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A heart-wrenching standalone novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, We Burned So Bright follows an older queer couple on an end-of-the-world road-trip.

The road stretched out before them. No other cars, just the headlights on the blacktop. Above, the cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky….

Husbands Don and Rodney have lived a good long life. Together they’ve experienced the highest highs of love and family, and lows so low that they felt like the end of the world.

Now, the world is ending for real. A wandering black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone.

Suddenly, after 40 years together, Don and Rodney are out of time. They’re in a race against the clock to make it from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over.

On the road they meet those who refuse to believe death is coming and those who rush to meet it. But there are also people living their final days as best they know how—impromptu weddings, bright burning bonfires, shared meals, and new friends.

And as the black hole draws near, among ball lightning and under a cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky, Don and Rodney will look back on their lives and ask if their best was good enough.

Is it enough to burn bright if nothing comes from the ashes?

I tend to seesaw back and forth when it comes to Klune’s books; I either don’t really care for a book, or I absolutely love it. I’d put this one in the “love” file.

One would think that given the story’s set-up, that it would be a depressing, tragic tale. Not that there isn’t some of that, but, in the main, it’s a lovely, heartwarming story about two men, what they mean to each other, and, ultimately, what their lives have meant.

The “unfinished business” only becomes apparent as the story progresses. It’s a big part of their lives. Each time they meet new people, and those people’s stories become intwined with their own, the reader learns of the couple’s regrets and heartaches, but also of their deep and abiding love for each other. It says much about what kind of people Don and Rodney are.

It’s a beautiful story. Is it odd to say that the end of the world was beautiful? It was here. Even with tears.

We Burned So Bright