With Fire on High - Blogger Reads | Something Good

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My book posts this summer have been a little lacking, but my reading certainly hasn’t. So to kick off getting back into the books game, I have mine and Anne’s book post link up!

For today’s post, we both read With Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo and are sharing our opinions of the book. Also, there’s a link up at the end of the post! Please share any of your recent book posts in the link up (they don’t need to be about this book, we just want to know what you’ve been reading).

Alright, now let’s get on to the book!

With Fire on High - Blogger Reads One Book Two Takes

With Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Two Sentence Summary

This fiction novel is a realistic portrayal of a high school senior (Emoni) trying to make it through her senior year while balancing her three year old daughter’s first year of day care and finding a way to share her passion of cooking with others (while not driving her grandma crazy in between). Oh, and of course there’s a new boy who just started attending her high school.

What I liked most and what frustrated me

One of the things I liked most about this book was how realistic this portrayal felt. At no point did it feel like they were trying to sugar coat Emoni’s experience of becoming a mother at 14 or the difficulties of raising a child while in high school. Acevedo made it clear to the readers that this was a difficult path for Emoni and shared the sacrifices that Emoni had to make along the way. She also didn’t shy away from discussing the emotional aspects the come with having a child that young, losing your virginity, and the father staying a part of your life, but not as your partner. She was straightforward on things that I felt like other authors may have either sugarcoated or just ignored.

I also loved how she managed to do all of the above, but also still weave in beautiful language about Emoni’s cooking. She described it in ways that made me so hungry for her food, but didn’t feel cheesy. It just felt magical.

I don’t know if there was anything that particularly frustrated me. There was definitely one or two characters that frustrated me (Emoni’s ex’s mom), but overall, I don’t think the book frustrated me at all.

Favorite Quote(s)

…you can’t control how people look at you, but you can control how far back you pull your shoulders and how high you lift your chin

The world is a turntable that never stops spinning; as humans we merely choose the tracks we want to sit out and the ones that inspire us to dance

Recommended For

If you enjoyed Pride by Ibi Zoboi (which I highly recommend), you’ll enjoy this book. Both of strong, female heroines in high school. Sarah Dessen novels also come to mine, since the majority of her books also feature strong, high school age female characters.

If you want something where cooking is used as a method of easing pain or as comfort, then Stir is definitely different, but along those lines. The language is different, but would help just as much. A few other cooking as comfort options? Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay (yes it is a Pride and Prejudice adaptation) and The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living.

Star Rating

4.75/5. Yup! It’s that good!

Now visit Anne’s post and see what she thought!

Make sure to come back on December 1st and join our link up! Anne and I will be reading Waiting for Tom Hanks, but you can share whatever book post you’ve written lately.