The story portrays a Mexican American teenage girl living in Houston who is torn between the demands of her family and her ambitions for the future.

Juan Castillo of NBC News wrote that this book and another one of Pérez's novels, The Knife and the Butterfly, explore what it means to grow up as a Hispanic or Latino teenager in the United States "amid difficult circumstances.

[4] Publishers Weekly stated that "Marisa is aware that pursuing a life that's fulfilling on her own terms comes with a price" and that she makes a "bittersweet decision".

[3] The author, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin,[12] served in Teach for America,[5] and worked as a teacher at Chávez High School in Houston.

[14] Hedeen wrote that the "gritty setting and hard-knocks characters carry the story" and that the author had an authentic perspective of Mexican-American culture.

[8] Jones wrote that by focusing on determination against her parents' disapproval, the author avoids clichés and created a "solid debut" that "has the potential to become a book version of Stand and Deliver".

[10] Kirkus Reviews concluded that the book is "Un magnifico debut" that gives "Marisa an authentic voice that smoothly blends Spanish phrases into dialogue and captures the pressures of both Latina life and being caught between two cultures.