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Love & Gelato

(Love & Gelato #1)

Jenna Evans Welch (Goodreads Author)

4.11 · Rating details · 52,514 ratings · 8,336 reviews

“I made the wrong choice.”

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 go back home.

But then she is given a journal that her mom ha ...more

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Hardcover, 389 pages

Published May 3rd 2016 by Simon Pulse

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Lists with This Book

Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

2016 YA Contemporary

261 books — 828 voters

YA Novels of 2016

1,127 books — 9,711 voters

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Community Reviews

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Average rating 4.11 ·

Rating details

· 52,514 ratings · 8,336 reviews

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Start your review of Love & Gelato (Love & Gelato, #1)

Sep 04, 2017 Hailey (Hailey in Bookland) rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned, contemporary

This was super cute and really interesting!
More thoughts and possibly a BiblioBabble to come!

flag 508 likes · Like · see review

Sep 23, 2017 jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

‘people come to italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, its for the same two things - love and getalo.’

some personal news: im moving to italy at the end of the week and i would be lying if i said this book didnt influence that decision.

im off to find my own ren to love, eat my entire body weight in gelato, and live my best dolce vita. <3

________________________________________

sugar and spice and everything nice - that is what this book is made of. and now i have a toothache from ...more

flag 350 likes · Like · see review

Sep 02, 2016 Kasie West rated it it was amazing

Super cute. I loved it.

flag 240 likes · Like · see review

Jan 08, 2019 megs_bookrack rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

RIP Me.

I have officially drowned in sugar.

This super cute YA Contemporary was everything I was looking for.

Funny, witty, romantic and delicious, I loved every moment of experiencing Italy with Lena.

The found family elements were extremely well done and I appreciated the love and friendships so much.

My only disappointment is that I waited so long to read it.

...more

flag 233 likes · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2018 High Lady of The Night Court rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-read

“You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, it’s for the same two things.”
“What?”
“Love and gelato.”

The story narrated in this book is one of friendship, family, and first love. The characters enhanced the concept at the core of this book and the dynamic between each of them was written very well.

Lina, after facing the trauma of losing her mother, flies to Italy for the summer in order to fulfill her mother’s last wish. Her mother also seemed to arrange for “You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, it’s for the same two things.”
“What?”
“Love and gelato.”

The story narrated in this book is one of friendship, family, and first love. The characters enhanced the concept at the core of this book and the dynamic between each of them was written very well.

Lina, after facing the trauma of losing her mother, flies to Italy for the summer in order to fulfill her mother’s last wish. Her mother also seemed to arrange for her to live with Howard, her mother’s friend from her days in college. After her mother passes, her grandmother informs her that her mother left out the minute detail that Howard also happens to be her father.
Now in Italy, she finds out that Howard, who refuses to refer to as her dad, lives in a graveyard. Not the ideal place for a girl who just lost her mother. Struggling with her mother’s death and trying to accept that Howard is her father, she tries to cope with her situation for the summer.

As the story progresses, the author takes us through Italy in the protagonist’s attempt to understand her mother’s year in college. After Lina’s arrival in Florence, she is handed her mother’s old journal, one she has never seen before, which she has never seen before, which is weird because her mother is extremely open about her journals and is well known for her entertaining writing. In an attempt to see Florence through her mother’s eyes, she makes her way through the town with the guidance of the journal. And she has come to realise that her mother’s college years were unlike anything she imagined.

A romance the seemed to have ended badly, a proclamation that could change everything, and the story of a vibrant woman making her way through life, her mother may have secrets of her own. The journal allows her to finally understand the piece of her mother’s life she has never known about, and maybe even why she never knew her father.

Maybe that was just part of the Italian experience. Come to Italy. Fall in love. Watch everything blow up in your face.

Since her mother’s journal is inserted into the book, we follow not one but to women making their way through Florence and finding love. Watching her cope with her mother’s death and come to peace with her life as it is now is amazing. We watch her open herself to the possibility of a life in Florence and makes a friend through a very unusual set of circumstances.

Now that I have finished reading this book, the title seems to the most endearing thing about it because a story with such depth can only be described by Love and Gelato, and anything else wouldn’t seem right. The characters were amazing, the description of the city was perfect, the relationship between the characters and the city was written lovingly and overall there is nothing I would change about this book.

I’m undeniably, inexplicably, explicitly in love with this book and I wish everyone who likes contemporary books would read this precious gem of a story because reading this book is, right now, one of the best experiences of my life. ...more

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Aug 19, 2020 She-who-must-not-be-named rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, contemporary, all-time-favourite

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY!!

