The Breaking Light

On an off-world colony, sunlight belongs to the rich. The city is split into Levels, and the poorest live in the lowest, Undercity, where people spend their lives in the dark. Arden is street-smart and cynical, and she is one of them.

A blackout band keeps Arden confined to her district. Her brother leads the most powerful gang in Undercity, though, and that family tie gives her a way into Above. There she meets Dade, who was born into one of the sun-kissed families living in the Towers high over the city.

Dade's life is not as easy as it looks from below. An arranged marriage is coming, he wants out of it, and he keeps a secret he is ready to risk everything to protect. He and Arden begin an unlikely romance between two teenagers from opposite ends of the city.

Neither side wants them together. Arden's gang wants her help to loosen the elite's hold on the colony and to stop Dade from interfering with their drug trade.

She has to choose between the boy she loves and her family, and the choice could cost lives. Meanwhile a class war is building, and it may tear the city apart before either of them decides. This is a young adult science fiction romance with high stakes and a divided world.