From the New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award longlist title The Poet X 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.
Ever since she got pregnant freshman year, Emoni Santiago’s life has been about making the tough decisions—doing what has to be done for her daughter and her abuela. The one place she can let all that go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness.
Even though she dreams of working as a chef after she graduates, Emoni knows that it’s not worth her time to pursue the impossible. Yet despite the rules she thinks she has to play by, once Emoni starts cooking, her only choice is to let her talent break free.
I'm not sure I even have words for how much I loved this book. Emoni is such an amazing character. I was completely caught up in her story, rooting for her to find a way to both support her daughter and follow her dreams to be a chef. All of her relationships - with her daughter, her grandmother, her father, her best friend, her culinary arts teacher, her ex, her love interest - were so well crafted and sincere. Despite the fact that all of her relationships were amazingly written, I loved that the focus of the book remained solely on Emoni and her plans for herself and her daughter.
I especially appreciated that the romance didn't take over the story to the detriment of everything else going on in Emoni's life. He may have been an important part of her realizing that she's capable of planning for her own future as well as her daughter's, but so was her family and her best friend; Acevedo never tried to make the romantic relationship supersede any of the other relationships and it felt so right. Romantic relationships so often take over everything else and it's always amazing to see them coexist at the same level as other types of relationships.
Also the food in this book!! I am so hungry right now and just want to eat all of it. You can bet I'm gonna try out those recipes included at the beginning of each part because they all sound so good. The way people talked about Emoni's food felt so fabulist and I just adored it. It fit so well with her Puerto Rican heritage and the way she tried to build on her roots to create something new and unexpected. Everything about Emoni's cooking was just magical and amazing.
I especially appreciated that the romance didn't take over the story to the detriment of everything else going on in Emoni's life. He may have been an important part of her realizing that she's capable of planning for her own future as well as her daughter's, but so was her family and her best friend; Acevedo never tried to make the romantic relationship supersede any of the other relationships and it felt so right. Romantic relationships so often take over everything else and it's always amazing to see them coexist at the same level as other types of relationships.
Also the food in this book!! I am so hungry right now and just want to eat all of it. You can bet I'm gonna try out those recipes included at the beginning of each part because they all sound so good. The way people talked about Emoni's food felt so fabulist and I just adored it. It fit so well with her Puerto Rican heritage and the way she tried to build on her roots to create something new and unexpected. Everything about Emoni's cooking was just magical and amazing.
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