Pages: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: September 1st, 2015
ISBN: 9781250070456
A modern-day Romeo and Juliet story in which a wealthy Southern boy falls in love with an undocumented Mexican girl and together they face perils in their hostile Georgia town. Evan, a soccer star and the nephew of a conservative Southern Senator, has never wanted for much -- except a functional family. Alma has lived in Georgia since she was two-years-old, excels in school, and has a large, warm Mexican family. Never mind their differences, the two fall in love, and they fall hard. But when ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) begins raids on their town, Alma knows that she needs to tell Evan her secret. There's too much at stake. But how to tell her country-club boyfriend that she’s an undocumented immigrant? That her whole family and most of her friends live in the country without permission. What follows is a beautiful, nuanced, well-paced exploration of the complications of immigration, young love, defying one’s family, and facing a tangled bureaucracy that threatens to completely upend two young lives.
I really liked this book. I expected it to be a cute romance and it kind of was, except for the fact that Alma is an undocumented immigrant. This basically means that she can't live in the U.S and if anyone finds out that she is not legal she will be sent back to Mexico where there are no jobs. Evan, the love interest, is a star soccer player who's uncle is a governor. He doesn't know that Alma isn't a citizen of the U.S and she's afraid of what his reaction might be if he does find out. They sort of had a star-crossed romance the whole book and, like I said before, they were super cute together and they genuinely liked each other. The romance was the main aspect but it was in a good way and I loved how real it felt.
The plot was very organized and I liked that about it. Nothing was jumbled around and everything that happened made sense at the end. It seemed like there was constantly a new revelation and I loved how everything that happened was tied up neatly.
Alma was so close to her family and I found that to be a really nice change of pace. Usually in YA family members are glossed over and not 3D at all but in this book you could tell that Alma loved them all very much and I could see how much they cared for her too. She made smart decisions and I liked that.
I liked the multiple POV. It helped me while reading to hear what both of the main characters were thinking and what problems they were having at home. I really learned more about Evan this way and I could clearly separate the different voices.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a romance with real feeling. Go out and get it right now!
***A huge thank you goes out to St. Martin's Press for including me on this blog tour and for the opportunity to read and review this book. This did not impact my review or rating in any way.***
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