Twenty-year-old Karina is proud of the independent life she has created for herself in Fort Benning, Georgia. And like anyone who has grown up around an army base, Karina knows the background noise that follows men and women home from war.

When she meets Kael, a handsome soldier on the cusp of discharge, she's immediately intrigued by his brooding presence and enigmatic silence. As their unexpected friendship turns into something more, Karina tries to piece together Kael's story: he is emotionally closed off, recovering from wounds and other trauma in the aftermath of two deployments in Afghanistan.

Karina considers herself a fixer of broken things and has a strong desire to help Kael heal. She has an equally strong desire to trust him--even though it challenges her many insecurities and anxieties. But trust is fragile, and when it is broken, Karina and Kael find their relationship at an impossible crossroads.

THE BURNING, the second book in The Brightest Stars trilogy, arrives summer 2023.

"Anna Todd has done it again! With bold storytelling and deep compassion for her characters, no one delivers an emotionally satisfying read filled with vulnerability, desire, and dreams quite like Anna Todd. She's my go-to for a story I know I'll love and characters who live in the heart long after the last page is turned. - Colleen Hoover, NYT best-selling author of It Ends With Us