I'm usually not this hysterical but my heart has been shattered, my eyes are warm with tears and I don't even have half the idea of what I'm typing because I can't see properly (I even shelved it as "Indian mythology" so you probably get the idea) but this is totally me trying to weave words into a coherent sentence. I don't think I will be able to do justice to this book but I have to let out everything before my nerves get the better of me. So here goes nothi FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY!!

I'm usually not this hysterical but my heart has been shattered, my eyes are warm with tears and I don't even have half the idea of what I'm typing because I can't see properly (I even shelved it as "Indian mythology" so you probably get the idea) but this is totally me trying to weave words into a coherent sentence. I don't think I will be able to do justice to this book but I have to let out everything before my nerves get the better of me. So here goes nothing.

Seventeen y/o Lina loses her mom to pancreatic cancer. But she has to fulfill her mom's dying wish that she spend a summer(and maybe longer) in Tuscany. Lina travels halfway around the world to stay with her father Howard, who is the caretaker of a cemetery just outside Florence. But as she is given an old journal of her mother's, she gets to know things about her mother she had no clue about before and must deal with the grief and heartbreak threatening to consume her. As Lina has her own romantic life to endure, with her mother's journal as a cautionary tale, she is faced with a decision to make, and it could very well be a life-changing one.

To say that this book found its way to the very core of my heart would be a huge betrayal to Six Of Crows, Simon vs The Homosapiens agenda, Eliza and her Monsters and ACOTAR trilogy (my all-time favourites). But it definitely does make me question every other book I've rated five stars, because it's certainly not fair to this book.

This book is wonderfully enamoured with hope, love and every other cute, light-hearted feeling one can come up with. But most importantly, it is a tale about strength and healing, about enduring despite everything that life throws your way. To realise that there is dusk, but also dawn. That no matter how many heartbreaks or failures you endure, no matter how many of those moments-that-will-blow-your-composure exist or how many times you're thrown off balance, they'll soon evaporate and things will move in a better direction. All that's needed is to hold on and never let go, because enduring isn't something that's in-built, it's something you do.
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end"

This book to me is exactly how Jenna Evans Welchdescribes Florence.
"Florence is exactly how I thought it would be and nothing like it at all. It is absolutely magical and yet it's gritty too. I've never been anyplace I want to capture so much."

I want to visit Italy more than ever with Ren and Howard as my tourist guides for the same two reasons:

Love and Gelato ...more

flag 200 likes · Like · see review

Apr 18, 2019 Charlotte May rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-recent, illness-mental-terminal, romance, ya, tear-jerker

3.5 ⭐️

This was cute. It was 100% what I expected, but ever so slightly better. Carolina AKA Lina has been sent to live in Florence with her father after the death of her mother, a father she has never met or even heard of, until now. So naturally she wants to leave as soon as possible, she misses her friends, her school and everything she knows from back in the USA.
When she arrives she is given a diary that her mother kept during her time studying in Florence. Lina thinks it will help her be clo ...more

flag 137 likes · Like · see review

Mar 24, 2019 Larry H rated it it was amazing

"You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, it's for the same two things...love and gelato."

Lina is only in Italy because of a promise she made to her mother on her deathbed.

She isn't moved by the country's beauty—she's having too difficult a time dealing with the fact that she's going to be living WITH HER FATHER (about whom she never knew anything), much less living in a house in the midst of a famous cemetery, because he is the caretaker.

Why didn't her mother ...more

flag 111 likes · Like · see review

Mar 19, 2020 Maria ☾ ⋆ rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebooks, not-owned

3.5/5⭐️
It was so cute and funny!!

flag 88 likes · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2016 ambsreads rated it did not like it

Shelves: romance, literal-trash, d-n-f, best-covers, contemporary, not-for-me, annoying-female-leads, young-adult, savage-review

DNF @ 10%

I will be displaying my emotions through Ron Swanson gifs.

Love and Gelato was a book I desperately wanted to love. I mean, the set up was perfect. Italy, love and gelato (which I've never actually had but it sounds good). Italy is a destination I have always wanted to travel, and how could you not with all the culture present in the cities.

However, as I began to read this book I knew it wasn't going to be a finish for me. Why? Well, the writing just jumped straight into the plot withou ...more

flag 88 likes · Like · see review

Jul 25, 2017 Maureen rated it really liked it

BTAT 2017 book #2

Possibly even a 4.5/5 stars

THIS. WAS. SO. CUTE.
The plot? Adorable and intriguing. The characters? Pretty great. The setting? INCREDIBLE. So much good stuff in this BOOK!
I loved the twists and the turns of the plot as well as the added element of Lina's mom's journal. And a book set in Italy just.....so good. So so good.
If you enjoy contemporary romances you'll for sure enjoy this book. ...more

flag 84 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2017 celine (celinereads) rated it it was amazing

hi can i give this book 10/5 stars because THIS BOOK IS FANTASTIC. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. i LOVE THE CHARACTERS AND STORY AND THE COVER AND EVERYTHING. ok. also, love & gelato is an extremely easy and quick read that's addicting and amazing and i'm in love!! ...more

flag 75 likes · Like · see review

May 20, 2016 may ❀ rated it really liked it

Shelves: standalones, 300-pgs, contemporary, love-triangle-ugh, super-cute, hilarious, mystery

Awww! This was a really cute summer read.

