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The Elephant of Surprise
- The Russel Middlebrook Series
- Narrated by: Josh Hurley
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
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 audiobook, 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.
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To say eighteen-year-old Farrah Higgins—or Digit—is good at math is a laughable understatement. She’s been cracking codes since childhood, and is finally at home with “her people” at MIT in Cambridge. Her talents are so off the charts that her laptop is under surveillance by both the CIA and an ecoterrorist named Jonas Furnis. So when she thoughtlessly hacks into the Department of Defense’s database, she lands in serious hot water inside and outside the law.
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Great Follow Up
- By Lifeisshort on 05-23-14
By: Annabel Monaghan
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Vivian Apple at the End of the World
- By: Katie Coyle
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Seventeen-year-old Vivian Apple never believed in the evangelical Church of America, unlike her recently devout parents. But when Vivian returns home the night after the supposed 'Rapture,' all that's left of her parents are two holes in the roof. Suddenly, she doesn't know who or what to believe. With her best friend Harp and a mysterious ally, Peter, Vivian embarks on a desperate cross-country road trip through a paranoid and panic-stricken America to find answers.
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juvenile
- By emily on 12-16-19
By: Katie Coyle
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The Mystery of Grace
- By: Charles de Lint
- Narrated by: Richard Powers, Tai Sammons
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Grace, as her friends call her, has a Ford Motor Company tattoo running down her leg and grease worked deep into her hands. She works at Sanchez Motorworks customizing hot rods. Finding the line in a classic car is her calling. Now Grace has to find the line in her own life. Grace loves John, and John loves her, and that would be wonderful, except that John, like Grace, has unfinished business: He's haunted by the childhood death of his younger brother. He's never stopped feeling responsible.
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interesting love story
- By Yuriko on 08-23-10
By: Charles de Lint
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The Lost Husband
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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"Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for - Dear Lord! - two whole years, and I'm writing to see if you'd like to be rescued." The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who - after the sudden death of her husband, Danny - went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country.
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wonderful story. narrator kind of a sad sack.
- By Susan Reynolds on 07-24-19
By: Katherine Center
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Made You Up
- By: Francesca Zappia
- Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be - sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. For fans of Silver Linings Playbook and Liar, this thought-provoking debut tells the story of Alex, a high school senior - and the ultimate unreliable narrator - unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. Alex fights a daily battle to figure out what is real and what is not.
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A DISGRACE TO AUTHORS AND MENTAL HEALTH EVERYWHERE
- By Amazon Customer on 06-27-18
By: Francesca Zappia
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Sprout
- By: Dale Peck
- Narrated by: Ted Coluca Jr.
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Sprout Bradford has a secret. It's not what you think he'll tell you he's gay. He'll tell you about his dads drinking and his mother's death. The green fingerprints everywhere tell you when he last dyed his hair. But neither the reader nor Sprout are prepared for what happens when Sprout suddenly finds he's had a more profound effect on the lives around him than he ever thought possible. Sprout is both hilarious and gripping; a story of one boy at odds with the expected.
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Excellent Coming of Age Story
- By marie on 07-17-13
By: Dale Peck
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The Last Time We Say Goodbye
- By: Cynthia Hand
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment. Now she's just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be. As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night Tyler died. But there's a secret she hasn't told anyone--a text Tyler sent that could have changed everything.
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Such sweet sorrow
- By Lesaly on 04-26-15
By: Cynthia Hand
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A Girl Named Digit
- By: Annabel Monaghan
- Narrated by: Julia Farhat
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Farrah "Digit" Higgins may be going to MIT in the fall, but this L.A. high school genius has left her geek self behind in another school district so she can blend in with the popular crowd at Santa Monica High and actually enjoy her senior year. But when Farrah, the daughter of a UCLA math professor, unknowingly cracks a terrorist group's number sequence, her laid-back senior year gets a lot more interesting. Soon she is personally investigating the case, on the run from terrorists, and faking her own kidnapping - all while trying to convince a young, hot FBI agent to take her seriously.
