I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Paloma Vistamontes is heartbroken. A year ago, her ex-boyfriend, Julio Ramos, broke up with her after his father’s death, a tragedy that drove Paloma and him apart. Ever since then, the mountains have felt flatter, the sky farther away.

Now, her hometown of San Fermín, a place where honest people work on farms and in factories, is in danger. Selva, a massive e-commerce conglomerate, threatens to open one of their warehouses beside her high school.

This isn’t the first time they’ve done this. Since Selva arrived, they’ve opened warehouses everywhere where there used to be green spaces. Because of them, the air pollution is so bad that school is often canceled. Many people, including Paloma’s ever-practical Ma, want to leave.

But Paloma wants nothing more than to stay. Because when the smog clears, there is still hope. That hope drives Paloma to reconnect with Julio to expose and challenge the dangers that Selva introduces to communities like their own. Can they stop Selva from destroying everything they know? Is there still a chance for their budding romance?

Short and Sweet Review

Paloma has been heartbroken. Last year her boyfriend Julio broke up with her and has been avoiding her ever since, until recently. Julio comes back into Paloma’s life and asks for her help on a project to win a scholarship. Paloma lives in San Fermin where people either work at farms or factories. Selva is a big company and they plan on opening a warehouse near Paloma’s school. This won’t be the first warehouse Selva has opened up and the previous ones have polluted the air so much that school is cancelled often, and even Paloma’s mom wants to move. Paloma decides to help Julio so that maybe their research can help the community from another Selva warehouse and maybe keep her mom at home.

There’s just something about Ixta’s writing that I find mesmerizing. This is only her second book but after reading her debut I knew I needed to get my hands on this book. Paloma is our main character and she’s really smart, she wants to be a journalist and she knows a lot about the air pollution going on in her community. Paloma’s dad is currently on strike, he works at Selva but he’s fighting for better conditions for his fellow workers, Paloma truly looks up to her dad and you can tell it hurts her to see her dad suffer from his health conditions that are being made worse by the pollution. Julio is Paloma’s ex and he comes to her for help with a project for a scholarship which requires him to have a partner. They decide to focus on the air pollution and how it’s affecting the health of those in the community. Throughout the book we see Paloma face issues at home and with friends and family. I loved following Paloma’s journey, I think one of the biggest lessons Paloma learned was that not everything is black and white as she believes it is and a word that comes up a lot it this book is complicated and some of the situations that happen truly are complicated. I’m not sure if I would consider Paloma and Julio’s relationship the best, they obviously still have feelings for each other but I think they’re better off as friends. I did like how the book ended I feel like it was realistic and I felt like that’s very true for Ixta’s books.

Overall, this was a great book. Paloma’s story feels so real and you just want her to win and I loved following her on her journey and seeing how her story would unfold. If you haven’t read anything by Carolina Ixta I highly recommend picking up her books.