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yeeel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Grief
Minor: Gaslighting
samdreckman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Minor: Toxic relationship and Gaslighting
katelynprice's review
3.5
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer and Sexual harassment
Minor: Rape, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting
mariethem1lf's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
saturnsreads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Cancer, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual harassment
shannasbooksnhooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Finishing up the book and writing this review has sort of been a confusing time for me. I really didn't know what star rating to give it. I knew it was at least 4 stars but wasn't quite 5 stars. And then I couldn't decide if I should do 4.25, 4.5, or 4.75 stars, so I ended up just settling on 4 stars.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is why I think I'm in this confused state now. I never pick up books where the main genre is "romance." I have read plenty where romance has been a factor in the story, major or not. However, it's usually a sub-plot and/or sub-genre - not the main point of the book. Yet with Love & Gelato, it is. Although I think it being a "romance" book is a bit deceiving. The romantic plot of this book
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
kingrosereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Carolina “Lina” Emerson is 16 and just lost her mom (Hadley Emerson) to pancreatic cancer after a very short battle. Lina’s from Seattle and stayed with her best friend’s (Addie) family for the last semester of her sophomore year. Unfortunately, Lina doesn’t have a dad (her mom never revealed his identity) and her grandparents aren’t able to care for her. This is all fine, because Hadley already set up for Lina to spend the summer with her old beau, Howard, in Florence, Italy.
Howard confirms with Lina’s grandparents that he’s Lina’s father which means they push her to stay with him to try to build a relationship. Of course, as a typical 16 year old, she digs in her heels and only goes because she promised her mom she would. Hadley apparently spent a year in Italy back in the late 90s where she met Howard, a fellow American student at their Italian art school (and conceived Lina).
With the aid of her mom’s journal from her time in Italy, Lina tries to walk in her mother’s footsteps over Florence and tries to understand how Lina was conceived, how Howard and Hadley fell in love, and why her mother ran away from Italy when she found out she was pregnant and never told Howard why she left.
Along the way, she meets Lorenzo “Ren” Ferrara. A cute charming Italian teen that joins her on her crazy adventure. And (of course) they begin to fall for one another.
It’s super cheesy, some of it doesn’t make sense, and it made me cry actual real tears. It had a charm to it that I can’t explain. Lina and Ren both irritated me, but made me laugh and my heart ached for them. I wish Howard were my dad. I don’t get why Lina hated the idea of living in a cemetery because I definitely would’ve loved that at 16 (hell I’d love it now). But Lina’s mom just died and I guess to some, cemeteries are creepy. Being forced to bond with a stranger because you made a death bed promise also sucks. Sometimes you have to just sit back and shit talk about strangers with your bestie to feel better. It’s all the angst of being a teenager without the one person who was supposed to guide you through it. But forreal, if I had the CHANCE to go live in Italy, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
This book made me laugh, cry, and cringe. It was cheesy and awkward and I loved it. Was it clunky, rushed, and not as developed as it could’ve been? Yes. But I still enjoyed it. I liked that Lina was always on the go from one scene to the other. I always wanted to know what it was like to be a reckless teenager who just fell so madly in love in a way only 16 year old could, and that’s why I read these kinds of books.
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
katbsc's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Minor: Gaslighting
rosegoes3's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
The pacing was a little slow to get started but once the adventure begins (55% through?) it is a very quick read. Really loved these characters.
Her American-ness felt a little bit overdone (we have prosciutto and gelato in the US as well? How do you not know the Medici family?) but it was cool how sometimes they spoke in Italian considering they were in fact in Italy. Get me a flight to Florence stat
There were some timeline instances
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
cherrygray's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I wish I could give this book more of a better rating but it just didn't hit the 4/5 mark, it barely hit the 3.5/5 mark, in all honesty.
Currently unable to make a cohesive sentence, I'm going to put this into a pro/con list. From this point on their will be minor spoilers, but nothing to give away the plot too much. Read with caution.
All in all, I did enjoy reading this book and annotating it. It was cute and romantic and cheesy and just easy to follow along with. It brought me through my emotions and left me satisfied with the ending. Frankly, I don't think I'd recommend this to anyone but if you read it then you've read it, if you don't I do not think you're missing out on anything that special.
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual harassment