With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Summary from 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:

I’m not going to lie; I read this book a couple weeks ago…Since then, I’ve mostly had my focus on 2 things: 1) my job ,which is in full throttle Summer Reading mode and 2) my brand new puppy, Patty (pictures to come!) I’ve been reading other books too, but they are all about Pembroke Welsh Corgis and dog training, and not anything I think people here would want to read reviews for…

I’ve been a little overwhelmed with the amount of people in my tourist town, the super fun programs at my library, and my adorable, new puppy. The whole not sleeping as much thing is not fun…and certainly gets in the way of a girl’s novel reading! However, I think Patty is extraordinarily smart, and either I’m getting more accustomed to not sleeping, or she’s getting better at things.

Either way, this book kind of blew me away. I’ve never super loved books about teen moms. I often think they sugar coat things. But, this book did not do that. Being a young mom in high school is rough, especially when the dad isn’t the best support system. Doubly so, when you have no parents of your mom or dad to help either. But despite, how realistic and tough this was, it as still charming and nice to read. I read it quickly, desperately hoping for Emoni to succeed.

I’m a sucker for anything to do with food. My husband and I love every single cooking show out there. So, reading a bout teen mom, master chef was just the best. I loved watching her come into her own, and learn from teachers who wanted her to succeed. There was a mixture of both a cultural divide between her and her teachers, but also so growing she had to do to learn from them. It was hard because she seemed to have it so much tougher than everyone else. But, this just made you route for her so much more.

I believe this is my second Acevedo novel, and I’m coming to appreciate her writing. It’s to the point, with a strong emphasis on character. Her characters are real people. And by the end, I genuinely cared for most of them, or at least felt like I knew them all. I’m so glad Emoni had the opportunity she did at the end. I remember putting the book down when I was done, and just sighing and being sad it was over. I give it a 9/10.


Here’s some totally unrelated Patty pictures (she's an 11 week tri-color corgi pup):