With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo | Published May 7th 2019 by HarperTeen  |  400 Pages | Goodreads

✅ REVIEW

A compelling and inspiring story, a smile naturally crawled on my face many times while I was reading this novel.

Emoni Santiago is an afro-latina finishing her senior year of high school. She is a single mother who works hard to raise her daughter and help her abuela (or ‘Buela, like she affectionately likes to call her grandma).

She has a talent for cooking, whoever tastes her dishes is transported to a special place, emotionally. This is what initially attracted me to the story, the cooking, the careful crafting of dishes, the love, the passion. I also love cooking and I’m interested in reading about people who feel the same joy of creating for someone else, watching others enjoy it, nurturing, giving with abandon.

Overall, I enjoyed it and recommend it to readers of YA and contemporary fiction.

Note: there’s a song mentioned which is very much in sync with the tone of the story, here’s the link to the song. Translated lyrics here.

✅ PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION

“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.

✅ BOOK SOURCE AND FORMAT

Loan from Miami-Dade’s Library Overdrive, audiobook