November Rain
Shannon A. Thompson
(Bad Bloods #1)
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Publication date: July 18th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Seventeen-year-old Serena isn’t human. She is a bad blood, and in the city of Vendona, bad bloods are executed. In the last moments before she faces imminent death, a prison guard aids her escape and sparks a revolt. Back on the streets determined to destroy her kind, Serena is spared by a fellow bad blood named Daniel. His past tragedies are as equally mysterious as her connection to them.
Unbeknownst to the two, this connection is the key to winning the election for bad bloods’ rights to be seen as human again. But Serena is the only one who can secure Vendona’s vote. Now, Daniel must unite with her before all hope is lost and bad bloods are eradicated, even if it means exposing secrets worse than death itself. United or not, a city will fight, rain will fall, and all will be threatened by star-crossed love and political corruption.
Shannon A. Thompson is a twenty-three-year-old author, avid reader, and habitual chatterbox. She was merely sixteen when she was first published, and a lot has happened since then. Thompson's work has appeared in numerous poetry collections and anthologies, and her first installment of The Timely Death Trilogy became Goodreads' Book of the Month. As a novelist, poet, and blogger, Thompson spends her free time writing and sharing ideas with her black cat named after her favorite actor, Humphrey Bogart. Between writing and befriending cats, she graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor's degree in English, and she travels whenever the road calls her.
Visit her blog for writers and readers at www.shannonathompson.com.
Bad Bloods Book Release!
Letter from the author: Publishing
is quite the journey! As some of you know, Bad Bloods was my first published
book—originally released when I was only 16 in 2007—but now that I’m older, I
am beyond ecstatic that Bad Bloods is getting a second chance almost a decade
later. Special thanks goes out to my publisher, Clean Teen Publishing, for
believing in this story, and of course, an extra thanks goes out to all the
book bloggers reading and reviewing it. You all are my stars.
Bad
Bloods in 35 words or less:
17-year-old Serena is the only bad blood to escape execution. Now symbolized
for an election, she must prove her people are human despite hindering
abilities before everyone is killed and a city is destroyed.
November
Snow, Part Two, releases July 25, 2016
What
are readers already saying?
“The
best duology I’ve ever read! Action packed. Fast paced. Heartbreaking. The
ending brought me to tears and made my heart melt.” - Crazy Beautiful Reads
“A
fast paced fantasy, sci-fi story full of exciting characters with their own
fascinating abilities and background stories. Didn’t disappoint one bit! For
fans of Red Queen and Shatter Me: this one is definitely
something you should check out!” - The Book Prints
“Fresh
and alluring. November Rain is an amazing treat. I loved it and can’t wait to
be an avid fan of the series. The series is definitely going to be worth
drooling over.” - Read, Watch, and Think
“I
recommend November Rain for EVERYONE but especially fans of dystopian
and SCIFI. A great novel… It was full of strong characters each with their own
background and an interesting world.” - The Book Forums
“My dad was a cop. My mom hugged me a
lot. I can’t really remember what she did, but I think she was a writer.”
She used to smell the same way my books
did—the ones I remembered reading but not retaining the ability to read beyond
a few words. I leaned forward to snatch the paper out of my back pocket. “She
always told me stories, especially at night, and my favorite one was about the
stars and the moon and how we were all born from them.” I unfolded the paper to
stare at the clunky handwriting, knowing it was my father’s but wishing it was
my mother’s elegant script. “That’s why they’re so beautiful to us, but that’s
also why we should respect them.”
“What do you mean?” Finally, he said
something.
I found him over the paper and folded
it. “Well, for one, the darkness can shelter us, protect us in our sleep, but
it can also let all the bad things hide.” A frown etched onto my face instead
of the smile I wished to share. When I realized my failure, I searched the sky.
A white light pushed against the back of the murky overcast, bright enough for
me to predict. It’d be a full moon in a week. “The full moon can be romantic,
light up paths for us, but it can also scare people into believing in
monsters.” Bad bloods were the monsters now. “All of my mom’s stories proved
that,” I said. “She used to tell me that a full moon is when mysterious things
happen and wishes come true.” I stared at the little paper in my hands. “Do you
think she tells my sister those stories?”
Daniel didn’t respond. He only
listened. I had told him before I had a sister. He had probably assumed I lied,
but I hadn’t. It was the truth, and it tumbled out like a story my mom created
before bedtime. I tried to picture her telling stories to my sister, but
nothing came. I only saw the little girl, with Mom’s hair and Dad’s eyes,
standing in the road, saying my name.
“I’ve never met her,” I confessed,
staring at the writing bleeding through the folded end. “I think her name is on
this, but I can’t read.”
Daniel reached for it. “I can—”
“No.” I held the note against my chest.
“I want to learn and read it on my own,” I explained, softer than my previous
snap.
Daniel’s head tilted. “Robert never
taught you.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a question or a
statement, but I responded anyway. “He can’t read.”
Daniel’s eyes swept over me. He took
the time to rub his face before looking away.
“He can’t read,” I repeated, studying
his reaction. “Right?”
Daniel’s hand lowered to his lap. “I
can teach you,” he said, and when he faced me again, he was remarkably closer
than I realized. His hand moved to rest on my knee. My heart stabilized. “What
else do you want?”
It was a question I had never heard
before, and the way Daniel stumbled over the sentence suggested he had never
been able to say it before either. Bad bloods weren’t allowed to want anything.
Not even life. So, when I was asked, my mind spiraled into obscurity, never
actually solidifying an answer even though I searched for one.
“I’ve never been allowed to want
anything,” I confessed.
“Me neither,” Daniel agreed, and for a
brief second, I was oblivious to the fact that his lips were on mine.
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