Karr, Julia

Like all sixteen-year-old girls, Nina is forced to have a Governing Council-ordered tattoo of XVI on her wrist, announcing to the world that she is easy prey for predators. So when she joins up with a small force within the Resistance, she knows that they will have to put an end to one of the most terrifying secret programs the GC has ever created.

At fifteen, Nina Oberon lives in a totalitarian future society in which all girls are required to get a Governing Council-ordered "XVI" wrist tattoo on their sixteenth birthdays, announcing to the world that they are ready for sex, a claim Nina is not prepared to make, and when her mother is attacked right before Nina's birthday, she reveals a shocking truth with her dying breaths and Nina is left to care for her younger sister and try to discover who she really is, all the while staying one step ahead of her mother's killer.