Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

Delia Yebarra's life is about to change.

Living a content life in her small Mexican village, Delia has just celebrated her fifteenth birthday. She lives with her parents and her grandmother in a small house. They don't have a lot of money, but Delia knows she is loved and wouldn't trade her life for anything.

But Delia's parents are killed in a freak accident and her grandmother is too old to provide for her. Her grandmother tells her that she is going off to America to live with her aunt. Delia doesn't know her aunt. Isabela left Mexico and married an older rich American. Isabela refuses to acknowledge any reminders of her life in Mexico.

Upon arrival in Palm Springs, Delia hopes for a new life. She is homesick for her grandmother, but vows to make the best of things. However, her aunt has other ideas. After arriving at the house, Delia is sent off to a dingy room at the back of the grounds. Because of her limited grasp of the English language, she is to be treated as an employee rather than as a long-lost relative. No one besides Isabela and the English tutor knows her true identity.

Delia struggles to do everything her aunt asks of her. But things go from worse to tragic. It's only after her cousin, Edward, learns who Delia truly is, does life take a turn for the better. Delia finally gets to attend school. Rather than the private school that her cousins Edward and Sophia attend, Delia is stuck in the ESL class at the local high
school.

But as with any V.C. Andrews story, life doesn't remain rosy for long. Sophia has plans of her own that may sabotage Delia's tentative happiness.

DELIA'S CROSSING started out a bit slow. The background was being set for the hardships that Delia was about to encounter. But once Edward is brought into the picture, the story unfolds at a brisk pace, pitting Delia against all the evil people she meets in America. Delia is an innocent thrust into the den of lions.

There are redeeming characters in America, such as her cousin Edward and his friend, Jesse, but it's the evil ones that Delia must endure that make the book so exciting.

Delia's struggles in America continue in the next installment, DELIA'S HEART.

(Note: There are situations that Delia is thrust into that are best left for the older reader.) ( )

Is is just me, or is every V.C. Andrews book way too predictable? After reading Flowers in the Attic when I was 14, she hasn't had a decent series yet! I thought, what the heck, I will try another one of her books after all these years. This book was just plain silly. The ending was completely rushed. Will not be continuing the series at all. ( )

Delia's parents are killed in a car accident and she is torn away from her rural village in Mexico and sent to live with her rich aunt in America. Her aunt refuses to acknowledge her heritage and sends her to live in the servant quarters. While there she is subjected to a harsh language tutor. Just as she is trying to get it together and become a true American Girl a series of events sends her back to Mexico.

Students who are immigrants. Use with students who have had experience with having to leave a place and transition to a new place.