"“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 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.
Blurb taken from Goodreads.
✼
“‘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.’”
This was such a cute little read. I started it last summer but didn't get very far into it before I got distracted and stopped reading. I decided to try again on a weekend away a couple of weeks ago, and was far more successful this time; I finished it in just a couple of days.
This book isn't earth-shattering or life-changing literature. It's not a work of art by any means. But what it is is lovely, endearing and very, very sweet. I found Lina's story, set against the backdrop of Italy, truly heartwarming, and it was nice to escape to her little world for a while. It was one of those books that really gets you out of your head for a while, and I loved being able to immerse myself in Lina's story.
Sometimes you just need to soak up some sickeningly sweet fiction, and this really hit the spot. I'd encourage you to read it while on a summer city break somewhere warm and exciting.
Rating: ✫✫✫✫
SPOILER ALERT
The Story
This story was sugary sweet, helped along by the fact that our main character, Lina, is so sweet. She makes for a really easy character to follow as well. We find out immediately that her mum has passed away, and that she has been sent to Florence to live with Howard, a man who her mother knew in her youth, but who is entirely unknown to Lina. It's intriguing, and the build up revolves around the assumption that Howard is Lina's father. Why Lina's mum never actually told her about him is a little less clear, and that's what we wait patiently to find out.
It turns out, it's a little more complicated than that. I loved that Lina was given the scrapbook of her mum's from her time in Florence, and that that forms the structure of the story. And, of course, we have the mysterious X, her summer romance. It was very clear to me that the real reason that X's real name wasn't used was to maintain the illusion that it was Howard; clearly, that was going to be a twist. But it was a cute idea, and I was happy to play along. Considering that there wasn't an awful lot that happened, the story seemed to whizz along, and I raced through it. In no time at all, Lina was meeting her real father, Matteo - aka, biggest jerk in all of Europe. It was predictable, but it still made me so sad for Lina! And Howard is the sweetest, gentlest, most precious man, and I loved that he had known all along that he wasn't her real father. It was adorable that he still wanted to look after Lina, and the story really warmed my heart. The fact that he had loved Hadley, Lina's mum, for all those years - so beautiful!
Also - let's take a second to discuss how cute Ren is. I love how he and Lina grow together. Again, it is unbelievably predictable, but that didn't matter. I still wanted them to get together. Mimi and Thomas are dull, and they deserved to be ditched. It was clear the whole time how much Ren liked Lina, and he is a babe (you can just tell)! Every element of the story was just lovely to read; totally and utterly sweet and adorable.
The Verdict
“You may be slow to warm up, but once you do, you light up the whole room.”
More than anything, it was beautiful to hear how Italy was intertwined with the story at every point. Rome is my favourite place that I've ever visited, and this gave me a little snapshot back into it. It was such a beautiful backdrop to the story, and I really enjoyed getting to follow Lina's story and experience it with her. Love and Gelato is entirely predictable in every way, but its value isn't in its literary originality; its value is in its ability to make you feel warm and fuzzy. It was just an all-round lovely read, and should be read in the summer on a sunny city break. The happy family, the romance, and the backdrop really made my heart smile.
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