A hard , but brilliant read. Lisa Harding is an excellent writer and this is one of heartbreaking best

Excellent novel about two troubled young women who end up being trafficked. Disturbing to read, but very well written. Told from Sammy and Nico's alternating POV's, it is a gritty story about friendship, dreaming, and the sadness of being failed by their parents.

Thank you Netgalley and HarperVia for the ARC!

This is the most disturbing book I have ever read, and I mean that in the best possible way! To read a "first hand" account of what young girls go through at the hands of sex traffickers - it is hard to comprehend coming from a secure and loving childhood. That any child would have to experience repeated violations in such horrific settings - it presses upon me the importance of getting involved and doing what I can to make a difference to help put a stop to these atrocities.

Cloud Girls was a tough book to read at times, reminding me of the trauma from another similar book, A Little Life. I really liked the setting, and the grittiness of the two girls getting by in the brothel. It was sad but beautifully written.

5 stars.*

I have to confess I am giving this book 5 stars with a thousand caveats and as much of a trigger warning as I can possibly give. I loved the writing of this book, and I am split in a million shards by the painful reality of the tale of the Cloud Girls.

Lisa Harding researched interviews of women who survived being sex trafficked and pulled excerpts of those to create this work of fiction.

Told in alternating chapters, we meet Sammy, a 15-year-old Irish girl whose alcoholic, abusive mother and absent father parent her in such a way that her self-harm and lack of guidance led her to a life of sex work and painful decision-making; and Nico, an even younger girl whose poor Moldovan (?? my guess) father sells her to a man to be her husband, but who promptly trafficks her. They wind up roommates in a Dublin townhome/brothel where they survive on abuse, drugs, alcohol, and dreaming of the shapes in the clouds.

This story will stick with me. Maybe forever. I kind of hated this book. But it is important.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Cloud Girls follows two young women from troubled lives against a backdrop of the dark realities of human trafficking. I stopped around 50%; I think this book just wasn't for me. The characters and plot didn't really grip me, but other people will likely enjoy this work.

Note: I received a free ebook copy of Cloud Girls from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cloud Girls by Lisa Harding is about friendship and how everyone no matter who you are grows from their friends. This book shows how you can redeem yourself and hope in the world by finding a kindred soul to be friends with. I find a few moments in the book to be a little blah but for the most part. The story was very relatable and keep me interested until the very end.

Cloud Girls by Lisa Harding… I’m so excited that I received this one to review from @netgalley. It definitely has trigger warnings… sexual trafficking of underage girls is a big one. It was so well written and told such a necessary story. Two girls from completely different countries and backgrounds, for different reasons, end up the victims of sex trafficking. It was horrifying to read about these children being trafficked to grown men who don’t care. They don’t help them. They use them instead. The ending was a little vague, but I think it was on purpose. I loved this story. It helps get the word out about sex trafficking to a larger audience. Definitely recommend!

Cloud Girls is a devastating story told with skill and compassion, in luminous prose and at a perfectly pitched pace. Nico is a young girl from Moldova, a child whose family is poor and desperate enough to give her away for cash. Sammy is from a troubled home in Dublin, Ireland, a situation which has driven her to make poor choices and ultimately a decision which will change the direction of her life in a very dangerous way.Both girls get shuffled into the world of sex trafficking, their stories unfolding in alternate chapters until they end up as roommates and find in each other a measure of understanding and strength along with glimmers of hope. The story is not graphic, but the images it evokes of depravity, entitlement, neglect and abuse, and of all the ways these girls were failed by their parents and society is haunting. An important story beautifully told.

In a small village in Europe, Nico is a child, playing with her friend and brother in the trees near their house. Their days are filled with school, games, and swimming. Nico’s family is poor, and when she is promised off to be married it seems to be her ticket out of her community and into something better (even though she is still a child and younger than the other brides). It seems that her life is about to begin.

Sammy is a teenager in a challenging home. She’d rather be anywhere else. One night after staying out too late she makes a decision that changes the direction of her life. Her choices and the terrible actions of others led her down a path that she never would have chosen. Fate throws her together with Nico and the two will face an uncertain future together.

Cloud Girls was an amazing story of the impact of broken family support and a society that doesn’t always see or support actions taken against women. Throughout the story there were family members and friends who should have supported the girls but failed to do so. Both were let down by a society that didn’t prioritize their individuality and safety. The book was haunting and beautifully written. At the end (which I won’t give away), as well as some of the scenes throughout the book really stay with you after the book is over. An easy 5 stars from me—I really enjoyed this meaningful and heart wrenching read.

