Love & Gelato – Jenna Evans Welch

Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is get back home.

But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires Lina, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

This was such a great and wonderful for summertime or really any time someone might be looking for a cute contemporary novel! I really enjoyed the whole book from inspiration to romance and even a little mystery. The Italian setting was gorgeous and made me really want to visit Italy and I truly loved all of the characters too!

I was a little worried when the book started out with grief after Lina lost her mother because I generally like to stay away from books surrounding grief and death as of late, but of course it’s a normal part of life so it still has its place in a cute contemporary novel, keeping the reality in the novel. I actually thought it was a nice balance to the romance and kept some things grounded when the romance was sitting around Italy! It also ended up being a vital part of the little mystery of the book too as Lina follows her mother’s journal to try to find clues about her life.

I really loved all of the characters in this book and everything about LOVE & GELATO made me feel like I could leap right into the pages and join the novel. I could easily picture the Italian setting and imagine this book as a cute movie. Each one of the characters felt like a real person and invite the readers into the story. It was such a natural thing to follow them on this adventure and I was really able to lose myself in the story.

I had a lot of fun reading LOVE & GELATO and there was just something about this book that I really connected with. It instantly made Jenna Evans Welch an instant read author for me and I’m so excited to continue to read her works!

Kept Me Hooked On: Travel stories. I really loved the setting in Italy! It made me feel like I was there and it was a fun way to travel without traveling (though it made me want to).
Left Me Wanting More: Cutesy moments. I actually really liked the romance but I was expecting the book to be a little more “cutesy” and a little less serious. I still loved it but I can always do with some more cute times.

Addiction Rating
Read it

I really enjoyed this one! Something about it just made Jenna Evans Welch and instant read author for me and I can’t wait to read more!

BOOKS LIKE LOVE & GELATO