I love it when a writer infused their experiences into their writing. The main theme of this book (in my opinion) is the feeling of being unsettled and not knowing where your home is. The book repeatedly explored the notion of having two homes and belonging as immigrant.

Manuela is a young girl with beautiful eyes. Some say they looked like the sun and stars in one. She grows up protected by her mother and given little information about her mother. This information became sort of an obsession to her. She wanted to know him! She wanted him to want her.

One day ICE comes for her mother and she had to make a difficult decision. A decision that was foreign to her. Up to that point she never made decisions for herself. Although she was exited about this decision, that decision lead to a series of tough decisions. There is plot of love interest in this book. I found myself most interested by the school of magical beings. There were certain rules for the school and the magical beings. If rules were broken, they had to meet with the citadel.

This story was heartbreaking at times and heartwarming at others. I can’t wait to see what’s next with this series.

It is clear that this author loves the Harry Potter series. I saw Harry Potter famous martyr complex and constantly separating himself from his SUPPORTIVE friends (eye roll). Manuela and Harry has that in common. You can see how some of characters in this book were influenced by the characters in Harry Potter. Manuela and Harry thought they can tackle the world without their friends but