With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo | A DNF Redemption

~ Dear Black Grl

I started this book over two years ago and DNF. Not because it wasn’t good — life just made it hard for me to sit with written text. I was somewhere around chapter 6 when I put it down.

Fast forward to late 2025, I leaned into audiobooks. By January 2026, I had already knocked out at least six books — and With the Fire on High was one of them.

I don’t usually gravitate toward YA novels, but the poet in me was drawn to this one from the moment I bought it. Elizabeth Acevedo has a way of writing that doesn’t let you go. Emoni is now one of my favorite characters to date. Maybe it’s because I have a soft spot for teen moms since I gave birth to my firstborn my senior year of high school. But Emoni hit different. She was fierce in a way I wish all girls could be. She knew who she was and who she wanted to become, and she let nobody take that from her. Her baby girl and her abuela were her whole world and all she wanted was to make them proud.

Watching her hone her craft and stand in her truth felt personal. The relationship dynamics, especially her connection to her roots and her father Julio, were everything.

This was a great read. A DNF redemption story if I’ve ever had one.

Rating: Read it. Seriously.

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Published by Dear Black Grl

I’m Valencia Michelle, and this is DearBlackGrl—my corner of the internet to speak directly to Black women navigating this thing called life. It’s not easy. We’re expected to be everything at once - strong, nurturing, brilliant (but not too much), and somehow flawless while carrying the world on our backs.

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