Stories often begin with a single moment—a conversation, a scene, or sometimes even a song. As I wrote Collateral Damage, music helped me capture the emotions behind the story: courage in the face of danger, the quiet strength of faith, and the kind of love that refuses to give up even when the path forward seems impossible.

These songs accompanied me through many of the scenes in this book. Some reflect the heart of the characters, others the tension of the story, and a few simply carry the spirit of the journey Valyn and Alex take together.

If you’d like to experience the story alongside the music that inspired it, you can listen to the full playlist below.

Highlights:

• gonna have to trust You—Stephen Stanley: The overall theme of Valyn and Alex’s story

• Fight Like Heaven—Tauren Wells: Valyn’s fight song when things seem unbearable

• Don’t Tread on Me—We The Kingdom: Alex’s battle song

• Eden (Isn’t It Just Like You)—Benjamin William Hastings: Epilogue vibes