I loved the whole Italian experience accompanied with lots of Italian history, gelato, and young love. Perfect!

This story had it's ups and downs, I enjoyed the mystery part and I loved the character growth, I still feel giddy.

4 stars! ...more

flag 68 likes · Like · see review

Sep 17, 2018 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, hardback-own, young-adult

Super Sweet 💕🦄

Happy Reading!

Mel 🖤🐺🐾 ...more

flag 67 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2018 The Girl Murdered by Her TBR rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned-books, romance, contemporary, young-adult, young-love, charming-af-male-lead, standalones

5-I-NEED-AN-ITALIAN-DUDE-RIGHT-NOW-STARS!!!

This book was successful in getting rid of my sucky reading slump. After a month of force reading various books, this book performed its magic and voila! Reading slump gone. I never thought that a super cute young-adult contemporary romance is what I really need. This was the first contemporary book I've read this year and I absolutely adored it. The plot, characters, and setting were captivating.

The setting of the story is in Italy. Oh gosh, Italy... I ...more

flag 59 likes · Like · see review

Jan 29, 2017 Sab rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

This is not something I usually do. I don't write reviews. But I really have to get something out of my chest: I am SO TIRED of American authors writing books about Italy/Italian people without even bothering to double-check what the hell they are talking about.
So the main character is Lina (really? Is it supposed to be a popular Italian name?). Her mother dies of cancer and she has to move to Italy to live with her estranged father. So she arrives to her father's house (that is in the middle of ...more

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Nov 15, 2016 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it really liked it

This was pretty damn cute, you guys. All I want to do now is go to Italy and fall in love with some Nutella pastries. Insert gif of Emma Stone saying YUM here.

flag 58 likes · Like · see review

Jun 10, 2016 Heather rated it liked it

Shelves: ya-contemporary

3.5
Really enjoyed this book!
Mashup review featuring it coming soon!

flag 54 likes · Like · see review

Sep 06, 2018 Elyse Walters rated it liked it

This is another one of those ‘cutie-sweetie’ type books with a memorable book cover....
one I’ve seen mentioned for years with warm-hearted reviews.
So....
I grabbed a freebie library - overdrive ebook copy.
Quick enjoyable read.
Young Adult Coming-of-Age....
A taste of Italy ... Florence Rome...Tuscany...pizza ... gelato...
...a little historical mystery
...family feelings of displacement and confusion...to one of understanding...
military cemetery twist plot
...Readers immediately feel connection to ...more

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Jul 13, 2018 Merphy Napier rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemperary, five-stars

4.5 stars

I was shocked at how much I loved this. Being able to explore Italy with the characters had me wanting to hope on a plane and explore it myself, getting to know our MC's mom through her old journal had me hooked from the start to the end, and the true love story of this novel was what we learned in that journal. I finished this book days ago and I still miss it so much. It was simply amazing. The only reason it didn't get five stars is because the romance with our MC was pretty cheesy a ...more

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Mar 24, 2016 Inge rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult

To be honest, I was more interested in the gelato part than the love part, but it was still pretty cute.

flag 48 likes · Like · see review

Sep 10, 2015 The Candid Cover (Olivia & Lori) rated it really liked it

Shelves: favourite-ya-romance, 2016-releases, arc, young-adult

Full Review on The Candid Cover

4.5 Stars

Love and Gelato is the perfect book to enjoy this summer. Set in Italy, this book is absolutely breathtaking. The fact that there are old journal entries in the story makes it so much more incredible. Trust me, after reading this book, you’ll be craving some gelato!

Love and Gelato has such an interesting concept! This book tells the story of Lina, a girl who moves to Italy after her mom dies. When she gets there, she is given an old journal of her mom’s an ...more

flag 47 likes · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2018 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it liked it

Shelves: it-s-all-in-the-name, read-in-2018, liburrrrrry-book, teenie-bopper-books

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Or mediocre book pics at: https://www.instagram.com/kellyandthe...

"You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, it's for the same two things."

"What?"

"Love and gelato."

