or straight, who's ever felt like an outsider -- a fast-paced and funny tale of teenagers who may not learn any actual geography in their latest club, but who discover plenty about the treacherous social terrain of high school, and the even more dangerous landscape of the human heart.

A 2017 Edgar Award Nominee!A weekend retreat in the woods and an innocent game of three truths and a lie go horribly wrong in this high-octane psychological thriller filled with romantic suspense by Lambda Award-winning author Brent Hartinger.Deep in the forest, four friends gather for a weekend of fun. Truth #1: Rob is thrilled about the weekend trip. It's the perfect time for him to break out of his shell...to be the person he really, really wants to be. Truth #2: Liam, Rob's boyfriend, is nothing short of perfect. He's everything Rob could have wanted. They're perfect together. Perfect. Truth #3: Mia has been Liam's best friend for years...long before Rob came along. They get each other in a way Rob could never, will never, understand. Truth #4: Galen, Mia's boyfriend, is sweet, handsome, and incredibly charming. He's the definition of a Golden Boy...even with the secrets up his sleeve. One of these truths is a lie...and not everyone will live to find out which one it is.

Book 1 in the Russel Middlebrook Series.Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There's his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer-playing girlfriend Terese. Then there's Terese's politically active friend, Ike. But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves?"We just choose a club that's so boring, nobody in their right mind would ever in a million years join it. We could call it Geography Club!"Brent Hartinger's debut novel, what became first of a series about Russel Middlebrook, is a fast-paced, funny, and trenchant portrait of contemporary teenagers who may not learn any actual geography in their latest club, but who learn plenty about the treacherous social terrain of high school and the even more dangerous landscape of the human heart.

Book 2 in the Lambda Award-winning Russel Middlebrook Series“Summer camp is different from high school. Something about spending the night. Things happen."Geography Club's Russel Middlebrook is back, and he's going to work as a summer camp counselor with his best friends Min and Gunnar. He's sick and tired of being openly gay in high school, and a peaceful summer at Camp Serenity is just what he needs to relieve the stress that comes from being an "out" teenager. But he doesn't count on sudden new rivalries with Min and Gunnar, or having to chase after a cabin full of unruly campers. And he especially doesn't count on a fellow counselor as hunky as Web Bastion.Things do happen at Camp Serenity, especially at night. Brent Hartinger's third novel is a story about Indian legends, skinny-dipping in moonlit coves, and the mysteries of a secret society called the Order of the Poison Oak. But more than anything, this witty page-turner is about bravery in the face of unexpected danger, the passion of a sizzling summer romance, and, most of all, the courage to be yourself.

Two Teenage Boys, Both at a Crossroads...Harlan and Manny are both seventeen years old, but they couldn't be more different. Harlan is an athlete with a beautiful girlfriend, the son of a powerful U.S. Senator, and possibly the most popular kid in his high school. Meanwhile, Manny is a quirky theater geek, the son of a struggling single father, and one of the school's least popular kids. And yet, Harlan and Manny both share the same sense of foreboding, a feeling that something is not right in each of their lives.They have something else in common as well, even if they don’t know it. Fourteen years ago, when they were both three years old, a tragedy occurred — an accident that would link the two boys together forever, even as it ultimately drove them apart. It’s an event that both of them barely remember, but it still haunts them in the form of Harlan's premonitions and Manny's nightmares. Somehow both boys know that nothing will ever be right until they can each unravel the secret of the terrifying instant that lies at the center of both their lives.An All-New Edition, Rewritten and Revised by the Author!Winner of the Washington State Book Award!

Winner of the Lambda Book AwardIt’s a horror movie extravaganza in the second sequel to Brent Hartinger’s Geography Club. Two complete books in one recount the stories of best friends Min and Russel who sign up to be extras on the set of a zombie film — and learn that there’s nothing scarier than high school romance!In the first book, Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies, Russel must choose between his long-distance boyfriend and a close-to-home ex named Kevin who wants to get back together. In the second book, Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies, Min struggles to accept her cheerleader girlfriend’s decision to stay in the closet.But beware! Russel and Min’s separate stories affect each other in surprising ways — and you’ll have to read both books together to find out the whole story.(This book was previously published under the title "Split Screen.")

A weekend retreat in the woods and an innocent game of three truths and a lie go horribly wrong in this high-octane psychological thriller filled with romantic suspense by Lambda Award–winning author Brent Hartinger.Deep in the forest, four friends gather for a weekend of fun. Truth #1: Rob is thrilled about the weekend trip. It’s the perfect time for him to break out of his shell…to be the person he really, really wants to be. Truth #2: Liam, Rob’s boyfriend, is nothing short of perfect. He’s everything Rob could have wanted. They’re perfect together. Perfect. Truth #3: Mia has been Liam’s best friend for years…long before Rob came along. They get each other in a way Rob could never, will never, understand. Truth #4: Galen, Mia’s boyfriend, is sweet, handsome, and incredibly charming. He’s the definition of a Golden Boy…even with the secrets up his sleeve. One of these truths is a lie…and not everyone will live to find out which one it is.

