The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S.

While some secondary characters, such as Erica and Connor, are perhaps not nuanced enough, Ivy's journey is handled perfectly, and it’s her story at heart.įor anyone who suffers from too-heavy expectations, Ivy will ring true in this engaging, nearly flawless coming-of-age novel.Ī Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart. Ivy is sensitively portrayed, her struggles believably met at every turn. Somehow, Ivy must determine whether to embrace the expectations, crumble beneath them-or set her own course. It's just one more thing for Ivy, who's also coping with the attentions of her handsome, Mexican-American friend, Alex, who seems to want more from her, and her own interest in charismatic, dark-skinned Connor, one of her grandfather's students. And then Erica-immature, angry, and resentful-returns with her two other daughters in tow. But the white teen knows she's mediocre and will never live up to his expectations. Now 17, Ivy is looking forward to a summer without all the classes and activities Granddad has always enrolled her in, searching for her talent. Ivy's mother, Erica, though, just left, dumping Ivy with her grandfather. Incredibly talented yet tragic, the women die young, leaving behind their poems or paintings and their daughters. In Ivy's small town on Maryland's Eastern Shore, everyone knows the curse of the Milbourn women.

A young woman struggles against the expectations and messy history of her family.

Enfeitiçadas by Jessica Spotswood