November Snow (Bad Bloods #2) Spoiler Free Book Review

Title: November Snow (Bad Bloods #2)
Author: Shannon A. Thompson
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Dystopian, YA
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Daniel and Serena unite, their accidental relationship becomes the catalyst for a twelve-year war to continue. Exposing the twisted past of a corrupt city, Daniel, Serena, and everyone they know will come together to fight. But Serena has another battle. 

After a political rumor threatens their lives, Serena must leave her family and join the political front against her will. To survive apart, Daniel has to separate his love from his hatred and join forces with his worst memory to secure Vendona’s war. But very few of them will survive to see the last day. Bad blood or human, a city will burn, snow will fall, and all will be united by catastrophic secrets and irrevocable tragedy.

---

Before getting into the review I wanted to thank the author for sending me this right after I finished November Rain (which I have a review for here). And I want to apologize for taking so long to write this review because so much stuff was going on in the month of July. November Rain and November Snow are one book split into two because they’re both chunky. They definitely are meant to be read together because after experiencing the ending of November Rain and how we jump into November Snow, it all makes sense.

This review will be short because I don’t want to spoil anything since it’s Book Two. In November Snow we continue with Daniel and Serena’s POV which I really liked! (There’s a specific reason why I liked this but I can’t get into detail, because again, spoilers).

The writing is simple and straight to the point which I enjoyed. The only reason why I knocked off a star was because I found the first 50% of the book to be really slow and I felt like it took a while to get into the action. But the other half of the book definitely made up for it. I also wished that we got more of the ending because it felt rushed.

THE AUTHOR GAME OF THRONED ME AND I WAS IN MY FEELINGS OKAY?!?!?!? I was really emotional with all these characters because they’re my children. You just feel really close to them and you want to care for them. There are tons of kids/early teens with all these amazing powers, so innocent and their stories are touching. I look forward to reading more of their individual stories on Wattpad. Thanks Shannon!!

I liked that we got to see more character dynamic in this book. We also finally get to know what the fuss is about between two important characters because I was left wondering after the 1st what was the history.

This book definitely had more action and was also more political based than the first one. I like that the author wrote a realistic approach to the politics. *applause to her*

The ending was really good. I was left wondering about some of the characters. However, this book could be left off as open ended or the author can write another book and I would still enjoy it all the same.

July Wrap-Up 2016

I AM BACK FROM MY HIATUS AND I AM SO FREAKING HAPPY!!!! Life is back to normal and the stress is over from my mother’s birthday party (which she had a great time btw)! I MISSED EVERYONE ALL SO MUCH!! How are you? What’s new? Anything I should know about? Lol.

Well July is over and that means another monthly wrap-up *starts dancing*
I read a total of 4 books and let’s get right into them! (side note: if you click on each photo, it will take you to the goodreads page)

1. Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare ★★★★★
   Paranormal, YA, Steampunk
   I have a review full of .gifs here
   
2. November Rain (Bad Bloods #1) by Shannon A. Thompson ★★★★.5
   Urban Fantasy, YA, Post Apocalyptic
   I have a review here
   
3. The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace ★★★★★
   Poetry
   I have a review here
   
4. Addicted to you (Addicted #1) by Krista Ritchie ★★★
   New Adult, Romance
   This is the only book I don’t have a review for, I will try to get one up this week but no promises.
   

November Rain Spoiler Free Book Review

Title: November Rain (Bad Bloods #1)
Author: Shannon A. Thompson
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Futuristic (that’s probably not a genre but I’ll explain), YA
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

---

I was sent this book from the author herself for an honest review. I wanted to firstly thank the author for sending me this. Second, if you look on Goodreads, it says that it’s a series but it’s technically not. The author told me that this is one big book divided into two parts: November Rain and November Snow. It’s meant to be read together which makes complete sense because after the ending of November Rain I am so left wanting more!!

If you’re into x-men and corrupt government then pick this up!!

When I first started reading this book I was kind of on my tip toes because it just jumped straight into the story of Serena escaping and I was like “what the heck is going on? I don’t even know this world” BUT THE QUESTION GOT ANSWERED!! While reading the book I was asking myself a lot of questions of how things came to be, what happened in this world, why the attack on Bad Bloods, etc. Usually stories like this just get info dump but I liked how the author was just answering each of my questions through dialogue or story telling of a character. I thought that was very well done.

The story is told in the year 2089 through two point of views (I adore more than one point of view because I love being in everyones head): Serena and Daniel which are the main characters in the story.

Oh before I forget, I want to give another thank you to the author for giving every character really simple names rather than extravagant names that some of us readers can’t pronounce half the time.

Currently there’s an election that is about to go on and depending on who wins then things can go either really bad for the Bad Bloods which result in death/extinction or it can rather well but it all depends on who wins. Bad Bloods are already being executed and when Daniel meets Serena, he believes she has the fate to change this corrupt government where the Blooded have to hide and survive on their own. The problem with Serena and Daniel collaborating together is that even within the Bad Bloods, there is separation of groups.

I liked how Shannon touched upon the subject of separation and not coming together as one within a minority group because I feel like that’s something we see in day to day life.

I like how even though we know from the synopsis that Serena and Daniel play a key part to maybe changing what’s going to happen in their world, while reading the story you don’t get the sense of that “person doesn’t know they’re supposed to save the world” trope.

We meet diverse characters who are all younger than 18 years old with very different powers and I loved all of them. They all have such distinct stories about them and I loved how the author touched on their stories briefly. I felt like it added to the story and Serena’s power. I liked that there was a sense of family and protection among the kids although they aren’t related but still have one thing in common.

The writing is awesome and super easy. The story is fast paced and you will fly through November Rain. The plot is easy to understand and once you’re into the story you just get everything that’s going on.

I took a .5 off because I thought dividing one book into two parts wasn’t exactly necessary. I would’ve loved the continuation of the story. So the ending of the story was abrupt in my opinion. Other than that, if you want something fast paced in a urban fantasy futuristic setting that’s not complicated then please pick this up! I am definitely going to read more from this author.

This link (click here) will provide you the Goodreads page to November Rain

Life Update and Currently Reading

Hey everyone! Hope you’re all having a lovely weekend. So if you’re from the United States, you know it’s 4th of July weekend and the BBQ’s plus fireworks are everywhere and anywhere. I wanted to apologize for being absent these past few days. When 4th of July comes around, my anxiety gets really bad because of all the fireworks and the screaming. Yesterday alone, my block had fireworks till literally 4am. I am restless. And when my anxiety gets really bad, I shut myself off and prefer losing myself to a book.

Because of all my restlessness, I finished Clockwork Princess faster than I had anticipated and I have started November Rain (Bad Bloods #1) by Shannon A. Thompson. The author personally contacted me so I can read this book and review it.

Here’s the Goodreads Synopsis:

Fans of Red Queen and The Hunger Games Trilogy will love this new series by Shannon A. Thompson.
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

So far I’m enjoying how fast paced this is. I’m only on the second chapter so I can’t tell you much except it starts off really good!