Tormented by an abusive father, Boone spends most of his time second-guessing himself and looking over his shoulder. He’s almost seventeen, old enough to walk out, but that would mean abandoning his mother and younger sister. Then, in a single weekend, everything changes. Boone is left struggling to come to terms with what just tore his family apart and the guilt he still feels about what happened to his brother Frankie. And to top it all, he sees the parts of his father that he hates most in some of his own thoughts and actions. With no one in his small farming community to turn to except maybe the old man who lives up the road, Boone’s options are limited. School is a waste of time, his money is almost gone, and if there’s one thing his daddy taught him, it’s not to trust anybody.

Pushing Back (Boone)

Literature & Fiction

Hartsell, Jim

Genre Fiction

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

"Matching Scars" - continuing Boone's story begun in "Pushing Back" Boone has a place to stay and enough to eat, but Gamaliel is back in the hospital and Boone's getting more pressure from Jerry the longer he stays in Gamaliel's house. Jerry wants him out, Carrie isn't fighting for him as hard as she should, and the thought that a chance encounter with a rabid raccoon might take Frankie away from him devastates Boone. His friend Nancy's reappearance is a shocker, but he quickly grows to depend on her and also on Tiny, a neighbor a few years older and a hell of a lot bigger than Boone is. As Gamaliel's health worsens and Jerry gets bolder in his attempts to run Boone off, Boone also has to deal with the fact that he's getting low on moonshine and his partner is lying in a hospital bed, unable to help him with the next batch. The secrets lying just under the surface in Nancy's family and the revelation of just how far Jerry is willing to go to get rid of him show Boone that he's not the only person bearing scars from the past.

Matching Scars: Book Two in the Boone Series

Tormented by an abusive father, Boone spends most of his time second-guessing himself and looking over his shoulder. At 16 he's old enough to just leave, but, with his mother and younger sister still in the house, he can't quite make himself. Then, in a single weekend, everything changes.Boone is left struggling to come to terms with what just tore his family apart and the guilt he still feels about what happened to his brother Frankie almost two years ago. And to top it all, he sees the parts of his daddy that he hates most in some of his own thoughts and actions.With no one in his small farming community to turn to except maybe the old man who lives in the next house up the road, Boone's options are limited. School is a waste of time, money is almost gone, and if there's one thing his daddy taught him, it's not to trust anybody.The discovery of a moonshine still on the property where his family was living leads Boone into a friendship with Gamaliel Everett, the old recluse who lives next door. They form both a partnership and a friendship that Boone leans on more and more. Gamaliel's sudden illness leaves Boone no one to talk to about his fumbling attempts to start a relationship with Nancy, a classmate of his before Boone dropped out of school completely.Boone finds himself at odds with Gamaliel's son-in-law, Jerry, who takes an immediate dislike to Boone. Gamaliel's daughter, Carrie, grows to count on Boone to take care of her father and, after Gamaliel's hospitalization, his house.Boone has to contend with the loss of his family, his awakening feelings for Nancy, Jerry's attempts to get rid of him, the local authorities who would like to see him back in school, and a couple of thieves roaming the neighborhood. Far from being a saint or even a hero, Boone manages to survive his first year on his own and develop some forgiveness for the family that abandoned him.

Pushing Back: Book One in the Boone Series

House Mountain Publishing

Keeping Secrets: Book Three in the Boone Series

An illustrated children's book about a boy who wants to climb a mountain with his parents. They think he's talking about the mountain they see in the distance, but he means the hill in their backyard. Children and grownups see the world in different ways.

The Boy and His Mountain

Children's Books

Este es un libro ilustrado para ni os acerca de un ni o que quiere escalar una monta a con sus papas. Ellos piensan que l est hablando de la monta a que se ve en la lejan a, pero l est hablando de un mont culo en el patio trasero de su casa. Los ni os y los adultos ven el mundo de una manera diferente.

El Ninõ y Su Montaña (Spanish Edition)

Illustrated children's book about imagination. Two youngsters visiting their grandparents hear a noise in the woods and try to guess what it might be.

The Noise in the Woods

Book Four in the series finds Boone and Frankie on the road. From his first low country boil on a Carolina beach to a face-off with three thugs in a Georgia parking lot, from an unforgettable night in New Orleans to the Beale Street acrobats and a sunset Mississippi River cruise in Memphis, Boone is constantly in unknown territory on his first venture away from home with his dog Frankie. The map his friend Melvin gave him doesn't offer much guidance, and sometimes he feels like Frankie's in charge of their trip and he's just following her lead.On his return home he sees old friends and new acquaintances in a different and sometimes disturbing light, prompting him to question many of his assumptions about how things are supposed to be. Trying to keep his feet on the ground and leave behind his Daddy's most damaging lessons once and for all, Boone realizes that the trip has changed him in ways he never expected.

Following Frankie: Book Four in the Boone Series

In this fifth book in the series, Boone is restless after only a few weeks back in his hometown from his swing through the Southeast As the book begins, he and Frankie are back on the road. On his way to visit some friends he met on his last trip, Boone gets word that his sister Hannah is in trouble. He turns around, but without a job or a place to live he knows he can't be much help. On the way back he sees a small house for rent and decides to move into it, figuring there's nothing for him in his old home town anyway.Making a fresh start gives Boone a chance to become known as more than just his father's son, and meeting Molly teaches him that obstacles, whether family history or current limitations, do not have to define them. Boone begins to realize that letting go of the past becomes possible when he is creating something in the present, and that family can be much more than the one he was born into.

Choosing Family: Book Five in the Boone Series

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hartsell, Jim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hartsell, Jim

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hartsell, Jim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Pushing Back (Boone)

Matching Scars: Book Two in the Boone Series

Pushing Back: Book One in the Boone Series

Matching Scars: Book Two in the Boone Series

Keeping Secrets: Book Three in the Boone Series

The Boy and His Mountain

El Ninõ y Su Montaña (Spanish Edition)

The Noise in the Woods

Following Frankie: Book Four in the Boone Series

Choosing Family: Book Five in the Boone Series