Steph Reviews Bridge Daughter By Jim Nelson

Publisher: Kindle Press
Series: The Bridge Daughter Cycle
Format Read: E-Book
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
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Blurb from goodreads:

Young Hanna thinks her thirteenth birthday will be no different than the one before--until her mother explains the facts of life. Hanna is a "bridge daughter," born pregnant with her parents' child. In a few months she will give birth and die, leaving her parents with their true daughter.

A mature bookworm who dreams of college and career, Hanna is determined to overcome her biological fate. Navigating through a world eerily like our own, she confronts unyielding attitudes and instinctive fears as old as humankind itself.

Then Hanna learns of an illegal procedure that will allow her to live to adulthood...at the cost of the child's life.

Steph's Thoughts:

I came to discover this book, not through a review request, but because the second book in the series was brought to my attention through one of the email lists I subscribe to for free kindle books. I started reading the second book and a few pages in, I realized I needed to find and read the first book.

So a few minutes later, I had purchased this book and started reading. I am not sure where to start. First, you need to realize this is an alternate reality. A reality where women do not give birth as we know it. Yes, they get pregnant in the same way but six months later they give birth to a daughter. A daughter who is pregnant with their “true” child. They raise this “bridge” daughter until she is 13 and the child inside her starts to develop. When the child is born, the bridge daughter dies so that the child can live. It is a symbiotic relationship of sorts.

Hannah is a bridge daughter but doesn’t realize it until she is 13. Some people distance themselves from the bridge daughters and use them as servants but Hannah’s parents raised her almost like they would raise their (do I dare say it) permanent child.

This book is told from Hannah’s point of view and it is honestly hard to wrap your head around her situation. Yes, she wants to live and you can not fault her for that but you also feel for the child she is carrying. I can understand her mother’s point of view when it comes to loving her and raising her but you can also see why some parents treat their bridge daughters as they do.

This book is a rollercoaster of emotion. As a mom, I can’t imagine not loving a child that I birthed. I couldn’t wrap my head and emotions around losing a child and gaining a child in the same day. I felt for Hannah because she didn’t ask to be in this situation but evolution put her there and I couldn’t imagine being in her place.

Despite the darkness in this book, I really enjoyed it. The author gives us some of the biology behind his alternate reality and even alters some bible stories to include bridge daughters. This is not a light-hearted read. It is a thought provoking science fiction book with no real happy ending in sight. If Hannah lives, her genetic clone child essentially dies but for the child to live Hannah has to die. I read this book in one sitting and then immediately read the second book in one sitting.