The Stars Above Us

When ambitious journalist Becks lands in the middle of an Afghan war zone determined to expose the truth behind a devastating tragedy, the last person she expects to become her biggest obstacle is the brooding, infuriatingly handsome captain who wants nothing to do with her.

Embedded with Company B at Forward Operating Base Blessing, Becks has one goal: get the story. Captain Nathan Griffith — Griff to everyone who has the misfortune of crossing him — has exactly one goal of his own: survive a quiet deployment and keep the ghosts of his past exactly where they belong. A sharp-tongued reporter with a knack for finding trouble is not part of that plan.

What follows is equal parts war-zone survival and verbal sparring match. Becks and Griff trade barbs with the precision of trained combatants, their friction crackling against the backdrop of the unforgiving Afghan desert. But danger has a way of stripping away armor, and somewhere between firefights and grudging truces, their mutual contempt begins shifting into something neither of them saw coming — and neither is prepared to admit.

The Stars Above Us is a grumpy-sunshine military romance that masterfully balances pulse-pounding action with laugh-out-loud banter and genuine emotional depth. Samantha Brentmoor and Maggie Gates deliver a story about two people too stubborn to fall in love — and completely powerless to stop it.

Some battles, it turns out, you were always meant to lose.