Steph Reviews Hagar's Mother By Jim Nelson

Publisher: Kindle Press
Series: The Bridge Daughter Cycle #2
Format Read: E-Book
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Release Date: November 15, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
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Blurb from goodreads:

The anticipated sequel to BRIDGE DAUGHTER—Single mother Hanna Driscoll struggles to raise her “bridge daughters,” twins born pregnant with Hanna’s children. In six weeks the girls will give birth and die, leaving Hanna with two infants to raise.

Then Hanna’s busy life is shaken when an activist threatens to rescue her daughters from their fate and kill the children they bear.

A thriller of twists and turns, Hanna faces challenges from all sides to protect her infants-to-be…only to discover she too questions the mortality of her bridge daughters.

Steph's Thoughts:

I actually purchased this book and started reading it before I had read book one. I had to go buy book one because a few pages in and I was a little lost. So read book one FIRST! If you have not read book one, this review will contain some spoilers. You have been warned.

In book one, we met a bridge daughter named Hanna. In this book, we meet the child she was carrying who is also named Hanna. (Female children are named after the bridge daughter who carried them.) This Hannah has two bridge daughters who are carrying her children and they are a few weeks away from giving birth.

The last book, we saw things from the view of a bridge daughter. This book we see things from the viewpoint of the mother as she herself is dealing with the same issues her mother dealt with. It really gives you the cycle of life that is as old as time in this reality.

One of Hanna’s bridge daughters is carrying a girl and the other is carrying a boy. You should note that ALL women give birth to ONLY bridge daughters. The bridge daughters are the only ones capable of bearing male children. We get to see the physical changes that happen to the bridge daughters in more detail in this book. Cynthia, the one carrying the male child, starts to develop male traits as the child develops.

As interesting as all the biology is, the main point of the story is the struggle Hannah is having with her bridge daughters. Cynthia and Ruby find out about Blanchard’s procedure. It would put the child they carry into a coma and not allow it to be born. This procedure prolongs a bridge daughter’s life by a few years.

You get to see Hanna’s struggle in this book. The struggle of a mother. She loves her bridge daughters but she also loves the children they are carrying.

Again, with this book, I was torn. I am so glad I do not live in this reality because I could not deal with what these poor women deal with. First the bridge daughters who know (in most cases) they will die as soon as their child is born but they want to live. Second, we have the mothers who give birth to a child, then watch her die (a parent’s worst nightmare) so they have their “actual” child.

I really like these books. Like the first book, I read it in one sitting. Immediately after finishing the first one. Yes, they are dark and there is no real happy ever after but they make you think and feel. It’s a gut punch but I enjoyed it. Now the ending does have a bit of a cliffhanger but it was not one that made me angry. The author completes this story and gives room for another story. One which I will happily read when it is published.

My review of book 1, Bridge Daughter