With the Fire on High is a fantastic story about a young woman trying to figure out her place in the world. Emoni loves to cook, and the story centres around her passion for it. There’s a bit of magic tied to her cooking - the food she makes triggers feelings and memories in those who eat it. It reminds me of the movie Simply Irresistible (with Sarah Michelle Gellar). Go watch it - it’s an awesome film.

There are some heavy themes in this story as well (teen parenthood being one of them), but somehow it still manages to feel really light and lovely. I keep thinking of the words ‘sunny’ and ‘warm’ when trying to describe how the book makes me feel. Does that make sense?

With the Fire on High was really really hard to put down, and I ended up reading it in a day. The chapters are very short, which kept the story moving at a brisk pace. I did end up predicting early on where Emoni would end up in the end, but figuring that out didn’t diminish it at all for me.