Book 4 in the Lambda Award-winning Russel Middlebrook Series!People aren't always what they seem to be. Sometimes we even surprise ourselves.So discovers seventeen-year-old Russel Middlebrook in The Elephant of Surprise, a stand-alone sequel to Brent Hartinger's landmark 2003 gay young adult novel Geography Club (which has now been adapted as a feature film co-starring Scott Bakula and Nikki Blonsky).In this latest book, Russel and his friends Min and Gunnar are laughing about something they call the Elephant of Surprise – the tendency for life to never turn out as expected. Sure enough, Russel soon happens upon a hot but mysterious homeless activist named Wade, even as he's drawn back to an old flame named Kevin. Meanwhile, Min is learning surprising things about her girlfriend Leah, and Gunnar just wants to be left alone to pursue his latest technology obsession. But the elephant is definitely on the move in all three of their lives. Just who is Wade and what are he and his friends planning? What is Leah hiding? And why is Gunnar taking naked pictures of Kevin in the shower?The Elephant of Surprise includes Hartinger's trademark combination of humor and romance, angst and optimism. Before the story is over, Russel and his friends will learn that the Elephant of Surprise really does appear when you least expect him—and that when he stomps on you, it really, really hurts.

Book 3 in the Russel Middlebrook Series, Winner of the Lambda Book Award!It's a horror-movie extravaganza in this, the second sequel to Brent Hartinger's gay teen classic, Geography Club. Two complete books in one recount the stories of best friends Russel and Min who sign up to be extras on the set of a zombie film and learn that there's nothing scarier than high school romance.In the first book, Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies, Russel must choose between his long-distance boyfriend and a close-to-home ex named Kevin who wants to get back together. In the second book, Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies, Min struggles to accept her cheerleader girlfriend's decision to stay in the closet.But beware! Russel and Min's separate stories affect each other in surprising ways, and you'll have to read both books together to find out the whole story.(Double Feature was previously published under the title Split Screen)

Book 3 in the Russel Middlebrook Series, Winner of the Lambda Book Award!It's a horror-movie extravaganza in this, the second sequel to Brent Hartinger's gay teen classic, Geography Club. Two complete books in one recount the stories of best friends Russel and Min who sign up to be extras on the set of a zombie film and learn that there's nothing scarier than high school romance.In the first book, Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies, Russel must choose between his long-distance boyfriend and a close-to-home ex named Kevin who wants to get back together. In the second book, Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies, Min struggles to accept her cheerleader girlfriend's decision to stay in the closet.But beware! Russel and Min's separate stories affect each other in surprising ways, and you'll have to read both books together to find out the whole story.(Double Feature was previously published under the title Split Screen)

Fifteen years old and parentless, Lucy Pitt has spent the last eight years being shifted from one foster home to another. Now she’s ended up at Kindle Home, a place for foster kids who aren‘t wanted anywhere else. Among the residents, Kindle Home is known as the Last Chance Texaco, because it’s the last stop before being shipped off to the high-security juvenile detention center on nearby Rabbit Island--better known as Eat-Their-Young Island to anyone who knows what it‘s really like.But Lucy finds that Kindle Home is different from past group homes, and she soon decides she wants to stay. Problem is, someone is starting a series of car-fires in the neighborhood in an effort to get the house shut down. Could it be Joy, a spiteful Kindle Home resident? Or maybe it's Alicia, the bony blond supermodel-wannabe from the local high school who thinks Lucy has stolen her boyfriend. Lucy suspects it might even be Emil, the Kindle Home therapist, who clearly has a low opinion of the kids he counsels. Whoever it is, Lucy must expose the criminal, or she'll lose not just her new home, but her one last chance for happiness.In the tradition of S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders and Louis Sachar's Holes, Hartinger writes about a subculture of teenagers many people would like to forget, in a novel as fast-paced and provocative as his first book, Geography Club.

A 2017 Edgar Award Nominee! A weekend retreat in the woods and an innocent game of three truths and a lie go horribly wrong in this high-octane psychological thriller filled with romantic suspense by a Lambda Award-winning author.Deep in the forest, four friends gather for a weekend of fun. Truth #1: Rob is thrilled about the weekend trip. It's the perfect time for him to break out of his shell...to be the person he really, really wants to be. Truth #2: Liam, Rob's boyfriend, is nothing short of perfect. He's everything Rob could have wanted. They're perfect together. Perfect. Truth #3: Mia has been Liam's best friend for years...long before Rob came along. They get each other in a way Rob could never, will never, understand. Truth #4: Galen, Mia's boyfriend, is sweet, handsome, and incredibly charming. He's the definition of a Golden Boy...even with the secrets up his sleeve. One of these truths is a lie...and not everyone will live to find out which one it is.