With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Review by Lauren
Source: library copy; all opinions are my own
Official Summary (add to Goodreads): With her daughter to care for and her abuela to help support, high school senior Emoni Santiago has to make the tough decisions, and do what must be done. The one place she can let her responsibilities go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness. Still, she knows she doesn’t have enough time for her school’s new culinary arts class, doesn’t have the money for the class’s trip to Spain — and shouldn’t still be dreaming of someday working in a real kitchen. But even with all the rules she has for her life — and all the rules everyone expects her to play by — once Emoni starts cooking, her only real choice is to let her talent break free.
Review of With the Fire on High
This is Acevedo’s second novel, and I actually read this one right after The Poet X since it was one of the YA fiction nominees for the Cybils Awards. While I didn’t hate The Poet X, I did enjoy With the Fire on High a lot more. This one isn’t written in verse, but I liked that Acevedo shows that she can write just as well outside of poetry.
Emoni was a really easy character to like. She’s a teenage mom who used to dream of being a chef one day. She’s not really sure how that will work out now that she has a toddler. The book takes place throughout Emoni’s senior year, and it was great seeing her learn new things about food and being a chef, how to navigate feelings for a boy when she hasn’t dated since she got pregnant, and just living life as a teenage mom.
Her own mom passed away in childbirth, and her dad only visits here and there, so she’s mostly been raised by her Abuela (grandmother), who I really loved, and it’s wonderful how she was such a huge help in raising Emoni’s daughter Babygirl (aka Emma). I also really loved her best friend, Angelica, who was always there for her when she needed it.
All in all, this was a good read. I do have to make one small quibble – you know the cliche “she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding?” Yeah, I think that was written in the book a total of three times. Honestly, it’s a minor quibble, but reading it over and over always makes me roll my eyes a bit!
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I liked this one and just started Clap When You Land on audio. I hope my copy of The Poet X gets here one day…
That is such a great book! I’m curious to read that!
xoxo
Lovely
http://mynameislovely.com
I love the cover for this book! It never fails to catch my eye. 🙂
This sounds good and I really like the cover.
This librarian does judge books by their covers and the reviews her friends write. Love the cover art…the colors are so pretty. The book sounds good, too.
I wonder when authors will realize that the whole “letting out a breath” thing is so overdone that it’s a total cliche? LOL Otherwise it sound like Emoni is a pretty likable character.
This sounds SO GOOD and judging by the cover (I know, I know) I need to get my hands on it!
I haven’t read this author yet, I’m so ashamed. But I bought her latest book just recently and I need to read it soon. This is on my TBR as well, and your review makes me definitely want to move it up. Great review!
Awww this sounds SO good! I have to say, it’s funny that authors still use that phrase, knowing the ire surrounding it ? But in seriousness, this sounds fabulous! I am going to need to read it, it sounds like it contains a lot of the same themes as Clap When You Land, which I really liked. Great review, so glad you enjoyed it!
I loved Emoni, and I thought it was a rather honest portrayal of a teen mother. She struggled, but I appreciated that she kept after her dream.
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I agree, With the Fire on High proves that Acevedo excels at writing both poetry and prose.
I’m happy to see that you liked this one. It’s my favorite – although Clap When You Land is very good too – this had a nice combination of drama, real life but hope and joy.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
I loved this book! I listened on audio so didn’t catch that expression, but I agree if I would have seen it written several times it might have bugged me too.
I have this one sitting on my kindle so I’m glad to hear how much you enjoyed it.
Ahh what a lovely review! I just finished reading that one and ended up loving it, as well. I’m curious to try The Poet X now, even if I’m not used to novels in verse 🙂 I loved the writing in that one, aside from that little quibble ahah 🙂