The Brightest Thing in the Room
Some love stories are only told by one person.
Release date: 08/01/26
Madison Sharpe has always known how to make herself useful.
After spending fourteen months caring for her dying aunt, Madison inherits a quiet house in Cofferman Heights and a life with no one left to need her. Then she discovers the local playhouse, where her talent for lighting transforms an empty stage into something extraordinary.
It is there that she first sees Rowan Banting.
Young, magnetic, and far too talented for a small-town theater, Rowan seems brightest when Madison is behind the lighting board. From the darkness of the booth, Madison can make an entire audience see Rowan exactly as she does. What begins as admiration soon becomes something deeper, sustained by private moments, meaningful glances, and a connection Madison is certain exists between them.
But other people keep interfering. A controlling director. Suspicious friends. Obligations that pull Rowan away. As Madison works to protect Rowan’s future and the relationship quietly unfolding between them, the line between devotion and possession begins to disappear.
Told through the intimate perspective of a woman who believes she understands the story better than anyone else, *The Brightest Thing in the Room* is a haunting psychological suspense novel about loneliness, obsession, and how easily love can become indistinguishable from the need to be needed.
295 pages, Paperback
Expected publication August 1, 2026
ISBN 978-0-557-99995-8