Author: rachelreads

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With the Fire on High – Elizabeth Acevedo

I read Clap when You Land by this author a while ago and loved it so I d e s p e r a t e l y wanted to read her other stuff and finally got around to this when I saw it calling out to me at my library. 

Emoni is a gifted upcoming chef trying to juggle a job, social life, high school, and being a mom. After becoming pregnant her freshman year of high school, Emoni’s world has revolved around baby Emma, lovingly referred to as Babygirl for most of the book. With both her parents out of the picture (for the most part) Emoni’s only lifeline is her Abuela, who does her best to help out with Babygirl and encourages Emoni to finish high school and go to college. 

Emoni is a gifted chef and while she has no formal training, she has a natural talent for pairing ingredients together. After nearly giving up her dream of being a chef, she is offered a cooking elective in her schedule, a chance to work with a real chef and a trip to Spain during Spring Break. 

With an interesting new guy at school, a new class, and a possible hope for the future, Emoni takes on Senior Year. 

I really appreciate that throughout this book, Acevedo never places shame on Emoni. What happened is more of just a fact and she now has to live where she puts Babygirl’s needs first and hers second. 

The characters’ interactions with each other are everything. If you’ve read my blog before, you know the characters are the most important part of the book to me, and I felt a connection to every single one. Emoni had so much determination and resilience, but also so much humanity that I was constantly rooting for things to go her way. Abuela was a woman whom I feel would give the warmest hugs. Angelica is a best friend who would stick with you and defend you through everything. Malachi (the new guy) was sweeter than I thought any straight guy could possibly be. I loved him so much. 

Speaking of Malachi, the relationship between him and Emoni is great. They have undeniable chemistry and the slow-burn romance is tooth-rottingly sweet. It felt realistic as due to Emoni’s past experiences, she isn’t sure if she wants a relationship at all. But Malachi never pushes her to go into anything more, he never pushes her to define their relationship or to spend more time with him because he gets that she has an overfilling plate. 

Acevado’s writing is gorgeous as per usual. With the way she describes Emoni’s cooking, I would die to eat it. It especially shines when Emoni talks about wanting a good future for Babygirl, “There’s so much I want for her that sometimes I think the seams of my skin aren’t enough to contain every hope I have.” Emoni loves her daughter to the moon and back and it’s obvious throughout the entire book. 

Part of me wants a sequel to this book to see a sequel or at least some sort of glimpse into how Emoni and her family are doing, but another part of me doesn’t out of fear that there won’t be that same magic that Acevedo has created here. 5/5

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The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

This book was so incredibly hyped up that I thought there was no way it could’ve been bad…right? 

Wrong

We open with two “wizards” we’ll call them, in a long time rivalry that has lasted centuries. The two create competitions with each other to see who can train the best magician and win a supposed colossal magical battle.

Sounds cool right?

Well it would be if the author had bothered to stick to that and actually given us the magical battle. Instead we are given a strange traveling circus and the “battle” is both of the magicians struggling to hold the traveling circus together and see which one gives out first.

Each of the magicians also don’t even know who they are competing against until like ⅔ of the way through when they start “falling in love.” I say that in quotes because the two literally had no chemistry and the scenes that were supposed to show their attraction to each other were often just clunky and boring.  

You’ll notice I haven’t referred to any of the characters by name and that is because I forgot their names. That’s how little I cared or thought about them. The two main characters didn’t really do much, they had no likes/dislikes or personality traits to speak of. I feel like while writing them the author wanted to come off as if they were very intelligent in the writing style, but it just left the characters seeming as if they were 1920’s robots instead of actual people. 

I will hand it to the author that the settings are absolutely gorgeous. When the subject is on the circus itself and the magical talents of the staff, this book shines. You really get the feeling that you’re there and I’d love to visit whatever this magical traveling circus is. 

