Reviewed for inclusion on the Texas Library Association's Tayshas List. I appreciated being inside the heads of the two main characters struggling with different aspects of mental health, but sometimes it felt like the narrative was too full of plot threads.

I am struck, reading this book, by a sense of unreality. These characters don't have the sense of actual teenagers, more like the idea of teens. While the plot itself was interesting, the writing wasn't especially engaging.

I seem to always have a love affair, a soft spot, for books that expand my knowledge. Stork tackles the overwhelming stigma surrounding mental health problems, and in the case of Alberto, his emerging schizophrenia. "I am not alone" means that this young man has found a community of people who are willing to help him. He's not alone.
While I'm not a fan of characters falling in love after a few hours of meeting each other, I get the sense that Stork's purpose is to create a character who breaks through the typical pattern of rejecting and pushing away those with illness. Instead, Grace is drawn to Alberto. She sees his full humanity, not just his odd demeanor when he talks to Captain America (the voice) in his head.
There is a lot to love with this book, and I'm so glad I finished it.
Thank you #NetGalley for providing me with the advanced copy.

This is one of those books that feels very YA. The writing style was simplistic, but the topics were definitely heavier. I would recommend this to the middle or high school students that I work with. I think the mental health representation was excellent.

I really appreciate the premise of this story. I love seeing a teen character dealing with the onset of schizophrenia and with undocumented status at the same time. This kind of representation is missing from a lot of YA literature. That being said, this book just wasn't for me. I couldn't get into the story enough to finish, and I struggled with the dialogue, especially from Grace. She just didn't sound or think like any teenagers that I know which took me out of the story.

There is definitely a place for the book in my collection, but it just wasn't for me personally.

The author focuses on the topic of schizophrenia. A mental illness that is not often written about or talked about. He tackles it in a way that makes Alberto seem like a real person and not some sick patient. Then we get introduced to the second main character, Grace, a girl who is about to graduate from high school as valedictorian; and does not know what she wants. Essentially, it's about a girl who takes care of a boy with a mental illness who cannot care for himself and is in the same situation as herself. They both don't know what their future hold and they were doubting themselves.

Wow! I really love this book so much. I finished it in two days in the car, at the mall, at home, staying up late, and at a restaurant. I don't usually read undocumented immigrant stories because they can be triggering. But regardless, of the book's topic I loved every single thing mentioned in the book. It didn't need to be relatable for me to read it.

I loved how the author made Grace's story very young adult tropes and relatable. It was refreshing and something that kept me reading. I also loved, how the author described Alberto's scenes and images in his head. I think that a big part of mental illness is focusing on your senses. What you can hear and see and smell, regardless of how your mind works. And lastly, I thought that the crime was written out really well for people to understand from Grace and Alberto's POV. It all came together in the end. And Even though, it was a bit predictable for readers to find out who did it, the story was not about a crime. It's about Alberto and Grace's relationship post and pre-crime.

I also wanted to mention that this was one of the first books where I actually read the Author's Note and teared up.