With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo Book Review

Sometimes you want to read a hard-hitting book that makes you think; sometimes you want to read a cozy sweet novel and curl up by the fire. This book is a perfect combination of the two.

Goodreads Synopsis- 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.

Sometimes you want to read a hard-hitting book that makes you think; sometimes you want to read a cozy sweet novel and curl up by the fire. This book is a perfect combination of the two. This book has fun, with interesting characters and a delicious writing style, not to mention the most gorgeous cover art--but it also has reflective themes like teen parenthood, poverty, racism, growing up, and self-discovery. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this coming-of-age story, and at the end I felt very connected to all the characters.

The book opens with an original recipe created by Emoni Santiago, a teen mom living out her senior year in Philadelphia. Emoni is a girl with a passion for cooking. One thing I liked most about this book was Emoni’s character development. She starts off the book stubborn, closed off, and unsure of the life ahead of her. She’s had to make tough decisions and cut people out of her life since her baby was born; burdened with so much responsibility and being asked to mature quickly, she finds it hard to trust anyone else in her life besides herself. However, if she wants to achieve her goals while also supporting her daughter, she’s going to have to start letting people in. Throughout the story, we see how these things affect her relationships and hold her back in her studies, but, by the end Emoni grows into herself and really learns how to trust others and let new people into her life. Watching this development made me feel all the more connected to Emoni and helped me empathize with what she was going through, even though it's not something I've personally experienced. I also loved her love interest Malachi. He was such a lively character: smart, witty, charming, while having a complex life of his own outside of his relationship with Emoni. Their subplot was adorable.

The only thing that kept me from rating this book the full five stars was that there wasn’t that much to rate it on in terms of plot. A lot of events happened and many of them were very enjoyable to read about, but I found that the things that happened were never very big. That’s just to say, this book wasn’t very dramatic. I don’t consider this a bad thing, since this book was meant more for the thematic aspect. It was more about Emoni learning important lessons right alongside the reader. This is well suited to a YA book. If you're looking for a sweet book about teen relationships, family and friend dynamics, and how cooking can heal people, this book has all the right flavors!