Igniting Ash by M.A. Stacie

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​Igniting Ash is a story about overcoming our past, accepting the scars that stay with us and realizing that a little light and love into our darkness saves us.

The book starts with a simple kind act that Emma bestows on Asher. An act that would learn later, changed his life. Asher’s story moved me. I could feel his suffering, his defeat, his complete distrust of people and knew that he knew his wounds by name. Where he was the dark, Emma is the light. She gives him a little ray of hope every now and again that slowly seeped into his darkness. There is pushing and pulling; a tug of war of emotions and I found myself tearing up at the thought that there are people out there with stories far worse than Asher and most of them will never meet another kind soul like Emma.

I didn’t grow up rich but I was still pretty privilege and completely sheltered. People like Asher didn’t exist in my world. If they did, as awful as this sounds, I would have turned my back and ignored him. And that’s pretty much how it’s been for his life, growing up ignored by people who turned their backs to him; people who shouldn’t have been the cause for his pain and his suffering. Kids like Asher and Gabe would break my heart but I’m not as strong as Emma or as patient enough to try to chip down the fortress they built themselves.
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Igniting Ash is a quiet read. The story moves along in its wonderful pace, pulsing and speeding up at the right moments and slowing down enough to let you catch your breath. It was a privilege to read the interworking of Asher’s mind and be humbled and in awe. And after all that he went through, every single light that Emma shared, he began to accept that he was worthy of being loved and being ignited in every single possible way. 

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