The Road to Amazing — Brent Hartinger

“I think gay guys like weddings more than anyone. And it's not because we want to destroy marriage, like some people say. It's because we really, really want to get married!"

Russel Middlebrook is gettin' hitched!

The wedding is taking place in a remote lodge on an island in Puget Sound. Russel and his husband-to-be have invited all their close friends to spend the whole weekend together beforehand.

And for the first time in his life, Russel is determined to not be neurotic, and not over-think things.

But that's before things start going wrong. Who expected a dead killer whale to wash up on the beach below the inn? And what's this about a windstorm approaching? Then there's the problem of Russel's anxious fiancé, who is increasingly convinced the whole thing is going to be a disaster.

Meanwhile, the wedding is taking place near the ruins of a small town, Amazing, where, a hundred years earlier, the people supposedly all disappeared overnight. Why does it feel like the secret at the end of the road to Amazing has something to do with Russel's own future?

Can Russel's friends Min, Gunnar, Vernie, and Otto somehow help him make it all make sense?

The Road to Amazing, the last book in the Russel Middlebrook Futon Years trilogy, is a story about endings and beginnings, and also about growing up and growing older. But mostly it's a story about love and friendship -- about how it's not the destination that makes a life amazing, but the people you meet along the way.

Praise for Brent Hartinger:

“Hits the narrative sweet spot." -- NPR's All Things Considered

"Downright refreshing." -- USA Today

"The most artful and authentic depiction of a gay teen since [19780]." -- Horn Book Magazine

"Touching and realistic...hilarious." -- Kirkus Reviews