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Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated With the Fire on High in Books

Jul 25, 2019

With the Fire on High

Elizabeth Acevedo | 2019 | Contemporary, Young Adult (YA)

5.5

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

With this book, Elizabeth Acevedo has solidified her position as one of my must-read authors. The Poet X was EXCELLENT, and this one is every bit as good, which is awesome, considering the wildly different formats of the two books. The Poet X was a novel in poem form, being the collected poems of a teenage girl. This book is a more traditional novel, written in prose. It loses none of the lyrical, enchanting quality of Acevedo's writing, however.

With The Fire On High centers on Emoni Santiago, a teenage mother struggling to graduate from high school on time. When a culinary arts elective is offered during her senior year of school, she takes it despite feeling like she should be spending her energy on her daughter's future instead of realizing her own dreams. The elective opens up an entire world for her, however, taking her from whipping up magic alone in her own kitchen to being recognized by talented chefs as having something special. The added hours spent on cooking begin to affect her other responsibilities, however, and Emoni struggles to balance everything in her life, a fight that is very nearly upended by the new, very cute boy who just transferred to her school.

Emoni deals admirably with the vast responsibilities of being a parent, the complications of her own somewhat unusual home life (she's been raised by her grandmother after her mother's death and her father's absence), and the pressures of high school. Especially a school where she spent freshman year pregnant. Rather luckily, her daughter's father goes to a different school, so at least she doesn't have to deal with him every day.

Similar to The Poet X, the book deals with the intersection of black American culture and Puerto Rican culture, a combination I've been seeing more and more in Young Adult. (Well, The Poet X was Dominican, but they have very similar worries, mostly revolving around feeling "not black enough.")

I loved Emoni, I loved Malachi (the cute transfer student), I loved Abuela and Baby Girl/Emma. I even didn't mind Tyrone too much. For being a player, he was trying to do right by his daughter. Acevedo has such a talent for characters. Angelica (Emoni's best friend) and her girlfriend were a delight, too.

If you see a book by Elizabeth Acevedo, pick it up. You won't be disappointed. I can't wait to pick up her next book, which appears to be another novel in verse called Clap When You Land, due out next year!

You can find all my reviews and more at http://goddessinthestacks.com

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Rachel King (13 KP) rated Savage Nature (Leopard People #4) in Books

Feb 11, 2019

I have only read the short story that fits into the Leopard People series, so I am sure there is much that I am missing about this series. I wanted to read this book mostly because of the Louisiana bayou setting, my home state. Even though I spent most of my life in Louisiana, I did not spend much time at all in the bayou, so this was as much a nostalgic experience as an education for me. I found Christine Feehan's descriptions and uses of the setting to be very well written and quite engrossing, as this actually kept me involved enough in the book to keep reading, over the actual plot.
Much like when I read the short story in Fantasy by Christine Feehan, I found the plot to be overly dramatic and forced. Every scene, every interaction was told with such extreme emotion that I had to wonder if these characters ever had a chance to relax. The melodrama felt like something out of a t.v. soap opera with no natural flow to the time line.
I did like a few of the characters, such as Saria and the woman who ran the inn. Many of the characterizations matched the typical stereotypes of the Cajun people who reside in the backwaters of Louisiana. The dialogue hinted at the Cajun accent without muddling the vocabulary so much that I would have difficulty reading it.
While I loved Christine Feehan's use of Louisiana culture in Savage Nature (Leopard), I do not think I will be continuing to read any more of the Leopard People series.