When 16-year old Lina’s mother passes away from pancreatic cancer, she is encouraged by her grandmother to spend the summer in Tuscany in order to get to know Howard – a father she never even knew existed. Lina would have never guessed ...more

flag 43 likes · Like · see review

Jun 26, 2017 ✨ A ✨ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2017

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. It was funny and cute but also moving and devastatingly sad at times.

It was amazing to learn so much about Italy and Florence, it felt like I was there with Lina and Ren. I really really want to go to Italy now!

I don't usually read books like this where the protagonist goes on a journey of self discovery or whatever, but this book lifted my heart. I loved the writing style, and I'm looking forward to any future works by Jenna Evans Welch.
___ ...more

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Sep 28, 2017 Warda rated it liked it · review of another edition

[3.5]
Now I'm craving some authentic, Italian gelato and cute, Italian guy with it. ...more

flag 39 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2017 Kate (GirlReading) rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, contemporary

Love & Gelato was a cute, quick, summer read and just what I needed for the plane journey, on which I read it from start to finish but unfortunately, despite this, I didn't fall in love with it.

I didn't really warm to
the characters or feel any strong connection towards them(other than Howard who was a sweetheart) and overall I just couldn't get past the incredibly short time period this book was set over, considering the amount of events that occurred. I've never been a fan of instalove and espe ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Aug 28, 2018 K. Elizabeth rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-books, cute-and-or-easy-reads, fiction, reviewed, young-adult, 4-stars, romance

★ 3.75 / 5 ★

Ya’ll. This book got me out of my reading slump. I’m super thankful for those of you who recommended it!

Also, I think it’s official: I like Romance novels. Well. Not straight-up Romance, but books like Love and Gelato where it’s contemporary mixed-in with humor, reliable characters, and an adorable romance — count me in (and recommend me more books, haha). I’m not ashamed to say that! These books are addictive.

As someone who travels to Europe for 2-3 months every year, I enjoyed Jenn ...more

flag 40 likes · Like · see review

Dec 23, 2016 BookLover rated it liked it

Shelves: author-first-reads, reviews, tpl, ya, 2016-release

This was a cute story about a girl finding a way to move on with life after losing her mother. Lina made a promise to her dying mother, finding herself in Italy with a father she had never met. Lina’s experience tugged at all the right strings for me.

What brought my overall enjoyment down, though, was the diary her mother left for her. Actually, that’s not true. The diary itself didn’t bother me, especially once the story came full circle. No, what drove me bananas was the way Lina chose to read ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

May 03, 2016 Karmen (readingoncloud9) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, favorites

*4.5 stars*

After finishing this book, (well also during reading it) I had major cravings for some gelato. It was super cute and mysterious. I couldn't put it down! Because of this book, I want to go to Italy even more now. ...more

flag 37 likes · Like · see review

Sep 08, 2016 Jennifer rated it liked it

Shelves: listened-to-audiobook, read-2016, stand-alone-novel, cultural, young-adult-genre, authors-first-novel-debut

Fans of the young-adult genre will definitely enjoy Jenna Evans Welch's debut novel: Love & Gelato. It incorporates grief, family issues, age-appropriate romance, and the Italian culture. Overall, I liked it. The cultural components were my favorite parts. I also could very much appreciate the lengths the heroine went to in order to learn about her paternity – I was in the same boat at a point in my adolescence and her curious desperation felt very familiar. The only other thing I can say is it' ...more

flag 33 likes · Like · see review

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Bookish Worms : Love and Gelato February 2021 BOTM	5	16	Feb 25, 2021 12:21PM
Is there a movie based off this book?	2	14	Jan 01, 2021 03:47PM
♥ Nothing Better ...: January BOTM - Love & Gelato	1	9	Dec 31, 2020 11:09PM
Favorite Character?	10	75	Nov 18, 2020 04:09PM
YA Buddy Readers'...: Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch - Restarting August 23rd 2020	54	157	Aug 31, 2020 04:18PM
A Crazy Little Th...: Love & Gelato (Tina, Becca, and Lisa)	12	18	Aug 07, 2020 06:08AM

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About Jenna Evans Welch

Jenna Evans Welch

2,639 followers

Jenna Evans Welch was the kind of insatiable child reader who had no choice but to grow up to become a writer. She is the New York Times Bestselling author of LOVE & GELATO and the upcoming LOVE & LUCK. When she isn’t writing girl abroad stories, Jenna can be found chasing her children or making elaborate messes in the kitchen. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband and two young child ...more

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Love & Gelato (3 books)

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Quotes from Love & Gelato

“You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they sat, it's for the same two things."
"What?"
"Love and gelato.” — 160 likes

“Turns out there's a reason they call it falling in love, because when it happens - really happens - that's exactly how it feels. There's no doing or trying, you just let go and hope that someone's going to be there to catch you.” — 122 likes

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