With the Fire on High (July 2020) Buddy Read Discussion - Mina & HeatherH & Abigail & Burger

[Aless, Discord/Readathon Procrastinator]

Welcome to With the Fire on High Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on July 1st and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each week we will be reading by chapters. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 7/1
July 1: 50%
July 2: 50%
July 3: extra time


PARTICIPANTS
~ Mina
~ HeatherH
~ Abigail
~ Burger

[HeatherH]

50% (Through 'Proposal')

(view spoiler)[ I got sucked right into this. Not gonna lie, I had very little idea what this was about and had not expected our MC to have a two year old child! But I am loving how this author is handling that obstacle. I love how focused on her daughter she is and how close she is with her grandmother. I appreciate the complex relationships here as well - with her father, with her child's father, and with Malachai. Her best friend is the kind of friend we all deserve and I adore their closeness so much. I also am liking the journey of growing and maturing that she is on with the culinary class and learning to step back and listen to others. (hide spoiler)]

[HeatherH]

I finished.. sorry! haha

I'll watch for ya'll to start and be back to chat!

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

😂 no worries.
I didn't have much time at work to listen to this, and at home I wanted to get rid of a book that has been slowly killing me so I finished that one first.

With that all being said, I read about 25%, my next chapter is Catharsis. I'm not going to read your spoiler until I get to 50% but I'm gonna comment on what I listened to.

Firstly, I went into this book mostly blind. I knew it has something to do with food.. and that's it. So I was surprised to find out she has a kid, and that she's a 16 yo, that's something that doesn't really interest me, however I enjoyed listening to it and I really liked the family dynamics. I also like that the chapters are short, that's always wonderful to see 😂

I'm going to catch up/finish tomorrow and then we can talk a bit more about the book.

[HeatherH]

I do adore the family dynamics here a lot! Hope you enjoy the rest!

[Abigail]

I was so excited by the book that I stayed up way too late last night to finish it! (view spoiler)[When I saw that there were recipes in the book i just wanted to go and try them but I didn't have like any of the ingredients so maybe one day. I adored the family dynamic and how Emoni had a complicated relationship with all of them. I loved seeing her develop from someone who only does things her way to a team player. When she was first speaking to Malachi I was so torn between loving the way she fully and clearly expressed herself and being like who hurt you. I loved her friendship with Angelica and how they would take no shit. Seeing all the other characters grow throughout the book and learning more about other people's past was great. And the ending, oh my god I was soooo excited that she gets to have both, she can go to college for culinary arts and work as a chef. Just I really loved thr book (hide spoiler)]

[HeatherH]

@abigail - I loved it too!
(view spoiler)[ Her growth, and honestly the growth of so many characters here, really was a beautiful thing to watch! And Malachi was so patient and sweet throughout.

I did really like getting to learn back stories on characters and seeing how they became the people they were.

The ending was sooooo satisfying! Also, grandma getting her a boyfriend <3! (hide spoiler)]

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I finally found time and I finished it! :D It was a nice read, although there was something.. like an ingredient was missing for me to really like it. I loved the relationships. I'm glad in the end she got to balance the things she wants, also the ending was kinda open which I kinda liked because she's just at the beginning of her journey... but I also wanted more, it felt not complete?

Did you guys know the audiobook was narrated by the author? I just found out, I love when authors narrate their own books.

[HeatherH]

I did not know that! She did a fantastic job narrating!