Shooting Stars Above

by Patricia Leavy

Overview

For fans of Colleen Hoover comes an emotionally charged contemporary romance about an internationally best-selling novelist and a federal agent fighting to heal past wounds.
Tess Lee is a world-famous novelist. Her inspirational books explore people's innermost struggles and the human need to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel—but despite her extraordinary success, she's been unable to find personal happiness. Jack Miller is a federal agent working in counterterrorism. After spending decades immersed in a violent world, a residue remains. He's dedicated everything to his job, leaving nothing for himself.
The night Tess and Jack meet, their connection is palpable. She examines the scars on his body and says, "I've never seen anyone whose outsides match my insides." The two embark on an epic love story, but old traumas soon rise to the surface as Jack struggles with the death of a loved one and Tess is forced to confront her childhood abuse. Can unconditional love help heal their invisible wounds? Together, will they be able to move from darkness to light?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647428556
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	07/30/2025
Series:	The Celestial Bodies Romances , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Patricia Leavy is an award-winning, best-selling author. Formerly Associate Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College, she has published more than forty books and has received career awards from the National Art Education Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, and more. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women's Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz when they established the "Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice" and in 2024 the London Arts-Based Research Centre established The Patricia Leavy Award for Arts-Based Research. Her website is www.patricialeavy.com. She lives in Kennebunk, Maine. 

Editorial Reviews

Featured on Resident Magazine "Best Books of The Summer 2025.”
Featured on People “10 Romance Books to Read After Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry.”
Featured on She Knows “Celebrate World Book Day with These 13 New Spring Releases.”
2025 Firebird Book Award First Place Winner in Contemporary Novel, Romance, and Summer Beach Read
Featured on BRIT & CO “12 Empowering Books with Strong Female Leads to Read in 2025.”
Featured on Ms. Career Girl “A Book for Every Type of Reader to Kick off 2025.”
Featured on She Knows “22 Incredible New Books That You’ll Want to Get Your Hands on in 2025.”
2024 Literary Titan Book Awards Silver Winner

". . . there is an alluring hopefulness to the work . . . Beyond the romantic themes, the narrative does manage to tackle several other difficult issues with grace, ranging from grief and self-doubt to self-love and second chances.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Patricia Leavy crafts a riveting narrative that shows the healing power of love and how it helps wounded souls become whole once again.”—Readers’ Favorite, 5-star review

“For readers seeking a story that restores faith in humanity and shines a light on the beauty of connection, this novel is a must-read.”—Literary Titan

"Start early evening because once you dive into Patricia's book, you're going to want to keep turning the pages because that's how alluring it is."—John Busbee, founder and producer of The Culture Buzz

“For so many of us, perhaps all of us, life is challenging as we learn to live through and with trauma, grief, and loss. Shooting Stars Above shows us how to thrive through unconditional love. Read this book—it will crack your heart wide open.” —Laurel Richardson, author of Lone Twin

“The strongest book I've ever read . . . It gave me hope and made me remember why all kinds of love are worth fighting for.”—The Book Revue, 5-star review

“Shooting Stars Above is one of the most important literary works you’ll ever read and the must-read book of the year. It had my whole heart; I could not put it down, and it stayed with me. Read this—you’ll be so glad you did. Highly recommended!” —Jessie Voigts, PhD, founder of Wandering Educators

“Leavy has done what she does best: write a story that you won’t be able to put down until you finish the final sentence. Shooting Stars Above is a love story about friendship and real romance, but most importantly, it is a story about learning to love ourselves, the most difficult love of all.” —Sandra L. Faulkner, author of Poetic Inquiry: Craft, Method, and Practice

“Shooting Stars Above defies category. It grabs hold of your emotions and doesn’t let go even after you turn the last page. Leavy’s most powerful work to date takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions and leaves you with a brighter sense of the world and the people who quietly make it better.” —U. Melissa Anyiwo, editor of Gender Warriors

“Tess’s journey and her love for humanity have permeated my very soul. As you turn the last page of this beautifully crafted story, you know the healing process has really just begun. Brava, Patricia Leavy! This story has left an indelible mark on my soul.” —Renita M. Davis, LICSW, PIP, Creatrix, Illuminated Expressions, LLC

“Shooting Stars Above grabbed and shook me in a way most novels do not. The deepest cuts came from Leavy’s frankly audacious creation of space for trauma processing and healing as priorities in daily life, rather than the afterthoughts they often become in a world that expects us to smile through pain. It is this sense of empathy for self that haunts me most after reading, and that will likely linger in surprising ways.” —Alexandra “Xan” Nowakowski, coauthor of Other People’s Oysters

“Shooting Stars Above draws you into its heart and holds you there tightly. Leavy has once again managed to weave her magic through a story that touches on hugely important themes and contemporary issues. Luckily, this is only the first book in a breathtaking series which I have read in full. Each novel is better than the last.”—Alexandra Lasczik, coauthor of Walking with A/r/tography

“Leavy’s writing is realistic and compassionate. Shooting Stars Above is a heartfelt story of love, grief, friendship, and survival that will make you laugh, cry, and most of all feel truly alive. I really loved this book.” —J. E. Sumerau, author of Transmission

“Shooting Stars Above is one of the grandest love stories of all time. It celebrates the power and agency of love to hold its own against the darkest forces of hatred and violence. It will make your heart smile.” —Eve Spangler, Associate Professor of Sociology, Boston College

“While Tess Lee and Jack Miller are healing from past trauma, they learn to love each other in extraordinary ways. This is a wonderful book that you will relish. Read it on your own or in book clubs.” —Jessica Smartt Gullion, author of October Birds

From the Publisher

2024-11-08
In Leavy’s romance, a new couple must confront past traumas without destroying their fledgling relationship.

The book opens as 38-year-old Tess Lee meets Jack Miller for the first time while enjoying a drink alone at a bar. Their connection is instant and intense. After leaving the bar together they quickly become inseparable, and before long they’re professing their love to each other and sharing deep secrets. Tess reveals on their first night together that she was the victim of physical and emotional abuse as a child. Jack, in turn, tells Tess about the horrors he witnessed in his government positions fighting terrorism. They quickly introduce each other to the important people in their lives (“Do you think it will seem strange to our friends, how deeply we feel about each other after such a short time?”), which is when Jack learns that Tess, rather than being just another run-of-the-mill writer (as she’d implied), is actually an incredibly well-known and bestselling author. Seeing the opulence in which she lives, he’s floored, and worries that he might not be enough for her. Though Tess is able to quell his concerns, she soon suffers a traumatic experience and retreats into herself in a way that makes her doubt she can ever be sufficiently whole enough to meet the needs of her new love. While the novel moves surprisingly quickly at the beginning, with the characters sharing personal secrets and profound declarations when they are little more than strangers, the jarring pace does even out before the book’s halfway point. The narrative would have benefited from additional setting details to help ground readers and counterbalance the preponderance of dialogue. While the story flirts with the idea of Tess suffering from disordered eating as a result of her difficult past, the issue is portrayed inconsistently and is never resolved. Even so, there is an alluring hopefulness to the work as the author portrays the characters exploring each other and themselves as they struggle to recover from difficult pasts. Beyond the romantic themes, the narrative does manage to tackle several other difficult issues with grace, ranging from grief and self-doubt to self-love and second chances.

An uplifting, if overly sweet, story about the healing power of love.

Kirkus Reviews