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With the Fire on High

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With the Fire on High

By: Elizabeth Acevedo
Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo
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About this listen

Winner of Best Narration by the Author at the Audie Awards 2020

Finalist in Best Young Adult Audiobook at the Audie Awards 2020

From 2019 Carnegie Medal winner and author of THE POET X Elizabeth Acevedo comes a dazzling novel in prose about a girl with talent, pride, and a drive to feed the soul that keeps her fire burning bright. Narrated by the author herself, Elizabeth's words are delivered with the full impact and wealth of her talent.

Ever since she got pregnant, 17-year-old Emoni's life has been about making the tough decisions - doing what has to be done for her young daughter and her grandmother. Keeping her head down at school, trying not to get caught up with new boy Malachi. The one place she can let everything go is in the kitchen, where she has magical hands - whipping up extraordinary food beloved by everyone.

Emoni wants to be a chef more than anything, but she knows it's pointless to pursue the impossible. There are rules she has to play by. And yet, once she starts cooking, and gets that fire on high, she sees that her drive to feed will feed her soul and dreams too. And anything is possible.

'With its judicious depth and brilliant blazes of writing that simmer, then nourish, With the Fire on High is literary soul food' New York Times

©2019 Elizabeth Acevedo (P)2019 Bonnier Books UK Difficult Situations Fiction Literature & Fiction Multicultural Women's Fiction Heartfelt Pregnancy

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Critic reviews

"With its judicious depth and brilliant blazes of writing that simmer, then nourish, With the Fire on High is literary soul food." (New York Times)
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This is the second Elizabeth Acevedo book I’ve read and it’s the second of her books that have landed in my LOVE pile. With the Fire on High is a great read, it's so rich and vibrant when discussing food and smooth and flowing in the way the plot is presented to us.

I really enjoyed the representation of a teenage mother in this book and the effort they go through whilst still at school. Emoni Santiago is a girl with her walls up, taking one day at a time, not only does she have the stresses of looking after “baby girl” but also the anxiety that comes with the last year of High School, when you start taking your steps into adulthood. It’s impossible not to like Emoni, you instantly know she loves her family and her passion is food. If you’ve ever had a passion, you know the feeling that Emoni has when she cooks. The descriptions of how she just falls into cooking and the stresses melt away. The dynamic between Emoni and her Abuela is so heart-warming, seeing them balance the care of baby girl but also supporting each other emotionally, swapping roles at time. You see the deep bond between Grandmother and Granddaughter. It bought back memories of when my own Grandmother was alive.

The relationship between Emoni and the new boy also touched my heart. Emoni doesn’t trust guys after her ex or their motivations. Her relationship with the new boy felt genuine as they took tentative steps to being friends throughout the book.

The key thing about our MC for me, is her growth throughout the book, as she learns important life lessons and starts to trust herself and her ability to lead her own life.

All the characters we just so well rounded and written that you love them all, even the ones you have mixed feelings on have been written in a way that you may see the impacts of their actions but you also see them as a human being. A normal flawed human being. In this book all the characters have a purpose and story and I love that they were given that. In other books, side characters can kinda feel like they were put in the book just for convenience but that just doesn’t feel the case here.

The plot is a perfect balance of between realism and lyrical fiction that not only makes you fall in love with all the characters and accept them regardless of their flaws. But experience everything each of them feel throughout. It’s a genuine, heart melting, heart-warming and gripping story. It’s almost impossible for Emoni’s love of food and cooking not to rub off on you, throughout the book you think of food, every time you stop reading you feel you need to cook/eat something tastey. I loved the effort put into every part of this book, everything within the story had a place and purpose. The plot serves to remind us we are not just what we think we are, that we are more and to trust ourselves. I was originally only listening to this when I was going for a jog or walk but once I reached the half way point I couldn’t stop listening and where I could I listened to it rather than music whilst working on projects at work.

I just love the way Acevedo writes and how she creates the world around her characters. The words gently guide you through the whole book and there’s been genuine sadness on my part from when the books end! In both With the Fire on High and Clap when you Land I’ve been left wanting more, more information, more time with the characters and more information on what happens next. It’s this feeling her writing gives me that will make me buy every book she’s written to date and will write in the future.

The narrator for the audiobook is the author herself and for me this just added to the overall impact of the story telling. A narrator can make or break an audiobook and Acevedo’s voice makes the book so much more. I may even go as far as to say I probably enjoyed listening to her read it to me than if I had read it myself.

I loved this book, even though it had the line “I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding” crop up twice. Due to the quality of the whole book I can forgive that line appearing ;)

If you haven’t read anything by Elizabeth Acevedo, where have you been? She is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and has made me fall in love with books written in-verse in a way I truly wasn’t expecting.

Another great book by Acevedo

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I absolutely love magical realism combined with a love for food. At first I hesitated buying this book because I'm tired of stories set in high school, but I'm SO glad I gave it a chance. As a Latin American, a lot of this book really resonated with me. And I loved Imani as a protagonist, the way she navigates life, learning about her perspective and struggles and dreams, her love for her daughter. All the people surrounding her are interesting, fleshed out characters. Awesome narration too! 10/10

Magical realism, food and Latin American love

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I adore the way this was written, it felt incredibly personal but at the same time keeps you at arms length right until the end. I hate writing reviews that talk about the story because that is something I think you should experience for yourself but I got through this in a matter of days because I simply couldn't put it down.

Beautifully read by the author and was just the kind of wholesome I needed. There are some elements of realness and history that remind the reader of the undertones of the story that were superb in adding to, not only the grace of the story but the reality of the world we live in.

Definitely going to be reading more of Elizabeth Acevedos work.

An easy, soulful read that I found so engaging.

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This book was a bit long and the cooking part reminded me of Like water for Chocolate, even if the stories are completely different.
We follow Emoni, a teen mom that was brought up by her grandma and struggles to reconcile the limitations she has in life with achieving her dreams. She has a natural talent when it comes to food and appears to infuse her recipes with some magic when she cooks. It’s slow bit a nice story.

Good bit a bot long

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I really didn't expect to like this as much as I did. I usually look for contemporary books with more of a dark theme running throughout, but I was pleasantly surprised!

I loved Emoni - her passion for cooking and her drive to do right by her family. She is so mature, and the relationship that develops towards the end of the book feels so authentic and healthy.

Elizabeth Acevedo narrates the audiobook herself and it's beautifully done.

Brilliant!

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