The Breaking Light

In a stratified society where contact with the sun is a luxury reserved for the elite, those kept prisoner in the darkness will do anything to find the light. Arden—beautiful, street-smart, and cynical—is one of the citizens of the lowest Level, known as Undercity, of an off-world colony. A blackout band traps Arden in her district, but as sister to the leader of the most powerful gang in Undercity, she has access to Above.

There she meets Dade, one of the few lucky enough to be born into the sun-kissed families who reside in the Towers soaring above the rest of the city. But life isn’t perfect in the sky. Dade, desperate to escape his upcoming arranged marriage, has a secret of his own, and he’s willing to risk everything for it.

An unlikely romance develops between the two teens—but their love faces opposition from above and below. When her gang pressures Arden to help break the grip of the elite and end Dade’s interference with their drug trade, she is forced to make a deadly choice between love and family loyalty. But will the brewing class war destroy the world around them first?

Heather Hansen was born in California, the oldest of five children. She always knew she wanted to be a writer, and she wrote her first book, a murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie, in seventh grade. Unfortunately, she never could figure out who the murderer was, so the book went on for hundreds of pages, introducing new characters only to kill them off in the most gruesome ways her twelve-year-old imagination could invent. Her teacher was equally impressed and horrified.

Heather has a degree in English from California State University Fullerton and has traveled the world with her husband, a retired Marine. Her favorite place they’ve lived is Okinawa, Japan, where she had her choice of ramen, Japanese curry, and sushi every day. Along with their two teens and three dogs, they now live in Las Vegas, where she spends her time writing all day and eating Nutella with a spoon. The Breaking Light is her first novel.