International bestselling author Anna Todd returns with a gripping novel about a young woman’s journey towards love, and the obstacles life throws up at every turn.

Karina knows the harsh realities of military life. And like anyone who has grown up around an army base, she knows the background noise that follows a soldier home from war. That’s why she’s forging her own quiet life in her own little house. But she hasn’t turned her back on her family. She’s the glue that holds them together—when her father is deployed, when her brother, Austin, has another brush with the law.

Karina knows that she has to look after herself, that she can’t always fix what’s broken. But when Austin’s behavior worsens and her father’s reactions grow more extreme, Karina feels her own edges beginning to fray. That’s when she meets him—a closed book she’s desperate to open.

At just twenty, Kael is a handsome, brooding soldier struggling with the aftermath of two tours in Afghanistan. He’s emotionally damaged and closed off. Quiet doesn’t begin to describe him. But as Karina gets used to his stable presence, she finds it hard to ignore the way he makes her feel. In their time together, she finds the stillness she has always wanted and never found. She lets down her guard. And she lets herself fill in the blanks about this mysterious man.

But illusions quickly made are quickly shattered. That’s when Karina has to find her own courage—to untangle the truth from the lies, and decide what she’s going to do about it.

A riveting story about love and lies, THE BRIGHTEST STARS will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.

Series:

The Brightest Stars

Book 1

Book Type:

Contemporary Romance

Review: The Brightest Stars

A young girl finds her path to love paved with secrets and lies, forced to bear the many scars scored by the harsh and often hidden realities of military life.

Anna Todd imbues her signature, irresistible angst into a star-crossed tale of love between two young people who live on an army base.

Karina has grown up in this life, her own home bearing the cicatrices of what can happen to a family under that hardship. She’s been the glue that’s kept her family from unravelling, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t taken its toll.

Meeting Kael is the ultimate distraction. He’s a 20-year-old soldier who struggles to assimilate to being home after two tours in Afghanistan, and a mystery she yearns to uncover.

Pain is etched beyond his body, a quiet, hidden battle raging within. Karina is desperate to know him, to know his secrets, to be a balm to him just as he is to her.

But just when she realizes she’s in so deep, those truths she’s been so desperate to uncover hit her like a gut punch. Karina must decide who to trust and what to do with her heart.

THE BRIGHTEST STARS is a love story underscored by the vulnerabilities shared between two young people marred by both their past and present, as well as the lies that threaten to pull them apart.

Todd’s easy dialogue flows, feeling sincere and real, bringing to life the budding, complex romance of Karina and Kael. THE BRIGHTEST STARS is the first book in a trilogy, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.