Time to Take Off

He is fighting for his freedom on the run. She is fighting to survive behind bars. Together, they are racing against time.

Angel is a fifteen-year-old American citizen, but he has no birth certificate to prove it. When an aggressive raid targets his high school, he is forced to become a teen on the run from the law. In a changing, hostile world where safety no longer exists, his only hope is a perilous journey north, fleeing to the Canadian border in a desperate search for sanctuary. Along the way, he must learn to stand up for himself, finding unexpected friendship, an enemy, and a first love that changes everything.

At the same time, Angel's mother, Luna, faces her own nightmare. Incarcerated within a cruel system for being undocumented, she is completely cut off from her son. Driven by an unbreakable mother and son bond, Luna vows to navigate the harsh realities of prison and find her way back to Angel—whatever it takes—while discovering an unexpected romance of her own.

Told through gripping dual POVs in alternating chapters, Time to Take Off is a high stakes survival thriller that blends Mexican American YA books with powerful themes of separated families. Perfect for readers of diverse young adult contemporary literature and dystopian rebellion survival fiction, this emotional story will keep you on the edge of your seat. Can their love overcome insurmountable barriers, or will the system keep them apart forever?