[With Baby Love, Joyce Maynard] makes her debut as a novelist by telling the story of a group of young women in rural Vermont who are compelled to have, raise, abort, or lose babies…. Maynard masterfully weaves [their] stories into one, powerfully exploring raw emotions and drawing on American popular culture to bring her scenes to life. Rarely has anyone written as poignantly, or sympathetically, about women and their simultaneous desire for, and repulsion of, children. An awesomely good book.

Ann Grimes, "Adult Fiction: 'Baby Love'," in Booklist (reprinted by permission of the American Library Association; copyright © 1981 by the American Library Association), Vol. 77, No. 19, June 1, 1981, p. 1277.