Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In 2009 Gujiao, China, teen orphans Luli and Yun labor long, mind-numbing hours at an electronics factory. Then Yun discovers she is pregnant by her shady boyfriend, a suspected bride trafficker. The girls navigate their severely limited options while trying to avoid being fired, fined, or kidnapped. Liu's candid prose and matter-of-fact tone heighten the horror of the harrowing conditions many Chinese women are subjected to daily. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

It is 2009 in the city of Gujiao, China: 16-year-old Luli and 17-year-old Yun, best friends, have aged out of their orphanage and are now enjoying the exhilarating independence of factory work.Their wages and dorm life offer an exciting taste of freedom, as does Yun's handsome new boyfriend, Yong. Yun's jealous ex-boyfriend says that Yong is illegally trafficking brides to the countryside, but Yun refuses to believe it. When she becomes pregnant, however, Yun, Luli, and Yong each have their own agendas, and their decisions and deceits result in a compelling, action-packed chain of events. During this time, China's One-Child Policy made unmarried and multiple pregnancies illegal for most: Mothers would be fined for unauthorized pregnancies, and without an official permit would not even be allowed into a hospital to give birth. Told in the first person from the two girls' alternating points of view, readers will be drawn into their emotional lives through sharing both their quiet, day-to-day routines and the moments of high drama, all of which are direct results of policies that trapped ordinary citizens and forced them into making terrible decisions.An affecting and original thrill ride highlighting the bond between two friends put in a horrible situation by actual Chinese government policies. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.