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Nails It
- By Lifeisshort on 05-16-14
By: Annabel Monaghan
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Driftwood
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Dutton
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Dutton
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Los Angeles, California: Clem Jasper is a trust fund kid with a world famous rock musician for a father. When he dies suddenly (playing ping pong) she discovers he's left her a strange legacy: a series of letters that take her on a mysterious road trip around California. Ignoring her aunt's suggestion that she pitch the trip as a reality show, she embarks on her own to discover just what it was that her father meant her to find. What secret could be so powerful that he had to die before telling her?
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I cried with this one,
- By Angela on 08-16-23
By: Elizabeth Dutton
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Last Seen Leaving
- By: Caleb Roehrig
- Narrated by: Josh Hurley
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking question he can't answer, and her friends are telling stories that don't add up. All eyes are on Flynn―as January's boyfriend, he must know something. But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January's disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.
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Best Book of 2016/Top 10 Contemporary Novels
- By Jeffrey veals on 01-05-17
By: Caleb Roehrig
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Every Soul a Star
- By: Wendy Mass
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy, Ali Ahn, Mark Turetsky
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Unlike the thousands converging at Moon Shadow to witness a total solar eclipse, Ally calls the isolated campground home. Bree shields herself in a cloak of good looks and popularity, but there is something within her no one suspects. And Jack, overweight and socially inept, finds himself on the verge of a startling possibility.
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Yes I have listened to this book 3 times
- By Excelsior on 06-24-18
By: Wendy Mass
What listeners say about The Elephant of Surprise
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JWatson
- 09-22-18
Alot of fun
Narrator is excellent. He makes the lead character, Russell, come alive. Russell's running narration is sweat, witty, insightful & occasionally overly dramatic (but in a hilarious way). I recommend this and all the Russell Middlebrook series
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- Michael burkheimer
- 04-09-21
such a great series truly one of the best.
loved every minute of this book such a greeat writer. Its truly a mesmerizing book and such a great love story.
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- PETATL1
- 02-17-22
Great stories!
I really enjoy The series, as well as the others that I’ve listened to! I want to follow Russell Middlebrook through his entire life, lol.
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- SMC
- 06-28-24
Let me explain
I just binged this series. I loved this series which is why I read the whole thing so fast. I totally recommend this series. But I have a couple of complaints. Not big ones but they bug me enough to say something. First, all of these are way too short. Second, is Kevin. ⛔️ Spoiler warning ‼️ Kevin proves to not be so great early on. But it’s also pretty clear that is how we are supposed to think and if you actually look he is a good guy. All of that is fine. But here at the end of this last book Kevin should have gotten more. He is a secret protagonist throughout so he should have gotten his own section like Ming did so he could tell his story himself. And I am legit pissed he didn’t get it. But we have his story already now. So if you write another book to tell it, it will just be a rehash of what we already know. And that’s shitty. The 3 main characters are great. & I loved their stories. But Kevin’s was the one I was waiting to hear. And only getting the second hand tale as if it was almost an afterthought is rude.
I still loved all the books despite how short they were. But this Kevin thing is really disappointing. I re-read all the books I buy. Kind of a lot. Life sucks books are better. But it’s hard to escape into a story knowing you are going to be repeatedly disappointed by the same thing. Poor Kevin. And why the f didn’t Ming go back and hold him while he cried after she convinced him. It’s fine. I love the books. I’m going to reread them. Just it’s such a small change and it would have made such a difference.
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- Huge Golfer
- 01-12-15
Please write about their senior year one day!
Such a great ending. We've all grown up with Russel. It's hard to let him go. What a great character.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Dustin89
- 07-19-15
Amazing!!
Amazing story! I hope there will be more! Kevin and Russell deserve happiness, even if it arrived a little too late lol
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2 people found this helpful
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- Luke Worthington
- 05-22-22
Meh
If I am being really honest, this is my least favorite Russell Middlebrook book. While I was happy to return to the only Russel perspective, this one didn’t have as much punch as the other ones dead. I wasn’t too crazy about Russell falling in love with a homeless kid who ate out of dumpsters and what not.
Also, why can’t Russell be with a good guy like Otto but he lives nearby? All these recent boys tricking him and making him feel bad.
Overall this installment was OK. Hoping the next one is better.
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