“What better way to take a leap of faith than to set something on fire and trust it will not only come out right, but that it will be completely delicious?”

As I’ve been living under a rock for pretty much the last decade, this was my very first Elizabeth Acevedo book - and I’m SO happy that it did not disappoint!!!

I absolutely loved the story, but what I loved most, what I got attached to the most, were the characters. Emoni Santiago has my whole entire heart. The fact that she cares so deeply about the people that she loves, that she’s so passionate about cooking that she turns it into literal magic (while also being willing to put her passions and desires on the back-burner for the sake of making sure that her daughter and grandmother are good first), and her journey towards finding herself and finding the perfect middle ground between her family and her dreams was just... perfect.

Her relationship with ‘Buela and Emma was so, so sweet! I could feel the love with every word, and that’s not something that happens often. Even when they struggled, even when they had disagreements, their love for each other was stronger than anything life could throw at them, and I think that’s very powerful. ‘Buela Gloria put everything on hold for her family, time and time again, and she inspires Emoni to do the same - not in a self-martyr, never do anything that makes your heart soar kind of way, but in a way that allows her granddaughter space to also think about what she wants to make of herself.

I was also instantly hooked by Emoni and Malachi’s relationship! If any of you find these type of men in real life, please let me know, because so far I’m convinced that they only exist in fictional worlds! His maturity and kindness was obvious from the get-go, and I just loved his and Emoni’s banter, and how their relationship developed slowly, naturally, nothing forced between them but something that grew out of curiosity of each other and a simple need to just get to know the other person, know every single little thing about them - and I just thing that’s also really beautiful.

My favorite part - I’ve been seeing and reading the praises sung to Acevedo’s writing, and I can now whole-heartedly confirmed that none of them are wrong. I flew through this book, y’all. Her style manages to somehow be both simple and poetic, both very easy to understand and connect with but also full of hidden metaphors and references. It’s absolutely incredible. It’s been a long time since I was so instantly hooked on a book, but I already know I’ll be reading anything and everything that she releases from now on, and I won’t be waiting 4 years to do it!