If the author had written her characters as beautifully as she wrote her environments and settings, this would actually be a good book. 2/5

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Cinderella Is Dead – Kalynn Bayron

Cinderella is dead, and everything you knew about her story is a lie. In the kingdom of Marseilles, centuries after the death of Cinderella, all girls at the age of 16 are required to attend a ball and be chosen by a husband. Those who are not chosen, are shamed and exiled… literally to the point them committing suicide. Sophia isn’t here for this misogynistic, homophobic world. Told through the perspective of a black, lesbian heroin, this spin on Cinderella names Prince Charming as the villain. While I enjoyed the overall plot and concept, there were some plot holes that didn’t add up and characters with unclear motives. I liked the relationship between Constance and Sophia, but I wish we had more time with them in a relationship instead of getting only a slight peek at the end, something that seems oh so common in lgbt books. The book  still definitely earns its lgbt rep. as it is a constant theme throughout the story. It’s not perfect, but if you take it for what it is and just let it run its course, it’s a pretty fun and enjoyable read.

4/5

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King and the Dragonflies – Kacen Callender

This book ripped out my heart, stomped on it, and then threw it in the trash. And I loved every second of it. 

12 year old King has recently lost his older brother Khalid and he and his family are struggling to deal with the aftermath. King is also dealing with another struggle, he likes other boys. And it wouldn’t be such a struggle, except one of the last things Khalid told King before he died was to stay away from his friend Sandy, who was clearly gay, telling him “you don’t want everyone to think you’re gay too, do you?”

King visits his brother every day he can, in the bayou, because he believes Khalid has been turned into one of the dragonflies they so often used to visit together. 

Trying to come to terms with his sexuality and his brother’s death, King does his best to make amends with Sandy, someone he misses dearly. He does so and for a while things start to look ok again. Until Sandy runs away.

 King desperately looks for him until he finds him in the worst place possible, King’s own backyard hideout. The son of an abusive, homophobic, racist police officer hiding in the backyard of black boy. 

Not good. 

King can’t tell his parents, so he gives Sandy food and shelter for as long as he can before hiding him in a shack along the bayou. Here the boys fully mend their friendship, possibly forming it into something more. Things are great, until Sandy’s father finds him again.

After rumors get out at school about King being gay, he is forced to confirm to his parents that yes, he likes boys. His parents’ reaction is less than stellar.

With an invitation from Sandy to run away together during Mardi Gra, King is tempted to take him up on it. 

But he can’t leave his family. Not after a loving talk from his aunt and a promise of eventual acceptance. 

He tells his parents of Sandy’s plan to run away and his father’s abuse, even though he knows Sandy will never forgive him. 

The ending scene of King’s dad giving him a hug before school and telling him that he loved him made me bawl my eyes out. This poor kid is so sweet throughout the whole book and just wants to be accepted and have his brother back. I’ve never wanted to hug a main character more. 5/5

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Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste NG

I read this book as an audiobook, which is very rare for me as I just am not usually a fan of them. Either the reader is way too slow or their voice is annoying etc. but I really enjoyed the audio book.

-Plot

I really enjoyed the overall story that was told here. Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl move into Shaker Heights (aka Suburbia Hell) and rent a home from Elena Richardson. Elena is poised as the stereotypical “perfect” suburban mother with four kids and a loving husband. An adoption case and its morals put these two women on opposite sides and we see through this book how opposite these two characters are. With Elena seen as the normal “good” mother and Mia as the free thinking and “alternative” mother. 

-Characters

Just as a disclaimer I have never seen the show so I’m not a hundred percent sure how the characters are portrayed in there but I have heard that they made Mia some sort of crazy out of control bitch which I think takes away the humanity and realness of her character. I wanted to like Mia, I really did, but I just couldn’t. She is incredibly selfish and narcissistic, dragging her poor daughter around so she could pursue her art career. Most of the book I just felt bad for Pearl as she never really got a childhood. She had to grow up from an early age and get a job to support her mom, she was never able to really have friends. The secret that is revealed about Mia later in the book, which is a huge spoiler so I won’t reveal it here, makes me despise her. I found Elena more palatable but honestly she wasn’t much better. She acts like she is in control of her children when she really has no idea what they are doing. She made friends with people just to use them for her own personal gain, which is just disgusting. For instance, there was a scene where she calls an old friend from college who runs the local medical clinic and guilt trips her until she reveals the name of a patient, which is ILLEGAL MA’AM! The other characters I found to be fine, they were interesting enough but were clearly there to support and be used as pawns for the main characters. 

-Final Thoughts/TLDR

This was a fast read for me with all the drama though I can’t say it was an enjoyable one. The author drew these lines of right and wrong and seemed to have this theme that biological mothers have complete ownership of their child and that adoptive mothers are always second best. Which is just…ew.

-Rating

3/5