Emoni Santiago has a lot of responsibilities and she is only in high school. She has a daughter to care for and she also supports her Abuela. Emoni has a passion for cooking and it is the one place where she can escape all her worries. She is passionate about the food she cooks and is always adding a dash of magic to her dishes. Even though, she loves to cook she knows that she cannot devote her time for her school’s culinary arts class and she doesn’t have the money for the class’s trip to Spain. Emoni is someone who feel a tremendous amount of pressure to play by the rules and she must decide whether she is going to embrace her talent for the kitchen and let it shine once and for all.
The synopsis of Acevedo’s book completely won me over because I haven’t read any YA books with a high school mom as the main character! The plot sounds so original for YA and I love the fact that this seems to have a strong Latinx character who is hustling to take care of her Abuela and give her daughter the best life possible. Since Acevedo is a killer poet, I have a feeling it is going to give me the lyrical feels of Like Water for Chocolate and it is going to be the kind of book that is going to get me seriously hungry!