XVI by Julia Karr

Summary:(from back of book) Every girl gets one. An XVI tattoo on the wrist- sixteen. They say they're there for protection. Some girls can't wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be OK. Then, with one brutal strike, Nina's normal is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she believed about her life is true. But there's one boy who can help- and he just may hold the key to her past. But with the line between attraction and danger as thin as a whisper, one thing is for sure...for Nina, turning sixteen promises to be anything but sweet.
Review: I thought this book was pretty good. The premise of the story is what originally got me interested in this book and to me that was one of the best things about the book. I really liked discovering this dystopian society and the way it operates. As the story went on more and more information about the way things were run was revealed which made the story line that much more enjoyable. I also was interested in all the different types of technology that this society had developed. I thought the plot was a kind of slow moving in some parts but never really to the point of being boring. The one thing that kind of bugged me was the fact that the story wasn't centered around Nina turning sixteen and her worries about sex. It was mostly centered around Nina's family drama, which I liked but it was just different than what I expected. However, there is going to be a sequel at some point so I'm betting that this book was mostly used for buildup and setting up the story.
  I thought Nina was a realistic protagonist but, she didn't seem to change much by the end of the novel, I guess their is more time for that and other than that I really liked her. I also thought her group of friends were pretty cool. I don't really like Sal that much though. I wish she would be more interested in Mike or Derek. Anyone who wants to read a cool and slightly disturbing dystopian story than I recommend this one.