November Snow Review

Wow… I mean this as a compliment, November Snow ripped out my heart, then stepped on it… Then laughed at my dead heart on the ground.

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. -goodreads.com summery

“I saw a goodness in him, a goodness I hadn’t seen I a long time. And we have too much hate around us to let even a little good die.”

I must begin by thanking Shannon Thompson for giving me a copy of this book to review. Both November Rain and November Snow were amazing and came together to make a compelling story complete with characters that you felt for and a world that felt real. They are both must reads for everyone!

If you’ve read a few of my reviews you must know by now that I am a sucker for great character development! (If you didn’t know that, now you do!) I believe that characters that feel real make the story feel real and, in turn, make the reader more invested in the characters’ fate. November Snow picks up where November Rain left off and fleshes out some amazing and intriguing characters. This especially becomes evident when, towards the end of the book, characters are speaking about their past and you learn everyone has a few skeletons in their closet. The way Thompson crafts these characters—making the reader understand where they come from and why they are the way they are— makes things even more heart breaking when things go wrong and all you want is for them to be happy.

 The end of November Snow leaves some questions and things up for interpretation concerning a specific character but it works because it can spark discussions and conversations about that character. I personally would love to talk about that character so if anyone has read November Snow, feel free to comment and we can discuss. Then, of course, the good news is that Thompson could do a sequel or continue the story in some way. I think it would be great if she could show the characters’ lives a year or so after the ending of November Snow and how things have changed in Vendona (sort of like Alexandra Bracken’s novella Beyond the Night did for The Darkest Minds Series).

While I can say that I loved the pacing of both Bad Bloods novels I can see where some people would have an issue with it. It is as if the two books are written as two parts to one whole story rather than both having complete stories within each book. This leads November Rain to have a slow, very lacking climax, and November Snow to have no set up. With that said, I was never bored in November Rain due to the strong characters, and I loved the nonstop action towards the end of November Snow. In the end, I believe the weird pacing worked to the series’ advantage, allowing Thompson to have more time for character development in November Rain and a better climax in November Snow. But, was it necessary having Bad Bloods being two books? No. This could’ve been one book with the exact same story and I would’ve been perfectly happy. When you pick up these books just know that the two books are more two halves of the story (put together to make the entire thing), than two whole different stories.

Overall, November Snow was a satisfying conclusion to the story and characters that November Rain introduced. It answered enough while leaving other questions up to interpretation and discussion. There are certain elements I’m very excited to see people’s thoughts on and discuss with them. The pacing might not work for all, but if you read the books one after another, you should be fine. In the end, Bad Bloods: November Snow is an amazing read that I recommend to everyone.

Keep reading…

Elise!