Sammy and Nico are teenagers in different parts of the world living in dire circumstances and are washed into sex trafficking. This is a brutal story based on a very real situation. There is hope and there is grit when the two young women come together. This story isn't for the faint of heart but I hope that it helps advocate for this cause - a very real issue that very little is said about in main stream media. #HarperVia

A fictional story about Sammy and Nico who are pushed into the international and domestic sex traffic world. This was a well written story that gives some insight to the dangers and abuse the 2 girls encounter. The story is about a hard subject that most people would not want to read or hear about. The author write the story in brutal honest way I feel. I would recommend this book and thanks to Lisa Harding for putting this story out for others to read..

While one of the toughest and darkest books I have ever read, I was surprised at how quickly I got through it. I couldn’t put it down and was engrossed in the storyline, which is a testament to how exceptionally well the author carefully handled these realities for millions of children.

I really appreciated the parallel stories of Nico and Sammy; it shed an incredibly important light on domestic trafficking (I feel most of the discourse solely focuses on international, but it is crucial to remember that sex trafficking happens here and everywhere, in our home countries, in our backyards) while also providing some lightness in the form of Nico and Sammy’s convergence and budding friendship.

The writing is beyond amazing and I was really stunned by how well the author tells these stories so wholly and authentically, while not providing any graphic details that too often read as trauma porn. Harding tells the realities of these children but it is so thoughtfully and carefully written and really emphasizes the nuances that come with these complex experiences of severe trauma and degradation.

I know a lot people will and have said this is too depressing of a read and on some levels I might agree, but it also sheds light on something not many people talk or think about often. It gives a voice to so many invisible and stolen children who often never get to tell their stories due to the invisibility of this trade (so important!!!!)

CW: domestic/international sex trafficking (not graphic but the implied images will stay with you), child abuse, substance abuse, physical/emotional/mental abuse

Thank you HarperVia and netgalley for this ARC!!

I can't really rate this book, because I had to stop reading 1/4 of the way through. Just too harrowing of a topic. I'm required to give a rating, though, so I'll give it a 3.

This is one of the darkest books I've read in years - it's not at all graphic, but the images will be seared in your mind for a long, long time. Following the story of two teenage girls from very different walks of life, it focuses on how sex trafficking is more pervasive than we know. It's well written and thoughtful, but does occasionally read like a Go-Ask-Alice-esque "warning" novel that makes these very real stories seem exaggerated. Still, definitely worth a read.

This book was a lot. The books talks about sex trafficking and the different ways girls fall into this abusive system. The author was so amazing in the way she is able to write in a way that you feel as if you are the character and have disassociated from what is going on. I am a social worker so the story I feel was not that suprising however the caliber of writing truly amazed me. I think this book is a college level body of work and really looks at some of the ways trauma victims try to cope with their situations.

A tough read. The points of view are hard to follow, as one character is often under the influence and her voice follows as such. While it exposes the horrors of human trafficking, it is a depressing read. I may have enjoyed more if I was more prepared for the reality.

The writing style is good but the back and forth threw me a bit. I’m a bit confused if it’s two different time lines or just two different lifestyles . I don’t know. This was good but it wasn’t for me .

Beautiful, yet gut wrenching and so very sad. Nico, age 12 and Sammy age 15 are two girls from different countries and from different backgrounds. They are victims of sex trafficking , ending up in Dublin and become good friends. Nico was sold to traffickers by her father who told her she was going to marry a wonderful man and have a good life. Sammy fell into the hands of the traffickers by accident. She left home, had no money and some woman led her into trafficking. They were promised good money but of course never got paid. Both girls found the life so very hard. It’s hard to read but necessary to understand there are some very evil people around.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Whew. This was a tough one to read. This book is very dark and disturbing because of the subject matter. It's heartbreaking. If you don't want to read a book about the realities of sex trafficking, do not read this book! The author did an amazing job with the two main characters and differentiating them so you always knew which character's POV you were reading from. I had to take a few days to gather my thoughts about this book because it was very heavy. It's left an impression on me, and I commend the author for that.

Cloud Girls is the story of Sammy and Nico, two young girls from differing worlds that are both trafficked. Sammy is 16, loud, brash, and dealing with an alcoholic mother. A series of bad choices and desperation leads her to join what she thinks is just a brothel (from my understanding) but is actually something darker. Nico is little more than a child, sold by her father to a man for money as soon as she "becomes a woman". Somehow, both girls end up in the same brothel and become friends.

As I said, this is a very heavy book. It will tear at you and leave you feeling so sad, so enter into it with caution.