About five pages in I knew that this book was going to murder me with my own emotions. I was not wrong.

Salvador Silva is a white boy who lost his mom when he was three, never knew his biological father, and was adopted into a Mexican-American family so wonderful that I hoped that they would adopt me too. Sal's dad, Vicente, is just so loving and wonderful and caring toward Sal. Their relationship made my heart sing.

There are strong themes of lost and found family in this book; Sal's best friend Samantha finds a dad in Vicente, and their friend Fito finds his way into their family as well, both kids having suffered major personal losses.

The central struggle for Sal is figuring out what's next; he doesn't want to go to college right away, he's not ready for that kind of change. He has to come to terms with losing his mom so young instead of convincing himself that since he doesn't really remember her he doesn't feel a loss. He believes that his love for Vicente and Mima (his grandma) and their love for him is enough. Sal has to learn that love is infinite, loss is inevitable, and we can't ever be our best person if we let fear dictate our actions.